After a solid season during which they won half of their first 14 games, the Formby 3rd XI have been on the brink of winning the Sunday Premier Division ever since they made it 8 wins by beating their closest contenders, Southport & Birkdale, by just one wicket on 5th September, when 3 runs were needed off the final ball of the match and Neil Clark hit it for four. Since then, they have needed any win to confirm the title, but have lost at home to Leigh and away to Northop Hall. They picked up sufficient bonus points in those games to leave themselves in the position that they needed 9 points from their final match (at home to Lytham this Sunday), but needed not to lose the match by more than 16 points (or Lytham could have overtaken them).

Lytham brought a significant following with them (they were the previous season’s champions) and won the toss. The vagaries of the points system meant that they had to choose to bat (so they could get up to 25 points for winning – had they fielded first that would reduce to 20). They needed to score 200 or more in 45 overs to gain full bonus points.

Formby struck in the first over as Ollie Sutton trapped the top Lytham man lbw with his 4th ball. Lytham then recovered to 49-1 but lost two wickets on that score, to Ben Aitchison and Josh Burt, before a 50 stand put them back on track. Joe Lowe’s leg-spin (3-38) and 6 accurate overs from Alex Powell (who had the Lytham captain dropped twice in two balls and then again in his next over) applied the brakes, so that Lytham never looked like reaching their maximum points, and after 45 overs were on 183-8, with their skipper on 54 not out. For some reason best known to himself, he elected to bat on – apparently unaware of the fact that he would thereby forfeit his batting bonus point if his side were to win the game. Four balls, five runs and a second run-out later, he declared. Aitchison finished with 2-44, Burt 1-37 and Sutton 1-27.

With news coming in from North Wales that S&B were chasing a similar total (183-8), everything was still to play for,. but with 4 bowling points in the bag, the initial Formby target was now 175 (for 4 batting points which would beat anything S&B could now achieve, having dropped a bowling point). they set off brightly, with Jake Eastwood and Ed Lowe putting together 51 for the first wicket before Eastwood was deceived by a slower ball and bowled for 18. Aitchison came and went for a quick 9, caught trying to clear mid-off, and the 100 was passed with two wickets down and Ollie Sutton settling in nicely.

On 45 Lowe couldn’t resist the urge to try a scoop shot but succeeded only in deflecting the ball into his stumps, and his brother Joe played back to his first ball that he should have played forward to and departed in similar fashion. George Hatton then joined Ollie Sutton who was batting increasingly fluently and saw the innings back on track as the 150 came up. News from Wales that S&B were struggling on 98-7 meant the side could probably relax, but they wanted to make absolutely sure. Unfortunately, Hatton was then run out by a direct hit to make it 151-5.

In came the Formby captain, Andy McMorran, who cracked one four, ticked another, then walked in front of a very straight one to depart lbw at 166-6, allowing a famous local cricketing name, in the shape of Jackson Cockbain, to come in. He deployed an admirably straight bat to help Sutton add the 9 runs needed to win the league title, but this event appeared to break the batsmen’s collective concentration, as wickets started to tumble. Sutton was caught and bowled for a vital, and excellent, 54. Burt went to another run out going for a second run – a better throw than is usually in evidence at this level doing the damage, and Clark was lbw before, with the score on 184, Powell chipped his first ball to square leg to hand Lytham the match win, leaving Cockbain 5 not out.

Thus Formby secured the title (by 4 points from Lytham) – and whilst it might look like an error on the part of the Lytham captain handed it to them, Formby did actually beat the Lytham 45-over score of 183, so all would have been well either way (that way they’d actually have won by a comfortable 32 points!).

So it was all rather technical – something of a lesson in how to win by losing the right way – I hope it’s not all too confusing!