It's been a long wait for silverware at Croxteth Drive since the 2nd XI won the Chrysalis Cup in 2018 but it's now time to call the engraver again after the 3rd XI claimed the Embee Trophy with two thrilling wins at the finals day held at Formby Cricket Club.
Captain Charlie Daniels won the toss and inserted Liverpool Lions in the semi final with Mark Boyns breaking a useful opening partnership on 37 before wickets began to fall regularly as the Lions were bowled out for 96 off 14.3 overs. Teenager Sarhad Rustom finished with 3-25 from his four overs with Faisal Malikzai taking 3-11. Sefton's reply saw them fall to 18-3 before Mike Heaney (22) and Sarhad (14) began the recovery. It was left to Chris Mitchell (32no) to see the Park home as they completed a five wicket win in the 17th over.
The final saw Sefton take on hosts Formby after they saw off Ormskirk in their semi. Skipper Charlie shuffled his pack with captaincy duties handed to Paul Morris and Ronan Brady coming in for Mark. The toss was won and Formby inserted and they were quickly in trouble at 19-3 with Sarhad and Liam Tollady in the wickets. A 53 partnership for the fourth wicket saw the home side recover well before Sarhad and Tollady struck again and Chris chipped in with two wickets as Formby closed on a modest total of 109-7. Sarhad finished with 3-15 with Liam (2-15) and Chris (2-23) playing crucial roles. Despite losing the skipper early, fellow opener Alex Woods stood firm scoring a vital 29 as he and Tom Rushton built a partnership of 56 for the second wicket. When Alex was dismissed Mike took over hitting 25 to take them to the brink of victory before Tom fittingly hit the winning runs to bring up his half-century as Sefton Park won the Embee Trophy for the first time since Iwan Williams' famous double winning side of 2013 - a team which also included Mike and Liam.
Well done to the entire squad of players who played on finals day and in the competition's previous rounds and a huge thank you to all those supporters who came to watch on the day and on youtube.
In other news Phil McLoughlin's Sunday XI celebrated a nine wicket win over Rainford after bowling out the hosts for just 98. S Ullah took 4-25 before Rob Geddes (25) and Prajesh Shukla (66no) saw the visitors home.
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