Birkenhead Park began the afternoon paying tribute to a teammate - they ended it by doing him proud with a stunning win over Northern.
On the near-anniversary of the death of opening batter Josh Downie, who collapsed during nets aged just 24 last year, Park earned their first win of the season in the ECB Premier Division.
“There was definitely an emotional atmosphere out there,” said captain Tom Foster after his side’s six-wicket triumph on a glorious sunny afternoon.
“We just said at the start, we wanted to go out and play good, hard cricket - like he would have wanted really.”
It was a newly promoted side against the unbeaten defending champions - but from almost the first ball, you wouldn’t have guessed which side was which.
After Foster chose to field first, Alex Baker, a seamer who measures 6’5” but looms even larger at the crease, started with a full toss outside off stump but from then on gave almost nothing away on a wicket offering plenty of bounce to even a bowler of standard height.
A mere 37 balls later, he’d taken 4/11 and Northern’s top order were all gone.
Their dismissals were all culpable - Andrew Clarke and Chris Laker aimed identical swishy drives at rare full deliveries - but at the same time owed much to the relentless accuracy of Baker and Alex Harris.
Foster said: “We thought there might have been a bit in the wicket early, so I backed the two seamers and they set the tone beautifully and bowled great areas.
“Baker was absolutely fantastic - he really is a difficult, awkward bowler and it’s nice seeing other people have to bat against him, because it’s hard in the nets.”
Liam Grey dug in with a self-denying 41 but, once the opening pair yielded to the spin of Safi Abdullah and Khalid Wahbi - Baker finishing with 4/24 - the runs dried up.
Pakistani left-armer Abdullah beat the bat more than his off-spinning counterpart, and was harder to get away.
But Wahbi created more chances and took 4/40 as caution - Northern spent five overs stuck on 62/5, and only reached their 100 in the 49th over - gave way to some ugly swipes from the tail.
Cole’s side have built much of their success over the past few years on their ability to pick themselves up off the canvas.
Defending 122 wasn’t going to be easy, but when both Grey and Aussie quick Quincy Titterton struck early on, the hosts were 18/2 and in danger of losing momentum.
But after settling in, Harris had other ideas, most of them slight variations on “whack the thing as hard as possible”. Danny Wilson’s first ball ended up on the pavilion steps; next over, from bended knee, the all-rounder lofted Tom Sephton half-way to the duckpond.
The tone was set once again. As a tactic, it was brutally effective - neither left-arm spinner could settle, and the outfield was slow and full of gaps as Cole sought wickets.
Harris took full advantage - another straight six off Wilson was followed by three in four balls off Sephton.
The biggest of the lot bounced off the pavilion roof - by the time he nicked Wilson to slip for 63, the chase was all but complete at 110/3 and Harris had plundered 48 runs in sixes. Northern hit 40 from boundaries in their whole innings.
Mark Rowland, who’d played a strong second fiddle to Harris, took centre stage and launched Sephton for consecutive sixes to level the scores - he holed out on the finish line for 53, but Sam Beardsworth’s slog-sweep for four did the rest.
“It’s just the way they play,” said Foster after Rowland and Harris’s match-defining onslaught, which yielded 92 runs in 17.4 overs.
“Alex hits it as big as anyone I’ve seen - we just back him to play his game, and give him the freedom to do what he wants.
“Mark has his own game plan and he went after them too - it was brilliant to watch.”
Wallasey are the only team in the Premier Division with a 100% record after their 67-run win at Rainhill.
Jamie Crawley (106) and Danny Beaver (100*) piled on 196, the highest opening stand in the division since 2011, to set up a total of 229/2; in reply, Ben Edmundson’s 59 offered the best hope of resistance, but Sumit Ruikar and Andy Beaver each helped themselves to five wickets to seal the win.
Afaq Ali Sartaj’s 6/34 set up Newton-le-Willows’ six-wicket win at Formby, who could only muster 134; Lancashire’s Jack Morley finished unbeaten on 53 in the chase.
Southport & Birkdale’s JJ Fielding hit his second century of the season at Wigan, but his 140 wasn’t enough to save his side from defeat as they fell just 13 runs short of the hosts’ 239/7, set up by half-centuries from John Richardson and Aaron Redmond.
Leigh’s county star, Mattie McKiernan, hit an unbeaten 91 to set up a total of 237/8 in a 121-run win over Ormskirk, for who Afghan spinner Zahir Shehzad took 5/74. Patrick Allan’s 5/24 ensured the visitors didn’t get close, despite George Lavelle’s 55.
Orrell Red Triangle were frustrated by New Brighton’s last pair as the visitors closed on 190/9, 21 runs shy of victory; Orrell’s Mark Waddington had top-scored with 96.
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Firwood Bootle earned their first win in Division One with a nine-wicket victory over Fleetwood Hesketh.
Seamer Jhangir Liaqat took 5/33 to restrict the visitors to 121; captain Danny Davies, released from football duties, finished unbeaten on 55 in the chase.
Liverpool’s Dan Clubbe continued his fine start to the season, taking 7/54 to roll Spring View for 105 and set up a seven-wicket win. Harry Watson anchored the chase with an unbeaten 54.
Skipper John Dotters took 6/56 in Rainford’s four-wicket win at Sefton Park. Home skipper Paul Horton hit 58 to lift his side from 86/8 to 138, but it still wasn’t enough.
Lytham managed 194/9 at Caldy despite no batter scoring more than 28; Josh Holden’s 5/18 wrapped up a 63-run win.
Half-centuries from Sion Morris and Luke Russell set up Colwyn Bay’s win over Ainsdale, who fell 101 runs short of the hosts’ 230/4.
Northop Hall opener Ben Slater hit 121 against Highfield, backed up by Will Higginson’s 56, but Ryan Hargreaves’ 73 helped frustrate the hosts and the game petered out to a draw.
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Wavertree earned a 62-run win at Prestatyn in Division Two thanks to 80 from Theo O’Brien, setting a total of 177/7, followed by 6/43 from Stewart Guy.
Maghull’s South African seamer Munowar Samsodien took 6/26 to roll Alder for 70 and seal a 127-run win; Liam Crilly had top-scored for the visitors with 56.
Sean Cragg’s 6/17 secured an 82-run win for Southport Trinity at Parkfield Liscard, who were dismissed for 54.
Half-centuries for Colin Parrott, Charlie Benson and Harsha Rajapksha helped Norley Hall post 207 at Old Xaverians; Rajapaksha then took 7/47 to help the visitors take flight with a 76-run win.
Sanjika Ridma was the star for Hightown St Marys, who beat Sutton by five wickets after Ridma’s 5/33 restricted the hosts to 131.
