Lytham in desperate need of win

In the ECB Premier League, both Southport teams and Lytham may be particularly keen to get good results tomorrow.
Wasim JafferWasim Jaffer
Wasim Jaffer

Despite having the best of last Saturday’s draw against Maghull, Fleetwood Hesketh are 10th in the table and need a win against bottom club Highfield.

Across town, Southport and Birkdale’s inconsistency will be worrying Chris Firth but his players have the chance to put things right when they host Firwood Bootle.

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Meanwhile, Lytham’s hopes of retaining their championship depend on the hitting a prolonged run of form and the visit of leaders Northern is an 
ideal opportunity to do just that.

The mood is rather different at Burscough, where four wins in five games have left Lee Berrie’s side in sixth place in the Second Division.

The visit of Caldy offers a chance to improve that position still further.

Meanwhile, in a long career Ainsdale skipper Dave Newcombe has performed alongside some of the most accomplished professionals in the Liverpool Competition.

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So when he says that Wasim Jaffer is the best cricketer he’s played with “by a million miles” his opinion carries the weight of experience.

However, it is easy to see what Newcombe means. Even by the standards expected of professional cricketers the exploits of the Indian this season are quite extraordinary.

In just nine innings in the First Division he has scored 778 runs at an average of 129.67, hitting four hundreds and four fifities.

“I’ve always believed that if a club is going to sign a professional player, it should sign a good one, and we’ve certainly done that,” said Newcombe.

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“Wasim is the best cricketer I’ve played with by a million miles. He was sublime when he made a hundred against Wigan a week last Saturday and it’s been like having a supreme Test player in the side.s

“Yet in that innings against Wigan he said to one of our batsmen that he was also struggling against a particular bowler and suggested how they could work together to overcome the problem.

“Having Wasim at Ainsdale has been a privilege.”

Ainsdale lie seventh going into tomorrow’s visit to Formby, albeit that they are just 21 points behind second-placed Rainhill.

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