Match Day 12th July- 2003
DARWEN STILL IN FRONT
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Darwen and second-placed Morecambe both picked up maximum point on Saturday while Preston lost ground by losing to Netherfield and St Annes moved into third place with victory over hapless Blackpool.
Darwen made 209-6 at Lune Road with Gary Jackson top scoring with 64 and with useful 30s from Keith Semple, 37, and Gareth Cordingley, 39. Ben Simm took 4-61 for Lancaster who in their reply were bowled out for 124 to lose by 85 runs. Keith Semple had a season's best return of 6-17 while Andrew Mercer took the other four wickets for 41 runs. Ian Parkinson made 51 not out and Brendan Hetherington, happily back in the fold, made 38 for Lancaster.
Morecambe also made hay in the sunshine as they amassed 236-8 on the back of a splendid opening partnership by Mark Woodhead and Phil Dennison, both of whom made 65. Tommy Clough chipped in with 37 not out to post a daunting total for Leyland Motors. That they lost by 94 runs was due to Peter Stephens, 4-42, Gareth Pedder 2-45, Ramesh Powar 2-21, and Faruk Patel, 2-28, who bowled them out for 142. James Aspinwall with a fighting 41 with seven fours was the only real resistance for Motors.
Kendal also made over 200 against Leyland and declared on 239-6 from 54 overs. They lost three cheap wickets before Terry Hunte, 59, Kevin Howarth, 92 and skipper Dave Fallows, 44 not out, took them to their final total. Julian Edwards had the best bowling return for Leyland with 3-41. Kabir Khan, who added 20 to the Kendal total, then took over and he had 5-27 and with Howarth showing that it was very much his day with 3-31, Leyland were dismissed for 126 to lose by 113 runs. Mark Pallett top scored with 32 while Charlie Williams, surprisingly batting at number 10 made 25 not out.
The day's top scorers were, however, Chorley but their 251-3 could not get them a win as Fleetwood held on for a draw at 191-7. Captain James Fazackerley led the way for Chorley with an unbeaten 103 not out including 12 fours and he was ably assisted by Nigel Heaton who made 84 with 11 fours and three sixes. Fleetwood's reply began well and al the top four all passed 20 but only Michael Dewhurst, 40, and Lloyd Ferreira, 69, went on to make a really significant contribution. Ferreira was missed on 29 but his powerful display was only ended when a top edge was well held on the boundary by Heaton. This left Fleetwood's younger batsmen to hold on for the draw, which despite some alarms, they did despite Stephen John's 3-45.
Meanwhile at St Annes a low scoring game ended in victory for the home side who dismissed Blackpool for 132 in 53.2 overs after the visitors had been 100-2 in 26 overs. Steve Mercer made a Premier League best of 39 and Steven Croft made 38 but no one else made much of any worth. Youngster Michael Baer kept up his steady progress with 5-51 but he was ably helped in more ways than one by Geoff Love at the other end. He bowled immaculately and never allowed the batsmen any rein as his 20.2 overs earned him an excellent 3-22, and eight of those came in one over off the only two bad balls he bowled all afternoon. St Annes made heavy weather of their reply but Gareth Evans, missed on 21 by Dave Higham at gully, made 37 and then Russ Bradley and Roger Banks saw their side home by three wickets at 135-7 without recourse to any of the final 20 overs.
Finally Netherfield had a fright at Parkside Road as they lost seven wickets in just passing 50 before a stand of 65 between Chris Parry, 44, And Scott Clement, 15, finally helped them limp to 134 all out. Raouf Akbar took 5-53 and James Anyon 3-42 while Manoj Parekh bowled 16 overs to take 1-14. But even 134 was too many for Preston on the day as the Netherfield bowlers made quick inroads into the batting. Ian McDonnell and Parekh both made 13, the latter not out, and that was the best Preston could offer as they succumbed for just 70 to lose by 64 runs. Marc Hadwin took 4-10 and Clement had 3-12.
Results in brief (home side in bold):
Chorley 251-3 (Fazackerley 103*, Heaton 84), Fleetwood 191-7 (Ferreira 69)
Chorley 10 points, Fleetwood 5 points
Darwen 209-6 (Jackson 64, Simm 4-61), Lancaster 124 (Parkinson 51*,
Semple 6-17)
Darwen 15 points Lancaster 2 points
Kendal 239-6 dec (Howarth 92, Hunte 59, Fallows 44*), Leyland 126 (Khan 5-27)
Kendal 15 points, Leyland 2 points
Morecambe 236-8 (Woodhead 65, Dennison 65),
Leyland Motors 142 (Aspinwall 41, Stephens 4-42)
Morecambe 15 points, Leyland Motors 4 points
Netherfield 134 (Parry 44, Akbar 5-53), Preston 70 (Hadwin 4-10)
Netherfield 15 points, Preston 4 points
Blackpool 132 (Baer 5-51), St Annes 135-7 (Kruis 4-44)
Blackpool 3 points, St Annes 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
DIVISION ONE
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Darwen |
14 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
13 |
134 |
| Morecambe |
14 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
121 |
| St Annes |
14 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
29 |
118 |
| Preston |
14 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
21 |
117 |
| Netherfield |
14 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
17 |
113 |
| Kendal |
14 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
32 |
110 |
| Chorley |
14 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
36 |
103 |
| Fleetwood |
14 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
1 |
33 |
88 |
| Leyland Motors |
14 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
33 |
88 |
| Lancaster |
14 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
39 |
83 |
| Blackpool |
14 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
34 |
75 |
| Leyland |
14 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
22 |
68 |
ACTION REPLAY:
ST ANNES WIN LOW SCORING LOCAL DERBY
Blackpool 132, St Annes 135-7
By Gerry Wolstenholme
In glorious sunshine and before a fair sized crowd St Annes made heavy weather of defeating Blackpool by three wickets at Vernon Road on Saturday. Putting Blackpool in to bat, the St Annes bowlers did everything right as they bowled the visitors out for a modest 132, and that after they had been 78-1 and 100-2. However, they did not have things all their own way as Deon Kruis bowled fast and fiery to take four wickets but there were just not enough runs in the bank and St Annes ran out winners at 135-7.
When Blackpool batted Martin Pickles made seven before, in his own words, he became a hooker in St Annes for the first time in his career and was caught by Steve Twist down at fine leg off Roger Banks. That was 13-1 and there followed a partnership of 62 runs in 55 minutes between Steve Mercer and Steven Croft. Mercer took the lead early in the partnership and then Croft took over so that when he was dismissed he had made 38 of the runs from 58 balls with seven fours. He got a ball from Michael Baer that popped on him and he paddled it round to Adrian Darlington at backward square leg and that was 78-2.
Mercer and Mark Lomas took the total to 100 in the 26th over before Lomas, who had already had one life from a possible stumping, gave Duncan Whalley another chance that the wicketkeeper gleefully snapped up. Geoff Love was the bowler and Lomas had gone for nine. From then on to the end of the innings the bowlers controlled the show. Love, in particular, and Baer had the Blackpool batsmen tied up to such an extent that only a further 32 runs were added in 27.3 overs and for the loss of the remaining seven wickets.
Mercer, having become bogged down somewhat in the 30s, went for a fighting 39 when Baer bowled him at 116-4 and next ball Deon Kruis pushed one gently into the waiting hands of Gareth Evans at silly mid-off. Paul Danson survived the hat-trick ball but then saw his partner Steve Metcalf be caught by Love off Baer for 10 at 117-6. And it was 119-7 when Prash Aga was caught by Whalley off Baer for one.
Danson battled on to nine before he was caught by Evans, this time at short leg, off Love at 131-8. And then a little bit of undisciplined cricket saw Dave Higham and Martin Hackett in a mix-up that resulted in Higham being run out for one at 132-9. And it was all over at 132 when Banks juggled a catch at deep mid-off from Hackett off Love who finished with 3-22 from 20.3 overs. Baer took his first League five-wicket haul, finishing with 5-51.
The St Annes reply got off to a flying start as Darlington quickly rattled up 16 before a ball from Kruis stopped on him and induced a return catch and St Annes were 19-1. It was 33-2 when Twist, 10, perished the same way as Darlington and then 63-3 when a rising ball from Kruis caught the edge of Love's bat and he was gone, caught behind, for 12.
Evans was battling on at the other end but he had a life when Higham in the gully dropped a low chance when the batsman was on 21. Together with Whalley, Evans took the total to 86 before Whalley, 10, fatally played back to a ball from Higham and was bowled. Evans went for 37, stumped by Hackett off Higham, when the total was 97 before Adam Cotton bludgeoned a quick 20 to raise the score to 114. He then went for another big hit but only succeeded in skying the ball to slip where Croft took the catch and St Annes were six down with 19 runs still needed.
David Bartholomew was leg before wicket without scoring to Kruis at 115 but the dependable Russ Bradley and Banks made sure that St Annes won by adding the final 20 runs. Banks drove his first ball straight for four and repeated the dose to make the winning runs with the final 20 overs not required. He finished on nine not out made from only four balls while Bradley had 11 not out. Kruis took 4-44 and Higham 3-47 but, even allowing for the few scares, a total of 132 was never going to be enough to take the points.
Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Blackpool v St Annes - postponed
Lancaster 179-5 (Burstow 51), Darwen 115 (Toulmin 4-37)
Lancaster 15 points, Darwen 2 points
Fleetwood 261-5 dec (Clarke 106), Chorley 230-9
Fleetwood 11 points, Chorley 6 points
Leyland 95-8 (Potts 5-22), Kendal 97-2 (Dodds 43*)
Leyland 0 points, Kendal 12 points
Morecambe 242-6 (Maje 92, Milner 69*), Leyland Motors 99-9 (Lee 4-21)
Morecambe 11 points, Leyland Motors 3 points
Preston 189-7 (Winter 47, Southall 44, Mann M 41), Netherfield 193-8 (Jones 48)
Preston 6 points, Netherfield 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
DIVISION TWO
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Darwen |
14 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
14 |
141 |
| Leyland Motors |
14 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
134 |
| St Annes |
13 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
26 |
121 |
| Morecambe |
14 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
23 |
120 |
| Chorley |
14 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
24 |
110 |
| Fleetwood |
13 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
25 |
107 |
| Netherfield |
14 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
26 |
88 |
| Preston |
14 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
37 |
88 |
| Lancaster |
14 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
33 |
87 |
| Blackpool |
12 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
24 |
72 |
| Kendal |
14 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
2 |
38 |
63 |
| Leyland |
14 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
1 |
20 |
49 |
