Match Day Monday 25th August- 2003
ST ANNES CLOSE THE GAP
By Gerry Wolstenholme
A win for St Annes coupled with a draw for Darwen meant that the gap at the top of the Northern Premier League was cut to just six points and the two top sides meet next Saturday at Vernon Road.
Darwen batted first against Chorley but fared none too well with Mark Hadfield, Keith Semple and Gareth Cordingley all failing to score. Fortunately Stuart Grant and skipper Chris Lowe got together and added a valuable 61 for the seventh wicket. Grant contributed a top score of 37 while Lowe made 35. Stephen John took 4-53 for Chorley and Billy Smith 3-40. Chorley's reply was even more laboured and with Gareth Cordingley, 3-25, Jeff Hacking, 3-34, and Andrew Mercer, 2-27, it looked as though Darwen could pull off a win. But Billy Smith, 20 not out, and Ross Demming, one not out, defied the bowlers for Chorley to hold on for a draw and deprive Darwen of valuable points. Nigel Heaton top scored with 30 while Paul Greenwood made 24.
St Annes won comfortably against Preston although it turned out to be less easy than was at one time anticipated. Preston subsided to 102-9 and then a last wicket partnership added 68 to take the final total to a more respectable 170 all out. Glen Johnstone was the architect of the revival with a tremendous 73 not out off only 53 balls and with nine fours and one six. But these days 170 is nothing to a strong St Annes batting line-up. Adrian Darlington made 44, Gareth Evans 52 from 58 balls with seven fours, Steve Twist finished on 48 not out from 54 balls with seven fours and Geoff Love, who earlier had taken 4-41, was 16 not out as St Annes won by seven wickets at 171-2.
Netherfield stayed in third place thanks to the better of a drawn game with Kendal. Batting first Netherfield made 199-4 to which Grahame Clarke contributed 52 with eight fours and one six, Pieter Strydom 49 not out and Gareth White 40. Kendal then lost wickets steadily and it was only a brave 50 from captain Dave Fallows, with five fours and four sixes, that kept them in the hunt. Once he had gone it was left to last pair Richard Ellwood and Adrian Potts to keep Netherfield from winning and this they did as Kendal closed on 180-9. Strydom took 4-46 and there were two wickets each for Marc Hadwin and Scott Clement.
Morecambe meanwhile defeated Lancaster by six wickets having bowled their opponents out for 177 with David Heywood making a top score of 66, an innings that contained seven fours and one six. Luke Phillips' 29 was the next best effort and Ramesh Powar took 5-45 for Morecambe. Phil Dennison then kept up his good form and hit 42 while Tommy Clough made a top score of 48 and Phil Thornton, 33 not out, and Gareth Peddar, 18 not out, were in at the end with Morecambe 175-4.
The Leyland derby was a close run affair with Leyland just scraping home by six runs. They batted first and with Aidan Walsh making 48, Zubair Patel 28 and Steve Pallett 28 not out they totalled 169-9 from their 57 overs with Chris Sibley taking 5-43. Motors then stumbled and only Watkinson with 32 passed the 30-mark and with Steve Pallett taking 4-54 and Julian Edwards 3-37 Leyland bowled then out for 163 to squeeze home.
Finally Blackpool were well beaten at Stanley Park where they batted first and made a creditable 201-3. Steven Croft made 98 from 184 balls with 11 fours and one six and Mark Lomas made 55 not out from 71 balls with five fours. Fleetwood lost an early wicket but a fine stand of 150 by John Wright who made 72 from 104 balls with six fours and Lloyd Ferreira put them on track for victory. A few late hiccoughs set them back but Ferreira was still there with 104 not out from 104 balls with 13 fours when victory was achieved by five wickets at 204-5.
Scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Blackpool 201-3 (Croft 98, Lomas 55*), Fleetwood 204-5 (Ferreira 104*, Wright 72)
Blackpool 5 points, Fleetwood 12 points
Darwen 137-9 (John 4-53), Chorley 102-9
Darwen 8 points, Chorley 5 points
Netherfield 199-4 (Clarke 52, Strydom 49*, White 40), Kendal 180-9 (Fallows 50, Strydom 4-46)
Netherfield 11 points, Kendal 5 points
Leyland 169-9 (Walsh 48, Sibley 5-43), Leyland Motors 163 (Pallett S 4-54)
Leyland 15 points, Leyland Motors 6 points
Lancaster 172 (Heywood 66, Powar 5-45), Morecambe 175-4 (Clough 48, Dennison 42)
Lancaster 3 points, Morecambe 12 points
Preston 170 (Johnstone 73*, Love 4-41),St Annes 171-2 (Evans 52, Twist 48*, Darlington 44)
Preston 2 points, St Annes 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
DIVISION ONE
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Darwen |
20 |
3 |
9 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
22 |
196 |
| St Annes |
20 |
1 |
10 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
29 |
190 |
| Netherfield |
20 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
33 |
176 |
| Kendal |
20 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
38 |
174 |
| Morecambe |
20 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
25 |
164 |
| Chorley |
20 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
47 |
151 |
| Preston |
20 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
2 |
37 |
148 |
| Lancaster |
20 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
45 |
132 |
| Fleetwood |
20 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
1 |
50 |
121 |
| Leyland |
20 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
3 |
38 |
118 |
| Leyland Motors |
20 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
12 |
1 |
55 |
114 |
| Blackpool |
20 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
2 |
52 |
106 |
ACTION REPLAY;
MANY HAPPY RETURNS FLEETWOOD!
Blackpool 201-3, Fleetwood 204-5
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Birthday-boy John Wright set Fleetwood on the victory trail at Stanley Park on Monday. No matter how badly Fleetwood are playing, they always seem to raise their game when they visit the ground of local rivals Blackpool. And so it was this time for they restricted Blackpool to 201-3 from their 57 overs and then made 204-5 to win by five wickets with five overs and five balls of the final 20 overs remaining.
Chris Simcock was an early casualty for Blackpool when he fell leg before wicket to Steve Hill without a run on the board. The two Stevens, Mercer and Croft, then added 101 for the second wicket before Mercer edged a good ball from Tom Blundell to James Ellis and he was gone for 35.
Croft and Mark Lomas then added a further 91 runs for the third wicket but it was hard going against some very good bowling particularly from Blundell whose 12 overs brought him fine figures of 1-25. Croft had made 98 from 184 balls with one six and 11 fours when he raised his foot a fraction and Ellis stumped him off Clinning. There was just time for Deon Kruis to make seven not out and with Lomas on 55 not out from 71 balls with five fours, Blackpool closed on 201-3, probably 40 or 50 runs short of a reasonable target on a track that was not very bowler friendly.
Michael Clinning must have thought it bowler friendly for he went for nought when Lomas caught him at slip off Kruis when John Wright had made all 13 runs on the board. Wright, who always does well at this venue, and Lloyd Ferreira then embarked on a fine partnership that reaped 150 runs. In the early stage Ferreira too the lead but then Wright with a flurry of boundaries caught him up only to lose his wicket when he had made 72 from 104 balls with nine fours. He edged Karl Marsland who had a fine short spell at this point, to Martin Hackett who took the catch.
There was momentary panic then for Fleetwood as Marsland struck again and Kruis also took two wickets in a very good spell of pace bowling that belied the body language and quietness of the Blackpool players. Kruis bowled Michael Dewhurst for three at 171-3, Marsland had Hall caught by Paul Danson for nought at 173-4 and then Kruis induced an edge from Wayne Clarke to Hackett at 174-5. Neither of the last two named Fleetwood batsmen scored.
Fortunately the collapse was not a permanent one for Ferreira found an admirable ally in young Adam Sharrocks who fortuitously cut his first ball behind his legs for four. He did not let this worry him and he kept his end up in the face of Kruis' excellent spell and he was there with 13 not out when the end came. And that end came when Ferreira crashed a ball from Marsland through extra cover for his 13th four from 104 balls and Fleetwood were deserved winners at 204-5.
The Blackpool performance was disappointing and seemingly leaderless and cricket chairman Dave Reddy, as disappointed as most, commented "We have had no consistency and we have been unable to pick the same side for more than two weeks in succession. Sadly we have not proved to be good enough this season."
Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Chorley 117, Darwen 88
Chorley 15 points, Darwen 4 points
Fleetwood 189-7 (Singleton 77, Armstrong 4-42), Blackpool 128-7 (Caunce 47)
Fleetwood 15 points, Blackpool 4 points
Morecambe 245-4 dec (Hird 76, Fisher 56*), Lancaster 39 (Lee 8-15)
Morecambe 15 points, Lancaster 1 point
Leyland 114 (Cottam 5-36), Leyland Motors 116-4 (Baines 51*, Henderson 41)
Leyland 1 point, Leyland Motors 12 points
Kendal 116 (Hartley 4-8), Netherfield 118-7 (Welbourne 50)
Kendal 3 points, Netherfield 12 points
Preston 44, St Annes 46-3
Preston 1 point, St Annes 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE SECOND TABLE
DIVISION TWO
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| St Annes |
20 |
2 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
26 |
208 |
| Leyland Motors |
20 |
3 |
10 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
14 |
189 |
| Darwen |
20 |
3 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
30 |
189 |
| Chorley |
20 |
4 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
25 |
180 |
| Morecambe |
20 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
46 |
166 |
| Fleetwood |
20 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
38 |
158 |
| Netherfield |
20 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
1 |
39 |
144 |
| Lancaster |
20 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
2 |
42 |
120 |
| Preston |
20 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
10 |
2 |
52 |
119 |
| Leyland |
20 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
1 |
26 |
100 |
| Kendal |
20 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
2 |
46 |
98 |
| Blackpool |
20 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
8 |
7 |
2 |
46 |
98 |
