Orrell Red Triangle earned their first ECB Premier Division victory of 2022 with a professional four-wicket win over Newton-le-Willows.
What it lacked in fireworks, it made up for in efficiency - the three bowlers used shared all 10 visiting wickets, before the batters overcame an early wobble to ease home with room to spare.
Central to the action was home skipper Sam Heeley. As he put it, “everything just came together” - in this case a tireless spell of 17 overs, broken only by a change of ends, which yielded 3/42, followed by an unbeaten 39 to see his side home.
“We’d showed glimpses in our earlier games,” he added. “We got 260 against Formby, and we were unlucky not to get a win against New Brighton.
“So there had been signs that we could put it together.
“But the win gives us that bit of a boost in confidence - we’ve targeted the next two games as winnable ones as well, so hopefully we’ll pick up a few more points in the next couple of weeks.”
Lancashire Academy teen Dom Hayes earned the crucial wicket of Ben Walkden before regulations forced him to yield his end; he later returned to help nip out the tail and finished with 3/28.
Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Dileepa Jayalath claimed his best return so far, 4/42, just reward for his willingness to toss the ball up in the hope of getting some turn. Both Ian Lyon and Subhaan Mahmood took him on and found the boundary, only for the next ball to be pinged in shorter and end up in the hands of the slips.
Nathan Hughes applied himself well, but walked into a Heeley yorker on 45, the third of five wickets to go down for 32 runs. Captain Chris Chambers did his best to marshall the tail but ran out of partners with his side on 116.
Particularly pleasing for Heeley was that not one chance went to ground throughout the whole innings, the closest being when Tom Jones appeared to fumble an edge off Afaq Ali Sartaj off Hayes, only to pick the ball out from between his knees.
He said: “It makes a huge difference, taking our chances.
“It’s something we work hard on every week, and it’s great when it comes to fruition on a Saturday.”
On a turning pitch, and with Sartaj and Jack Morley in their side, all was not lost for Newton.
If anything, seamer Zac Donohue’s opening burst, in which he drew edges from Andy Baybutt, Richard Everett and Matty Hayes, was a bonus.
But Heeley and his middle order had an answer to just about everything the spinners could throw at them. Morley dismissed Jayalath and Chris Riley to take his season’s tally to 12, but Heeley struck the winning four off Sartaj to round off a satisfying afternoon’s work.
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Wallasey’s 100% Premier Division record came to a confusing end as Wigan, needing two to win off the last ball with eight wickets down, contrived to win by one wicket.
It involved a Mankad run-out - which visiting skipper Greg Beaver tried in vain to withdraw, and for which the umpires called a no-ball rather than dead ball, levelling the scores.
Jake Leyland chipped the extra delivery over cover and - prompted by some frantic shouts from confused teammates unaware of the extra run - scampered back for a second.
The farcical finish shouldn’t overshadow the previous few hours, which saw Jamie Crawley hit his second century of the season for Wallasey, finishing on a Comp best of 137*. Thanks to Aaron Redmond’s 64, Wigan reached 172/3 in pursuit of 228 but Sumit Ruikar took his fifth five-for in as many games this summer, finishing with 5/80 to set up the scenes at the end.
The headlines at New Brighton belonged to Southport & Birkdale off-spinner Chris Firth, who took 9/38 - the best figures in a distinguished career - to earn a 34-run win for his side. Bobby Wincer played Tony Lock to Firth’s Laker, as 15 of the 20 wickets fell to spin.
Northern’s Danny Wilson earned a maiden five-for to wrap up a high-scoring win at Formby. The visitors posted 261/5 thanks to Chris Laker’s 81 and Jac Kennedy’s 54; Ollie Sutton’s 74 had threatened a stirring chase before Wilson took over.
Ormskirk’s Harvey Rankin and John Armstrong both hit half-centuries in their total of 216/5 at Birkenhead Park; but thanks to 50s from Tom Foster and Steve Hird, the hosts were able to hang on at 188/8.
Centuries from Tyler McGladdery and Mattie McKiernan cancelled each other out as Rainhill drew with Leigh. McGladdery’s 116 helped the hosts to 224, before McKiernan’s 111 gave Leigh a sniff of victory, eventually closing on 206/8 after Imliwati Lemtur’s 5/82.
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A dramatic finish at Wadham Road in Division One saw Firwood Bootle forced to settle for a draw just two runs shy of Highfield’s 207.
Danny Davies’ 89 had rescued the hosts’ chase from 22/3 but the last over dawned with Bootle still needing 10 runs, with four wickets to spare. Seven came from the first three, but Madumma Lakmal first becalmed then bowled Jhangir Liaqat.
The same pair had starred in the game’s first half - Lakmal with 54, Liaqat with 5/63.
Sefton Park’s last pair held on for a draw at Colwyn Bay. George Johansen’s 51 and Adam Campion’s 73 had set up a total of 225/6, but Leo Spilsbury and Jimmy Dixon held on for 7.2 overs to close on 150/9.
Rainford and Lytham both have 100% records after wins over Northop Hall and Spring View respectively.
Rainford’s Matthew Bailey and Paul Farrar hit half-centuries to overhaul the Welsh side’s 137 for a nine-wicket victory; skipper Will Higginson’s 74 had been the stand-out knock in the first innings.
Lytham ran through their Wigan opponents for 75 before knocking off the runs five down.
Liverpool’s 211 - posted in spite of Muhammad Irfan’s 5/46 - was too much for Ainsdale, who fell 118 runs short thanks to Jared Clein’s 6/17.
Fleetwood Hesketh chased 113 to beat Caldy by four wickets.
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A day of low scores in Division Two saw Maghull keep up their unbeaten record with a four-wicket win at Old Xaverians, chasing 95.
It was a similar story at Alder, where Wavertree lost seven wickets overhauling the hosts’ 98; Greg Coogan took 6/27 to give the West Derby side a sniff.
St Helens Town’s Sharan Rajendran took 8/9 to roll Parkfield Liscard for 44, after 80 from Dan Roberts and 55 from David Gaskell had set a target of 224.
Sutton knocked off 75 to ease to an eight-wicket win over Southport Trinity; and Norley Hall bowled out Hightown St Marys for 95 before recording a four-wicket triumph.
