DARWEN SPELLS DISASTER AT STANLEY PARK!
Blackpool 57 all out Darwen 59-1
By Gerry Wolstenholme
It was an afternoon, or more accurately a part afternoon, of disaster for Blackpool at Stanley Park on Saturday as Darwen comprehensively beat them in their Northern Premier League game. The visitors won the toss and put Blackpool in to bat on a track that had a decidedly green tinge about it. The result was some good bowling by Andrew Mercer, Keith Semple, Gareth Cordingley and Jeff Hacking and some rank bad batting by Blackpool that ended with the home side being bowled out for a measly 57. And that took 38.5 overs! Darwen's reply lasted just 13.3 overs by which time they had secured their victory with 59-1.
The afternoon started brightly enough for Blackpool as makeshift opener Paul Danson clipped the first ball of the game off his legs to the mid-wicket boundary. The omens looked good but little was it known that it was to be one off only four strikes
Danson had only added two to his total when he became the first wicket to fall with the total at 12. He played at a ball from Semple, got an edge and Graham Parkinson behind the stumps did the rest. Stephen Croft came in, hit one boundary and then departed as a ball that kept low from Mercer trapped him in front of his stumps and that was 19-2.
It was 20-3 when Mercer bowled Chris Simcock for eight and 23-4 when Chris Barrow edged Semple through to the reliable Parkinson. Steve Mercer hit one boundary in his six before he departed, caught by Parkinson when thinking of withdrawing his bat to a ball from Mercer that was leaving him. That was 32-5 and it was 37-6 when Gareth Cordingley comprehensively bowled Mark Griffiths before he had scored.
Karl Marsland also failed to trouble the scorers as he edged Cordingley to Semple at first slip and that was 39-7. The best stand of the innings followed as Mark Lomas, who had watched much of the disaster from the other end, and Marcus Sharp tried to repair the damage. Eighteen runs were added before Sharp, having played most watchfully for his two, edged Jeff Hacking through to Parkinson. The miserable 57-8 then became 57 all out in the space of two further balls as Hacking completed his hat-trick.
Dave Cresswell, surprisingly recalled from semi-retirement, and Martin Hackett failed to get their bats to the ball and both fell leg before wicket. Lomas, who had battled for 80 balls without ever really looking in control, ended with 20 not out as Blackpool found themselves 57 all out. Mercer ended with 3-21 from his 19 overs, Semple 2-16, Cordingley 2-16 and Hacking with the astonishing figures of 0.5-0-0-3!
After an early tea Darwen's Gary Jackson avoided a third golden duck by surviving his first ball from Sharp. This earned him hearty applause from his team-mates. Thereafter he took a single and then clipped Croft nicely through mid-wicket for four. That stroke must have had the kiss of death on it for next ball he edged Croft through to Hackett who took the easy catch. He was gone for five and it was 5-1.
But that was the limit of Blackpool's success as Mark Hadfield, 23 not out from 31 balls with four fours, and Semple, 27 not out from 42 balls with one savagely pulled six and one four took Darwen to victory at 59-1. And it was only 4.33pm!
There were efforts (in jest) of trying to get the two teams to play the Sunday Cup tie after the main event had ended so that the following day could be a rest day. But it was all over and the spectators had to wind their way home very early on one of the sunnier days of the summer so far. One spectator who had to baby-sit for the evening must have had an insight into what was going to happen. His family had told him that he had to be back by six o'clock. And without knowing who was to be batting he had said "Oh, don't worry, it will be over by 5-30!" How wrong could he be? He had overestimated by almost an hour!
The early finish gave those Darwen players who were staying over in Blackpool for a night out to start their revelries earlier than planned but skipper Jeff Hacking did give them a warning parting shot. "We want to be up for it tomorrow and I expect you all to be fighting fit" was his comment. To which the players all agreed!
Division Two Results in brief (home team in bold):
Blackpool 169-8 (50 overs) (Munir 56), Darwen 170-4 (47.1 overs) (Bateson 58,
Brown 40)
Blackpool 1 point, Darwen 12 points
Leyland Motors 185-7 (Totham 74)(50 overs), Fleetwood 188-5 (Latus 39*, Sherlock 39*)(34.4 overs)
Leyland Motors 2 points, Fleetwood 12 points
Leyland 141-8 (50 overs) (Namajee 52, Walsh 48, Stoddart 5-25), Lancaster 142-3
(34.5 overs) (Johnstone 87, Marshall 40*)
Leyland 0 points, Lancaster 12 points
Morecambe 155 (49.5 overs) (Lee 5-11), Netherfield 44-7 (30 overs)
- rain stopped play
Morecambe 6 points, Netherfield 4 points
Preston 142-9 (Greenwood 43, Mann A 40, Catterall D 5-18)(50 overs), Chorley 143-3
(Richardson 46, Hotham 45*)(43 overs)
Preston 0 points, Chorley 12 points
Kendal 165-8 (50 overs) (Couperthwaite 64, Booth 6-45), St Annes 169-1 (30 overs)
(Bradley R 121*)
Kendal 1 point, St Annes 12 points
BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
DIVISION TWO
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Lancaster |
10 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
11 |
93 |
| Fleetwood |
10 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
88 |
| Morecambe |
10 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
87 |
| Netherfield |
10 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
87 |
| Darwen |
10 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
63 |
| St Annes |
10 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
59 |
| Leyland |
10 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
50 |
| Preston |
10 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
48 |
| Chorley |
10 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
47 |
| Kendal |
10 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
45 |
| Leyland Motors |
10 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
7 |
31 |
| Blackpool |
10 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
7 |
28 |
