A genial bunch, some of whom sat only rows away from some of our lads at the Roses T20 Blast at Old Trafford the previous night. That game was wonderfully exciting showcasing some greats: Root, Butler, Tremlett etc. That game was rain affected and your reporter suspects that one or two of those watching it played a rather too hopeful rain card. That game finished with a Lancashire victory on the final ball. That game was a great battle, in part due to the wonderful batting by the Yorkshire lads batting second. That game was different to what happened at Oakley Villas in many ways but I will draw some comparisons nonetheless.

HMCC won the toss and elected to field (as did Yorkshire at OT the night before.) Rey and Laverty opened well with Rey claiming the first wicket having Holder caught by Ainscough for 4 (8-1). Wirral made it to 27 before Clewes was run out testing the skills of our local projectionist, Bond aficionado and man with the golden arm - Louis Mundin -when will they learn? With Rey (11-3-18-1) and Laverty (8-3-27-0) tiring in the humidity its was time first for Hughes and the Shah to take to the stage. Hughes had Lewis caught by Rey at slip with a classic left-armer’s dismissal; turning and catching the shoulder of the bat (41 – 3) then Jones LBW (51-4). Huxx had Dom Develing LBW then caught Dan Develing off Hughes and the score was 73-6. With Mersey spin duo bowling tightly at the both ends Wirral continued to make slow progress with an overall run rate never exceeding 2.5 in the first 30 overs (average run rate at OT in that game was about 12) and fielders looking to the scoreboard to interesting maths for excitement. The only real interest came while Peel was at the crease. Your reporter noticed the short extra cover looked a little “off focus”, unsurprising give Peel’s strike rate (but perhaps also a function of aforementioned rain card), he was on 3 off 29 balls. A quick call to said fielder. “The next one’s coming to you Fordy!” and sure enough. Very next ball. Peel Ct Ford, Bowled Shah 3 (30 balls) 91-7.

Somehow Kumar stayed in making it to 41 not out despite the best efforts of Mundin and Hughes (unable to return Huxx’s favour getting a sore ear and conceding four to boot) Wirral completed their 45 overs nine down on 132 with Hughes picking up his second Michelle of the year (14-3-44-5) and Huxx finishing on (12-3-33-2) All 4 Mersey bowlers bowling 3 maidens each.

At some point during Kumar’s innings skipper-for-the-day, Josh Ainscough, bravely chased a powerful off drive to the boundary but was struck with pinpoint accuracy by the Hamstring sniper of either Sibley or Whitley Road. Forensic analysis of the wound has yet to be finalised. This meant that Josh spent the remainder of the innings sitting on a bag of ice.

After another superb Mersey Tea, the Wirral boys were delirious with praise. They took to the field with Barnett and Mundin at the crease. Looking to continue the rich vein of form that Mersey have been in. ‘Twas not to be. The least said about the Mersey innings the better. With the notable exception of Jordan who made a hard fought 30 off 77 balls, Josh batting at 9 with a runner made 20 and Tom at 11 made 14. Only Louis made more than 10. Four batsmen made one or less. The less said about our batting the better. Wirral bowled tightly and caught superbly and with the wicket deteriorating in the heat Mersey lost wickets all too regularly and showed a lack of patience and application. We were 15-1, 28-2 then the middle order failure saw us 37-6. A position that we never recovered from despite an attempt by Fordy at 8 who made an uncharacteristic 8 off 15 balls and a brave 20 not out from the hobbled skipper who gave us a glimmer of hope while batting with Tom. In the end we finished 27 short when Tom was run out despite his desperate dive. In short our batting was nowhere near as good as Yorkshire’s in that game. They lost, just. We lost, comfortably.

Bah! Next week it is.

POST SCRIPT:

Results this week seem to have gone our way and we are still 18 points clear at the top of the table.

No more slip ups.