It was a marvel we got a game at all given the monsoon we drove through to get to Wirral. But just as we were resigning ourselves to several hours of dressing room boredom the rains stopped, and remarkably stayed stopped. Winning what turned out to be an important toss skipper Ian Thistlewood somewhat hesitantly invited the hosts to bat first.

The wicket was soon misbehaving and the Wirral openers struggled with the pace and accuracy of our opening duo of Kate Coppack and Matty Brayne. They dug in however, and whilst the run rate was slow, the wickets were not falling and the game was starting to mimic last week's game where the openers battled through the early challenge.

Fortunately Kate get the breakthrough in the 11th over, following up a few overs later to remove Wirral's second opener. Enter Hafi, a handful most days but especially on this unpredictable wicket. Hafi ripped through Wirral's middle order taking all 4 wickets from batsmen 3-6. Bowling through his full 14 over spell he finished with 4-27, his third 4-fer of the season. Hafi has now taken 14 wickets in 4 games this season. A tight spell from Jamie Littler kept up the pressure and just as Wirral were starting to threaten to score more than they should Matty Brayne was bought back into the attack for a second spell. Matty has had terrible luck this season for despite bowling very well he was yet to take a wicket - this second spell changed that as he rattled out Wirral's 8,9 and 10 to round out extraordinary figures of 3 wickets for 9 runs from 9.3 overs, including 6 maiden overs. In fact, there were only 2 scoring shots off Matt - 2 boundaries - and a wide in his analysis. 'Pressure brings wickets' as the Skipper somewhat laboriously reminds all and sundry every second ball. Kate Coppack finished with an excellent 2-47 from her 13 overs, and Jamie Littler 1-25 from his 7. Special mention for some excellent catching, backing up the bowling display, with Damon Curtis, debutant Ian Boothroyd, Matty Brayne and Noah Vickery (x2) all demonstrating safe hands and calm minds.

Wirral 2's all out for 125 in the 45th over, leaving the 3B's 41 overs to chase.

Sounds simple, right? Wrong. The wicket continued to misbehave, the hosts knew their conditions, and this was far from a foregone conclusion. Openers Ian Thistlewood and Adam Roberts knuckled down and made a steady start. When Adam departed for an important 23 in the 15th over the 3B's were on 44 - a third of the way there, a long way still to go. Ian went shortly afterwards for 30, and the responsibility passed to Chester's #3, 12 year old Noah Vickery. Noah has tremendous promise, but senior cricket presents new and important challenges for juniors making their way for the first time in 'big boy cricket'. This was a prime example of that - an unpredictable wicket, slow outfield, experienced bowlers, the pressure of a run chase, and a bit more chirp in the field. Noah batted superbly, showing patience and grit, and shepherded the team through to the close finishing on 27 not out. A score worth double in the conditions. A quickfire 14 from Jamie Littler helped shift the momentum back towards Chester as wickets were falling, and in the end the score was overhauled with relative ease, although the scoreboard did not reflect the tense atmosphere.

An outstanding victory for the 3B's in difficult circumstances, and restoring some of the confidence that was dented the previous week.

Chester 20 points, Wirral 2's 7 points.

JT award for man of the match: Noah Vickery.