Hightown suffered another narrow defeat at the weekend, this time to S&B

Jun 11 2009 Crosby Herald

Hightown suffered another narrow defeat at the weekend, this time to S&B

Hightown’s cricketers have finished on the losing side for the second week running, again missing out by just one wicket.

With high hopes of banishing last week’s agonising defeat to Fleetwood Hesketh, Ian Sutcliffe’s team made the short journey to Southport and Birkdale’s Trafalgar Road ground and found themselves batting first in the cool, overcast conditions.

After a good start, Hightown were well placed at 50 for 1, before Shaun Vosloo (27) was bowled by James Dixon.

This was the start of a dramatic collapse, although Guy Edwards (22) and the skipper Sutcliffe (18) made reasonable contributions.

Unfortunately the remaining batsmen’s scores read like the proverbial telephone number and, when Hightown reached a disappointing 118 all out, they needed more than just directory enquiries.

Emergency support came in the form of overseas player Ashok Thakur, whose 3 for 44 made a good impression.

Andrew Warhurst (3 for 19) also made early inroads and when the home side were 34 for 6, it looked as if Hightown might pull off an unlikely victory.

But like last week, stubborn tail end resistance thwarted them and Southport’s last pair sneaked over the line after 36 overs.

In a remarkable turn of events, Hightown's second team lost to St Helens Recs but were awarded the match after it was revealed the opposition fielded three ineligible players.

The game itself was a close affair, with Recs claiming victory by one wicket, but a subsequent check revealed the administrative error and Hightown were duly confirmed as winners the following day.

It was a good job too, for they were struggling at 128 for 7 before Jason Salleh (26) and Nick Gordon (26 not out) led a recovery to 176 for 8 declared.

Jonny Walsh (3 for 29) and David Maskell (3 for 28) took out the first six wickets, but despite further success for Andy Hughes, John Lovett and Stephen Wright, they could not finish the visitors off and were second best on the day.

On Friday last week, Hightown also progressed in the national Cockspur 20 over cup, defeating Rainford by eight runs.

This weekend the 1st team host Prestatyn, while the seconds travel to Old Xaverians.

The third team are back in action with a trip to Ainsdale.