Wallasey extend Rainhill's losing streak
Edmundson's defiant 59 not enough to avoid defeat
Wallasey 229-2 (Jamie Crawley 106, Daniel Beaver 100*; Imliwati Lemtur 2-82) Rainhill 162 (Ben Edmundson 59, Tyler McGladdery 30; Andrew Beaver 5-56)
Wallasey (25 pts) beat Rainhill (4 pts) by 67 runs.
Scorecard Rainhill's frustrating start to 2022 continued with a 67-run defeat at home to league leaders Wallasey.
Winning the toss, Rainhill elected to field. However, their bowlers found now way through the defences of Wallasey's opening pair of Jamie Crawley and Daniel Beaver who, having played themselves in, batted with increasing confidence. Crawley and Beaver put on 196 before Imliwati Lemtur finally made the breakthrough, taking his first wicket for the club when he dismissed Crawley for 106. Lemtur struck again to remove captain Greg Beaver for 4, but the visitors declared on 229-2 when Daniel Beaver reached his century. His ton had included 13 fours and came from 160 balls; by contrast Crawley's 106 came from 138 balls and included 7 sixes.
Rainhill's response started positively as openers Richie Forsyth (21) and Tyler McGladdery (30) put on 52 for the first wicket. Having weathered the storm and with Forsyth and McGladddery looking purposeful, it seemed that the chase was most definitely on. Unfortunately for Rainhill, Sumit Ruikar - Wallasey's professional, who clearly enjoys playing at Victoria Terrace - struck three times in a few minutes to dismiss not only the two openers but also Sam Kershaw. 52-0 quickly beame 57-3.
The situation got even worse when Imliwati lemtur was also out, caught by Ruikar off the bowling of Andrew Beaver. Captain Ben Edmundson (pictured) offered some resistance and a few quality shots, but no-one was able to stay with him for long. Batsmen came and went regularly as Ruikar (5-72) and Andrew Beaver (5-56) steered Wallasey towards possible victory.
That outcome was, however, far from inevitable. Simon Brown batted for 26 balls to score just 1. And, still, captain Edmundson stood firm. He passed 50 for the third time in four matches, hitting four boundaries. A draw was still possible and, in the circumstances, would have been a positive result. However, Edmundson's impressive innings was finally ended by Andrew Beaver, who managed to find the captain's pads. With the score on 134-9, all that stood between Wallasey and their third successive win were Peter Kelly and Jack Lowrie.
Kelly opted for stubborn defiance while Lowrie decided that attack was the best form of defence, hitting 3 fours in his 26-ball 22. It was a bold last-wicket partnership that not only added 28 runs to the total (something largely irrelevant) but threatened to deny the visitors the win. To Wallasey's relief they were not quite able to see out the match as Lowrie was stumped by Jack Leckey to give the leaders the victory.
Rainhill will look to secure their first win of the season when they travel to Ormskirk on Saturday.
Umpires: Steve Edwards, Ian Laurence
Scorers: Andrew Finney, Mike Bloomfield
Match ball sponsor: Black Swan Tax Advisers