A thrilling finish at Northern saw the defending champions and New Brighton both held up just shy of the line.
Owais Shah’s 127 carried the Wirral side to within a whisker of their target of 241; at 233/6, needing eight runs from the last eight balls, they were hot favourites.
But Danny Wilson struck with consecutive balls, and Tom Sephton wrapped up his 60th first XI five-for by having Louis Botes held off the second ball of the last over.
