ST HELENS won the second of their Penketh Trophy matches in another nail biting finish.

Once again the spinners made the initial break through to restrict Maghull to 121 off 45 overs with the first six batsmen falling to Roughley (3-19) Friar (2-24) and Mukherjee (1-26). Gary Sheppard applied the brakes with 2-25 just when Maghull were looking for a big finish leaving the St Helens with what looked like an easy total to attain.

Phil Roughley (59) once again anchored the innings and showed the patience which the unpredictable wicket demanded. Apart from Steve Kenny (22) the other batsmen disappointed and it was left to Adam Friar (15 not out) to hit the winning runs with a six into the pavilion with less than two overs to go.

Both second and third teams lost their games away from home with the third team being involved in an amazing game against Bootle. The home team were reeling at 69-9 but finished with 90 all out. Alan Sheppard (6-29) and D Challoner (4-33) taking the honours. St Helens were coasting to victory at 83-4 with only seven runs required to win with the early batsmen Kane Boardman (27) Phil Denneth (19) and Alan Sheppard (17) doing all the hard work. Impossible though it seems the next six wickets fell for four runs and St Helens finished three runs short of the target.

Tonight (Thursday) the first team take on Littleborough in a re-arranged National Knockout game over 20 overs at home, followed on Saturday by the short trip to Ruskin Drive to play St Helens Recs.

Bank Holiday Monday sees the big guns of Bootle at Windleshaw Road. Admission is free and an exciting game is in prospect.

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