2007 v Ainsdale 3rd ( home )

15th September 2007

What a strange end of season game this was!

The opposition's captain Norman Owers, having batted first every game, wanted to complete the season. With winning the toss, Maghull gave him his wish asking Ainsdale to bat.

This was a very sad day as Russ Ellis, the Parkhaven groundsman since our transfer to Parkhaven, played his last game for the Club due to knee problems. Also Mike Hagan skipper of the 4 th xi since the team commenced in 1992, was captaining the team for the final time, though he hopes to play on in 2008.

Ainsdale made short shrift of the bowling, losing their first wicket at 55 but powering on to a much unexpected declaration of 150 for 1 wicket after just 34.4 overs. So the Maghull skipper was thwarted, having anticipated 45 overs, by being unable to bowl Adam Smith, Olly Charles and Vic Tuffley.

With Maghull due to receive about 60 overs there was always going to be a result.

The old guard of Ellis and Hagan opened with the skipper determined to make it one of his biff bang games and so chase the ball. So it was that on 29 he departed having scored 20. Russ Ellis looked far too rusty and succumbed for 5, a disappointing end to an illustrious career!

Batting at number 3 Joey Walters proved that all that was said last week was true with an effortless and classy 44 not out. Once he grows bigger he will be challenging his brother Paul.

Joey was admirably supported by John Miller, the Old Hall groundsman, supporting his Parkhaven colleague. Sadly John reminded us he plays far too few games making the only 6 of the innings into the duck pond!

The return of the vice captain Nick Pearson to the team brought better solidity to the mid team batting, reaching double figures, while the chameleon Sepetowski had one of his better days ending on 19 not out to see the team home with the loss of 5 wickets in 45.5 overs.

So suddenly it was all over and another season had passed.

Next season is in the melting pot, and much depends on who steps forward to take on the 4 th team mantle. Though I suppose there are few like me who can truly say “4 th team until I die”!

Mike Hagan

3 rd Team Are Champions 

We finally did it on the last day of the season.

Wavertree won the toss and decided to bat, which they had to, to obtain the minimum 23pts they needed to catch us.

Every two wickets that fell meant that Wavertree needed another batting point .

We welcomed back Chris Barry, who with his brother Gaz opened the bowling.

Gaz struck early in his spell getting the opener caught by Mark Jones (yes I did catch one). The Wavertree number three tried to push the scoring along but when he was trapped LBW by Chris the game was effectively up for the home side.

We all looked at each other as they continued to block out without taking any chances.

Change bowlers Mark Whelan and Warren Lee bowled superbly and when Wavertree lost their sixth wicket the title was ours.

A bit of an anti climax to win it like that but it felt good nonetheless.

Wavertree continued to baffle us by batting past the forty five overs eventually declaring on 166 for 7.

The bowling and fielding performance was one of the best of the season with Jones, Lloyd and Parkinson all making up for poor fielding last time out.

Our openers Jimmy Munn and myself, soon got down to business chasing the runs and knocked up 57 off 11 overs before Munn perished to an excellent catch at mid off.

John Comer came in and together with myself increased the run rate with a partnership if 95 of just 13 overs, Comer caught at long on for 56.

With the game now almost won Maghull lost Warren Lee without scoring, but Mark Whelan came to the crease to hit two fours and two singles to win the game of just 28 overs. Jones ending on 73 not out.

A great win that showed we were the best team in the league. In the words of Mark Whelan, “we just played the second best and s?£t all over them.”

It was a marvellous effort by the boys throughout the season and I'd like to thank everyone who played for the thirds this year.

V Maghull 4ths (h)
8th September 2007

Munn and Whelan Star as 4ths Put Up Determined Effort

In a tighter game than many expected, we ran out comfortable winners in the end.

The 4th team won the toss and batted first on what looked a good pitch.
Youngster Joey Dunn opened with Mike Hagan and the proved difficult to remove and had a good partnership until Hagan was caught at extra cover by Warren Lee. Lee was moved there just for that purpose, although nobody except the myself and Warren noticed.

The bowlers put everything into the game with little luck and they weren’t helped by all the dropped catches (8) but there was no need to panic at this stage!!
Mike Cummins jnr made up for the poor fielding of the rest of his team with 2 run outs and a catch and should be a valued member of the team on a more regular basis next season.
Jimmy Munn came into the attack replacing Declan and soon got among the wickets taking 6 for 20 against some less than patient batting.
Warren Lee bowled well once again as did Declan and it was good to see Mark Whelan back in the fold.
The 4th Team ended on 108 all out.

The 3’s innings didn’t get off to the best of starts, with myself getting bowled by Sepo for a duck.
John Comer came to the crease to join Jimmy Munn and tried to push the score along but fell miss timing the ball to mid on.
Mark Whelan steadied the ship along with a subdued Munn until Jimmy departed hitting a full toss to mid off.
Craig Parkinson came and went bringing Mike Cummins snr. to the middle. The score was pushed along together with Whelan and the target was reached without further loss.

Another win but we’ll have to improve next week if we’re to beat Wavertree to the tile.
We’ll need to play to or best.

25 points

Mark Jones

V Northern 6 (a)
1 st September

Comer Turns Off Northern Lights

That's it folks the 3 rd as are promoted.

Well we think so anyway, as the league tables don't get updated on a regular basis.

By my calculations we are well clear of third place and 22pts clear of second, so we are still on course for the title with 2 games left one of them against Wavertree

The game against Northern was well won in the end against a far from full strength team.

John Comer

Northern won the toss (surprise) and put us in. Jones & Munn made a reasonable, if slow, start against some good bowling. Munn departed for 26 caught at cover. Jones battled on at a snails pace for him, and was joined by John Comer who also struggled at the start of his innings. When Jones was out for 21 in came Joel Barlow who was out first ball, followed by Declan Devine who made just 5. Next in was Coach Dutton, who played a good supporting role to John Comer, who went on to get 64 before squirting one to point.

Mike Cummins, playing only his second game in five years, was next at the crease and with Coach Dutton's help pushed the score past the 150 mark in the final overs, to leave Maghull on 166 for 5 of 45 overs.

Over all a good score on a wicket that proved difficult to get runs on.

Northern started slowly against Devine and Gaz Barry, and tried to push the score along. They lost wickets on a regular basis though (would have been more regular if the skipper could catch), and were soon in trouble. Eventually the were bowled out for 130 with Warren Lee(2wkts) and guest player Terry Comer (3wkts) also bowling well.

It was good to get promoted with two games left, now we need to concentrate on winning the title.

Mark Jones

V Caldy 4 (h)
25th August 2007

Very disappointed to get a phone call Friday afternoon from the Caldy skipper saying the match was off.

Caldy were unable to get enough players or cars to come to Maghull.

That means that we get 24pts for the game which is one point less than we might have got. Hopefully that will not affect our title chances come September.

If every other team around us in the table win their remaining matches we need another 40pts to get promotion from 3 games.

V Birchfield Park

11 th August

At Parkhaven

Six Wickets from Devine Gives BIRCHfield a Good Thrashing

Another win for the 3rds that edges them closer to promotion this season.

Having won the toss yet again, Mark Jones invited Birchfield to bat on what looked a good pitch.

Gaz Barry

Opening par Gaz Barry (9-3-15-3) and Declan “Fagan” Devine (11-3-30-6) bowled tight from the start against some aggressive hitting from one of the Birchfield openers. The aggression was short lived though with Declan getting the first wicket caught at mid-off by Warren Lee. Gaz conjured up some interesting deliveries to dismiss the other opener and the collapse started.

Some fine fielding from Maghull, especially Adam Cummings and Joel Barlow added to Birchfield's woes and they were finally bowled out for 53 off just 20 overs.

Craig Parkinson

With veteran opener Jimmy Munn away on holidays, Craig Parkinson stepped up to fill the spot. Craig batted well, and even though he gave a couple of chances, he played a patient innings. Together with Jones he managed to reach Birchfiels total without loss.

Today's win was one of the most satisfying of the season with several regulars out for one reason or another. The boys who came in did a great job and will be high on the list for selection next week.

That win keeps us top of the table for another week and with just four games to go we must be in with a good chance of promotion.

V Ainsadale
At St. Mary’s Old Boys
4th August

Another great team effort saw Maghull home again in this top of the table clash.

The skipper won the toss for the second week running and asked Ainsdale to bat on an uneven pitch at a windy Hightown.

Declan Devine and Gaz Barry both bowled long opening spells of 23 and 17 overs respectively and tied down the Ainsdale batsmen with some accurate well controlled deliveries.

Gaz Barry

Chris Barlow

Chris Barlow took over wicket keeping duties quite early on in the innings as John Comer injured himself attempting a run out. Chris did brilliantly behind the stumps and says he'd like to do it again in the future. Johno (pictured) had to leave the field for 15 mins to receive hospital treatment but gallantly returned to fielding duties and took a sharp catch at point to remove the Ainsdale captain at a vital point in the match. Ainsadle batted slowly to 120 for 6 dec leaving Maghull 43 overs to knock them off. During the tea interval Dutton gave an exhibition on how not to eat BBQ ribs. Getting sauce all over his face and whites, in a display of eating unrivalled this season.

After tea, Munn and Jones soon started to knock off the runs with a reasonable opening partnership before Jones was brilliantly caught at cover driving at a full toss for 8.

This brought Chris Barlow to the crease and he carried on the good work with some well timed shots all around the wicket. Chris eventually holed out at deep square for 22.

Jimmy Munn followed soon afterwards for an excellent 46, given out LBW by his fierce rival and opening partner.

John Comer came in at No.4 and soon started to set about the bowling despite losing the use of one complete side of his body. He even suggested having a runner at one stage.

After a tentative first over where he survived some close LBW decisions, Comer knuckled down. Some lovely straight driving pushed the score along and despite losing a couple of partners Johno (31n.o.) saw us home together with Adam Lloyd who hit the winning runs with 6 overs remaining of the last 20.

This win puts Maghull thirds well clear of Ainsdale at the top of the table and will go a long way to securing the coveted prize of promotion.

In the words of Ritchie Beneau, “Marvellous effort that”. “In fact a marvellous effort all round”

Maghull won by 4 wkts