Andy McMorran won the toss and duly inserted his visitors, the primary objective being to avoid defeat, which would bring S&B right into the reckoning for the League. He was up against some of S&B's fine junior players, with a batsmen with first XI experience in the shape of Harry May, who opened with Mark Sunderland.
The first over was delivered by Ollie Sutton, who had the sort of nightmare that can happen, as he couldn't find any way of landing his front foot in the right area, and amassed thirteen attempts before the over was completed, with the total on 16-0. The total continued to advance fairly rapidly, with extras to the fore, until Arthur Cook, who replaced Sutton immediately produced a good one to have Sunderland caught t the wicket by Ed Lowe for 11.
May continued to strike the ball cleanly and powerfully, but quickly lost Rob Gamble, lbw to Ben Aitchison playing no shot. that rought secon XI regular Jack Baybutt to the crease and the pair pushed the score along well as Alex Powell replaced Aitchison after 5 overs from the hockey pitch end, and reacted well to May taking a couple of fours off his first over, to settle into an accurate spell.
The third wicket fell as soon as Joe Lowe's leg spin arrived, Baybutt's attempted cut shot producing a thin edge to the bowler's brother behind the stumps. The major breakthrough, however, came when Powell induced May to cut in the air to Josh Burt at point, who took the catch well. At 90-4 the top four batsmen were all back in the pavilion and Formby were getting on top. They improved their position further as Lowe bowled Sumner and Jones whilst Neil Clark induced a top-edged pull by Simpson which Joe Lowe caught well by the square-leg umpire. At 110-7 it looked as if Formby 's batsmen would have a relatively simple task, but in came Carlos Hollyman (recently recruited to the Formby Hockey 1st XI squad) who started to strike the ball well, seeing off Lowe by hitting him for three fours and a six in the same over.
McMorran gave all his bowlers a spell, though for some reason neglected to give Sutton the chance to redeem himself (and regain his confidence) as the score mounted disturbingly. Clark removed Bennett (to a fine running catch at long-off by Jackson Cockbain) and Hine (clean bowled) with successive deliveries with the total around the 130 mark, but Byrne (turning out for the first time in several years) joined Hollyman and managed to keep the Formby bowlers at bay as his young partner progressed towards his half-century, which he duly achieved, before being dropped twice off successive Aitchison deliveries by 'keeper Lowe. At this point the total stood on 188-9, with 44 overs bowled, and Hine called his men off, doubtless deciding an extra Formby bowling pont was slightly more likely than an extra S&B batting one.
Clark had taken 3-12 from 8 overs, half of which we maidens, and Lowe had 3-35 with over half of those from the last over of his 10. Aitchson, Cook and Powell had one each, and third highest scorer was extras on 31.
After tea, the Formby innings started on a wobbly basis, as McMorran was bowled off his pads for 2 by Baybutt, before Ed Lowed nicked one to 'keeper Hine for 1 . This brought in Sutton, who looked a bit out of sorts, and was roundly sledged by his opponents, albeit in fairly witty manner. He just seemed to be getting going, when he was dropped at the wicket off a ball from that then nearly stumped him. Joe Lowe then missed his first ball, which made a mess of his stumps and the Formby innings was looking a bit of a mess with 4 wickets down with the total in the forties. It didn't get any better when Campbell Williams was plumb lbw in the next over.
Throughout this carnage, Aitchison was finding no problem in scoring runs, picking the loos deliveries and dispatching them powerfully to the boundary. He finally found an enduring partner in Josh Burt, and the pair pushed the score towards the 100 mark, with Aitchison scoring the bulk of the runs. He duly reached his half-century and without breaking stride set off in pursuit of higher things. Three figures came up and Burt even joined the party, hitting a full-toss from Jones into the tennis courts for six, and giving Joe Lowe the chance to demonstrate his climbing skills in the business of retrieving the ball (all tennis players having by now departed).
The pair took the score past the second batting point before Burt essayed a slog-sweep with a view to depositing Jones into the tennis courts again, but failed to make contact. In the process he's dragged his back foot out of its ground, and he failed to slide it back in time, departing to a smart stumping for 19. Enter Jackson Cockbain, who immediately took on the mantle of supporting act as Aitchison threatened to win the game on his o He didn't pause in the nineties and duly reached his maiden century, and continued to strike the bad ball to the boundary, until he was surprisingly bowled by Hollyman for 116 with the total on 177.
those spectators who liked a bet were in business now, as with 6 ov, but the main shock was when Cockbain gloved the first ball of the next over to the 'keeper and had to trudge off for an invaluable 14, to be replaced by Clark.
The next few overs were excruciating for the Formby players as the score inched forward and Cook swung lustily but with little contact at Baybutt, who repeatedly missed his off stump by a hair or two.
A couple of straight drives from Cook were half-stopped and resulted in two runs each, and some maidens plus a couple of singles singles brought the total up to 184 at the start of the final over, with Clark on strike. A scrambled leg-bye plus a single from Cook and a couple of dots brought the game to its final ball, with Formby having avoided defeat, but still needing 3 runs to win.
The fielders were duly dispatched to the boundary and the 'keeper moved back from the stumps. The pressure was on the bowler, Sumner, who hot it on line, but fractionally short - that was all Clark needed as he made excellent contact, placing it (whether by design or accident is unclear) just wide of mid-on ut too straight for the man at deep midwicket to reach. It sped away into the net by the scoreboard and the Formby spectators cheered a famous win.
Baybutt finished with 4-46 from 14 overs and Sumner with 2-23 from 10. Formby's men of the match were jointly Aitchison (who got out just in time to make it interesting) and Clark (for a great all-round performance, including the winning hit).
The side now has the league in their own hands, with a 26-point margin over Highfield and 32 over S&B with a game in hand n both and only 3 left in total.