Horton hails ‘good feeling’ at Sefton Park after Ray Tyler Cup triumph

Sefton Park celebrate winning the Ray Tyler Cup

Spirits are soaring at Sefton Park after the men’s 1st XI won their first trophy since 2013.

Sunday’s Ray Tyler Cup victory over Spring View was achieved the hard way – a scrambled single off the penultimate ball after a rain-affected match at Croxteth Drive – but for skipper Paul Horton, that just made it all the sweeter.

He said: “It’s always nice to win a trophy, you don’t win many as a cricket club.

“It was a real spectacle of cricket and you couldn’t pick a winner until the last ball really. 

“A lot of people came to watch – Spring View are a well-supported team, they brought a load of travelling fans and they were really up for it, which made for a great spectacle.

“A lot of people were sitting on the bank once the rain went off – it was lovely.”

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Sefton bowled out their visitors for 174 but, due to a rain delay early in the innings, their target was adjusted upwards to 186 – so much for the theory that DLS is kinder to chasing sides.

“It made for a great finish but it didn’t help us in any way,” said Horton. 

“It would have been a strange feeling to get 180, more than they got, be eight down and lose a game.”

Abishek Jagan claimed 4/42 for Sefton and Haroon Khan kicked the chase off with 59 – for the visitors, Supun Samrathunga’s unbeaten 80 was 60 more than anyone else on his side managed.

But the player of the match was Huzaifa Zubair, Sefton’s seam-bowling all-rounder, who took 2/17 from his nine overs then contributed a crucial 34 towards the end of the chase.

Among seamers, Zubair is already second only to Liverpool’s experienced Finn Hulbert in the Division One wicket table; now he has a silver lining to what is comfortably his best season yet.

Horton said: “He has had a wonderful season. He’s taken yeah 50+ wickets and was instrumental in us winning a trophy.

“He bowled incredibly well and then was brilliant with the bat – he was brilliant yesterday and was one of the main reasons why we won the game.”

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Sefton’s promotion challenge has faltered in the past few weeks – leaders Liverpool are very well-placed and it looks like a battle between Orrell Red Triangle and View to join them in the Premier Division.

But coupled with the continued success of the women’s XI, who have won the Comp’s T20 title for the second year running, things are looking positive.

“There’s a really good feeling at the moment,” said Horton.

“We’re probably a little bit disappointed that we’re not closer in the league, and with a little bit more luck we may have been closer.

“But there’s a lot of teams in that position who are going to go close this year.

“I think Liverpool have been a standout team throughout the competition and deserve to go up but there’s plenty to play for.

“There are a lot of positives – and we won a trophy, so it’ll be a really good season.”

from Merseyside Cricket Online https://ift.tt/oK3RnTu