Formby 1st vs Rainhill: On arguably the best cricketing day of the year so far, Rainhill were lucky to be at Cricket Path in Formby.

With a hard wicket and fast outfield, Formby won the toss and elected to bat. Expecting the usual 250 Formby were soon disappointed as they didn’t have a response to the relentless accuracy of Qureshi. (4 for 22 from 24).

After dismissing the Formby captain in his 1st over, only Australian Flaherty (35) looked comfortable against him. Initially supported by Williams (2 for 35 from 11), it was the introduction of Dale (7 overs 3 for 11) that turned the screw which meant Formby slipped from 71 for 3 to 102 all out in 48 overs.

Rotheram and Brown - the Rainhill’s openers shattered Formby’s hopes of a win by putting on 50 before tea.

After Rotheram (25) was dismissed Brown steered the chase with an undefeated 42. Supported by Lydon (27no), Rainhill passed the target in 32 overs for the loss of only 2 wickets. Thanks to Dys-appear for sponsoring the game for Rainhill.

Rainhill 2nd vs Newton Le Willows 2nd Team Newton elected to have first use of the ‘Rainhill road’ and although a number of batsmen got starts, none went on to get a big score. Horsfield (37), Birchall (32) Evans (30) and McCabe (29) all played their shots but succumbed to the off spin from Atkinson. His 5 for 67 from 27 overs was to prove match winning. Newton declared on 179 for 9 in 54 overs.

Rainhill lost wickets at regular intervals and would have struggled if a succession of dropped catches would have been held.

Yate’s aggressive 69 from 63 balls and Atkinson’s 51 allowed Rainhill to pass their target in 44 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. Horsfield’s 3 for 63 from 16 being the pick of Newton’s attack.