Written by Gary Hayes
RAIN STALLS THE ORRELL MOMENTUM
It was a Saturday of frustration for Orrell, as along with pretty much all other cricket clubs in the North West of England, rain stopped play. The first team saw the game away at New Brighton called off- when it looked like a delayed start would be possible- due to one further torrential downpour. The second team saw their match at home against Southport and Birkdale called off late morning due to the wet conditions while the third team saw their ‘home’ game (at their temporary base of Haydock CC) and Wallasey also called off in the morning.
There were however two Sunday games but neither reached a satisfactory conclusion from an Orrell perspective.
Dave Whiteley’s second team made the journey to Southport and Birkdale for a rearranged game from earlier in the season. Whiteley took with him a much changed and makeshift team (due to general unavailability and an Under 18 Inter League game) than would have been available to him on the original date and this was always going to be potentially a difficult afternoon for the team with the hosts near the bottom of the table and desperate for the win. After a delayed start due to water getting onto the wicket, the hosts won the toss and elected to bat. The home team’s opening batting pair of Dave Aston and first team opening batter as well as Lancashire second team player JJ Fielding made their intentions very clear as they put the Orrell bowling to the sword not helped by some poor fielding. A very large total indeed seemed to be on the cards and the momentum was only stalled slightly when Alfie Clarke removed Fielding for an impressive 87 from only 64 balls. Aston then found support from incoming batter Jack Baybutt as the scoreboard rattled along. When Aston was out for 74, the home team declared on 231-2 from only 37.1 overs. A chastening afternoon in the field for the young Orrell team. Clarke was the pick of the bowlers with 1-29 from seven overs whilst James Leyland took the other wicket to finish with figures of 1-19.
Orrell lost two quick wickets in reply to leave themselves 15-2. The skipper opened the innings and, having got a start, there was still hope of victory if he could receive some support from the middle order. Some support was provided from George Mushahwar (29) and David Cheetham (20) but collectively this was not enough support for the captain. The young Orrell lower order was dismissed relatively cheaply as Orrell were dismissed for 175 in 49.2 overs. Whiteley was left stranded on an unbeaten 77 from 142 balls including 11 fours and two sixes- a great captain’s knock albeit in a losing effort.
This defeat still leaves Orrell comfortably in second place in the table but lessens their chances of closing the gap with table topping Wallasey. For the team going forward, in order to ensure that they reach their potential, a key development point must be to ensure (and whilst there were some mitigating factors) that there is a much-improved availability of key players for matches that do not take place on the traditional Saturday afternoon as other clubs in a similar bracket to Orrell manage to achieve this. Such a committed captain as Whiteley deserves this support.
Also on Sunday, Matthew Hayes’s fourth team made the trip to Crosby to play Northern Cricket Club. Batting first, the Orrell top order was disappointingly dismissed relatively cheaply to leave themselves first 20-3 and then 46-4. The Orrell recovery was based around David Naylor and Emily James who styles complemented each other nicely. Disaster struck however when Naylor had to retire hurt due to a hamstring injury. James, who displayed fantastic application and hit some excellent boundaries also, failed to receive the support that she required from the rest of the Orrell batting line up and she was eventually bowled for a well-made 19. Naylor was then sportingly allowed to come back to the crease with a runner and managed to add more runs to the total until he was left stranded on 38 as Orrell were dismissed for 113 in only 35.4 overs- an insufficient total to defend given the time left in the days play.
The Orrell bowling effort started brightly with James Edgington producing a probing opening spell from which he was very unlucky not to take any wickets. The rest of the Orrell bowling attack were unable to keep the pressure consistently on the home team as they delivered one or two poor balls per over. That said, both home team opening batters were dismissed (both due to excellent catches from Hayes at short mid-wicket) relatively cheaply and when the home team found themselves first 58-3 and then 74-4 it looked like the door may be ajar for an unlikely Orrell victory as the remainder of the home team batting line up was relatively inexperienced. This unfortunately did not prove to be the case as some mature batting from the young Northern batters was assisted by some bad luck for Orrell (as balls dropped between fielders) as well as a continued inability of the Orrell bowling attack to maintain consistent pressure for complete overs and missed catches and a missed stumping. Northern eventually moving to a six-wicket victory with around 15 overs of the days play left. Edgington was the best of the Orrell bowlers but the wicket takers were Alfie Berry 1-20, Pallett 1-30 and Alan Moore 2-24. A disappointing defeat for Hayes’ team and they will know that they lost the match in the first innings when they posted such a low total.