Thread by @TomEvansEcho

Liverpool v Birkenhead Park today, in Division One. Hosts looking to consolidate at the end of an up-and-down season; visitors aiming for the Prem.

Liverpool are 5/0 in the third over. Very attacking field for Satyajeet Bachhav, the division’s leading wicket taker.

Seam from Alex Baker from the River End; Steve Rimmer and Adam Pickering the batters.

Baker makes the breakthrough for Park as Rimmer drives uppishly to cover. 6/1.

Red caps swarm around new man Alex Harper as Bachhav bowls. Park very chatty and in search of quick wickets.

Harper chips one just over mid-wicket for four. As is mandatory in such circumstances, the Park fielders all shout about how they don’t mind that. 13/1.

Good bit of intent from Pickering, lofting Bachhav over mid on for four; will be interesting to see how long Tom Foster leaves the fielders in close.

For a given value of “interesting”.

People are arriving for what seems like a wedding, apparently oblivious to the fact that Baker is causing Harper all kinds of problems in the middle. Couple of shouts but nothing doing. 19/1.

Runs currently easier to come by off Bachhav; Pickering sweeps him hard for four.

Baker finds Pickering’s outside edge, after 24 consecutive dot balls. Ste Hird takes the catch; Liverpool 24/2. Good start for the visitors and Baker in particular.

Now Harper goes, having had a bit of a torrid time - he edges Bachhav to a juggling slip. 24/3.

Liam Naylor and Jared Clein have a bit of a rebuilding job on their hands here. First job is to see off Baker, whose opening spell is into its eighth over.

Naylor smacks Bachhav quite hard straight at short leg, who can only parry the “chance”. Spinner making things happen now - 30/3 from 17 overs.

Beauty from Bachhav leaps and brushes the edge of Clein’s bat; Hird does the rest. Park rampant. 32/4.

Sean Vandome is the new batter; Baker extends his spell by another over (though he’s looking a bit tired now).

Silly mid-off, silly point, two slips and a short leg for Bachhav. Plenty of turn and bounce. Park keen to press their advantage home. 40/4 from 21 overs.

Left-arm spin from both ends as Foster brings himself on for Baker. First ball edged through the slips for a couple. 42/4.

Another wicket - Naylor, who’d looked as comfortable as anyone up to now, prods half-heartedly at Bachhav to give Hird his third victim. 56/5 and they’re having drinks.

Captain for the day in the absence of Matty Jackson, Dan Kelly has a job to do.

And it’s not getting any easier. Vandome aims a sweep at Foster and is LBW; 56/6.

Big LBW shout from Bachhav against Kelly; umpire unimpressed. Too high possibly, it is bouncy out there. Adam Dunsmore the new man. 58/6 from 28 overs.

Kelly has to go now, Bachhav trims his bails. Four for the Indian left-armer; Liverpool 58/7 and in need of something special from their bowlers.

All is not lost for the hosts. The square boundaries are massive and the pitch seems tricky. But they’ll need to set something. 63/7 from 30 overs, Matt Douglas the new batter.

Slightly less pressure from Foster’s end; he drops short and Douglas bunts him for four. First boundary in a long time. 69/7.

Bachhav goes over the wicket, then changes back to round. Douglas getting big strides in and covering him nicely. Change from the other end - Foster replaced by the seam of David Nevin. 76/7.

That’s five for Bachhav - Dunsmore gallops down the track, misses and Hird whips off the bails.

Runs still not coming freely but the tail are sticking around. Couple of big LBW shouts and a missed run-out; 82/8 from 40 overs.

Stung by my “runs not coming freely” comment, Chris Blythe goes for a few big shots off Bachhav, none of which quite finds the distant boundary rope. 88/8.

Douglas does find it, however, running Nevin down to third. But then he strays out of his ground and Hird pulls off a ripper of a leg-side stumping. 92/9.

And Nevin wraps the innings up by yorking Dan Clubbe. All out for 92. Back soon to tell you about the chase, and the wedding.

Dans Kelly and Clubbe have the new ball; Liverpool need something special from them to defend 92. Michael Barnes opening with Bachhav, fresh from his 5/37.

The wedding reception adds a slightly surreal air to proceedings. A photographer points his camera at the pavilion; turn around and you’ll get your name in the Echo mate.

Barnes, who scored 93 last time out and looks solid, clobbers Clubbe through mid-wicket. Slow start otherwise, a bit of indecision between the wickets could have cost Park. 8/0 from 5.

The wedding singer has breezed through I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You, Let’s Stay Together and Make You Feel My Love and is now lounging up Valerie.

A drone hovers over backward point as Bachhav bunts a Clubbe full toss for four. 14/0.

Barnes pulls Kelly behind square for four, then cuts him for another. Shot of the day, the cut. Few alarms for the batters so far. 23/0.

Time for a change, Liverpool need to make things happen… Jared Clein to bowl from the Pavilion End, from where Bachhav found a lot of turn and bounce. 30/0.

The wedding reception goes WILD for an off-drive for four by Bachhav as the bride and groom enter the building. Bit embarrassing that they got upstaged like that really. 37/0.

Barnes is growing in confidence now, and he dances down the wicket to loft Clein over mid-on for four. Chris Blythe replaces Clubbe.

42/0

Barnes slogs Clein to deep mid-wicket, where Liam Naylor hangs on. But he’s broken the back of the chase with his 31. 62/1, 31 needed.

Alex Harris the new man. Biffs a four through mid-off. 68/1. Suspect the rest won’t take long.

Another biff, followed by a delicate late cut, moves the score on to 75/1. 18 needed.

Kids from the wedding reception keep running on to the pitch. They should put some kind of rope around the edge of the pitch so parents can tell their children not to go over the rope, and bring them inside if they don’t listen. Harris thwacks Blythe for six. 88/1.

Harris very much wants to finish this with one shot… but he can’t find the boundary. Bachhav stings Clein’s fingers with a straight drive. 89/1.

And there it is - Harris cuts Blythe to the third boundary and Birkenhead Park win by nine wickets. Dominant from start to finish.

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