IN an important league game on Saturday, we had a quite convincing win over Sefton collecting a valuable 24 points.

Remarkably, we started out in tenth place and actually overtook Sefton who were fourth at the start of the day. This just reflects how close the the league is and how important every point is.

Liam Zammit bowled well for a well deserved five-wicket haul as we restricted Sefton to a modest score on a good wicket, and despite the first four batsmen being adjudged lbw we came through for a vital five wicket win.

Andy Batterley continued his good form from Saturday with a blistering start in Sunday's Lancashire Cup semi final at Bootle. He hit a magnificent 78 and was out with 17 overs remaining, but we couldn't maintain this momentum but still posted a decent total of 208 for 6.

The game ebbed and flowed, but despite all our efforts we lost by three wickets in the penultimate over.

As captain I have many different feelings about the defeat. Disappointed naturally not to win and looking back on the game wondering whether we need that killer instinct ,or whether we could have done something just that little bit different to influence the result.

I also have to say that Bootle have some top quality players and the young side that we have will only get better and benefit from the experience of playing in these matches, Everybody giving their best on the day is all I can ask, and heads should be held high.

Certainly if we keep performing at this level for the rest of the season we will have plenty more wins to celebrate.