First XI
Sefton Park 210 for 9 dec. (55 overs)
C Bellis 55, P Horton 55, B Percival 36
Old Xaverians 46 all out (20.4 overs)
J Dixon 6 for 24, H Zubair 3 for 20
Sefton Park won by 164 runs
Third XI
South Liverpool 37 all out
N Karyab 5 for 14, S Rustom 3 for 0
Sefton Park 38 for the loss of no wickets (9.3 overs)
Sefton Park won by 10 wickets
Fourth XI
Sefton Park 70 all out
A Aitchison 16
Ormskirk 71 for 5
I Dawes 2 for 12, S Khan 2 for8
Ormskirk won by five wickets
There are no apologies for starting this week's report with the remarkable performance by the Third XI
To win their league, they probably needed a win against third placed side South Liverpool on the Lower Ground. The visitors won the toss and decided to bat first.
Against Sefton's opening attack of Ronan Brady and Naimat Karyab, they were soon in trouble. An early LBW for Ronan was followed by two wickets in consecutive balls for Naimat Karyab with the score on five. The fourth, fifth and sixth wickets went as a hat trick to Naimat. A small recovery then took place as the visitors put on 17 for the seventh wicket but Sarhad Rustom came on to clear up the tail, taking 3 for 0. South Liverpool were all out for 37 in 23.4 overs.
In reply Alex Woods scored 30 not out and James Daniels 7 not out to enable Sefton to win by 10 wickets in 9.3 overs.
So the League was won, a remarkable performance by the Third XI and their captain Charles Daniels. This is a league that contains what are effectively four first XIs who finished in the next four places in the league. To add to this, there are the third XIs of clubs like Northern and Ormskirk who have such outstanding first XIs - it is a truly excellent achievement and the Third XI's first Championship since Iwan Williams' famous double winners of 2013.
(Above) The Third XI's first wicket is an LBW for Ronan Brady
(Above) A Paul Morris catch for the first wicket in Naimat Karyab's hat trick
(Above) James Daniels celebrates taking the catch that completes Naimat's hat trick
The First XI finished their season knowing that they would finish seventh in the First Division
as they welcomed local rivals Old Xaverians to Sefton Park.
Sefton won the toss and decided to bat first.
There was a stand of 63 between Ben Percival (36) and Chris Bellis for the first wicket with Chris going on to score 55 before he was third out with the score on 129. Skipper Paul Horton also scored 55 and was able to declare on 210 for 9 in 55 overs..
In reply Old Xavs put on 12 for the first wicket and then 12 for the second but that was about as good as it got as they were dismissed for 46 in 20.4 overs.
Jimmy Dixon finished with 6 for 24, Huzaifa Zubair 3 for 20.
(Above) Ben Percival scored 36 for the First XI in the win over Old Xaverians
(Above) Chris Bellis scored 55
(Above) Paul Horton scored 55
The Fourth XI, still looking for a win travelled to play Ormskirk's Thirds.
Sefton batted first on an apparently very poor wicket. They were dismissed for 70 with Andy Aitchison top scoring with 16.
In reply Ormskirk lost 5 wickets in passing the Sefton total with Ian Dawes taking 2 for 12 and Shadab Khan 2 for 8.
As the season has now finished I must praise Jo Ledbury for the excellent job he has done as skipper of the Fourth XI, Despite not winning, he has chased after players to put out full sides that will be strong in the division below where they will play next year. The hardest job in the club is probably the Fourth XI captain.
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