It’s been a tough week for the city, and for Merseyside cricket.
But while some tragedies are beyond the scope of a silly bat-and-ball game, the same can’t be said of the plight of Paul McKenna.
The popular and much-loved captain of Maghull lies seriously ill in a Mexican hospital, having suffered a suspected stroke on the last day of a family holiday.
In the space of a few days, a fund set up to help his family has topped £30,000 - including a £500 donation from the Love Lane Liverpool Competition.
And clubs around the region have offered up their match fees from this weekend's games to the cause.
Sefton Park, one of McKenna’s former clubs, is playing host to the Alex Miller Cup on Sunday, organised by Opening Up CC in memory of the club’s former wicketkeeper, who took his own life in 2012.
In a case of one good turn inspiring another, Opening Up says every penny taken in kit sales on the day will be matched by a sponsor and donated to McKenna’s fund.
These, and countless other acts of kindness and charity around the region, are a sign of the esteem in which ‘Mash’ is held in the cricketing family. We want him back, safe and well; this city can’t take another heartbreak.
Sefton skipper Paul Horton was away playing for Lancashire during McKenna’s time at the club, but he’s seen first-hand the impact this week has had on those who know him.
He said: “Like other clubs in the Liverpool Comp, we’ll follow suit with a donation.
“A lot of the guys know him personally, and they’ve been very upset by it.
“We as a club are doing everything we can to support him, and hope he gets better.”
Liverpool captain Matty Jackson, whose side make the short journey to Croxteth Drive tomorrow for a Division One derby clash, added: “I’ve known Mash for years.
“I couldn’t believe it when someone messaged me to tell me the news.
“We’re going to make a donation as a club from this weekend, and I guess it’s a cliche but everyone’s thinking about Mash, hoping he stays strong and comes back to us quickly.”
A cricket match might seem trivial - but then again, that’s kind of the point. Liverpool head into the game in fourth position, still just about in touch with the promotion places on the home straight of a curious season.
Nine wins from their first 11 games left them top of the table, but they haven’t tasted victory since July 2.
A gap of 34 points isn’t insurmountable if they can recover their early season form; Jackson is just happy to reflect on the progress over the past 12 months.
He said: “At this point last season, we still needed to pick up a win or two to stay up.
“We didn’t think about promotion early on - we just wanted to improve and keep moving in the right direction.
“In that respect, it's been very successful.
“We don't feel like there's any pressure on us at all. We just wanted to move in the right direction, and we've already done that, so it’s already a successful season.
“We got ourselves into that position where we were top of the table but we knew July and August meant Colwyn Bay twice, Lytham, Rainford - all teams who are in that conversation as well.
“We knew we weren’t going to keep winning every week, we were quite realistic about that.
“Maybe we haven’t quite had the run of form that we’d hoped for, but in terms of where we’re at in the bigger picture, it’s been a really successful season.”
Before last weekend, Sefton were unbeaten in 10 since their five-wicket defeat in the reverse fixture on June 4. That run came crashing down at Caldy, where Horton’s side were dismissed for just 58 in a 10-wicket defeat.
The skipper said: “It was our worst day of cricket this season, but I wouldn’t make too much of it.
“We just didn’t come to terms with a tricky wicket.
“But we’ve had a positive, progressive season from where we were last year.”
It’s been a season of consolidation and wound-licking after a tough year in the Premier Division. But the performances of young players such as wicketkeeper-batter James Stirling and all-rounder Leo Spilsbury have given Horton plenty of reasons to be cheerful.
He added: “They’re getting better and better, the more opportunities they get in the first team, and they’ve got a lot of cricket ahead of them.”
Sefton currently sit seventh in the table, a position Horton would like to see improve over the remaining four games.
He said: “I think if we finish with a couple of wins at the back end, we will probably be happy.
“If we finish in the top six rather than the bottom six, I think that's probably a positive season for us.
“We’ve been a little bit unlucky with the weather the last couple of weeks - if a few games had gone for us then we might be a bit higher.
“We’ve beaten Lytham away, and we’ve beaten Colwyn Bay at home - I think they’re potentially the two teams that will go up, so that shows we can compete with the best teams in this league.”
Regardless of context, both captains know Sefton v Liverpool is always a big game with plenty of pride at stake.
Jackson said: “As soon as the fixtures came out, we checked when we were playing Sefton.
“I love playing there, and it’s a great fixture for us to just go out and have a crack at.”
Horton added: “I didn’t play in the return fixture at Liverpool and a few other players were missing for that game as well, so it’ll be a different team from the one that lost to them.”
If you’re able to donate to the appeal for Paul McKenna, you can do so here.
