ST HELENS visited Maghull for the first time on Saturday and were made to work hard for their win.

Maghull chose to bat first and occupied the crease for 60 overs before being all out for 136. The early pace attack of Sheppard (2-32) and Kenny (1-28) put the openers back in the pavilion and with the help of a smart piece of close in fielding by Ian Mackus, Maghull were 36-3 after 14 overs.

The introduction of Friar (3-35) and Mukherjee (2-16) had the desired effect and three wickets fell in two overs after which the innings became a very dull affair as Maghull defended desperately, scoring 15 runs in 20 overs in the process. Eventually skipper Woods turned back to pace with Sheppard taking his second wicket and Daniel Massey (1-8), making a rare appearance in the first team, finishing the innings off at 136. St Helens were in the mood to entertain the crowd and needed only 70 minutes to score the first 100 in the 19th over.

Phil Roughley saw Darren Tyms (22) and Roger Burrows (27) depart when both seemed set for a long score and was then himself needlessly run out on 45 with the end in sight. Mukherjee (30 not out) and Mackus (4 not out) saw the side home with 17 overs to spare.

The second team entertained Liverpool at Windleshaw Road and could be forgiven for thinking that they had the match won with the visitors on 71-8 but the last two wickets proved very elusive and Liverpool were able to reach a score of 150 all out. Mike Kenny (3-26) and Ian McCabe (3-20) were the best of the bowlers with Gareth Davies (2-39), Ian Davies (1-25) and Ste Fell (1-27) giving good support. The batsmen were not able to emulate last weeks success and after Gareth Davies (20) gave the innings a good start the next best contribution was Ian Davies and extras, both on 13. The innings closed on 104 all out.

This Saturday the first team are again away at Fleetwood Hesketh while Bolton take on the Seconds at Windleshaw Road. On Sunday St Helens Recs make the short journey to Windleshaw Road for a Third team fixture, which will no doubt ensure good support for both sides.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.