SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVING IS EASY ...

Date: 26th June 2010

If George Gershwin had been a fan of the summer game, he would have appreciated the stroll from Maghull Station to the cricket club on a warm June evening. The canal-side barges, the gentle lapping of the water and the abundant wildlife all enhance the prospect of watching a match on a ground where, remarkably, the roaring A59 never obtrudes upon the play. And when one gets to Old Hall Field, there is as rich a variety of trees as can be found anywhere on Merseyside, Sefton Park, as ever, excepted. But enough of this. As the American writer, Ring Lardner, reminds us in his short story, Harmony; "Even a baseball writer must sometimes work."

And so to Maghull versus Neston in the last 16 of the Liverpool Echo Knock-Out, a competition which allows Twenty20 to occupy its proper place in the cricket season as an occasional, mainly midsummer, entertainment, rather than the overblown leviathan with which the first-class counties are currently grappling. For yes, the winners of this year's Friends Provident t20 will play 21 matches, and in order to give these games prime slots, the County Championship has been shoved back to early April or crushed into August. Anyway, Neston won the tie by six wickets and with eleven balls to spare after Ryan Swiers's batsmen had posted 113 for seven, a total that was maybe 15 or 20 short of par on a ground boasting both a good wicket and a quick outfield. Andy Hewitt impressed in making 33, John Ring held the innings together with 31 and Liam Crilly's bat described some exotic arcs as one of Merseyside's most eccentric and engaging cricketers scored 24. Slow left-armer Luke Camden, one of a brace of slow left-armers used by Neston, took two for 20.

A target of 114 never really looked likely to extend the Parkgate batsmen, especially after David Hurst had deposited Paul Bower's first delivery of the innings somewhere near the centre-circle of the adjoining Romany Pasture. Hurst, playing his second game back after snapping three tendons in his ankle, made 27 before falling to Chris Tonge, but Andrew Murphy's 47 went a long way towards ensuring that there were no last minute panics for the Wirral side, no flurry of pads and helmets amid a host of - no doubt beautifully enunciated - Cheshire oaths. Ryan Swiers returned two for 18 in four overs for Maghull, who were by no means outclassed.

All this would have offered enjoyment enough; but for Liverpool Competition cricketers of a certain vintage, the very mention of Neston evokes rich memories: the beautiful ground at Parkgate, the ice-creams on the front, and the virtual guarantee of a decent game followed by some sharp banter in the bar afterwards. Remarkably, 25 of the 36 clubs in the Bridging Finance Liverpool Competition probably know almost nothing of this. Yet one could still see a reminder if all that fun, standing impassively in a white coat and under a sun hat at Old Hall Field. For one of the umpires for the match at Maghull was Ken Peers, once a mighty destroyer of attacks, now grave, greying and judicial as he presided over the contest.

There are, of course, local derbies aplenty in the enlarged Liverpool Competition, and one such struggle for "bragging rights" - a thoroughly disagreeable phrase - took place on Friday night at Trafalgar Road, where an Ainsdale side lacking Malcolm Swift lost to Southport and Birkdale by nine wickets. Ian Cropper's side have genuine hopes of being promoted to the First Division this season, but they came across an S&B side who bowled well and caught everything. The visitors' total of 70 all out was never likely to extend Chris Firth's batsmen, but Ainsdale compunded their problems by dropping three catches. Chris Page took advantage and finished on 34 not out; Andy Barlow, playing against his former club, batted through the innings for an unbeaten 24. Firth, no doubt pleased to take four for 21, was even happier when his team reached the last eight in some comfort. More concerning is S&B's outfield, most of which is the colour of a rich-tea biscuit. This, though, is still a summer to be relished; it will be damp and dark at four o'clock soon enough

A Paul Edwards exclusive for this website