Match Day 19th May 2001
DEJA VU - NETHERFIELD TAKE OVER AT THE TOP
Gerry Wolstenholme
The top of the Bay 96.9 Northern League Premier Division now has a familiar look about it as last year's champions Netherfield moved into first place following a win over Leyland on Saturday. Leyland batted first and could muster only 115-8 as Pieter Strydom took 4-46 and only Benfield with 43 could make any impression on the bowling. In reply Netherfield had Grahame Clarke race to 48 and with Strydom completing a good all-round day with 53 not out, the victory was easy enough with eight wickets in hand.
Netherfield's neighbours Kendal joined its rivals at the top as a win over Fleetwood moved the Shap Road boys into second place. Fleetwood batted first and could manage only 118 all out in the face of some very good pace bowling by Kabir Khan who impressed visiting skipper John Wright and took 5-45. Kendal did lose five wickets in its reply but at 121-5 the 12 points, and second place, were in the bag.
Blackpool slipped to third place after a turgid display against Morecambe at Stanley Park. Replying to Morecambe's 206, to which professional Amol Muzumdar contributed a classy 85, Blackpool struggled to 105-5 with youngster Stephen Croft on 49 not out. Other than those vital statistics, the less said about the match the better.
The only other winner outside the Cumbrian sides on the day was St Annes who comfortably defeated luckless Leyland Motors. Dave Callaghan was in prime form for the home side and finished with 113 not out from 187-5. The South African was on 88 when the final over started and not facing the bowling but a single from the first ball got him the strike. He then proceeded to hit David Makinson for four consecutive sixes and with a single off the last ball he reached his 113. Makinson's comment was "My bowling figures weren't too bad until that final over!" Motors made a better fist of it than of late and did get within 46 runs but 141 all out saw them lose by 46 runs, pick up no points and drop to the bottom of the table.
Preston's James Anyon scored the first senior century of his career as with 106 he was the main stay in Preston's impressive 195-9 against in-form Darwen for whom Gareth Cordingley picked up five wickets for 51 runs. In reply Darwen lost early wickets and their batsmen were never really in the hunt as Raoul Akhbar took 5-39 to restrict the east Lancashire side to 138-7.
Lancaster and Chorley also played out a drawn game at Lune Road. Lancaster made 181-9, with Josh Marquet taking 4-56, and Chorley's reply was insubstantial at 114-7. It was, therefore, seven points to Lancaster and only three points to Chorley.
Abbreviated scoreboard (home team in bold):
Morecambe 206 (Muzumdar 85, Sharp 4-55), Blackpool 108-5 (Croft 49*)
Preston 195-9 (Anyon 106, Cordingley G 5-51), Darwen 138-7 (Akhbar 5-39)
Fleetwood 118 (Khan 5-45), Kendal 121-5
Lancaster 181-9 (Marquet 4-56) Chorley 114-7
Leyland 115-8 (Benfield 43, Strydom 4-46), Netherfield 118-2 (Strydom 53*,
Clarke 48)
St Annes 187-5 (Callaghan 113*), Leyland Motors 141
MATCH OF THE DAY?
By Gerry Wolstenholme
As an advertisement for the Bay 96.9 Northern Premier League, the match at Stanley Park on Saturday was an absolute disgrace. Spectators would have been forgiven if, before the game, they were thinking that a clash between top-of-the-table Blackpool and fifth placed Morecambe would provide a thriller. Quite the opposite happened as the game petered out into one of the most boring, dull and uninteresting draws that anyone could ever have seen. Indeed many of the spectators did not see the end of the match as they had decided that enough was enough and had made their way home.
Morecambe won the toss and decided to bat. They proceeded to make 206 all out in 59.5 of their 60 overs. Blackpool in reply had 51 overs to make the necessary runs for victory but sadly they made no attempt at all and when the final 20 overs started they had made a paltry 54-5 in 31 overs. Things hardly got any better, despite Morecambe resorting to the use of the lesser-known bowlers, and Blackpool finished at a pathetic 108-5 from their 51 overs.
It all started favourably as though it would be a proper game of cricket with both sides playing sensibly and trying to gain advantage. And first blood was to Blackpool when Mark Woodhead was adjudged leg before wicket to professional Marcus Sharp for nought with the total on two. This despite the wicketkeeper and first slip seemingly trying to make a catch off the edge of Woodhead's bat. Wicketkeeper Damien Gudgeon went in at number three and he made eight before edging Darren Walton through to his fellow wicketkeeper Martin Hackett. That was 18-2 and it was soon 20-3 as Walton bowled Nick Milner for nought.
But that was the end of Blackpool success for quite some time. Professional Amol Muzumdar, handed the job of opening the innings, and Tommy Clough proceeded to build a partnership that none of the five Blackpool bowlers that were tried could break. Both batsmen struck handsome boundaries and Muzumdar in particular looked in no trouble whatsoever. Clough was dropped off a relatively simple chance to David Bartholomew at mid-off but he continued undaunted.
When the pair had added 111 in 106 minutes, Clough went down the track to left arm spinner Chris Barrow and was stumped by Hackett for a fine 39 made from 90 balls with four fours. That was 131-4 with the powerful Morecambe captain Phil Thornton arriving at the wicket. He and Muzumdar added a quick 24 runs before the professional, who was well set for a deserved century despite being missed in the deep from a very difficult chance to Martin Pickles, was unexpectedly dismissed. On 85, made from 153 balls with five fours, he tried to paddle Barrow round to fine leg and found his leg stump leaning back.
Stuart Errington came and went quickly, caught by Hackett off Sharp and then with the total at 182 Thornton became the seventh Morecambe batsman to be dismissed. He had made 27 from only 29 balls with one six and two fours when he was caught by Lomas off Walton. John Eccles then made 16 before he became the first of two wickets in two balls for Sharp. He was caught at long-off by Croft from a mighty hit and next ball Ryan Tingle was comprehensively bowled for one. On a hat-trick, Sharp tore in and rapped Peter Stephens on the toe. On a vehement appeal, the umpire found in favour of the batsman. Stephens went on to make 12 before being run out with one ball remaining, leaving Ghulam Maje not out four and Morecambe all out for 206. Sharp with 4-55 was the most successful bowler and Walton had 3-42 while Barrow took 2-59 from 16 overs.
Blackpool's reply could not have got off to a worse start for Stephens produced the perfect yorker first ball and Pickles found his stumps rearranged. Richard Lamb was out in Stephens' second over when he edged a ball through to Gudgeon who dived forward to take a good catch and Blackpool were on the back foot at 5-2. But the prolific Mark Lomas was at the wicket with Paul Danson who has been batting well so far this season. But disaster struck for Blackpool when surprise opening bowler Mark Woodhead comprehensively beat Lomas to knock back his middle stump when he had made only four and the Blackpool total was 18. Woodhead was so pleased that he adopted a rather unusual, and some said distasteful, celebration on the ground. More in keeping with a football field than a cricket field, he pulled his shirt up over his head and cavorted around the outfield. Well, it is not every day that a (very) part-time bowler dismisses the most prolific batsman in the League!
Blackpool had to rebuild their innings and Danson and youngster Stephen Croft set about doing just that and at that stage there was no evidence of what was to come. Danson was looking for runs, so much so that his quest cost him his wicket. Going for a possible third run he found Croft not responding and then slipping and both batsmen were at the bowler's end as Stephens calmly lofted the ball to Gudgeon who removed the bails.
A very much out-of-form Gavin Armstrong came in and contributed little to Blackpool's cause. When he had made five he lofted a ball from Eccles gently to Muzumdar and was gone with Blackpool having crawled to 49-5. The total had risen to 54-5 when the final 'minimum of 20 overs or one hour' [League rule 7 (3)] commenced. David Bartholomew had joined Croft at the wicket and the pair of them made no discernible effort to go for the runs. They were simply playing out time whatever Morecambe threw at them. And Morecambe did throw everything at them for eight players bowled, many of them unlikely often to feature in a serious attack. And serious it was not at some points as one bowler, who shall remain nameless, pulled his shirt up to reveal his midriff as he ran in to bowl. How the square leg umpire did not intervene and inform him to cut out such antics is beyond comprehension.
No more wickets fell and a meaningless 59 more runs were scored, many of them give-aways by the Morecambe bowlers. It was a pity that Morecambe did not continue seriously through to the end for Blackpool's effort would have looked even more paltry. As it was they closed at 108-5 and those that were left in the ground were thankfully able to wind their way home to do more exciting things. Mercifully the umpires played their part in ending the tedium for when the 20 overs had been bowled, the final hour had not run its course. There some five minutes left and was, therefore, time for probably one further over but thankfully the players were allowed to leave the field. Morecambe's bowling figures are not as meaningful as they would normally be (Peter Stephens for instance ended up bowling off two paces) but Stephens had 2-36, Woodhead took 1-33 and Eccles 1-5. Others who bowled were Clough, Muzumdar, Maje, Milner and Tingle.
Perennial overs cricket is not the answer in League matches, being fine for Cup ties and draws should have a part to play in the game. But if games are to drift along aimlessly like this one did there is a strong argument that the sooner overs cricket is totally introduced the better. At least spectators would be more likely to regularly get value for money.
It is understood that one Blackpool player suggested to Morecambe that they should have declared to make a game of it. Declared? On a Stanley Park pitch that is renown for its run getting qualities? Declared? With one of the League's most prolific batsmen, fresh from successive big half centuries, with the potential to continue where he left off? Declared? With a batting line-up that had Darren Walton, who opened the innings very recently, batting as low as number eight? Surely not.
The only certain thing is that any more cricket of this nature at Stanley Park and the few spectators that still make the pilgrimage to watch the game will gradually drift away. One disgruntled spectator commented at the end, "It's an absolute disgrace" and another said, "Both sides got what they deserved - nothing!"
Perhaps, in fairness, it is the structure of the 110-over game that needs looking at.
Division Two
Abbreviated scoreboard(home team in bold):
Morecambe 276-4 (Fisher 113, Izatt 102), Blackpool 144-6 (Crane 74, Winder 4-44)
Darwen 97 (Patel 5-16, Starkie 4-48), Preston 94-9 (Bonner 6-29)
Kendal 66 (Sherlock 5-22), Fleetwood 68-3
Lancaster 239 (Phillips 59, Marshall 46, Fairhurst 4-27), Chorley 82-9 (Dennison 5-20)
Netherfield 148 (Dugdale 48), Leyland 143-9 (Farrington 50, Hartley 4-26)
Leyland Motors 162-5 (Totham 67*), St Annes 163-2 (Hill 91)
