By Gerry Wolstenholme
There was no change at the top of the Northern Premier League table as all three teams leading the way won when batting second and thus acquired 12 points each. Although challengers Netherfield lost at St Annes, they leapfrogged Preston, who lost at Kendal, to take fourth place and Morecambe, defeated Darwen, saw their challenge almost disappear. And barring some miraculous results the title should go to one of the present top three.
Morecambe struggled at Darwen but skipper Phil Thornton, returning from a damaged hand, made a hard-hitting 98 not out, with six sixes and seven fours, to take them to a final 174-9 with Andrew Mercer picking up another five-wicket haul, this time 5-70 and Jeff Hacking taking 3-45. Keith Semple was the main man in Darwen's reply as he hit 79 not out and with 45 from Gareth Cordingley, who was dropped by Thornton before he had scored, and 36 from Gary Jackson, Darwen romped to 178-4 and victory by six wickets. Morecambe's Peter Stephens added another three wickets, 3-41, to his impressive season's haul.
St Annes put Netherfield in to bat and bowled them out off the last ball of the 57 overs for 182 with Gareth White making a top score of 65 and Geoff Love taking 5-56. Steve Twist, 42, Love, 40 not out and another fine innings from Duncan Whalley, 60 not out, took St Annes to 184-3 and a seven-wicket win.
Kendal restricted Preston to just 144-8 at Shap Road with Pervez Shah top scoring with 50 not out but no other batsman getting past the 15 of Anthony Mann and Raouf Akbar. Terry Hunte then made 79 not out and Martin South 39 as Kendal won comfortably by eight wickets at 148-2.
Fleetwood made a mockery of their recent poor batting form by making 214-2 to which Lloyd Ferreira contributed 102 not out, two sixes and 10 fours, and Michael Dewhurst 64 not out as the pair put on an unbroken 175 for the third wicket. But they could not force a win as Lancaster, thanks to 58 from Renier Munnik and 32 from Luke Phillips, held on for the draw at 181-8.
It was a similar result at Stanley Park where Blackpool entertained Leyland Motors. The day's top score came from Motors who scored 218-9 with professional Atif Ashraf making his fourth century of the season, this time 101 not out with one six and 15 fours. Darron Walton took 4-71 for Blackpool who then fought for a draw by making 185-9 with Walton top scoring with 36 and James Aspinwall taking 5-46 for Motors. Last Blackpool pair Martin Hackett and Stephen Metcalf faced the final 10 balls to deny Motors the victory. Ashraf, who had teammate Martin Baines to thank for allowing him to reach three figures as the opening batsman had retired injured early on but returned at the fall of the ninth wicket, now has over 800 League runs this season. This gives him the professional run aggregate record at the club, surpassing Warnapurna's 768 in the 1976 season.
Finally it was a win for Chorley who bowled Leyland out for 142 at Fox Lane with Andrew Harty taking 4-16 and Stephen John taking 4-33 while Zubair Patel made a top score of 43. Tom Smith, 57, and Tom Oatley, 47, then led the way in Chorley's reply of 144-3 that gave them a seven-wicket victory with only 29.2 overs bowled.
Results in brief (home teams in bold):
Leyland Motors 218-9 (Ashraf 101*, Walton 4-71), Blackpool 185-9 (Aspinwall 5-46)
Leyland Motors 11 points, Blackpool 8 points
Morecambe 174-9 (Thornton 98*, Mercer 5-70), Darwen 178-4 (Semple 70*, Cordingley G 45)
Morecambe 3 points, Darwen 12 points
Preston 144-8 (Shah 50*), Kendal 148-2 (Hunte 79*)
Preston 1 point, Kendal 12 points
Fleetwood 214-2 (Ferreira 102*, Dewhurst 64*), Lancaster 181-8 (Munnik 58)
Fleetwood 10 points, Lancaster 4 points
Leyland 142 (Patel Z 43, Harty 4-16, John 4-33), Chorley 144-3 (Smith T 57,Oatley 47)
Leyland 2 points, Chorley 12 points
Netherfield 182 (White 65, Love 5-56), St Annes 184-3 (Whalley 60*, Twist 42, Love 40*)
Netherfield 4 points, St Annes 12 points
