Match report New Brighton 1s at Newton le Willows – Sat 11th May
NBCC travelled up the A580 for their first away game of the season at the much-improved ground at Crow Lane East.
Skipper Martyn Evans won the toss and rightly showed faith in his batters to set a total.
Oli Griffiths and Adam Neal both batted positively in the first few overs, Adam placing the ball teasingly close to the fielders. Oli batted with a maturity beyond his years to ensure no early breakthrough.
Adam on 27 unfortunately snicked to the keeper from one of the Lancashire imports to leave us at 31-1. Tom Horrocks was unfortunate to be given LBW before scoring to leave us at 35-2 before Oli soon followed for 12 with the score at 46 after a sharp gully catch.
This brought Luke Jones to the middle to partner Damitha Silva. They put on 13 for the next wicket before Luke fell to another sharp catch, this time from the bowler on his follow through.
Tom Anders was not the first person to fall victim to Safi Abdullah’s arm ball. The LBW left us at 64-5 with some rebuilding to do.
Enter the veteran Martyn Evans. Both him and Damitha batted superbly to take us up to 141 before Martyn edged a different Lancashire import to the keeper for 31.
Damitha batted intelligently and Scott Sherratt provided some support until being caught with the score at 147-7.
Super-veteran Mark Wilkie joined to hold up one end and Damitha was still scoring freely. Unfortunately a full-blooded reverse sweep when Damitha was on 72 was taken brilliantly at slip by Ben Walkden to leave the score at 167-8.
Elliott Griffiths joined in an attempt to occupy the crease up to the 55 over mark and nurse the score up to 190, but was undone by a ball which gripped the surface for the slow left arm spinner at 167.
Wilkie and Sam Cureton then attempted to nurse the score upwards, but another lightning LBW decision left Sam stranded and a half-time score of 176 to defend.
Oli and Damitha opened up for the second innings. A (rather rapid) spell by Oli received just reward when Ben Walkden and bottom-edged a pull on to off stump with the score at 25. Damitha then joined the party, taking the second wicket after a sharp catch by Tom Horrocks with the score on 37.
Skipper Martyn then decided to have a bowl and reaped the reward with Elliott superbly holding on to an absolute vertical six (credit to Adam for making us practise them). 46-3 at this point.
Adam then showed his class by stumping their number three who had been tempted down the track by Damitha’s guile.
At 60-4 the game was in the balance. However, credit should be given to the grinder Chris Chambers and Jack Morley. They batted without given any chances until the score reached 135.
Elliott and Sam both bowled very well without reward, and it was left to Damitha to get the breakthrough, forcing an edge which was well snaffled by Adam. At 135-5 we had a slim chance, and Martyn gave us hope by bowling Safi Abdullah to leave the score at 146-6.
No further joy came our way however, with Jack Morley and (ex Sefton all rounder) Leo Spilsbury seeing Newton home.
Overall, a promising performance to take into the next few games. Realistically we were probably at least 20 runs short of the total needed. But the attitude and commitment to the cause bode well for the next few weeks.
Written by M Wilkie
11TH MAY 2024 @ 12:00
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