24 May 2017
On a sunny but cold, windy day in Crosby, The Under 14s faced a tough first fixture against an impressive Merchant Taylors' side. After losing the toss, the home team's opening partnership looked solid and put on 50 for the first wicket. Kirkham's bowlers lacked consistency but worked hard bowling in tough conditions throughout the innings. Ellis and Anderson were the pick of the bowlers and managed to bowl with a tighter line and length than the openers. Unfortunately the runs flowed and the team was left with a tough chase in the second innings.
Kirkham batted well as a unit and Max Pendlegest looked strong scoring an assured 23. Carson and Macauley looked settled but got out before they could inflict real damage to the deficit. Some middle order runs got the team to a respectable total in a tough chase with Jonny Latham scoring an excellent 33. Unfortunately the team lost wickets too regularly to keep up with the required rate and fell short by 41 runs.
