Another must win game for the seconds on Saturday, and Barrow started well despite losing the toss, as they were bowling first as they had hoped to do anyway.
Mike Lilley and Paul Gard opened up and bowled a threatening line and length as they always do. Mike executed a well-deserved and long overdue 2 wicket haul (2/26). Gard was left downtrodden with another brilliant opening spell to his name but still not receiving the wickets he so desperately deserves (0/20 off 8 overs).
Still it was a brilliant start for the team and Old B’s were 50 for 2 by the end of the opening spell. The wickets kept coming and the runs were hard to come by as Adam Brace (1/30) dispatched Ewan Yates(44), a very correct junior opening batsman, just after he had hit him for 4.
James Halladay also joined in the wickets with 3 top dismissals (3/36) and Oscar Livesey also chimed in with 2 wickets himself (2/16). Unfortunately, there was some poor bowling towards the end of the innings and some lacklustre fielding, which might be put down to the heat, Old B’s finished their innings on 181 for 8, certainly more than Barrow would have liked to chase
In reply Pete Holdaway fell in the first over to a quick catch at short cover.
Mark Forge batted steadily, joined at the crease by skipper Ellie Holdaway but they struggled to score many runs, whilst the scoreboard continued to tick over thanks to extras, before Mark was very unlucky to play on to his own stumps, via his foot, and was dismissed. Ellie continued with the aid of Mark Gracey before Ellie fell for 25, and when Gracey went for 21 things were looking tough for Barrow as they limped to 96 off of 28 overs having also also lost James Halladay and Jonny Sykes.
Oscar Livesey (20 not out) then decided to anchor the innings whilst Nick Heal launched the bowling to all corners of the field in miraculous fashion that had never been seen before for Barrow, falling for an absolutely vital 41, which brought to the crease Adam Brace ,who played a superb innings (23 not out). Still it came down to the final over. 5 off 6, 5 off 5, 5 off 4…before Adam crashed the opening bowler back over his head for a triumphant six.
A magnificent win from the seconds without many regular players due to holidays and calling on Sunday team players to help them through, showing the depth of talent at such a small club. The win keeps Barrow firmly in the promotion race but next weekend sees a vital game against Patchway 2nds.