1st Team vs Liverpool CC, 1st XI

It’s probably fair to say that Southport and Birkdale’s preparations for the start of the league season continued on Saturday when they played Liverpool.

The slight problem with this, however, was Dean Skelton’s team was playing their first-round match in the Ray Digman Trophy and their rustiness was exposed by competitive, capable opponents who secured a deserved five-wicket victory.

Come late September, of course, this result will almost certainly not loom heavily over any post-season review.

Nevertheless, as Australian batsman, Raunak (Ronnie) Roy, adjusts to his first summer in England and new signing, Muhammad Kashif, settles into life at Trafalgar Road, there were simple lessons for Skelton’s players to relearn about the importance of valuing your wicket and not giving opposing batsmen easy runs.

Those elementary principles help to explain why S&B lost a game in which they posted a total about 30 runs worse than par before presenting Liverpool’s opening pair Alex Rankin and Jared Clein with the opportunity to rattle up 61 in less than ten overs.

In such circumstances, defending even 220 would have been tough. As it was, Liverpool breezed home with 22 balls to spare, David Harrison adding an unbeaten half-century to his four wickets on an afternoon when S&B’s players were reminded how difficult First Division cricket will be. On this evidence, Liverpool are likely to be among the promotion contenders.

There were, though, good things that Skelton could take from his second match as S&B’s first-team skipper. The most obvious is that he has a far stronger team than he envisaged leading in say, late November.

New signings Fraser Hill and Seb Rice will clearly strengthen the middle-order batting in addition to offering useful options with the ball. Kashif will have a far greater influence on matches when he is allowed to bowl more than 20% of the overs. And Tom Crew has clearly benefitted from the intensive training available to him at Leeds University.

S&B’s team on Saturday boasted at least six reliable bowlers and 11 players who could, at the very least, hold a bat. Blending those talents into a team will be one of Skelton’s prime responsibilities over the first month of a league season which begins with a stern test at Highfield on Saturday.

But the skipper cannot do it on his own. Which rather brings us to David Snellgrove.

In addition to the clutch of young players in this year’s team, Skelton also has a group of senior cricketers to whom he can turn for counsel. Among them are Kashif, Hill and despite his relative youth, Tom Crew.

But Snellgrove comes into a different category, as was proved on Saturday, when his patient 70 allowed S&B to post a total that should have been defendable. On top of which, the all-rounder’s fitness allows him to bowl some deceptively gentle overs of off spin and his athleticism in the field shames some cricketers half his age.

Snellgrove’s presence in the side, his alertness and bottomless enthusiasm for cricket, should be an enormous help to Skelton as he negotiates the next few months. His qualities should also offer a master-class to his younger team mates i.e. everybody, as to how they should approach the game.

It is going to be a fascinating few months and, almost needless to say, Skelton and his players would welcome as much support as possible while they strive to do themselves and the club proud.