As the ball rolled out of the car park and into Mortuary Lane, New Brighton seemed dead and buried.
Formby’s Ian Cockbain had just launched Seb Botes clean over the pavilion for the biggest of his seven sixes on the way to 162*, a brutal and brilliant onslaught which threatened to put the ECB Premier Division game beyond the hosts.
Though it may have felt like an act of mercy at the time, Calum Turner’s decision to call a halt at 260/3 from 51 overs was a pragmatic one. Four more overs and they’d have been beyond 300, and Cockbain closing in on a double - but the pitch was true and the outfield flat, and creating 10 chances wouldn’t be easy.
