Written by Gary Hayes
FRUSTRATING DRAW FOR ORRELL
It was a frustrating day for Sam Heeley’s first team away at Formby as they were unable to secure the victory that looked likely at one stage.
The game started an hour early at the request of Orrell due to the Orrell Proms event back at the club- many thanks to Formby for agreeing to this. Heeley won the toss and elected to bat first as openers Ammer Mirza and Andy Baybutt faced the potent threat of Derbyshire second team bowler Ollie Sutton and Minor Counties bowler Sam Ellis. Neither batter looked to be in particular trouble until Baybutt was bowled by Sutton with what looked to be a peach of a delivery. Mirza looked back to his best and was joined at the crease by Richard Everett. When Everett hit his first ball for four, it set the tone for what was hopefully going to be a substantial second wicket partnership. Everett was unfortunately bowled for 27 at a time when he looked set to dominate the Formby bowling.
The captain himself then came to the crease and immediately began to use his feet against the home team spinners to negate the threat. There had been a couple of near miss runouts caused by miscommunication between the batters already in the Orrell innings and disaster struck when Mirza was run out on 37 attempting a quick single from the non-striker’s end and was sent back by his partner. This left the score 81-3 with Tom Jones coming to the crease. Unfortunately, Heeley was bowled for 22 to make the score 102-4 and put the game back in the balance. The fifth wicket partnership of Jones and Matthew Hayes steadied the ship until Jones was LBW to leave the score 139-5. Jones made 32 from only 39 balls including two large sixes. From looking like a score of over 200 was possible, it now became more a case of Orrell setting a defendable score as the scoring rate slowed. Hayes was dismissed for 15 as Orrell teetered on 151-6 when he went back against the slow left-arm spin of Saad Humayun and was also adjudged LBW. At tea, Orrell were 169-9 and Heeley made the decision to bat on. Dominic Hayes (12 not out) and Cameron Sharp (7 not out) got Orrell into a position where Heeley felt able to declare on 183-9 from 58 overs.
On the face of it, a lower than expected total given the start- especially when a number of batters were out LBW in the same manner i.e. going back to balls when they should have come forward. The consensus from the players however was very much that this was a competitive total given wicket conditions.
In the Formby reply, Orrell struck an early blow when home captain James Seward was caught in the slips by Matthew Hayes off the bowling of Duvindu Tillakaratne to make the score 10-1. Tillakaratne worked away and removed the remainder of the home team’s highly regarded top four to leave the score 66-4. Cameron Sharp was then introduced into the attack and took a double wicket maiden in his first over to leave the score 70-6. At this point, the home team turned their attentions more to avoiding defeat in chasing victory and it became a struggle to take the four wickets required for victory. Heeley was proactive in his captaincy as he set some very attacking fields and put on some lesser used bowling options in order to encourage the home team to chase the victory. Whilst great credit must go to the Formby batting pair of Ellis and Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe for the way they batted, the home team never truly accepted the invitation to chase victory even though the required run rate was now around eight runs per over and there were four wickets left. Tillakaratne secured another five-wicket haul late on but the game petered out to a draw with the home team finishing on 162-7 from 46 overs. Tillakaratne finishing with figures of 5-42 from 23 overs and Sharp with 2-22 from six overs.
On the face of it, a draw away at such a powerful club as Formby is a good result for Heeley and his men. However, it is a sign of how far they’ve come as a team, that there will be a tinge of disappointment in not securing the win. Recourse to the injured fast bowler Josh Fallows would undoubtedly have helped in the latter stages of the game and it is vital that he is fit for the start of the 2022 season.
There were no other senior games this weekend due to the Orrell Proms event at the club.
Photographs courtesy of Formby Cricket Club