RAINHILL made high-flying Wavertree work hard for their two-wicket victory in the Bromborough Paints Merseyside Competition on Saturday.

The home side won the toss and asked Rainhill to bat on a dampish wicket. Batting was difficult and slow in the face of some tight bowling.

Wickets fell regularly and at 64-6 Rainhill were in trouble. However, Nick Chapman came to the wicket in determined mood.

And he struck a belligerent 59 from 47 balls, including four sixes and four fours. Mattie Clifford chipped in with a valuable 33 as Rainhill declared at 149-8, leaving Wavertree two hours to get the runs.

When Wavertree batted the wicket had dried out and runs were easier to come by. Ray Ford tuned to his spinners, but, at 80-2, Wavertree were coasting. But then wily Dan Blakemore was introduced. And in seven overs he took five wickets for 30 runs. However, the runs continued to come and a dropped catch in the 18th over of the final 20 enabled Wavertree to escape. And they scrambled the winning run in the 19th over at 150-8.

Rainhill's man of the match was Nick Chapman.

Meanwhile, Rainhill seconds drew with their Wavertree counterparts at Victoria Terrace after victory had looked a formality.

Wavertree scored 152-3 in quick time with D. Platt scoring 53. In reply, Rainhill had reached 100-1, going into the last 20 overs. But they could only manage 147-7 when time ran out. Ste Toghill scored 86.

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