Match Day 23th August- 2003 IT LOOKS LIKE A DARWEN/ST ANNES SHOOT-OUT By Gerry Wolstenholme Wins for leaders Darwen and St Annes plus defeat for Kendal looks like making the final three series of games a fight between Darwen and St Annes for the title. That is not to say that Kendal or Netherfield, who are coming up on the rails, may not have something to say about that. But Saturday's round of games left Darwen and St Annes 19 and nine points clear of their nearest challengers. Darwen had to fight to overcome Leyland Motors who batted first and made just 123 with Peter Cummings keeping up his good form with the bat and making a top score of 64 while Keith Semple took 6-53. Darwen lost an early wicket and then four more before reaching their target at 125-5 that gave them victory by five wickets. St Annes meanwhile had things much easier against Fleetwood who were put in to bat and made a reasonable 180-8 with Lloyd Ferreira making 47. Adrian Darlington then rolled back the years and blasted his way to 87 and with Geoff Love, who earlier had taken 4-42, making 42 not out, St Annes were victorious by seven wickets with 13 overs remaining at 182-3. Kendal, without the injured Terry Hunte, lost to Chorley at Windsor Park as they made only 148 with Stephen John taking 5-59. Michael Critchley then led the way for Chorley as he posted 45 out of their 149-3 that gave them a seven wicket victory. Netherfield posted the day's top score with a massive 268-3 declared against hapless Blackpool at Parkside. A great opening partnership by Craig Walmsley, 129, and Gareth White, 68, set them on their way to their final total that was always going to be too many for the visitors. Pieter Strydom, 4-42, and Marc Hadwin, 4-55, made sure that it was as they shared eight wickets with Blackpool bowled out for 153 losing by 115 runs. Lancaster also passed the 200-mark with 245-8 against Preston. Renier Munnik made 102 not out before Ben Simm, 5-49, and Chris Glover, 4-43, reduced Preston to 184 all out and defeat by 71 runs. Raouf Akbar made a top score of 63 for Preston. Leyland also did well and they too nearly reached the 200-mark, falling just short at 197-9 against visitors Morecambe. Luxman Vahaluwala made 77 not out and Zubair Patel 52. Only Phil Dennison responded for Morecambe and he contributed 53 out of their total of 189-9 that earned them a draw. Leyland did, however, take 11 points that moved them from the foot of the table. Finally the News page of the Northern Premier League site carried the following, somewhat ridiculous comment (in that how could anyone mistake penalty points for overs?), 'Sorry - Sorry to all the Preston Supporters for the fright of 57 penalty points, should have been overs..'. This appeared in the middle of reports of week 18 that I had prepared and it could have looked as though these sentiments expressed were mine. I can assure all readers, and Preston players and supporters in particular, that I had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with these comments and I have asked for them to be removed from the middle of my text. Results in brief (home side in bold): Kendal 148 (John 5-59), Chorley 149-3 (Critchley 45) Kendal 2 points, Chorley 12 points Leyland Motors 123 (Cummings 64, Semple 6-53), Darwen 125-5 Leyland Motors 2 points, Darwen 12 points Fleetwood 180-8 (Ferreira 47, Love 4-48), St Annes 182-3 (Darlington 87, Love 42*) Fleetwood 4 points, St Annes 12 points Lancaster 245-8 (Munnik 102*), Preston 184 (Akbar 63, Simm 5-49, Glover 4-43) Lancaster 15 points, Preston 6 points Leyland 197-9 (Vahaluwala 77*, Patel 52), Morecambe 189-9 (Dennison 53) Leyland 11 points, Morecambe 8 points Netherfield 268-3 dec (Walmsley 129, White 68), Blackpool 153 (Strydom 4-42, Hadwin 4-55) Netherfield 15 points, Blackpool 2 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION ONE Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Darwen 19 3 9 1 1 2 3 18 188 St Annes 19 1 9 3 2 1 3 29 178 Kendal 19 7 1 1 2 5 3 34 169 Netherfield 19 3 6 2 2 3 3 26 165 Morecambe 19 3 6 0 2 6 2 25 152 Preston 19 5 2 1 0 9 2 35 146 Chorley 19 1 5 4 0 6 3 43 146 Lancaster 19 2 3 2 5 5 2 42 129 Fleetwood 19 0 4 1 3 10 1 50 109 Leyland Motors 19 3 0 2 2 11 1 49 108 Leyland 19 3 0 2 0 11 3 38 103 Blackpool 19 0 3 2 2 10 2 47 101 ACTION REPLAY: ST ANNES KEEP THE PRESSURE ON DARWEN Fleetwood 180-8 , St Annes 182-3 By Gerry Wolstenholme A St Annes victory at Broadwater on Saturday kept the pressure very much on leaders Darwen and from the moment St Annes put Fleetwood in to bat there was probably only going to be one winner in this contest. The St Annes players were very focused on the task in hand and, despite a number of missed chances, they kept Fleetwood down to 180-8 from their 57 overs. In reply they got off to a good start and won the game by seven wickets at 182-3 with 13 of the last 20 overs remaining. Michael Clinning and John Wright put on 20 for the first wicket before the former edged a rising leg-side delivery from Roger Banks into the hands of Duncan Whalley. Wright, nine and having survived one confident shout for leg before wicket, followed back to the pavilion soon afterwards when he was leg before wicket to Twist and it was 30-2. Lloyd Ferreira did most of the scoring of the next 30 runs as Michael Dewhurst was becalmed by some good bowling from Twist and particularly Geoff Love who kept the batsman in his crease. Love then struck when Dewhurst tried to run a ball down to third man only to get an edge to Whalley and he was gone for two at 60-3. It was 89-4 when Zac Taylor, having been earlier missed in the gully by Gareth Evans, repeated the shot and this time the fielder took a good catch and he departed for 14 off the bowling of Dave Taylor. Ferreira, missed at the wicket when 16, got to 47 when Love deceived him and he was bowled and that was 97-5. Ferreira had faced 86 balls and had hit seven fours. John Hall and young Adam Sharrocks added 41 for the sixth wicket before the former fell to another catch in the gully by Evans off Michael Baer. He was out for 25 and Fleetwood were 138-6. Sharrocks went on to 26 aided by a missed chance by Baer off Love when he was 19 before he edged Love to Whalley and it was 161-7. James Ellis battled well, although he too had a life when Baer dropped a caught and bowled chance when he had eight, and he was 17 not out at the close. He had lost Paul Hague, seven, caught in the deep by Adam Cotton off Love and with Steve Hill nought not out, the innings closed at 180-8. Love had taken 4-48 from 20 overs and Twist, Banks, Dave Taylor and Baer all had a wicket each. The St Annes reply got off to a flying start with Adrian Darlington taking the lead. Evans was dropped off a caught and bowled chance to Tom Blundell when he had made one but he carried on undaunted. The pair took the total to 90 without any further alarms and then Evans, 29 and heading towards a St Annes amateur batting aggregate record, was caught behind by Ellis off Clinning in the spinner's perhaps belated first over. Clinning struck again in his second over when Twist, foot on the popping crease, was smartly stumped by Ellis and it was 92-2. Darlington, with the aid of 14 boundaries, raced on to 87 before holing out to Zac Taylor at wide long-on having made his runs from 113 balls. By the time he was dismissed Love was in his stride, although he too benefited from a life when Taylor dropped a sharp caught and bowled chance when he had made 14. Love pulled a six into the adjacent car park that brought comments of praise from his compatriot Ferreira and this with three fours left him 42 not out as St Annes cruised home. It was Whalley who saw them home for he received just 13 balls but he hit five of them to the boundary to finish on 20 not out as St Annes won by seven wickets at 182-3. Second Division results in brief (home sides in bold): Netherfield 173 (Scarr 54*, Armstrong 7-48),Blackpool 102 (Hartley 4-13) Netherfield 15 points, Blackpool 4 points Kendal 102, Chorley 103-2 (Oakes 67*) Kendal 0 points, Chorley 12 points Darwen 148-9, Leyland Motors 104 (Braithwaite 52) Darwen 15 points, Leyland Motors 4 points Leyland 137 (Afsar 59*, Maje 4-50, Lee 4-56), Morecambe 105 (Tennant 7-42) Leyland 15 points, Morecambe 4 points Preston 171-8 (Dhanji 57, Wright 48, Gould 4-64), Lancaster 173-3 (Phillips B 75, Gudgeon 43) Preston 3 points, Lancaster 12 points St Annes 186-6 (Boucher 73), Fleetwood 139 (Riches 56) St Annes 15 points, Fleetwood 2 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION TWO Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 19 2 10 3 0 2 2 26 196 Darwen 19 3 8 3 2 2 1 26 185 Leyland Motors 19 3 9 0 2 3 2 14 177 Chorley 19 3 7 0 3 4 2 25 165 Morecambe 19 1 5 5 2 4 2 46 151 Fleetwood 19 5 2 3 1 7 1 32 148 Netherfield 19 4 2 1 1 10 1 39 132 Lancaster 19 2 3 1 0 11 2 41 119 Preston 19 2 1 4 1 9 2 51 118 Leyland 19 3 2 0 1 12 1 25 99 Kendal 19 1 2 1 1 12 2 43 95 Blackpool 19 0 3 0 7 7 2 43 94

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