That's magic...

TOMMY: St Annes was a real hot-spot on Saturday and with the prospect of a superb batting track and an outfield as good as I've see anywhere, it was not a difficult choice to bat once the toss went our way.

Chris Parry and Gareth White built a sound opening partnership with a watchful approach.

When things go smoothly, the discussion in the dressing-room can vary enormously, and on this occasion ranged from Derrin Brown's television magic to the price of fields if they are sold for agriculture or housing development.

No need to pull rabbits out of hats on this piece of real estate however, as once the youngsters had done their job, the strokeplayers Grahame Clarke and professional Dale Benkenstein attacked with gusto, dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground on the way to amassing a fine 260-5 total.

In reply, we bowled a fine line and length to their top batsman and created good pressure. We ended up taking nine wickets and getting good points from a difficult game, with Craig Walmsley and White grabbing three and two wickets respectively.

They have admirable self-belief in their ability and offer us excellent bowling options.

Chris tells me that he doesn't like keeping wicket, but he does a very good job, so he may as well start enjoying rather than winding me up about injuries!

After saying last week how much Janet Clarke enjoyed taking the players' subs money off them, she somehow failed to get five players on Saturday. That's a disappearing trick we know all about!

DAVE: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. That was the story of our weekend, two very different performances. Against a good Blackpool side we did not build any partnerships and then we did not bowl any decent lines, so enough said.

However on Sunday it was a transformation. After winning the toss, Gareth Ashburner and Kevin Howarth got us off to a great start against probably the best opening attack we have faced this season.

Their pro Dwight Mais bowled quick leg-cutters from good height with one of those smooth rhythmical West Indian pace bowling actions from the Michael Holding era.

For 43 overs of cup cricket, however, we managed the innings to perfection, keeping out their best bowlers and scoring off the weaker ones.

Once the foundations were laid, KB (Kabir Khan) made a patient 52 and yours truly enjoyed plundering 53 off 19 balls after not scoring for the first five.

I sneaked seven sixes, two fours and three singles, and the middle order then all chipped in with valuable contributions before their pro finally mopped up the tail.

Two direct hits for run-outs put Southport on the back foot. We introduced into the shake-up Andrew Dugdale, who did not bowl a bad ball in nine overs, while the ever-improving James Rafferty was rewarded with 4-13. The old Kendal was back on Sunday with a bit of fight, confidence and quality in our performance.

On a lighter note KCC is have its inaugural duck race in the River Kent on Sunday May 30. It should be quite a spectacle and you can enter for just £1.