Lancashire Cricket Board: St Helens win T20 Big Bash

St Helens win T20 Big Bash
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Dipesh Asher on 14/09/2012 12:25:00

U16 Cricketers in Merseyside & South West Lancashire have enjoyed an exciting
finish to the season by taking part in the District T20 Competition.

The competition organised by the LCB and Merseyside & South West Lancashire
Cricket Development Group, had to be re-scheduled from July due to bad weather
earlier in the summer and eventually took place at Northern CC on Sunday 9th
September.
The 8 districts that make up the Development Area of Merseyside & South West
Lancs, were involved in the competition designed to give U16 Cricketers
competitive T20 District Cricket.
T20 Cricket is becoming a major part of local, national and indeed the global
game and this competition gives coaches and players the opportunity to develop
their skills, gaining valuable experience in a more demanding environment.
The four districts that went through to the semi-final stages were; Liverpool,
St Helens, West Lancashire and Sefton. These teams had progressed from the
Quarter Final stages of the competition having beaten Preston, Chorley,
Halton/Knowsley and Liverpool in locally organised fixtures.
St Helens played Liverpool on the main pitch with Liverpool winning the toss and
electing to bowl. St Helens got off to a good start with a partnership of 85
between Jo Noctor (55) and Harry Cross (46) which gave St Helens the platform to
post a good score of 145. Liverpool were in trouble early on losing a couple of
wickets and never got going with Liam Jenkins (3-0-14-3) and John Dotters
(4-0-10-1) taking control of the game leaving Liverpool 78 all out.
The second Semi Final saw West Lancashire play Sefton. Batting first West
Lancashire made an impressive 156-7 with James Dickinson top scoring with 58.
Ryan Williams (27) and Ben Jeffers (19) adding valuable support to James
ensuring West Lancashire had a good total to defend. The pick of the bowlers for
Sefton was Matthew Burridge with figures of 4-0-11-1. In response Sefton got off
to a good start with Nick Knight (41) leading the charge but it was Dickinson
with the ball this time who halted the run chase with brilliant figures of
(4-1-7-2). Alex Halsall (28) and James Robins (25) tried to get Sefton near to
the total but ended up 23 runs short.
So onto the Final, St Helens winning the toss and electing to bat. Jo Noctor
again starred with the bat making 78 off just 58 balls with again good support
from Harry Cross (24) and Jenkins, O’Toole and Brookhouse chipping in to make
a score of 152. Simpson was the pick of the West Lancashire bowlers with figures
of (4-0-22-2). West Lancashire got off to a steady start but kept losing wickets
at regular intervals, with Dickinson (15), Clarke (14) and Griffiths (13) all
making starts but not going on. Michael Jones tried to mount a comeback with
(21) but fell to the spin of John Dotters who was the pick of the bowlers
(4-0-17-2). West Lancashire couldn’t keep up with the run rate and could only
reach 96-8 at the end of the 20 overs.
Congratulations to the St Helens players who fully deserved to be crowned
Champions as they had showed how to bat at the top of the order and post a
total, then defending with clever changes in the field.
Chris Chambers (St Helens Cricket Development Coach)
Photo of Winners - St Helens
Back Row
Chris Chambers (Coach), Ste Gornall, Liam Jenkins, Jake Spedding, Will Tabern,
Jo Noctor, Alex Storey
Front Row
John Dotters, Frazier Brookhouse, Harry Cross (C), Liam O’Toole, Tom Nolan,
Shaun Hanley