Match Day 14th June 2003 IT'S TIGHT AT THE TOP - FIVE POINTS SEPARATE TOP FIVE By Gerry Wolstenholme Weekend results in the Northern Premier League went in such a way that the gap between the leading clubs was considerably narrowed. Now only five points separate new leaders Chorley from fifth placed Preston. Chorley went to the top courtesy of a victory over high-flying Morecambe at Windsor Park. Batting first the home side made a modest 166 all out with a top score of 37 from Greenwood at number eight and 35 from Jim Fazackerley while Morecambe professional Ramesh Powar took 5-29. However Stephen John's impressive 7-35, the first seven in the batting order, meant that this was 54 runs too many for the powerful Morecambe batting line-up that was bowled out for only 112. Tommy Clough's 19 was their best effort. Last weekend's leaders Darwen also lost, being beaten by 53 runs by St Annes for whom stand-in South African professional Johann Louw made quite an impression. In the St Annes innings of 222-8 he made a fine 92, from 89 balls with one six and 13 fours, with the in-form Gareth Evans scoring 55 and then in Darwen's reply of 169 all out he took an excellent 7-50 including two wickets in the final over, one with the very last ball to secure the win. For Darwen Keith Semple did his utmost to give his side a chance with 4-45 and 57 but it was in vain as Darwen suffered their second defeat of the season. Only John Cordingley of the other batsmen made any impression as he scored 34. Third-placed Kendal could not beat Lancaster despite racking up the season's best total of 291-5 before declaring. Martin South top scored with 81, Kevin Howarth added 51 not out and Kabir Khan blasted a whirlwind 31 from 14 balls. But Lancaster, helped by David Heywood's 49, 35 not out by Simon Gould, 34 from Renier Munnik and 28 from Luke Phillips held on at 223-7 to take six points to Kendal's 10. Preston kept up their challenge for the title with an against-the-odds win at Fleetwood where the home side were at one time cruising at 101-1. They then lost their last nine wickets for the addition of only 77 runs to be 178 all out. Skipper Michael Clinning led from the front with 52 and John Wright made 41 but there was little from the rest. Manoj Parekh bowled his usual admirable line and length and was rewarded with 6-53. Preston then lost three early wickets but were put back on track with a half-century from Raouf Akbar who was dismissed for 54 but by then the game was almost won. It eventually was as Preston strolled home by four wickets at 182-6. Leyland were also winners at home to Blackpool as they batted first and made 154-9 with Mark Pallett making 81 with one six and 13 fours and Deon Kruis taking 5-40. Blackpool struggled throughout and could only muster 127 all out to lose by 27 runs. Julian Edwards took the bowling honours with 4-32 while Steven Croft top scored with 31. Netherfield and Leyland Motors meanwhile featured in a match with 442 runs with Motors first effort of 220-9 relying very heavily on professional Asif Ashraf who made a phenomenal contribution of 158 not out. Phil Iddon's 23 was the next best contribution while Marc Hadwin wheeled away to finish with 5-96. Netherfield's reply had no real stars but everyone made double figures as 44 from Chris Parry, 42 from Pieter Strydom and 34 from Tommy Prime took them to 222-8 and victory by two wickets. Scores in brief (home side in bold): Chorley 166 (Powar 5-29), Morecambe 112 (John 7-35) Chorley 15 points, Morecambe 4 points St Annes 222-8 (Louw 92, Evans 55, Semple 4-45), Darwen 169 (Semple 57, Louw 7-50) St Annes 15 points, Darwen 5 points Fleetwood 178 (Clinning 52, Wright 41, Parekh 6-53), Preston 182-6 (Akbar 54) Fleetwood 4 points, Preston 12 points Kendal 291-5 dec (South 81, Howarth 51*), Lancaster 223-7 (Heywood 49) Kendal 10 points, Lancaster 6 points Leyland 154-9 (Pallett M 82, Kruis 5-40), Blackpool 127 (Edwards 4-32) Leyland 15 points, Blackpool 4 points Leyland Motors 220-9 (Ashraf 158*, Hadwin 5-96), Netherfield 222-8 (Parry 44, Strydom 42) Leyland Motors 6 points, Netherfield 12 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION ONE Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Chorley 10 1 2 3 0 2 2 25 84 Darwen 10 2 2 1 0 2 3 13 83 Kendal 10 3 0 1 1 2 3 19 81 Morecambe 10 1 4 0 1 2 2 8 80 Preston 10 2 2 1 0 4 1 17 79 St Annes 10 1 1 2 2 1 3 23 72 Netherfield 10 1 2 1 2 1 3 14 71 Fleetwood 10 0 4 0 1 4 1 13 66 Lancaster 10 0 2 1 3 2 2 26 65 Leyland Motors 10 2 0 0 2 5 1 21 57 Leyland 10 2 0 0 0 5 3 10 52 Blackpool 10 0 1 2 0 5 2 23 51 ACTION REPLAY: PRESTON TRIUMPH AT BROADWATER Fleetwood 178 Preston 182-6 By Gerry Wolstenholme Preston returned to winning ways at Broadwater on Saturday as they defeated Fleetwood by four wickets in a game that on a couple of occasions they looked like losing. Fleetwood batted first, raced to 101-1 then collapsed to 178 all out. Preston replied and fell to 18-3 and recovered to reach their target for the loss of six wickets. It was a thoroughly entertaining game that was started by John Wright taking on the Preston bowlers and despatching them to all quarters. He looked in no danger and with his partner Michael Clinning nudging a few runs the pair quickly had 73 on the board. Wright then had a rush of blood in Manoj Parekh's first over as he tried to hit him out of the attack. He miscued one shot that fortunately fell between two fielders and yielded a couple of runs, he was then caught off a skier from a no-ball and the following ball he perished. He tried to hit Parekh out of the ground but only succeeded in finding Raouf Akbar at mid-off and he was gone for 41. Lloyd Ferreira began in the form of his century last week at St Annes and hit three blistering boundaries before he perished leg before wicket to Pervez Shah for 17 and it was 101-2. Zac Taylor only made four before he failed to move his feet in trying to drive Parekh and was caught at slip by Glen Johnstone at 106-3. Andy Singleton failed to score as he drove the wily Parekh straight to Akbar at mid-off and that was 110-4. Clinning and Wayne Clarke looked as though they might affect a recovery but both fell at the same total, 149. Clarke was bowled by Shah for 16 and Clinning was well caught by a diving Paul Richardson at slip for 52, an innings that contained seven boundaries. Rob Clark did not trouble the scorers as he was stumped by Paul Mann off Parekh at 157 and at 170, Richardson caught James Ellis at slip off Parekh for 14. Steve Hill made two before the returning Akbar bowled him and next ball he had Dave Fish leg before wicket and, with Paul Hague eight not out, it was all over at 178. Parekh had 6-53 from his 19 overs. After tea Preston began badly as Anthony Mann edged a ball to Ellis off Hill for three, Ian McDonnell, having played three lovely shots including the shot of the day through extra cover, was bowled by Hill for 12 and when Munaf Bavla was caught by Ellis off Fish for four it was a disastrous 18-3. Shah and Akbar then started a recovery and they added 57 runs before Clark caught the former off a Taylor long hop for 32. Akbar went on to make 52 with 10 fours before he went the same way, caught by Clark at extra cover off Taylor. But there were no more successes for Fleetwood as Parekh made it very much his day by making 32 not out untroubled and with Johnstone nine not out, Preston were home and dry with five overs and fours balls remaining of the final 20 overs. Division Two scores in brief (home teams in bold): Leyland 127 (Parker 6-21), Blackpool 128-4 (Caunce 61) Leyland 1 point, Blackpool 12 points Lancaster 182 (Yadav 58, Cooper 5-26), Kendal 144 (Cooper 86, Bevinmarad 4-32) Lancaster 15 points, Kendal 5 points Netherfield 125 (Cottam 5-27),Leyland Motors 126-7 (Hartley 5-47) Netherfield 3 points, Leyland Motors 12 points Morecambe 205-5 (Pedder 69*, Izzat 54), Chorley 159-5 (Sweeney 48, Catterall D 46) Morecambe 9 points, Chorley 4 points Preston 136 (Southall 57), Fleetwood 140-2 (Emsley 76) Preston 0 points, Fleetwood 12 points St Annes 234-6 (Bradley N 50, Taylor A 48, Bartholomew 45), Darwen 237-3 (Heys 104*, Painter 67, Chatterton 42*) St Annes 4 points, Darwen 12 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION TWO Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Darwen 10 2 6 0 1 0 1 2 109 Leyland Motors 10 2 4 0 1 1 2 5 92 St Annes 10 1 2 3 0 2 2 26 85 Chorley 10 0 5 0 1 2 2 11 80 Morecambe 10 0 4 2 1 1 2 13 78 Netherfield 10 2 1 1 0 5 1 16 66 Feetwood 9 2 2 0 1 3 1 6 65 Preston 10 2 0 2 1 3 2 18 65 Blackpool 9 0 2 0 2 3 2 14 48 Lancaster 10 1 0 0 0 7 2 20 43 Kendal 10 0 0 1 1 6 2 30 43 Leyland 10 0 2 0 0 7 1 11 39

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