WWW.UKBEACHCRICKET.CO.UK

BEACH CRICKET IS A GREAT SUCCESS

After both New Victoria Cricket Club 1st and 2nd X1 matches were called off due to rain on the Saturday the attention turned to the very first beach cricket tournament on the Sefton Coast. The 3 teams (New Victoria, Earlestown and Ainsdale) battled against each other and the strong winds in the six a side tournament. After the early rain had blown past Ainsdale beach, the blue sky and sunshine came out and a fun day was enjoyed by all. A perfect playing surface was provided by the coast and countryside department of Sefton Council and once the teams had got used to the conditions some great cricket was seen. Each team played each other twice in the group stage and the final was played between Ainsdale and Earlestown.
In the final Ainsdale batted first and were restricted to 242 and Earlestown were confident of chasing down this total. Earlestown however lost 6 wickets and eventually finished on 228, 14 runs start. Ainsdale were then presented the Rewardaward trophy and I'm sure they will come back next year to defend their title.
One of the highlights being New Victoria Under 13 player Matty Howard smacking the Ainsdale professional for a 4 and 6 in successive balls. All games were played in a great spirit and the spectators were in great spirits sheltering behind the cars.
The organisers would like to thank everybody who made this tournament possible. Attentions will now turn to developing the idea of beach cricket and how the size of the tournament can be increased. If you would like to get involved in beach cricket please email info@ukbeachcricket.co.uk