Firwood Bootle - V - St. Annes

Sunday 14th September 1997
Thwaites LCB Trophy Final

FIRWOOD BOOTLE

ST ANNES

Baptiste Shines as St Annes lift prize at Old Trafford

THE straight six with which Neil Bradley contemptuously concluded last Sunday's Lancashire Cup final embodied how much St. Annes enjoyed their first day out at Old Trafford.

Liverpool Competition leaders Bootle couldn't keep up with them. St. Annes ran the show for all bar ten overs to win by seven wickets with 3.1 of the 45 overs untapped. Only a belated rush gave something to bowl at in the form of 174 for four, which posed no threat with professional Eldine Baptiste dedicated to playing the star role on the big stage.

The former West Indies Test all-rounder, who had previously won the county proze with Kendal, cut out all the frills and flamboyance to be there at the end.

Bootle were back-pedalling virtually from the moment they won the toss as skipper Brian Tennant borrowed the strike bowler billing off Baptiste. He whipped out Cheshire Minor Counties men John Hitchmough and John Bean with only 26 scored.

St. Annes' bowling was a whole new ball game after the wretched waywardness which set up Morecambe for the Northern League's Vaux Bitter Cup a week earlier.

Off-line deliveries could be counted on one hand by the time the Merseysiders were reduced to 56 for four in 29 overs. Slow left-armers Ian Critchley and John Cotton compunded the meanness of the mainstream seam trio with a wicket apiece.

Sheet-anchor skipper Ian Cockbain found an ally with aggressive notions in Tony Molloy. Critchley and Cotton had their figures dented with thundering sixes into the Warwick Road seating, and Adrian Darlington was ent soaring into the same vicinity three times in the first two overs of his second spell. The burly Molloy struck two of them, Cheshire captain Cockbain the other.

Ninety came off the closing ten overs, and Cockbain and Molloy were acclaimed as if potential matchwinners by Bootle's boisterous but inoffensive fan club at the end of a 66 minutes alliance worth 117.

Disciplined Baptiste paced out St. Annes reply perfectly. There was nothing fancy or risky from him until victory was close by. His 165 minutes' occupation brought 128 balls faced and ten boundaries.

His four partners got time enough in the middle to make their day.

Darlingtonhelped build a reasonable platform of 33 inside 13 overs before nagging slow left-armer Ian Cockbain tempted him to chip a simple catch to brother Mick at midwicket.

Impetuosity also cost young Chris Harrison his wicket at 68 in the 20th over whereupon Russ Bradley copied Baptiste in waiting the right ball to hit while 69 were added. He departed lbw aiming to sweep spinner Gary Pike, who swiftly suffered the agony of seeing Jamie Keegan at deep midwicket drop Baptiste off a sitter.

Baptiste was content to let Russ's brother Neil make the running to the tape. Six overs and 26 minutes was all it required for the 40 runs in the pair's partnership.

© 2005 St Annes CC and Lytham St Annes Express.