Langley's 1 Wicket Win Hand The 1's Their First Loss of The Season

HMCC- 190ao off 41.2 overs

Langley 191-9 off 37.4 overs

Langley win by 1 wicket.

Looking to make it 6 from 6 Mersey travelled to the picturesque ground of Langley CC. Skipper T. Laverty lost the toss and Langley elected to bowl first.

Unfortunately, both J Barnetts fell early much to the dismay of John Barnett Snr who arrived just minutes too late to see their dismissals (TFC). John Moon managed to score 21 in his final innings for Mersey before returning to his homeland for the Summer months. His demise brought Craigo to the crease who was immediately given out LBW.

Thankfully, Alishan (50) built a steady much needed innings along with former Captain Marshall (75) who produced a superb knock under the circumstances to give his team hope. Mersey set the opposition 191 to win which on a tiny ground looked a difficult task.

Langley got off to a flyer with their big hitting South African (not Australian) doing all the damage despatching the ball to the surrounding sheep fields with ease. The game looked to be slipping away quickly but, once again, Marshall had other ideas bowling a superb spell of 11-1-43-5.

This kept Mersey hopes alive and when the return of H Rashid to the attack brought the wicket of Langleys main man M Nicholls (77). A victory started to look on the cards and with Langley later reduced to 177-9 a victory looked almost guaranteed.

It was at this point Merseys depleted attack started to show with usual tail cleaner C. Shirley nursing a side strain, Shirly Moose at home with the sniffles and shouts of get loose Barno ignored by the skipper. Langley were able to milk the required 14 runs with relative ease.

The boys showed great fight throughout the day and this experience although painful will help us moving forward this season for sure.

Once again well played Alishan and Luke and best of luck to John Moon for the rest of the year in Cornwall. Thank you also to our scorer Ol and the travelling support from Dave, Charlie, Ainscough x2 and, our most loyal, John Barnett snr.