Neither Wallasey nor Northern will have come away from Saturday’s clash of the top two either completely happy or completely unhappy.
Both teams found out what they already knew about the quality of their spin bowling, with slow left-armers taking 13 of 18 wickets; both also suffered from slightly brittle middle orders. Eight batters at 3, 4, 5 and 6 across both sides contributed 57 runs in a match where a substantial innings would have been decisive.
The hosts maintained their lead at the top of the Love Lane Liverpool Competition ECB Premier Division, and captain Greg Beaver would have taken the draw in a heartbeat having won the toss, chosen to bat and watched his top order suffer a rare bad day on their way to 97/9.
His counterpart, James Cole, must have feared the worst at 108/8 in response to 161, with seven overs to play out. But his tail stood firm on a wicket that left the skipper nonplussed.
“It was quite poor,” said Cole. “In my opinion, the two best sides in the league, you want them to be playing on the best wicket.
“But it was slow, up and down, low and turning - it wasn’t, in my opinion, very good.
“It’s disappointing when you can’t play the game how you want to play.”
Beaver’s call to spread the field off the last ball, with two wickets and 37 runs still required, spoke to the fine margins at play in a title race - a six from Quincy Titterton would have meant an extra batting point for Cole’s defending champions. He only managed a single and Wallasey’s lead remained at 40 points.
The game’s first two hours belonged to Tom Sephton, who shrugged off a dicky hamstring to take 6/62 with a cocktail of arm balls and big turners. Once Jamie Crawley was hoodwinked by the flight into offering a return catch, the hosts succumbed to a series of ill-advised attempts to up the rate.
But at nine down, with Sephton hobbling and his colleagues dropping too short, Cole spread the field in anticipation of a big shot which never came. Wicketkeeper Jack Leckey and number 11 Chris Bourne found the gaps, pushed the singles and wrestled back control of the game with a stand of 64.
Bourne’s cry of frustration as he nicked Danny Wilson, seconds after Leckey had brought up a fine 50, hinted that he thought they’d left some runs out there.
“Jack and Bourney were fantastic,” said Beaver. “They got us into a position where we had a target to defend.
“Having batted on it, we knew even in the region of 130 we’d have something to bowl at.”
And in Sumit Ruikar - “the best cricketer in the league,” according to Cole, and “absolutely sensational,” in the words of Beaver - they had the perfect man to bowl at it.
Only the left-handed Andrew Clarke came close to getting to grips with him, on his way to a punchy 51 - when Ruikar had him held at leg slip to make it 95/6, the win was probably off the table.
Bourne played his second key supporting role of the afternoon with a long spell of cutters, and Ruikar finished with 5/61 - eight five-fors in nine matches, and 50 wickets already for the man from Nagpur.
But the last two wouldn’t fall, leaving the captains to pick through the positives.
Beaver said: “It was good to push them all the way to the end.
“We couldn’t get over the line, but it was important that we matched them points-wise, which was big going into the next few weeks.
“Obviously both teams went into it looking for the 25 points, but if you can’t win then you do your best to make sure you don’t lose.”
Cole added: “It’d have been nice to get them out for 100, then obviously it’s a different game.
“But in the end, it was important not to lose the game and lose track of them.
“At least now, we’re still within a couple of wins of them, and we’re going to have to play some good cricket for the rest of the year.”
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Only two results were possible in the ECB Premier Division as batters once again dominated proceedings.
The season’s tally of top flight centuries now stands at 29, from nine rounds of matches - in 11 full seasons since the change to three divisions in 2010, only three have seen a higher total after all 22 weekends.
Ormskirk skipper Gary Knight hit 111, backed up by 50s from George Politis and Harvey Rankin, to set up his side’s 22-run win over Southport & Birkdale. Jack Stanley made 88 in reply to the hosts’ 251/4, but Zahir Shehzad’s 5/99 carried the day.
Rainhill did it differently - nobody scored more than 39 in their 190/9 against New Brighton, which was nonetheless just enough for a 12-run win. Imliwati Lemtur took 5/67 to wrap it up, with Owais Shah’s 88 in vain.
Formby slipped to the bottom of the table despite racking up 264/3 at Birkenhead Park - Sam Oldham scored 135 and Calum Turner 111 in a stand of 243, but Tom Foster’s unbeaten 67 helped his side close on 209/8.
Newton-le-Willows’ Ben Walkden passed 50 for the fifth time in nine innings in his side’s 230/9 at Leigh; the hosts’ Matty Hurst scored 63 in response, but they could only reach 150/5.
Orrell Red Triangle’s Ammer Mirza (109*) and Richard Everett (105) put on 213 together to help their side to 246/1 at Wigan - but skipper Charles Taylor’s unbeaten 85 was just enough to help the hosts hold on at 149/9.
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Rainford skipper John Dotters kept up his staggering form with the ball, taking career-best 8/21 to take his Division One tally for the season to 49 and roll Spring View for 75.
The spinner’s haul included a hat-trick, after which he was able to put his feet up and watch his batters wrap up a nine-wicket win.
Leaders Lytham failed to win for the first time this season as Colwyn Bay’s last pair held out for a draw. Akash Vashisht’s 113 and Matt Taaffe’s unbeaten 71, in a partnership of 193, had helped the visitors to 256/4.
Liverpool are within nine points of the top spot after Afghan spinner Zohaib Zamankhail took 7/84 to wrap up a 15-run win over Caldy. Skipper Mark Wilkie’s 78 and Corne Nel’s 51 took the chase down to the wire, after Alastair Andrady’s 81 led the hosts to 241/6.
Ben Percival hit his maiden 1st XI century for Sefton Park as they piled on 281/3 against Fleetwood Hesketh. Percival’s 177 featured 28 fours and three sixes and was the highest individual knock in the Comp since 2017.
It didn’t lead to a win, though - Hesketh’s Rana Thakur and Fayaz Ughradar responded with 90 and 96* respectively as their side closed on 269/5.
Northop Hall’s Dhanosh Kaludewa took 5/35 to set up a five-wicket win over Firwood Bootle, who were dismissed for 180; and Ainsdale’s Muhammad Irfan was the star of their five-wicket victory over Highfield, with 6/53 followed by 56*.
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Alder earned their first win of the season in Division Two with a four-wicket triumph at Prestatyn. Greg Coogan and Mark Chappell took four wickets each to dismiss the Welsh side for 97.
Leaders Maghull claimed their eighth win from nine games so far, keeping St Helens Town at arm’s length of their total of 162 for a 41-run win.
Southport Trinity’s Salman Ahmed hit 108 to bring his side a seven-wicket win over Wavertree, after skipper Mark Prince’s 6/54 kept the visitors down to 148.
Half-centuries from Lewis Barnes and Danny Harrison carried Old Xaverians to a four-wicket win at Sutton, for whom Joe Smith hit an unbeaten 112 in their 202/9.
Norley Hall’s Michael Simpson was the matchwinner against Parkfield Liscard with 100 out of the visitors’ 230/5; Harsha Rajapaksha took 5/42 to wrap up the 121-run victory.
