By Bill Slinger
The Birchall Cup 20/20 Finals Day took place on Bank Holiday Monday at Salesbury, with Salesbury, Brinscall, Earby and Padiham making the Finals Day.
Thanks to the hard work of the Salesbury Ground Staff, the first semi-final between Brinscall and Earby started on time. However, the predicted rain came in and the match was reduced to 15 overs per side. Brinscall batted first and posted a rain interrupted 105-4. In reply, Earby were always ahead of the game and ended up passing the required total with two overs to spare.
In the second semi-final, Salesbury scored an impressive 152-6 off their 20 Overs. However, for long periods of the Padiham reply this looked like it would not be enough. The match went into the last over and if fact the last ball, with all three results still possible, but needing 4 runs for a tie, Padiham scored 2 and end up two short of the Salesbury total.
In the Final, in front of a sizeable crowd, Salesbury batted first and were restricted to 122-9, which looked well within Earby’s capabilities. However, they lost several early wickets and despite some late runs in the fading light ended on 97-9 giving Salesbury victory by 25 runs.
The Umpires, Kevin Boyle, Dave Ashurst and John Pearson did an excellent job, dealing with the weather and getting three matches in on the same day.
The trophy was presented to the Salesbury Captain, Charlie O’Mahoney.
Best wishes,
Bill
