Match Day 5th June 2004
THE GAP AT THE TOP WIDENS
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Although Netherfield were held to a draw by Blackpool on Saturday, they secured 11 points that took them 12 points clear at the top of the table. Nearest rivals Morecambe had no game and with Preston not able to defeat bottom of the table Leyland, Fleetwood sneaked into third place following their easy victory over Lancaster.
Netherfield made a massive 258-6 at Stanley Park with Grahame Clarke making a top score of 84, Chris Parry 46, Craig Walmsley 42 and Tommy Prime 41 not out. But they were unable to bowl out Blackpool despite professional Dale Benkenstein's 5-65 from 26 overs. Blackpool with Chris Taylor at number 10 making the top score of 28 not out they finished on 141-9 as the last pair held out.
At Fox Lane the game was delayed for 63 minutes because the roller got stuck on the square so when it did get underway, it was a reduced overs affair. Preston made 198 from 46 overs with Munaf Bavla making 47, Paul Mann 28, Ian McDonnell 24 and Chris Southall 22. Leyland, for whom Pervez Suma took 4-55, replied with 122-6 from 43 overs with Zu Patel top scoring with 64 not out and Moin ul Atiq making 23.
Fleetwood had their game over against Lancaster shortly after four o'clock when they bowled the visitors out for a meagre 72 with Renier Munnik making 35 but only Steve Johnstone of the rest making double figures with 12. Dave Fish took 4-8 and Tom Blundell had 3-21. Fleetwood took no time at all to knock off the runs to win by six wickets at 74-4 with Doug Marillier top scoring with 23.
At Kendal St Annes' Jimmy Adams at last came into form with the bat as he scored an unbeaten 100 in the St Annes total of 224-3 that won the game by seven wickets as Joe Davies made 55 not out and Danny Hagen 33. This was in reply to Kendal's 220-8 to which Kabir Khan contributed 101, Terry Hunte 37 and Simon Little 30 while Dave Taylor took 3-59 and Jimmy Adams had a couple of wickets.
Darwen continued their climb up the table with victory over Barrow who batted first and made 195-8 with Rawl Lewis making 50 and Mike Hughes 36 as Andrew Mercer had 4-66. Darwen's runs came mainly from Keith Semple, 59, Neil Cordingley, 52 not out, and Gareth Cordingley 47 not out as they reached 197-3 to win by seven wickets.
Finally Chorley made 212-8 against Leyland Motors with Tom Smith making 87 and Stephen John 35 while Colin Sibley took 3-48. Motors then played out their overs to earn a draw at 162-7 with David Makinson making 50 not out and James Aspinwall 37 as there were two wickets each for John, Tom Smith and Nick Woods.
Results in brief (home sides in bold):
Netherfield 258-6 (Clarke 84, Parry 46, Walmsley 42, Prime 41*),
Blackpool 141-9 (Benkenstein 5-65)
Netherfield 11 points, Blackpool 4 points
Barrow 195-8 (Lewis 50, Mercer 4-66),
Darwen 197-3 (Semple 59, Cordingley N 52*, Cordingley G 47*)
Barrow 4 points, Darwen 12 points
Lancaster 72 (Fish 4-8), Fleetwood 74-4
Lancaster 1 point, Fleetwood 12 points
Kendal 220-8 (Khan 101), St Annes 224-3 (Adams 100*, Davies 55*)
Kendal 4 points, St Annes 12 points
Preston 198 (Bavla 47), Leyland 122-6 (Patel Z 64*)
Preston 9 points, Leyland 5 points
Chorley 212-8 (Smith T 87), Leyland Motors 162-7 (Makinson 50*)
Chorley 10 points, Leyland Motors 6 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
10 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
26 |
100 |
| Preston |
10 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
14 |
88 |
| Fleetwood |
9 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
21 |
85 |
| Darwen |
9 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
83 |
| Morecambe |
9 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
12 |
82 |
| Blackpool |
9 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
81 |
| Chorley |
9 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
13 |
79 |
| St Annes |
10 |
1 |
1 |
1* |
3 |
2 |
2 |
26 |
69 |
| Lancaster |
9 |
1 |
0 |
2* |
2 |
3 |
1 |
27 |
57 |
| Kendal |
9 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
21 |
54 |
| Leyland Motors |
9 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
23 |
48 |
| Barrow |
9 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
27 |
39 |
| Leyland |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
21 |
27 |
* includes 5 point for a tie
In the Second Division leaders Chorley won a high-scoring game against Leyland Motors who scored 225-8 with K Cross top scoring with 71 and M Watkinson making 42. Ross Demming made 61 and Ian Oakes 56 in Chorley's reply of 226-6 that gave them their eighth win in nine games.
Netherfield were the day's highest scorers with 242-5 to which Ben Haddrick contributed a tops core of 69 and they then bowled Blackpool out for just 82 to win by 160 runs with Phil Hartley taking 5-37.
Fleetwood had the reddest faces of the day as they declared at 202-7 with Wayne Clarke making 75 and Colin Sherlock 51 but Lancaster made 205-3 in reply with Craig Heywood's 70 being the best effort.
Best bowling performance of the day came from C Davies of Darwen who took 6-17 as Barrow made only 110 to which Paul Wilcock, unavailable for first team duties due to work commitments, contributed 66. D Heys made 79 not out as Darwen won by eight wickets at 111-2 to inflict a first defeat of the season on the newcomers.
Kendal struggled to find a representative side and ended up with 10 men and with first team scorer David Sykes playing to help out. Sadly he could not help Kendal to a victory as they were bowled out for 76 to which St Annes replied with 80-0 with Sean Bickerdike once again in the runs with 46 not out.
Results in brief (home sides in bold):
Barrow 110 (Wilcock 66, Davies 6-17), Darwen 111-2 (Heys 79*)
Barrow 0 points, Darwen 12 points
Leyland Motors 225-8 (Cross 71, Watkinson 42),
Chorley 226-6 (Demming 61, Oakes 56)
Leyland Motors 5 points, Chorley 12 points
Fleetwood 202-7 dec (Clarke 75, Sherlock 51), Lancaster 205-3 (Heywood 70)
Fleetwood 4 points, Lancaster 12 points
Netherfield 242-5 (Haddrick 69, Kennedy 63, Dugdale 43*),
Blackpool 82 (Hartley 5-37)
Netherfield 15 points, Blackpool 2 points
Leyland 227-4 (Brown 82, Dunk 63), Preston 155-5 (Dixon 54*)
Leyland 9 points, Preston 3 points
Kendal 76, St Annes 80-0 (Bickerdike 46*)
Kendal 0 points, St Annes 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Chorley |
9 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
107 |
| St Annes |
10 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
101 |
| Morecambe |
9 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
91 |
| Darwen |
9 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
17 |
81 |
| Netherfield |
10 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
32 |
70 |
| Fleetwood |
9 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
21 |
66 |
| Barrow |
9 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
29 |
60 |
| Blackpool |
9 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
23 |
57 |
| Leyland Motors |
9 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
20 |
53 |
| Lancaster |
9 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
17 |
50 |
| Leyland |
9 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
32 |
49 |
| Preston |
10 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
17 |
39 |
| Kendal |
9 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
21 |
30 |
ACTION REPLAY:
LEADERS HELD AT STANLEY PARK
Netherfield 258-6, Blackpool 141-9
By Gerry Wolstenholme
League leaders Netherfield were held to a draw by a fighting display by the Blackpool middle order and tail after Netherfield had blown the top order away for only 65 runs. They finished on 141-9 in reply to Netherfield's massive 258-6 from their 57 overs. But Netherfield had only themselves to blame as in the field four catches were put down to allow the Blackpool batsmen to extend their innings.
It all began very promisingly for the Cumbrians as Craig Walmsley and Chris Parry opened strongly although Walmsley did have a life when missed behind the stumps by Richard Cragg when he had made just nine. He profited from his escape and played some good shots all round the wicket as he took the lead in the partnership that had realised 71 runs in 60 minutes when he was dismissed. On 42, made from 57 balls with seven fours, Justin Kreusch bowled him and this brought in the in-form Gareth White whose early shots indicated that he was going to go on to score heavily once again. He lost Parry for 46, made from 70 balls with nine fours, when Kreusch caught him at backward point off Tim Barry with the total on 110-2. It was 110-3 after the following ball that Dale Benkenstein edged to Kreusch this time at slip and Blackpool tails were up.
It looked even more promising for the home side when White, 22, failed to go through with his shot off Steven Croft and only succeeded in lobbing a gentle catch to Chris Taylor at mid-off at 146-4. By this time Grahame Clarke was getting into his stride and despite an alarm when there was a vehement appeal for a catch behind the wicket he continued to keep the scoreboard rattling along. He lost Rishi Girdhari for six when he edged Croft to Cragg behind the stumps and that was 170-5.
There followed an entertaining partnership of 85 in just 45 minutes between Clarke and Tommy Prime whose running between the wickets, particularly with Clarke as his partner, was a joy to see. Clarke drove Barry for successive sixes into the pavilion but when he had made 84 from 85 balls with three sixes and eight fours he was run out in the chase for late runs. He played to extra cover and urged on by Prime set off for a single but Paul Danson's underarm throw beat him to the bowler's end by quite some distance and that was 255-6. There was just time for Graeme Dodds to made one not out and with Prime making a nice little cameo innings of 41 from 56 balls with two fours, Netherfield closed on 258-6 with Croft's 2-68 being the best return for Blackpool. Barry also took two wickets but for 70 runs while Kreusch had 1-43 from eight expensive overs.
When Blackpool replied, Netherfield were quickly on top as Karl Marsland, one time number 11 batsman, fell leg before wicket to Scott Clement for two at 6-1 and then Kreusch was caught behind by White off Benkenstein for four at 8-2. Croft and Barry, both missed in the slips when 10 and 11 respectively, tried to rebuild the innings but they had only got as far as 34 when Stuart Nixon bowled Barry for 12. And Nixon struck again at 45 when he had Croft, 20, superbly caught behind by a diving White and Netherfield were very much in the driving seat.
The situation soon improved for them when Steve Metcalf, who made a promising 23, was bowled by Benkenstein to make it 65-5. Robin Bracewell, struggling to recapture the form that made him a threat to Northern League bowlers in days of yore, edged Benkenstein to White when he had made six and it was 77-6. With 20 overs remaining it was 82-6 and even when Prash Aga was dropped at second slip when he had made 13 in the sixth of the final 20 overs, it still looked odds-on a Netherfield victory. This looked even more likely when Michael Taylor fell leg before wicket to Benkenstein for six at 94-7 and then even more so when Danson was bowled by Clement for three at 97-8.
But Aga and Chris Taylor had other ideas and, coming together in the eighth of the final 20 overs they remained together until the 18th by which time they had taken Blackpool to their one batting bonus point. Aga had made 25 when Prime caught him at slip off Benkenstein at 134-9 but Taylor, a fighting top score of 28 not out from 44 balls with two fours, and Cragg, who negotiated his seven balls without scoring quite safely, despite two or three loud appeals for catches and leg before decisions, were still there at the close when Blackpool had made 141-9. Benkenstein took 5-65 from 26 tidy overs, Clement had 2-28 and the perhaps underbowled Nixon had 2-18 from seven overs.
