Match Day 7th May 2001
THORNTON'S CLASSY HUNDRED
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Morecambe's captain Phil Thornton scored the season's first century on Monday when his side comprehensively destroyed Darwen. The powerful Thornton his six sixes and eight fours on his way to 113 and he shared a fourth wicket partnership of 177 with professional Amol Muzumdar who contributed 79. This allowed Morecambe to end its 60 overs with 253-5 with only Gareth Cordingley of the bowlers returning anything like decent figures with 3-43 from 14 overs.
Darwen's reply was steady rather than a spectacular and at one point had reached 31-1. But from there it all went wrong as Faruk Patel took 6-33, Peter Stephens chipped in with 2-22 and Tommy Clough had 2-12. The net result was Darwen all out 81, Chris Lowe top scoring with a modest 15, suffering defeat by 172 runs.
Blackpool was another winner against Leyland Motors. One of the two home grown players in the side, Martin Pickles, scored 74 and the other, Stephen Croft, made a next-best 24 as Blackpool closed on 183-9. Motors professional Stephen John had 3-66 and Stuart Catterall took 3-58. After the early loss of James Aspinwall for three, David Makinson, 42 with two sixes and four fours, and Martin Baines, 32, added 52 for the second wicket. Thereafter the mercurial Marcus Sharp halted progress and his 5-31 from 18 magnificent overs was instrumental in Motors being bowled out for 162 to lose by 21 runs.
Other winners on the day were Kendal who defeated Preston by five wickets and Fleetwood who defeated Lancaster by seven wickets. Batting first, opener James Anyon made a maiden Premier League 50, professional Raoul Akbar contributed 34 but Manoj Parekh's 14 was the next best effort in Preston's all out 159. Ricky Ellwood was the Kendal bowling star with 5-59 from 25 overs. In reply Kendal lost the first three batsmen for 15, 15 and 16 respectively but 47 not out from Kevin Howarth, 24 from professional Kabir Khan and 25 not out from Ellwood saw the men from Shap Road comfortably home.
At Broadwater Lancaster mustered a laboured 175-7 to which rising young star Danny Hagen contributed 64 and Luke Phillips 59. Fleetwood replied with 176-3, Bobby Denning 56 and Michael Clinning 53 not out.
Netherfield could not get the better of St Annes despite knocking up 250-5 before declaring with nine balls remaining. Craig Walmsley made 51, professional Pieter Strydom made 76 and Jimmy Moyes was undefeated on 63 while all the St Annes bowlers suffered. Sean Bickerdike with 2-27 came out best. St Annes' reply started badly and it was only Adrian Darlington batting at number seven that saved the day. He made a battling 52 not out, including nine fours, and saw St Annes to the close at 149-8. David Wheatman took 3-45 and Strydom bowled 10 parsimonious overs for 10 runs and two wickets.
Chorley was another side that could not win after making over 200. Skipper Roland Horridge led the way again with a 10-four knock of 79 while Iqbal Patel, Nigel Heaton and Neil Senior all chipped in with 20s. Saturday's hero Brian Tennant captured three more wickets with 3-55 while Stephen Pallett had 3-54. Leyland's reply revolved around numbers three, four and five. Former professional Neil Rimmer made 80 with 10 fours and three sixes, Neil Kenyon made 27 and the evergreen Charlie Williams batted out time for 28 not out. None of the other batsmen reached double figures as Leyland fell 35 runs short of victory at 178-7.
Footnote: Brian Tennant's 9-11 on Saturday was, of course, the best ever bowling return by an amateur for Morecambe's Colin Hilton did take all 10 over 30 years ago.
Abbreviated scorecards (home team in bold):
Blackpool 183-9 (Pickles 74), Leyland Motors 162 (Makinson 42, Sharp 5-31)
Preston 159 (Anyon 50, Ellwood 5-59) Kendal 160-5 (Howarth 50*)
Lancaster 175-7 (Hagen 61, Phillips 56, Newman 4-56), Fleetwood 176-3 (Denning 56, Clinning 53*)
Netherfield 250-5 dec (Walmsley 51, Strydom 76, Moyes 63*), St Annes 149-8
(Darlington 52*)
| BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE |
|
P |
W (15) |
W (12) |
D (4) |
D (1) |
L |
NR (4) |
B Pts |
Pts |
| Blackpool |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
38 |
| Netherfield |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
37 |
| Leyland |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
34 |
| Kendal |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
32 |
| Morecambe |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
32 |
| Chorley |
4 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
32* |
| Darwen |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
23 |
| St Annes |
4 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
21 |
| Fleetwood |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
18 |
| Lancaster |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
| Leyland Motors |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
9 |
| Preston |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
| * Two points deducted for slow over rate |
MATCH OF THE DAY
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Fleetwood entertained Lancaster at Broadwater on a chilly but sunny May Day Monday and the home side got its season back on track with a comfortable seven wicket victory. Batting first Lancaster scored 175-7 to which Fleetwood replied with 176-3 to win by seven wickets with seven overs and one ball remaining.
Lancaster's openers made heavy weather of some tidy seam bowling from Craig Pryor and the emerging Stephen Hill. Pryor was particularly dangerous, once hitting the shoulder of young Danny Hagen's bat but luckily for the batsman, the ball flew safely over gully and raced to the boundary. Hagen's runs did not all come from streaky shots however and one six he hit into the adjoining rugby ground was a joy to behold. At the other end an out-of-sorts David Heywood garnered 12 runs in a long time and it was the 17 year-old Hagen who kept the scoreboard ticking over.
The partnership was broken at 48 when Heywood, 12, edged Alex Laird through to wicketkeeper Keith Riley. Luke Phillips joined Hagen and he also took some time to get used to the pace of the pitch on which Newman and Laird bowled admirably, restricting Lancaster to just 97 runs from the first 40 overs. Hagen completed a maiden first team half century and went on to 61 before he drove a ball low back to Jeremy Newman and the left arm spinner took a low return catch. That was 102-2 and although Phillips continued to accumulate the scoreboard was not moving fast enough.
Professional Gareth Breese was at number four and was expected to make things happen. But he did not do so for he played over a ball from Newman and was bowled for nought when the total was 105. Newman then bowled Dennison for four at 111 while Laird accounted for Alastair Cunliffe for two at 124 and then Riley effected a magnificent stumping to remove Ian Burstow for three and it was 137-6.
The arrival of Brendan Hetherington brought the first sign of urgency to the Lancaster innings and he pressured the fielders, stole quick singles and generally looked like he wanted to score runs. He and Phillips added 37 quick runs before the latter was caught by Laird off Newman for 56 in the final over. One more run was added and, with Hetherington not out 16, the innings closed at 175-7, more than at one time looked likely. Newman, 4-56, and Laird, 3-61, were the successful bowlers.
Fleetwood's reply got off to an excellent start with skipper John Wright looking in prime form. He raced to 42 from an opening stand of 54 in 56 minutes before he was bowled by Breese. This brought Michael Clinning in to join Bobby Denning and the pair took control of some ordinary Lancaster bowling and equally ordinary fielding.
Denning played a text book innings with both attack and defence outstanding and it was something of a surprise when he was dismissed. But that did not come until the pair had added 74 runs and he then drove Graham Barnes low only for Phil Dennison to swoop at short extra cover and take a catch on his bootlaces. Denning's 56 contained eight classically stroked boundaries and was made from 137 balls.
To prove that it was not a day for the professionals, Craig Pryor, 159 runs in three innings to date, came and went in the blink of an eye. He had only made a single when Barnes defeated his attempted drive and knocked back the off stump. That was 139-3 but it was also the last of the Fleetwood worries.
Paul Willis joined Clinning and he just about allowed him to reach a half-century for, with four boundaries in his first 16 runs, he threatened to win the game single-handed. But Clinning got into the action and moved to 53, from 107 balls with six fours, before Willis, 21 not out from 31 balls, drove Barnes through the covers for the winning single. Fleetwood at 176-3 had won by seven wickets and gained its first victory of the season.
Division Two Results
Monday 7th MAY
Blackpool 175-5 (Mercer 76, Bartholomew 56), Leyland Motors 155 (Jones 64)
Morecambe 159-5 (Izatt 62), Darwen 128-5 (Winder 5-25)
Kendal 126 (Williams 4-32), Preston 112-9 (Brown 5-31)
Lancaster 169-7 (Wright 4-29), Fleetwood 172-3 (Emsley 82)
Leyland 183-7 (Bretherton 89), Chorley 186-4 (Hotham 78)
St Annes 190-5 (A Taylor 57, Kellett 57), Netherfield 112 (J Cotton 6-34)
| SECOND DIVISION TABLE |
|
P |
W (15) |
W (12) |
D (4) |
D (1) |
L |
NR (4) |
B Pts |
Pts |
| Chorley |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
45 |
| Kendal |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
37 |
| Blackpool |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
33 |
| Darwen |
4 | 1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
32 |
| St Annes |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
32 |
| Netherfield |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
28 |
| Morecambe |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
28 |
| Fleetwood |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
21 |
| Preston |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
16 |
| Lancaster |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
| Leyland |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
6 |
| Leyland Motors |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
