Poynton 121, Birkenhead Park 122-8. Birkenhead Park won by two wickets.
Poynton left the Wirral feeling this was a game they should never have lost, as Birkenhead Park nervously edged home after an extraordinary second innings.
Birkenhead have made a poor start to the season, but their fortunes may well improve with the signing of all rounder Ganapathi Vignesh, fresh from the Indian Premier League. Not content with four wickets earlier in the day, Vignesh hit 67 from 53 deliveries at the start of the reply, totally dominating the scorecard.
In the first over though, Vignesh was dropped as he hoisted a high steepling chance to mid off. The reactions of the fielders suggested Poynton knew this could be costly, and 15 overs followed where he punished anything slightly off line or length, placing his shots superbly.
Vignesh was second out with the score on 80, and thereafter it was a radically different game, as Birkenhead took 28 overs to score the remaining 42 runs. Poynton spinners Jamie Maltman (4-16 in 15 overs) and Rick Clark (3-48) bowled superbly, taking wickets with good balls but also seeing other good deliveries kept out by the dogged Birkenhead batsmen.
With fingernails being chewed ever shorter, and Poynton sniffing a sensational victory, the crucial innings of 23 not out came from the experienced Ian Platt to see his side home.
Poynton had earlier struggled to build any partnerships of note, with Clark’s 22 being the top score. Vignesh mopped up the tail with 4-27, and Chris Foran and Matt Shaw also took two wickets each.
