Bootle will have to stop Hey to progress in cup

May 17 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

THOSE who believe that the top division of the Business Assistance Liverpool Competition plays some of the very best cricket in the country must explain a notable gap in its Curricuum Vitae – no club from the Competition has yet appeared in a national knock-out final.

Sides from the Middlesex League, the Surrey Championship and the Birmingham League have all graced Lord’s, but the nearest a Competition team has managed was in 1974 when Southport and Birkdale lost a semi-final to Sunbury-on-Thames.

Last year, both Lytham and Northern reached the last 16, only to succumb to Nottingham outfit, West Indian Cavaliers, and Leicestershire side, Kibworth, respectively. So a clutch of Merseyside teams will be aiming to go at least three stages further towards St John’s Wood when the Cockspur Cup gets going in earnest on Sunday.

Match of the day is at Wadham Road where Firwood Bootle take on Bowdon in a contest which would grace a far later stage of the competition and which should also feature the return of Carl Hey to the league whose run-scoring record he broke last September.

Hey’s former team-mates at Northern travel to Wallasey with Moor Park skipper Phil Cooper hoping that the close-season acquisition of Western Australian batsman Michael Johnson on a “rookie contract” will boost his side’s chances.

“We were looking for a young overseas cricketer with a British passport and Michael fitted the bill,” explained Cooper. “He’s a very good player who I believe will do increasingly well as the season wears on and the wickets get firmer.”

The departure of both Hey and the Lancashire all-rounder Steven Mullaney, added to the absence of John Wildman through illness, have made this summer what Cooper views as “a season of opportunity” for players such as opening bowler Michael Jones and all-rounder Jack Boardman.

“Jack didn’t have the easiest of starts but he batted very well for his 43 not out in our draw at Bootle last Saturday,” said Cooper. “He’s only 16-years-old and in future seasons I’m sure we’ll see the benefits of promoting him to the first-team.”

Jones, who will aim to celebrate his 25th birthday with a sheaf of wickets at the Kevin McCullagh Oval on Sunday, has been promoted from Northern’s second team and proved his ability to cope with the pressures of top level league cricket when he took six for 12 against New Brighton on Bank Holiday Monday.

That win was one of three which has seen the Moor Park side climb to third in the Premier League, 47 points shy of leaders Ormskirk.

“It’s gone pretty well,” reflected Cooper, “We could have won against Bootle last Saturday – it was a generous declaration by Ian Cockbain – and I’ve been pleased with the application the players have shown.”

“Nick Woods has performed well and both the Cole brothers have batted very capably,” he added, although the veteran skipper remained cautious about his team’s chance of silverware this summer.

“We’ll just keep on doing what we’re doing,” he insisted. “It will be difficult but if we play with determination, we’ll win more than we’ll lose. Southport and Birkdale and New Brighton are other young teams and I think we’re in the same boat as them.”

TODAY Business Assistance Liverpool Competition ECB Premier League: Bootle v Ormskirk, Colwyn Bay v Lytham, Fleetwood Hesketh v Northern, Hightown v Wallasey, Maghull v Formby, New Brighton v Southport and Brikdale, St Helens Recs v Prestatyn.