Lancashire Cup final preview: Knight aiming for a wonder haul to banish memories of 2022

Ormskirk celebrate winning the Ray Digman Trophy

For a captain who wisely steers clear of social media discourse, it was quite the statement.

Sharing a tweet celebrating Ormskirk’s Ray Digman Trophy win, Gary Knight posted a video of an excitable Noel Gallagher after Oasis won three Brit awards in 1996.

“Am I happy with that?” Noel smirks. “No I’m not. I want MORE!”

It was a reference to the fact his side could end up with three gongs of their own this year, with the Lancashire Cup final on Sunday and three games left to nurse a 19-point lead over Northern in the league.

But it was also perhaps a sign that the usually stoical Knight still looks back in anger at Ormskirk’s last outing in the county showpiece, in 2022.

Defending their title against Longridge, the skipper’s old side, they could only manage 139/9 from their 45 overs, and succumbed to a six-wicket defeat.

And while not much has gone wrong since then, it’s clearly still an itch Knight wants to scratch.

“We feel like there’s a little bit of unfinished business from 2022,” he says.

“It was very close to home for me. But we’re buzzing to be back. Getting to three finals in four years is a real achievement.”

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The side which convincingly beat Burnley at Emirates Old Trafford in 2021 was similar to the one which fell short the following year – talented but raw, capable of great things and not-so-great things.

Knight’s response was to go out and recruit three experienced players in key areas; now he believes the side which will face Prestwich at Blackpool is among the strongest he has worked with.

Opening batter Calum Turner replaced the county-bound Taylor Cornall, left-arm spinner Toby Bulcock filled the Tom Hartley gap and all-rounder Sam Holden added power in both halves of the game.

Knight adds: “The sides we got to the last two finals with had loads of potential, but we were missing that bit of experience in certain moments, which cost us in 2022. 

“We had a couple of development years when I first became captain, and I made the decision to go out and recruit some experience. 

“Having that experience now in big moments, like we had on Sunday, it just shone through.

“We always want to find a balance and have that local pathway to the 1st XI, and we still have a big local presence in the 1st XI. 

“We don’t want to cross over to that percentage being too low. 

“But we needed a senior opening batsman when Taylor got his contract, so we went and got Calum; to be successful in this league and in club cricket, you need a left-arm spinner, so I went out and got arguably the best one not to have played county cricket, in Toby; and I’ve known Sam for years and he’s fit in perfectly.”

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Sunday’s opponents will hold little mystery. On one side is Holden, who played at Prestwich for nearly 20 years before joining Ormskirk; on the other is bowling all-rounder Ryan Maddock, who had a spell at Brook Lane sandwiched into his time at Northern.

Sam Kershaw, once a mainstay of Rainhill’s top order, will be another familiar face.

Prestwich suffered a surprising relegation from the top flight of the GMCL last year but have bounced straight back; as well as seeing off some good sides on the way to Blackpool, they reached the group final of the ECB National Knockout in June, where they faced Ormskirk.

Holden made 94 and Knight 87 as his side won comfortably – but the skipper insists that will have no bearing on Sunday.

“I don’t think we can be favourites,” he insists. 

“Some neutrals will be picking who they think is the strongest team, but it’s a pressure situation, it’s a neutral venue, it’s a different wicket to what both teams are used to. 

“It’s about who performs better on the day. 

“Prestwich are a really strong side and I’m under no illusions that we’ll have to play well.”

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As well as two actual cup finals, Ormskirk have a metaphorical one every Saturday too, as the Love Lane Liverpool Competition title race enters its closest home straight in years.

Only once in the past 10 seasons has the title been decided by fewer points than currently separate the top two; the average margin has been 44.5.

In all probability, the title will still be on the line when Ormskirk head to Moor Park on the final day – James Cole’s side face the bottom two in their other two games, while Knight’s men have a trickier trip to Formby on Saturday followed by a home game against third-bottom Birkenhead Park. 

It’s exhausting enough to write about, so who knows what it must be like in the middle. Knight reckons his side can gain an advantage from getting used to the urgency of every interaction, every decision, every shot.

He says: “Having cup finals in every league game has been really good preparation. 

“We’re batting under pressure, bowling under pressure every week so we’re not having to lift our game for Sunday when it comes round. 

“They’re the type of games we want to play in all season. These are good problems to have.

“This is the highest standard of club cricket in the country, one step above is professional cricket. 

“It’s why we all make sacrifices to play for Ormskirk.”

from Merseyside Cricket Online https://ift.tt/olGAQ2v