Report by Martin Pickett
A considerably weakened and inexperienced 3rd team put in a sterling effort in the field on Saturday against the league leaders Sefton Park before succumbing rather weakly in the second half of the game to lose by 100 runs. Ormskirk’s effort in the field was tremendous in supporting the ex-veteran Garry Taylor during his mammoth spell of 20 overs to take a well deserved career best of 8-65. He was well supported by the younger bowlers with Sam Staunton-Turner impressing with 1-25. Although Ormskirk had done well to bowl Sefton Park out for 179 to obtain valuable maximum bowling points, with an under strength batting line up the chase was always going to be a difficult one. In fact, the only major contribution came from Aaron Cheung whose 33 was made up of eight fours and an accidental single as Ormskirk were bowled out for 79. Both teams conducted themselves in exemplary fashion in an enjoyable but competitive game; this turned out to be in stark contrast to the following day’s semi-final of the Embee Trophy. Maghull batted first and scored 208 for 9 (Taylor 5-28) off 40 overs with the 49 extras coming back to haunt Ormskirk by the end of the game. In reply, Ormskirk started well with two decent partnerships and were feeling confident for most of the innings with wickets in hand but were eventually bowled out for 179. So, a huge effort by the 3rds over the weekend with little to show for it apart from some heartening performances that hopefully promise better fortunes for the next few weeks