It was a Bank Holiday Monday to remember for our first team (and one batsman in particular) as they swept aside neighbours New Brighton by 85 runs to bag maximum points and keep their slim title hopes alive.

On a cloudy day, the Sey found themselves inserted in to bat as Jamie and Dan took to the crease. The pair were forced to dig in early against the combined pace of Botes siblings Louis and Sebastian.

With Jamie hitting a couple of boundaries, Dan had the misfortune of being given out LBW on four to Louis. This brought CD to the crease as the experienced left-hander returned to his old stamping ground with a point to prove.

Jamie continued to look in decent nick with two more exquisite fours only to be caught behind off the bowling of Seb Botes for 23.

At 31 for 2, Captain Al joined CD out in the middle as the pair sought to get us back on track.

Despite pressure from NB's bowlers, the Sey batsmen took advantage of some shoddy fielding to help strengthen our score. CD in particular seized the opportunity to play some impeccable shots having been dropped on seven by Sam Jones. He then escaped another drop later on from Rakers captain Matty Thompson as he raced his way into the forties.

At the other end, Al got into his stride with a series of boundaries while surviving a missed caught and bowled opportunity from David While.

Having gone almost 80 innings since his last competitive fifty (stretching back to June 2017), CD finally ended his drought with two runs, which brought plenty of applause from his satisfied teammates.

At that point, he and Al had forged a brilliant century partnership that continued to increase as a frustrated NB struggled to find a breakthrough.

Al looked well set on reaching his first half-century since mid-June only to fall on 47 to Ashraf Nawab via a sharp catch from Dan Cooke. This brought the lucrative partnership of 119 to an end with the Sey still well on top.

The arrival of Greg led to another fruitful stand as he and CD benefited from more wasted fielding opportunities from the hosts.

By the time we had reached the 200 mark, CD was now into the nervous nineties and keen to reach a memorable milestone. Another fielding mishap brought him to 98 and that was eventually followed by a glanced shot towards deep cover.

Having already run a single, CD frantically raced back for the second and after some impressive diving, he had reached a superb century off 150 balls. Unsurprisingly, there was rapturous applause from both Wallasey and New Brighton supporters in what had been a very satisfying knock for the former Raker.

With maximum batting points achieved, Greg eyed up his half-century as he got to 45. However, a tight last over from Louis saw the left-hander struggle to connect with the last three balls. In the end, he remained unbeaten on 45 as the Sey finished up on a dominant score of 231 for 3.

For CD, he concluded his sublime innings on 101 not out with his knock including twelve 4s and one 6.

After a tough day in the field, NB were keen to get their reply off to a flyer and did so as Seb Botes struck a big six off Rui in only the second ball of their innings.

With Seb well-placed at his end, fellow opener Cooke was unable to take advantage as he was trapped LBW by Rui without scoring.

The arrival of While to the crease gave the hosts some momentum, with the experienced all-rounder playing some neat shots alongside Botes. Their partnership of 34 was soon ended when Harry trapped the latter LBW for a crisp 29.

Within a couple of overs, the young seamer had While out too via a peach of a delivery that knocked his bails off. By the time Rui had Louis caught behind in the next over, NB were trembling at 67 for 4.

However, Rakers captain Thompson and Ashley Watkins helped their side rally, with the former hitting a series of crisp boundaries on his way to 28.

With NB past the 100 run mark, Al turned to the experience of Bourney to try and find a breakthrough. The moment soon came right on drinks when a wounded Greg took a sharp catch to bring Thompson's innings to a close.

After the drinks break had ended, Watkins quickly perished to a stumping from Jack thus giving Rui his third wicket of the day.

The magician soon had his fourth scalp when Mark Hale was brilliantly caught one-handed by, you guessed it, CD. At that stage, a despondent New Brighton had lost three wickets with the score on 106.

The hosts did rely on some useful late order runs from Sam Jones to give them a bit of cheer before Rui struck again. Having trapped Adam Sandalls LBW, he then picked up the quick wicket of Nawab two balls later via a simple catch from Harry.

Yet another bowling masterclass from our talented left-armer who went on to finish with respected figures of 6 for 68 off 23 overs!

The arrival of the last twenty overs did lead to some brief frustration for the Sey as Jones (28 not out) and Adam Neal toiled away. The pair took advantage of some loose balls as well as four overthrows to help them clinch a second batting point.

Victory was finally achieved for us in the 46th over when AB's ball to Neal ricocheted off Jack's glove and landed to Jamie in the slips, thus sparking ecstatic celebrations from the Sey players and supporters.

This was our tenth league win of the season; the first time that had been achieved in the Premier League since 2009. As a result, it helps us close the gap on the leaders Northern to 38 points with three games to go.

Furthermore, it is the first time that we have completed a league double over our neighbours since way back in 2002. The two wins also coincide with the double successes we had over them in both the National T20 AND the Ray Digman Knockout Trophy.

Congratulations to the lads (and CD in particular) on another fantastic performance; up the Sey!

Scorer's Man of the Match: Chris Davies