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Ainsdale captain Oli Green was in the middle at Prescot & Odyssey when his side’s promotion from Division Two was secured – thanks to a game happening 15 miles away.

Northop Hall’s four-wicket win at Caldy knocked the Wirral side out of the race, meaning promotion for both the Welshmen and Green’s side.

“I was actually batting at the time, so I couldn’t celebrate,” Green said, after securing his main objective in his first season in charge.

“The lads actually watched us go up on the live stream, which was nice.

“There’s a brilliant atmosphere around the club, the best I’ve seen it for years.

“Obviously, it helps when you’re winning, but I think we’ve just got a good bunch of lads, so even if things do get tough, I know the lads will stick by me and we’ll stick together.”

Division Two Title Race

Club	Points	Sep 13	Sep 20
Ainsdale	406	FHS (h)	PRE (a)
Northop Hall	402	WFD (h)	WAV (h)

Ainsdale had to settle for a draw on Saturday, not that they cared one bit.

With two games left, they have a four-point lead in the race to see who can put some title icing on their promotion cake.

Green added: “Promotion is what we set out to do at the start of the season, and we’ve met that target now.

“The title would be nice, but I’ve said for a few weeks that Northop Hall are favourites to win it, purely because of the run of fixtures.

“We’ve had a few tough games. We’ll see how we do but the main target was promotion, so everyone’s happy.”

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Division One batters will be 5% pleased with the news that Sri Lankan slow left-armer Dilanka Auwardt is “95%” certain to return to Ainsdale next year.

He has 99 league scalps so far this season, the most in the league by a long way, and Green confirmed he is “a little bit good”.

But one player, however good, does not make a promotion season.

Auwardt’s excellence has been backed up by the experienced seamer Andy Barlow with the ball, while Ichira Yahathugoda, Green himself and Harry Beddard, signed mid-season from Caldy, have topped 400 runs.

It’s been an impressive collective effort, especially after losing Stephen Lucas, who has slotted straight back into Northern’s top order after returning over the winter.

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Green said: “Obviously losing Ste, we were worried about where the runs were going to come from.

“I asked everyone at the start of the season to step up, and plenty did.

“There’s just so many lads who’ve all chipped in, which is really nice.

“It helps build the team atmosphere even more, when you’re not dependent on one player.”

from Merseyside Cricket Online https://ift.tt/mv1SloQ

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