Match Day 25th August 2001
KENDAL CLOSE THE GAP
By Gerry Wolstenholme
The gap at the top of the Bay 96.9 Northern Premier League table was cut to just seven points following Saturday's round of matches. A Kendal win and a rain affected draw for Netherfield at Parkside meant that the two Cumbrian teams lead the pack with 161 and 154 points respectively. A win for Chorley also put them back in serious contention with the Windsor Park side sitting a further four points behind Kendal.
At Vernon Road Kendal wrapped up victory early with the clouds low and rain threatening. St Annes batted first and after a bright start found themselves bowled out for just 116 with Richard Ellwood taking 4-36 and Kabir Khan 3-32. Khan then opened the innings and threatened to win the game single-handed until Aiden Cotton caught him off a skier for 47. Terry Hunte, 26 not out, and Simon Little, 40 not out, saw their side through to a nine-wicket victory in just 23 overs.
It was an on-off day for Netherfield as rain regularly interrupted proceedings. Between the showers Morecambe made 147-8 in 39 overs with skipper Phil Thornton back in the runs with 67 and Amol Muzumdar contributing 23 while Ryan Wilson took 3-34. Netherfield's reply got off to a good start with Craig Walmsley making 42 and Tommy Prime 36 but the later batsmen got bogged down as Peter Stephens bowled an impressive spell, finishing with 4-44. And after their scheduled 29 overs Netherfield had made 147-8 and had to settle for the draw.
Chorley meanwhile bowled Preston out for 119 with Rehman Shah making a top score of 38 and Josh Marquet and Iqbal Patel sharing eight wickets, the former for 44 runs and the latter for 25 runs. Chorley lost wickets steadily in their reply but Nigel Heaton and Roland Horridge, coming in down the order, steadied the innings and, with the former 58 not out at the end, Chorley made 122-7 to win by three wickets.
Blackpool suffered at the hands of Darwen, both in bowling and in batting. Their bowlers could not prevent Darwen amassing 232-4 to which Keith Semple contributed 116 not out and Gareth Cordingley 77 with the latter being involved in what was said to be a controversial issue. He allegedly edged the ball to slip where Marcus Sharp juggled it for a catch. Whether the ball was taken cleanly or not was the issue and after consulting his colleague at square leg, the bowler's umpire gave a not out decision as he could not be sure of the legitimacy of the catch. This, seemingly reasonable decision in view of the circumstances, apparently incensed some of the Blackpool players, two of whom are said to be being reported to the League executive about their behaviour. The Blackpool batsmen then simply gave up the ghost and 56 all out was the club's worse effort for many a long day. Only Paul Danson, 18, and Andy Kenyon, 11, made double figures as the rest capitulated to Jeff Hacking, 4-6 from seven overs, and company. Defeat by a massive 176 runs was the result.
Leyland Motors finally got some runs on the board at Broadwater where Fleetwood took early wickets but could not then capitalise on their success. Neil Eddleston made the top score for Motors with 54 and he was ably assisted by Stuart Catterall, 39, James Aspinwall, 33, and Stephen John who made 27. Fleetwood could not manage to overhaul the Motors total and only Craig Pryor with 52 and Chris Buschini with a senior best of 35 not out made any significant contribution in the final total of 130-7.
It was a similar story at Lancaster where visitors Leyland made 183-8 with Neil Rimmer making 53 and stand-in Sri Lankan professional Peiris making 52 before being run out. The end result was a respectable 183-8 with slow left armer Chris Glover the main wicket-taker with 4-55. Lancaster failed to make the necessary runs to register their second victory of the season and closed at 152-6 with Luke Phillips making 52 and Cunliffe 30 not out and Brendan Hetherington 25 also contributing.
Division 1
Abbreviated scoreboards (home team in bold):
Darwen 232-4 (Semple 116*, Cordingley G 77), Blackpool 56 (Hacking 4-6)
Leyland Motors 182-8 (Eddleston 54), Fleetwood 130-7 (Pryor 52)
Leyland 183-8 (Rimmer 53, Peiris 52, Glover 4-55), Lancaster 152-6 (Phillips 52)
Morecambe 161-5 (Thornton 67), Netherfield 147-8 (Walmsley 42, Stephens 4-44)
Preston 119 (Patel 4-25, Marquet 4-44), Chorley 122-7 (Heaton 58*)/p>
St Annes 116 (Ellwood 4-36), Kendal 117-1 (Khan 47, Little 40*)
Gerry's Match Of The Day
ST ANNES LOSE FROM PROMISING START
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Sixth-placed St Annes entertained second-placed Kendal in the Bay 96.9 Northern Premier League at Vernon Road on Saturday and after a promising start fell away to lose comfortably by nine wickets.
Winning the toss and electing to bat looked a good decision when 54 were put on for the first wicket. But only a further 62 runs were scored before the home side was dismissed for a meagre 116. Kendal made short work of their reply and cruised home by nine wickets with a great number of overs remaining.
Adrian Darlington and Gareth Evans set off in fine style even though the former was dropped off a very easy chance to Gareth Ashburner at square leg when he had made six. Fifty-four runs flowed from the batsmen, mostly from an impressive looking Darlington who did miscue an early ball from the mercurial Richard Ellwood but the ball just looped past the extra cover fielder. Evans was the first to go when he edged Kabir Khan through to wicketkeeper Alan Fawcett; he had mace 14 and St Annes were 54-1.
Darlington survived a further scare when he had made 30 when a very sharp return catch to Ellwood was spilled. It cost Kendal only one run for, when he had made 31 off 78 balls with four fours, he flicked Stuart Parkin to square leg where Kevin Howarth gratefully took the catch.
Dave Callaghan and Russ Bradley then dug in against some very tight bowling, particularly from Ellwood who gave very little away. Bradley then played a loose drive at Ellwood and Ashburner at mid-on held a simple catch and the skipper was gone for seven, St Annes 70-3. It was 87-4 when Ellwood bowled Joe Davies behind his legs for five and at the other end Callaghan was playing a watchful, rather than a dominant innings.
Adam Cotton had only made two when Howarth bowled him and it was 90-5. And then Kendal took the prime wicket of Callaghan when he was adjudged leg before wicket to Howarth for 22 made from 63 balls with three fours, all of which came in the early part of his innings. That was 93-6 and it was 101-7 when the returning Khan bowled Sean Bickerdike for eight. Without a run added Whalley, dropped at slip by Fallows when one, was caught in the gully by Adrian Potts off Ellwood for two.
Adam Taylor, strangely batting at number 10 for one who bats a good deal higher in the second team, played one or two good shots and made 10 before he became Ellwood's fourth victim when he fell leg before wicket.
That was 112-9 and it was 116 all out when Khan bowled Banks for two leaving Aiden Cotton, another batting much lower down the order than he does in the first team, two not out. St Annes had not seen through their 60 overs being bowled out in 57.1 for 116 with the 10 wickets falling while 62 runs were added. Ellwood bowled a masterful spell and had 4-36 from his 23 overs while Khan enhanced his reputation with 3-32, Howarth had 2-25 and Parkin 1-13.
The Kendal intent was clear when Khan opened with Simon Little and particularly when, in the first over, the Pakistani walked down the track and rather casually smote Callaghan for a boundary. The mayhem continued as Khan played textbook and non-text-book shots all round the ground. After the opening bowlers had made no impression, Adam Cotton came on and suffered to the tune of 23 runs from two overs. But his brief spell was not without incident as Little struck him for a straight six and then took a single, leaving Khan on strike. Once again Khan marched down the wicket but could only top edge the ball into his chin causing him to require running repairs. It did not need an Einstein to predict what would happen with the remaining balls of the over. Khan crashed the first one straight at extra cover and then straight drove a six from the last.
He dominated an opening partnership of 62 with 47 of the runs, made from only 33 balls with four fours and one six. He then hit too soon at Roger Banks and succeeded only in skying the ball to deep extra cover where Aiden Cotton judged a difficult catch very well. The St Annes bowlers must have been somewhat downhearted for on his dismissal it was Terry Hunte who came to the wicket.
He only faced 22 balls but in that time he scored 26 not out with four fours and struck the winning run from the final ball of the 23rd over. Simon Little meanwhile had played an excellent innings, supporting Khan and then scoring freely on his own account. He was 40 not out made from 84 balls with four fours and one six when the end came.
Kendal's 11th 12-point victory of the season puts the pressure on leaders Netherfield and sets up an intriguing clash at Shap Road between the two on Bank Holiday Monday. This follows Sunday's clash in the Slater Cup semi-final.
Division 2
Abbreviated scoreboards (home team in bold):
Darwen 49 (Armstrong 4-22), Blackpool 52-2
Chorley 187-7 (Catterall D 112*), Preston 105
Kendal 77-5 (Wilson 44, Iqbal 4-34), St Annes 78-5
Leyland 109 (White 40, Dennison 4-34), Lancaster 112-4 (Phillips 59)
Leyland Motors 76 (Fish 6-21), Fleetwood 77-0 (Coultas 48*)
Morecambe 170-6 (Makinson 56*), Netherfield 108-3 (Haddrick 48, Thornborrow 42*)
