Blackpool 82-9 v Lancaster - match abandoned
By Gerry Wolstenholme
The rain was that drizzle that does not seem too hard but it very wetting and it started after Blackpool had lost its ninth wicket at Stanley Park on Saturday when bottom club Lancaster were the visitors for the penultimate Bay 96.9 Northern Premier League game of the season.
The cricket that was played was of a bizarre nature as Blackpool displayed their own version of cricketing suicide and the Lancaster bowlers capitalised on this performance and bowled splendidly. Forty-eight overs were bowled in which a lamentable Blackpool batting display saw them limp to 82-9 with Lancaster professional Gareth Breese enjoying a wonderful day by bowling 24 overs, of which 13 were maidens, and taking 5-16
In weather that was not summery but was not threatening Blackpool began slowly as Graham Barnes and Breese bowled tidily to a well spread field. Runs were hard to come by, so much so that by the time 22 were on the board Richard Lamb called striker Martin Pickles for an unlikely single before changing his mind. By that time Luke Phillips had gathered the ball, returned it to wicketkeeper Brendan Hetherington and Pickles was left stranded four yards short of his crease. He was out for eight.
Lamb then continued on his pedantic way until, having made five in 20 overs, he drove a ball from Breese fiercely at Danny Hagen at short extra cover and the catch stuck. That was 30-2. The promoted Chris Barrow struck a couple of lusty blows of Chris Glover but the left arm spinner was not phased by the attack and continued to bowl a good line and length.
Mark Lomas was playing a more watchful innings than one usually associates with him and it did not pay off for, on seven, he went well forward to Breese and was adjudged leg before wicket and that was 56-3. It became 62-4 as Paul Danson went back to Breese only to get a thin edge that Hetherington snapped up.
Another piece of cricket madness cost Blackpool its next wicket. Steven Croft played a shot off his legs to backward short leg and Barrow set off in a canter. But there was no run in it and once again Phillips' throw, this time to the bowler's end, defeated the batsman. The expletives uttered by Barrow on his return to the dressing room must have been aimed at himself for he was entirely to blame for the dismissal. He made 34.
Sixty-seven for five became 68-6 in the following over when Croft, five, tamely turned a ball from Breese to Graham Barnes at backward short leg and the catch was gratefully accepted. Andy Kenyon made seven and was then hit seemingly high on the thigh pad only to be adjudged leg before wicket for five and it was 76-7. No further runs had been added when Darren Walton, three, pushed tamely at Breese for David Heywood to snap up a bat/pad catch at silly mid-off.
David Brooks made just one before he was trapped on his stumps by Glover and Blackpool were 79-9. Marcus Sharp and Martin Hackett then played sensibly without unduly troubling the scorers but at least they kept their wickets intact. They had taken the total to 82 when the drizzle, that had been lightly falling for some time, became heavier and forced the players from the field.
On the pavilion the disappointed Lancaster players wondered if there was chance of the drizzle stopping but local knowledge told them that it was unlikely. And so it proved with both teams having to settle for four points for a no-result. Blackpool were delighted, Lancaster not so!
Division 2
Abbreviated scoreboards (home team in bold):
Kendal 109 (Rheay 4-10), Darwen 110-0 (Grant 62*, Heys 42*)
Morecambe 92 (Thomas 5-17), Fleetwood 94-4 (Whalley 48*)
Lancaster 122-6 v Blackpool - match abandoned
Chorley 186-5 (Dixon 58) v Netherfield - match abandoned
Leyland Motors 148, Preston 20-0 - match abandoned
Leyland 36 (Kelleher 5-7), St Annes 39-0
