Match Day 20th July 2002 THREE LEADERS THWARTED By Gerry Wolstenholme The Northern Premier League's three leading sides were all thwarted by the weather in Saturday's round of games as none of them could engineer a finish and this gave the chasing pack some hope as all but one of the other games ended in a definite result. Leaders Darwen and third-placed Netherfield met at Birch Hall where the home side batted first. Gareth Cordingley was once again in the runs adding a further 61 not out to his already impressive 463 League runs. Fifty-four from Mark Hadfield and 50 from Gary Jackson took Darwen to 211-7 from their 57 overs. Netherfield's reply stuttered and when rain stopped play they had struggled to 56-6 with Keith Semple in form with the ball with 5-20. In the circumstances Darwen's eight points were, of course, much more valuable than the two earned by Netherfield. Morecambe visited Kendal and made a start to reach 67-1 before the game was abandoned so it was four points each. Leyland Motors also earned four points at Lancaster after a great effort that took them to 174-5 in reply to the home side's 192-9. Craig Atkinson made 89 and Rennier Munnik 47 from Lancaster's total while Iqbal 'Dennis' Liley took an impressive 4-21. For Motors Ashraf led the way with 79 not out and David Makinson contributed 44. At Leyland Fleetwood experienced one of their all too familiar batting failures as they made a measly 103 all out. It resulted in a 118-run defeat by Leyland who made 221-6. Blackpool had all rounder Martin van Jaarsveld standing in for bowler Marcus Sharp and it was runs from the South African that earned Blackpool a win. With Steven Croft, 5-30, and David Brookes, 4-42, bowling Preston out for 122, van Jaarsveld contributed 63 not out to Blackpool's winning 125-2. Finally at St Annes the home side made too few runs after a good start. Their 199-5 was some 30 or 40 runs less than anticipated and Chorley won at 200-7 with less than two overs remaining. Jack Kelliher played another mature innings for St Annes and made 66 and Gareth Evans, 44, joined him in an opening partnership of 119. For Chorley Nigel Heaton played an excellent innings of 78 and Ian Mawdsley smashed an impressive 44. Results in brief (home side in bold): Darwen 211-7 (57 overs) (Cordingley G 61*, Hadfield 54, Jackson 50), Netherfield 56-6 (23 overs) (Semple 5-20) Darwen 8 points, Netherfield 2 points Morecambe 67-1 (19 overs) v Kendal - match abandoned Morecambe 4 points, Kendal 4 points Lancaster 192-9 (57 overs) (Atkinson 89, Munnik 47), Leyland Motors 174-5 (53 overs) (Ashraf 79*, Makinson 44) Lancaster 6 points, Leyland Motors 4 points Leyland 221-8dec (56.1 overs) (Rimmer 81 Fish 5-95, Fleetwood 103 (37.1 overs) (Rimmer 4-23) Leyland 15points Fleetwood 2 points Preston 122 (47.5 overs) (Croft 5-30, Brookes 4-42), Blackpool 125-2 (25.2 overs) (van Jaarsveld 63*) Preston 0 points, Blackpool 12 points St Annes 199-5 (57 overs) (Kelliher 66, Evans 44), Chorley 200-7 (52.3 overs) (Heaton 78, Mawdsley 44) St Annes 3 points, Chorley 12 points BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION ONE Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Darwen 14 3 5 4 0 0 2 13 142 Morecambe 14 2 8 0 1 1 2 2 137 Netherfield 14 2 4 2 1 2 3 12 111 Kendal 14 3 1 2 1 3 4 14 96 Blackpool 14 2 2 2 2 5 2 13 85 Chorley 14 2 3 1 3 3 2 9 85* Fleetwood 14 1 2 2 2 5 2 19 76 Leyland 14 1 2 0 1 7 3 17 69 Lancaster 14 1 0 4 3 4 2 26 68 St Annes 14 1 1 0 5 4 3 20 64 Preston 14 2 0 1 0 8 3 10 56 Leyland Motors 14 1 0 2 1 8 2 18 50 * 5 points deducted ACTION REPLAY CHORLEY WIN AT ST ANNES St Annes 199-5 Chorley 200-7 By Gerry Wolstenholme At Vernon Road on Saturday St Annes failed to get enough runs to set Chorley too demanding a target and their 199-7 in 57 overs was overhauled by the visitors at 200-7 with nine balls remaining. And it all began promisingly for the home side who had their best opening partnership of the season with young Jack Kelliher living up to his promise with an impressive 66 and Gareth Evans making 44. They put on 119 before Evans edged Mawdsley's first ball though to Neil Senior. Kelliher had a life on 65 when he drove a ball from Stephen John straight to Tom Smith at extra cover. Unaccountably Smith dropped one of the easiest chances he is likely to receive this season. Geoff Love went down the track to have a word with Kelliher but it was to no avail for, in John's next over, he almost repeated the shot, this time to mid-on, where Andy Harty held onto the catch. He was gone for 66 and St Annes were 133-2. Inexplicably, the innings lost its momentum from then on with only Adrian Darlington at the end hitting a very quick 11 not out to get the side near to the 200. Stephen Twist did make 23 more quickly than his partner, Love, before he was caught at long-on off Mawdsley trying to push the pace along. The stage was set for the hard hitting Joe Davies but he managed only two before falling leg before wicket to Smith and St Annes were 176-4. The final wicket to fall was that of Love who had laboured for 66 minutes and 50 balls over his 27 before he attempted to sweep John only to get a bat end on it and Senior ran round to take the gentle catch. Russ Bradley made one not out, Darlington the quick 11 and St Annes closed on 199-5, perhaps some 30 or 40 runs less than was expected. But 199 looked a long was off when Chorley lost their two opening batsmen both without scoring and with only four runs on the board. Smith was leg before wicket to Davies and Iqbal Patel, nursing an injured ankle, was bowled by Twist. Mawdsley had crashed his first ball back past the bowler, Davies, for four and this set the tone for his sparkling innings. He hit 10 fours, one through the hands of Evans at long-on, as he raced to 44 from only 56 balls. Then he edged Love to wicketkeeper James Ellis and Chorley were 73-3. Nigel Heaton, who was also asserting some authority over the St Annes bowlers, and John put on 89 for the fourth wicket before the latter was leg before wicket to Twist for 37. Jim Fazackerley's time at the crease was limited for before he had scored he was given out caught by Ellis off Love, a decision that left the Chorley captain walking disconsolately back to the pavilion. Heaton meanwhile had hit three huge sixes, one a magnificent drive over long-off and two tremendous sweeps, and eight fours in his 78 made from 97 balls. But then he found the only fielder on the on-side when he pulled Love to be caught by Sean Bickerdike at deep mid-wicket. The total of 166-6 became 173-7 when Ian Oakes, five, perished to an excellent catch by Kelliher off Twist and Chorley were beginning to wobble. But Mark Richardson, 12 not out, and John Hotham, 11 not out, steadied the ship and took it home at 200-7. Second Division results in brief (home team in bold): Preston 182-8 (47 overs) (Peet 50),Blackpool 180-7 (50 overs) (Metcalfe 41*), Preston 7 points, Blackpool 4 points Chorley 204-7 (50 overs) (Catterall D 70, Tummapalli 4-64), St Annes 159 (44 overs) (Whalley 59*, Bradley N 45, Demming 5-39) Chorley 15 points, St Annes 2 points Leyland 159-9 (49.5 overs) (Farrington 78), Fleetwood 161-3 (42.2 overs)(Hague 45*) Leyland 1 point, Fleetwood 12 points Leyland Motors 165-6 (50 overs) (Totham 86*, Cross 51), Lancaster 154 (42 overs) (Dennison 59, Jones 4-23) Leyland Motors 15 points, Lancaster 2 points Morecambe 226 (49 overs) (Fisher 84, Cowperthwaite 4-37), Kendal 156-7 (39 overs) Morecambe 8 points, Kendal 5 points Netherfield 2-0 (2.2 overs) v Darwen - match abandoned Netherfield 4 points, Darwen 4 points. BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION TWO Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Lancaster 14 3 5 2 0 2 2 13 134 Morecambe 14 3 4 2 2 1 2 13 124 Fleetwood 14 1 5 4 0 3 1 20 115 Netherfield 14 3 2 0 4 1 4 14 103 St Annes 14 1 4 1 1 5 2 8 84 Darwen 14 0 5 0 2 4 3 9 83 Chorley 14 2 3 1 0 7 1 7 81 Leyland Motors 14 1 3 1 0 7 2 7 70 Leyland 14 2 1 2 1 6 2 10 69 Kendal 14 0 3 1 2 6 2 15 65 Preston 14 2 0 2 2 6 2 17 65 Blackpool 14 1 1 2 2 7 1 15 53

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