- Jun 7, 2017
- 6 min read

Formby Cricket Club Report 5th June 2017

1st XI

Last week the side got off to its first win of the League season with a 9-wicket win over near-neighbours, Ainsdale. Stephen Parry was at last available to Formby and took over the captaincy as Ian Cockbain decided to rest himself. A dubious weather forecast persuaded him to put Ainsdale in when he won the toss and they set off with a partnership of 36 with Indian international player Faiz Fazal looking very smooth in

making 29 of them. Mark O’Connor broke the stand in the 10th over, having Andy Davies lbw for 4.

It was clear Formby needed to get rid of Ainsdale’s premier batsman, so Gary Keedy was introduced in the13th over, a maiden, and Parry in the 14th, from which Fazal helped himself to 11 runs. However, in Keedy’s 3rd over Fazal was out, caught down the leg side by James Seward for 46 with the total on 58. He was evidently very disappointed with the decision.

After that, the Ainsdale had little answer to the Formby “spin twins” as Keedy ripped through the middle order. He finished with his best ever figures for Formby of 7-10 from 12 overs. Parry had 2-36 from 11.1 as Ainsdale were shot out for 100, their last 4 wickets all falling on that score as Keedy took 4 wickets in a 7- ball sequence.

When Formby batted, Seward dropped anchor whilst Tim Le Breton made a breezy 21 before falling lbw. This brought in Kiwi Dan Stanley, who, with his holidaying parents watching, smashed a fifty from just 21 balls, finishing up with 54 from 22, with 6 sixes and 3 fours, The game was over with an hour to spare.

On Thursday, a considerably changed side again took on Ainsdale in the first round of the Liverpool Echo KO. Formby elected to bat first and despite losing Stanley in the first over, scored at a good rate throughout their innings. Sam Oldham made a 38-ball fifty and went on to 64 (46 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes),

well-supported by Ben Aitchison (31 from 21), Ollie Sutton (25 from 13) and Tom Simpson (13 from 4) as Formby posted a good 180-7 from their 20 overs.

Once again, they needed to get rid of Fazal, who opened his account with a six as the opening stand reached 45 after 6 overs. Now Stanley came on to bowl spin (hitherto this season he’d been bowling seam). Fazal dabbed his first ball for two to third man, but, trying to clear the midwicket boundary next ball, holed out to Anthony Poole. Stanley had his opening partner, Andy Barlow well-held by Ollie Gallagher at mid-off next ball, and after that Ainsdale never looked like winning, eventually finishing at 135-7. Stanley had 3-33 from his 4 overs and O’Connor 2-18 from his 3.

This Saturday, Formby took on Lytham, with Parry and Saqib Mahmood both absent playing for Lancashire against Yorkshire. The visitors chose to bat first and Keedy was introduced early, in the 6th over. O’Connor broke the opening stand on 24 and Keedy took his first wicket on 34. The pitch was responsive to spin and scoring runs was not easy, but Lytham progressed to 82-2 before Keedy struck again, Guptill-Bunce losing patience and skying an attempted drive to Sam Oldham at extra cover. After that, wickets fell regularly, the only stand of note being 32 for the sixth wicket, and Lytham were all out for 170 on the stroke of tea. Seward had taken another 4 catches, his season’s league total of victims increasing to 16, while Keedy had 6-68 from 25 overs and Stanley’s spinners netted him 3-29 from 7.1 overs.

Formby’s reply got off to a slow start, with Jackson Cockbain making his debut as a 1 st XI opener, lasting for nearly half an hour for 5 before being bowled with the total on 24. Oldham and Seward then moved the score to 87-1 before Oldham mishit a full toss form part-time spinner Ben Saunders straight to mid-on for 40. Still with Stanley looking as though he found the pitch easier to bat on than anyone else had, Formby’s prospects looked excellent, with Seward digging in to bat through the innings.

In the 35th over, a misunderstanding resulted in Seward being run out for 34, and precipitated an embarrassing period in which the Formby batsmen came and went in the manner of lemmings throwing themselves off a cliff. With Stanley just needing someone to stay with him, Aitchison, Ketteringham, Sutton and Mills managed to survive for a total of only 35 balls between them for 3 runs as they all perished to ill- considered strokes. It was just left to Lancashire pace-man Lester to prove too quick for the Formby tail, as Stanley eventually went for 33 and Formby lost their last 8 wickets for a paltry 26 runs, and the match by 32.

2nd XI

The less said about last week’s defeat at Sefton Park, the better! Formby batted first and managed to muster just 77 all out in 29.5 overs before losing by 9 wickets in just 8 overs. Perhaps fortunately, they didn’t have a match this week, as Southport & Birkdale’s ground is being prepared for the county match next week.

3rd XI

Formby’s form side took on Leigh last week, and another excellent century from Ollie Sutton (114 from 77 balls with 18 fours and 4 sixes), who seemed to be batting on a different pitch to everyone else, saw a declaration at 229-4 off just 33 overs. He was backed up by 30 from Jackson Cockbain and 27 each from Ben Aitchison and Anthony Poole.

Leigh made a good start with 69 for their first wicket and 55 for their third, standing on 140-2, but Alex Powell got to work with 6-30 from 11 overs and Joe Stuart took 2-38 from 11 as Leigh were reduced to 199- 9 at the start of the last over. Aitchison had taken 1-60 with 16 overs of spin so far, but he slipped in a quick one for his second ball which was on target and beat the last man to bowl him and secure the win.

On Bank Holiday Monday, a much-changed side (eligibility being much stricter for cup matches) travelled to Ormskirk in the Mike Leddy Cup. Formby were put in and, with 4 father and son Combinations on display (counting their umpire!), they posted a decent 202-6 from their 40 overs, the highlight being a chanceless 104 (118 balls, 10 fours and a six) from Will Miles on his season’s debut, and 45 from Anthony Poole, who put on 128 for the third wicket.

The bowling and fielding was not at its best as a couple of chances went down and Ormskirk’s no.4, Cheung, took advantage of most of his store of good fortune for the season in making 114 not out as the home side cruised to an 8-wicket win.

Back in league action this weekend, Formby had a local derby with Southport & Birkdale. Opting to take first use of a good-looking pitch, they were off to a fast start as Aussie Shane Herbst hit 55 from 48 balls. Anthony Poole then took over in the anchor role, finishing with 73 not out, as David Jump got 28 and Jackson Cockbain 36 not out. Formby declared a ball short of 40 overs on 233-5.

S&B set off at a good pace, but lost both openers to Joe Stuart and Alex Powell, before a run-out by George Scanlan and another Powell wicket had them at 57-4. Charlie Byrne then survived a chance to Ed Lowe behind the stumps off Josh Burt, and proceeded to punish anything loose. Burt, Zac Eastwood and Poole each took a wicket to deprive him of support, but he got to 87 before, with the total on 167-7 he perished, trying to drive a leg-break from Poole and being caught by Herbst in the gully.

The remaining 2 wickets fell to a Louis Burt run-out and Powell, who finished with 3-53 from 10.4 overs. Poole had 2-24 from 7. Formby are now 45 points clear at the top of the Sunday Premier Division, though second-placed Leigh have 2 games in hand.

4th XI

Last Saturday, the 4th XI went to Newton-le-Willows and manged to reach 101 all out to secure their first batting bonus point of the season. Unfortunately that was as good as it got for them, as Newton knocked off the runs in just 19 overs, for the loss of 2 wickets. There was no league action this weekend