Oxton’s Mike Fell probably didn’t realise the significance at the time.
The Wirral men were trying to hold out for a draw against an Ormskirk side who were closing in on their target of 171. A 16-year-old rookie walked nervously to the crease at number 8.
On his debut, three weeks earlier, he hadn’t been needed in a 10-wicket win over Northern. The following week, Bootle’s Richard Carr had dismissed him for a duck.
So no wonder he was nervous.
But the target was within reach, and the field was out. The teenager pushed Fell’s delivery out to long-on and jogged to the non-striker’s end.
It was June 18, 1983. David Snellgrove had his first 1st XI run in the Liverpool Competition.
Last Saturday, on his way to 25 for Southport & Birkdale against Formby, he hit his 15,000th. It was his 520th first XI game in the Comp.
“If you play long enough, you should score a few, shouldn’t you,” he laughed.
The modesty is real, but it’s misplaced.
Whether or not Snellgrove is out on his own is hard to know, given the Comp’s long history and imperfect record-keeping.
But keeping his eye in for long enough to rack up such a weight of runs - either side of a 10-year stint outside the region - is no mean feat, especially given how much the league has changed since 1983.
He said: “I started as a kid at Ormskirk when the league was ring-fenced, there was no promotion or relegation.
“You played some teams once and some teams twice; you had an all-day game on a Bank Holiday Monday… it was poles apart to where we are now in terms of promotion and relegation, and the way people play their cricket.
“It’s definitely more intense now. It’s made for more competitive cricket, such as with the advent of a lot of overseas players.
“Going back a few years, it used to be more quick bowlers from overseas - but latterly, teams have realised when they’re playing on good wickets against half-decent players, quicker bowlers aren’t knocking over 5, 6, 7 wickets every week.
“So they’ve veered away from them and gone down the slow left-armer route.
“They can bowl a heck of a lot more overs and build the pressure that way.”
Snellgrove came from a cricketing family - his dad, Ken, played 106 first-class games for Lancashire and represented Bootle, Formby and Ormskirk in the Comp, while uncle Harry also turned out for Bootle.
Snellgrove the younger moved to Wadham Road in 2004 and played his part in four title wins in six seasons, the last of them as captain in 2009.
By the time he spent a season as Rainford skipper in 2018, he’d begun playing over-50s cricket for Lancashire and England.
Keen to keep playing competitive cricket, Snellgrove was approached by S&B skipper Chris Cunningham, an old teammate at Bootle.
“He said he had some good young players with a lot of potential,” Snellgrove added. “I said ‘do you realise how old I am?’.
“The conversation developed and he asked me to help with some of the younger batters; I wanted to make sure I wasn’t coming just to coach, and that I was contributing.
“Otherwise, I’d be taking a place off someone else.
“Hopefully, we’ve found a happy medium now - I’m still chipping in, and the young lads are coming to the fore.”
In common with batters across the Comp, S&B’s energetic young pups are enjoying their frolics so far this season.
Young Lancashire prospect JJ Fielding has hit two centuries in four games and is top of the run charts for all divisions; Saturday’s milestone game saw Isaac Lea, in his first league outing of the season, hit 107 out of a total of 307/8.
Snellgrove - who rates former Lytham paceman Marcus Sharp as his toughest Comp opponent - said: “I think we’re very fortunate with the quality of players in the league these days.
“The young lads at Lancashire, while they can’t be told to go and play in the Liverpool Competition, I think they’re encouraged to - and that’s as well as a lot of homegrown very good young players.
“The league is the strongest I can remember it.
“We’ve had some good weather, and some good wickets, and the bat’s been on top of the ball so far.”
And as long as there’s runs to be scored - even a simple push to long-on - Snellgrove will be there. 15,000 and counting. He’s not done yet.
