Sefton Park CC

Saturday 15th April.....Season begins with four defeats.

With a number of players having retired, moved to other clubs or just been unavailable for this week, the first Saturday of the season proved a difficult one.

There was a lot of merit in the 1stXI's performance at Colwyn Bay where they fielded a side with an average age of 21. In this Premier League Knockout game, Sefton Park won the toss and put the home side into bat and saw them reach 238 for 5 in the 45 overs with Dave Poskitt taking 2 for 44. In reply Sefton made 198 for 8 with skipper Ben Moore (56), Paul Squires (25), Dave Hort (24) and Phil Calrow (20 not out) all making contributions.

The 2ndXI lost after the scores finished level in their Premier League Knockout game at home to Colwyn Bay. They batted first and were all out for 214 with Kev Neil (39) and Sean Hogan (35 not out) top scoring. In reply the visitors appeared to be struggling and left themselves requiring 150 off the last 20 overs but the managed to level the scores off the last ball for the loss of 7 wickets. They won the game having lost less wickets batting second.
Ted Williams back for another season, bowling for the 2ndXI at Sefton Park

The 3rdXI played New Brighton PD away. They lost the toss and bowled first, seeing the home side make 154 for 6 dec. In reply Sefton were dismissed for 85 but there was a good all round performance from new boy James Pearce who after taking 2 for 19 with the ball went on to make 29 not out.

The 4thXI faced the other New Brighton 3rdXI on the lower ground and were put in to bat after losing the toss. They were all out for 63 with Paul Hegarty (19) and Robin Surtees (14) making contributions. Robin went on to take the only two wickets to fall for 12 runs as New Brighton JW easily reached the Sefton total
Skipper Robin Surtees bowling for the 4thXI at home to New Brighton

April 22nd ......Defeat at home to Leigh in Premier League Knockout

The 1stXI's first home game of the season resulted in a 53 run defeat by Leigh. Leigh batted first and scored 197 for 6 in the 45 overs, skipper Ben Moore took 2 for 29. In reply Sefton were dismissed for 144 with Peter Jones (50) top scoring and Matthew Phythian making 34.

Matthew Phythian facing Leigh

The 2nd XI recorded their first victory of the season defeating Wigan in the Premier League Knockout. Wigan won the toss and batted first, scoring 166 for 9 in the 45 overs with Matthew Pownall taking 4 for 33. In reply Sefton lost 7 wickets in reaching the total with Max Hill (42) and skipper Steve Delve (30 not out) making the biggest contributions.

The 3rdXI defeated Bootle on the Lower Ground. Sefton won the toss and put the visitors in to bat. Dave Kirby took 5 for 14 in 13 overs and Brian Viner 3 for 8 in 9.3 overs as Bootle were dismissed for 80. Sefton went on to win by 5 wickets with Kevin Walton (16) and David Walton (15) top scoring.

The 4th XI were unable to fulfill the fixture at Northop Hall as they suffered from too many young players and hence insufficient transport.