Having been woken by the sound of rain thumping against my window around 5am, I was never massively confident that we would even get a chance to fulfil this fixture, so just the opportunity to get a run out was welcomed.

So, to the game. MCCC won the toss and elected to bat on what can only be described as a challenging pitch for the batsmen. Tom Maguire and Danny Newhouse opened up very nicely and for a long time the overs total read larger than the score.

Paul Owen and Tom Blake then took up the bowling mantle, and again were steady, with MCCC slowly building a score. Lewis Doyle and Ian Sharrock also put in solid bowling performances as MCCC managed to get to 149 all out.

As a team we did not bat brilliantly. From 100 for 3, this should have been a done deal, alas it was not. Graeme McGowan started the chase well with 42, including a straight six to get his seasons account underway! Dan Owen also added 30, but the rest of the order struggled with only Harry Cross and Lewis Doyle showing any real resistance. A couple of run outs at the end unfortunately saw us fall just 6 runs short.

Despite a seemingly negative result, we can take many positives from this fixture, not least of which, is that last year, the only game we lost, was the first we played! Here’s hoping for the same again this year!

Thank you again the Merseyside Cultural & Cricket Club for turning out for the fixture and giving us a great early season run out.

Matt Owen
2nd XI Captain