Merseyside Cricket Online Division Two Team of 2024… PLUS title-winning skipper Matt White on Hightown St Marys promotion

Hightown St Marys are keen to avoid the “dreaded yo-yo” as they look forward to life in Division One.

Confirmed as Division Two champions midweek thanks to Whitefield playing an unregistered player in the penultimate game, skipper Matt White was able to relax in their season-closer at Northop Hall.

“I used all 11 bowlers,” he said.

“It is hard work, captaining – I live about an hour away from Hightown so it’s nice to put my feet up for a bit. 

“I think the lads are looking forward to a couple of months off, then get cracking with winter nets and get ready for next year.”

Hightown’s successful season was built on the top-order runs of Matt Laybourne and the wickets of the skipper himself, who took 61 at 11.20.

White knows they will need more consistent run-makers in the second tier, saying of Laybourne: “It was a shame nobody could stick around with him, quite often he was the one man. He was outstanding.

“We managed to defend some quite low scores, but moving to next season it is an area we’re looking to strengthen, to try to improve our own performances. 

“We can’t rely on trying to defend low scores in Division One. 

“We played a couple of Prem teams in T20 games and it didn’t go very well, but the year before we acquitted ourselves really well against some higher-up teams. 

“We’re looking for maybe one or two additions, then we’re really confident we can do well next season and stave off the dreaded yo-yo.”

Love Lane Liverpool Competition statistics

White points to a two-run win over fellow promotion chasers Caldy in July as the season’s turning point. 

The Wirral side ended up missing out to Sutton in a three-into-two race.

“If we’d lost that, it might have looked a lot different,” White admitted. 

“We used it a lot in later games – we might have only got 140, but we’d defended less than half of that. 

“Teams found it tough chasing all season at Hightown. 

“We knew once we’d got a half-competitive score on the board, we’d get our 10 wickets and win the game.”

The skipper hailed the contributions of vice-captain Guy Edwards and off-spinner Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe, recruited last winter from Premier Division Formby.

And he recognised the efforts of two young players, Dylan Riley and Joel McGinnigle.

He added: “Over the full season, I think we’ve proved we were the best side in the division and the league table showed that in the end.”

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Division Two Team of 2024

One player per club, in a balanced XI (with a sub from the bottom side). County and overseas pros are allowed, but expectation levels are taken into account. No I do not have it in for your club, that would simply not be worth my while. 

1 Stephen Lucas (Ainsdale)
683 runs @ 48.79, 1 x 100, 2 x 50; 12 wickets @ 12.75, 1 x 5-for

The former Northern and Formby man rolled back the years for Ainsdale, topping the division’s run charts. There were unbeaten knocks of 98 and 85 to go with his 134* at Northop Hall – Lucas was not dismissed once he passed 48 all season.

2 Theo O’Brien * (Wavertree)
447 runs @ 26.29, 2 x 50

It was an up-and-down season for Wavertree but they were well marshalled by a skipper in his rookie year. The best part of 450 runs opening the batting is not to be sniffed at; neither is a record of just six single-figure scores in his 20 innings.

3 Matt Laybourne (Hightown St Marys)
652 runs @ 38.35, 6 x 50; 11 wickets @ 27.00

It was a case of everything but the ton as Laybourne powered his side to promotion and the division title. A painstaking unbeaten 96 in a pragmatic draw against second-placed Sutton was the highlight, but there were plenty more impactful innings to choose from – notably a half-century in a pace-setting win against the same opponents in May.

4 Danny Fisher (Norley Hall)
459 runs @ 27.00, 1 x 100, 1 x 50

His 137 against Ainsdale was the highest score in the division this year, and the second best in the whole Comp; over the season, he finished just 17 runs behind his side’s high-profile overseas batter (and nephew of a World Cup-winning captain) Moditha Ranatunga.

5 Saud Afridi (Whitefield)
505 runs @ 26.58, 1 x 100, 1 x 50; 13 wickets @ 24.69, 1 x 5-for

The Roby new boys survived in the Comp thanks to being able to post enough defendable scores in two crucial periods of the season. A lot of that was thanks to Afridi, whose unbeaten 108 – the club’s first ever Comp century – inspired the Easter Monday win in the Loop Line Derby against Alder. 

6 Dylan Rowley (Southport Trinity)
418 runs @ 19.90, 1 x 100, 1 x 50; 46 wickets @ 15.91, 5 x 5-for

Without Indian star batter Salman Ahmed, Trinity hovered perilously close to the bottom – Australian Rowley, who stepped up to fill the overseas role as an amateur, having played in the 2nd XI last year, helped ensure their safety with some big performances in both disciplines. 

7 Ben Slater + (Northop Hall)
417 runs @ 29.79, 3 x 50

Wicketkeeper-captains are all the rage higher up in the Comp, and Slater filled the role well at Northop Hall. He didn’t have the numbers of their Barbadian all-rounder Nathan Roett but knitted things together in the middle order, and added 34 dismissals behind the stumps.

8 Greg Harvey (Alder)
389 runs @ 24.31, 2 x 50; 52 wickets @ 15.90, 6 x 5-for

Another excellent year for the slow left-armer, studded with match-winning spells against the teams near or below the West Derby side in the table. Gone are the days when Alder were perennial wooden spoon candidates – a huge part of that is down to Harvey’s excellence over the past four years.

9 Jehan Yahathugoda (Parkfield Liscard)
229 runs @ 12.72; 64 wickets @ 10.88, 7 x 5-for

The left-arm spinner only went wicketless twice all year and took three or more on 12 occasions. Parkfield narrowly escaped relegation in 2023 but with Yahathugoda hitting his stride, seldom looked in danger this time round.

10 Asiri Gamage (Caldy)
180 runs @ 12.86, 1 x 50; 40 wickets @ 13.25, 3 x 5-for

It wasn’t to be for Caldy, denied promotion by a single wicket on the last day. But the pacy Gamage had a breakthrough year, taking 5/12 to defend just 88 against Prestatyn and similar hauls in wins over Whitefield and Parkfield Liscard.

11 Nat Brown (Sutton)
118 runs @ 13.11; 50 wickets @ 10.96, 4 x 5-for

Even before the last day, Brown might well have made this side – she had already taken 41 wickets and three five-bags, equalling her career tally before 2024, at an economy of less than 2.3 an over. Then came the spell that sealed promotion – 9/21 to demolish Parkfield Liscard, defend just 109 and write her name indelibly in the club’s history.  

12 Adam Tidswell (Prestatyn) 
48 runs @ 4.36; 50 wickets @ 14.36, 4 x 5-for

The seamer stepped up to the plate after Aarya Jadhav had to return to India and, while he couldn’t keep his side off the bottom of the table, he won them some games – notably with 9/47 against Parkfield Liscard – and himself plenty of admirers.

from Merseyside Cricket Online https://ift.tt/v8LrXus