Match Day 3rd July 2004
TWELVE POINTS SEPARATE THE TOP SIX
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Results were such that things at the top of the Northern Premier League tightened after yesterday's round of games. Leaders Netherfield were unfortunate in that heavy rain overnight made any play impossible so they only picked up four points, as did their third-placed opponents Darwen. But in between and behind them there were wins and losses that narrowed the gap.
At Vernon Road St Annes gained their fourth win of the season against Barrow who chose to bat first and made 175 all out, mainly thanks to Shaun Millers 78. The next best effort was 33 from Paul Wilcock, who has been an excellent addition to the Barrow side from neighbours Furness. There were three wickets each for Stephen Twist, Richard Thomas and Jimmy Adams. Forties from Charles Boucher, 43, Joe Davies, 43 not out, and Danny Hagen, 40, saw St Annes to victory by five wickets at 178-5.
Fleetwood did exceptionally well to bowl Morecambe out for just 105 with Steve Hill taking 5-36 and Dave Fish 3-34. Mark Woodhead made a top score of 23 for Morecambe and Phil Dennison made 20, Gareth Peddar 16 and Andy Bird what turned out to be a valuable 17 not out. But then Charl Langesveldt played havoc with the Fleetwood batting and he took 8-38 as the visitors were bowled out for a paltry 87 to lose by 18 runs. Extras, with 26, was the top score while John Wright's 21 was the best effort with the bat as Wayne Clarke made 17, Michael Dewhurst 16 and Charl Langeveldt took 8-38.
It was a last gasp affair at West Cliff as Chorley were defeated by the last ball of the 52nd over. Chasing Preston's 197-7, to which Raouf Akbar contributed 62, newcomer Sam Seadon 47 and Munaf Bavla 38, they were on course for victory until the last wicket fell to leave Chorley all out for 193 and defeated by four runs. Stephen John had a good all-round day with 3-43 and then he made 26 as Ian Oakes top scored with 64, added to by Billy Smith's 28 and brother Tom's 24
It was a low-key affair at Fox Lane where Leyland were routed for a measly 80 with Renier Munnik continuing his splendid season by capturing five wickets for just 21 runs. Only Andrew Jolley with 21 and Steve Pallet with 15 reached double figures for Leyland. And Munnik was then in at the end with 31 not out with Ben Harrison 18 not out as Lancaster finished the game early by making a quick 81-2 for an eight-wicket victory.
A delayed start meant a shortened game at Shap Road where Kendal batted first and made 101-8 from 35 overs with Kevin Howarth making a top score of 37 and Terry Hunte scoring 18 as Iqbal Lilley took 3-22. When Leyland Motors replied, Atif Ashraf was once again the batsman in form as he made 66 of the 102-6 that gave Motors a four-wicket win in 23.1 overs. It was just as well that he made those runs for James Aspinwall's nine was the next best effort.
Scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Kendal 101-8, Leyland Motors 102-6 (Ashraf 66)
Kendal 2 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
Leyland 80, Munnik 5-21), Lancaster 81-2
Leyland 0 points, Lancaster 12 points
Morecambe 108 (Hill 5-), Fleetwood 87 (Langesveldt 8-38)
Morecambe 15 points, Fleetwood 4 points
Netherfield v Darwen - match abandoned - 4 points each side
Preston 197-7, Chorley 193
Preston 15 points, Chorley 6 points
Barrow 175 (Miller 78), St Annes 178-5 (Boucher 43, Davies 43*, Hagen 40)
Barrow 4 points, St Annes 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
13 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
26 |
123 |
| Fleetwood |
13 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
29 |
120 |
| Morecambe |
13 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
117 |
| Darwen |
13 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
21 |
115 |
| Chorley |
13 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
25 |
114 |
| Preston |
13 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
22 |
111 |
| St Annes |
13 |
1 |
3 |
1* |
3 |
3 |
2 |
30 |
97 |
| Blackpool |
12 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
20 |
93 |
| Lancaster |
13 |
1 |
2 |
3* |
2 |
4 |
1 |
35 |
93 |
| Leyland Motors |
13 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
28 |
85 |
| Kendal |
13 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
1 |
27 |
79 |
| Barrow |
13 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
38 |
67 |
| Leyland |
13 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
24 |
34 |
* includes 5 point for a tie
Performance of the day in the Second Division was Chris Chatterton's 106 for Darwen out of their total of 183, all the wickets being taken by R Miller, 6-53, and Phil Hartley, 4-73. Netherfield were then bowled out for just 59 to give Darwen the win by a massive 124 runs.
For Morecambe Faruk Patel had a good all-round day as he made a not out 50 and then added 4-43 and with Reg Cupit also batting and bowling well, 41 and 6-37, Morecambe easily overcame Fleetwood by 129 runs as Fleetwood's 92 was no where near Morecambe's 221-8, Mark Wilkinson taking 5-62.
Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Barrow 111, St Annes 115-2
Barrow 0 points, St Annes 12 points
Preston 132-9 (Demming 4-24), Chorley 135-2 (Richardson 61*, Hotham 46)
Preston 0 points, Chorley 12 points
Darwen 183 (Chatterton 106, Miller 6-53, Hartley 4-73),
Netherfield 59 (Davies 4-10)
Darwen 15 points, Netherfield 4 points
Morecambe 221-8 (Patel 50*, Edge 49, Cupit 41, Wilkinson 5-62),
Fleetwood 92 (Cupit 6-37, Patel 4-43)
Morecambe 15 points, Fleetwood 3 points
Leyland 122 (McMahon 45, Dennison 5-42, Dawson 4-31),
Lancaster 126-6 (Abraham 55*)
Leyland 2 points, Lancaster 12 points
Kendal 152-8 (Rainda 43), Leyland Motors 156-6 (Watkinson 40*)
Kendal 3 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
13 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
148 |
| Chorley |
13 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
140 |
| St Annes |
13 |
3 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
137 |
| Darwen |
13 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
22 |
120 |
| Lancaster |
13 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
22 |
94 |
| Netherfield |
13 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
36 |
93 |
| Fleetwood |
13 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
27 |
91 |
| Barrow |
13 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
29 |
91 |
| Leyland Motors |
13 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
30 |
79 |
| Blackpool |
12 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
31 |
69 |
| Leyland |
13 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
37 |
58 |
| Kendal |
13 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
25 |
50 |
| Preston |
13 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
24 |
46 |
ACTION REPLAY:
NOT ENOUGH RUNS FOR BARROW
Barrow 175, St Annes 178-5
By Gerry Wolstenholme
On their first visit to Vernon Road, Barrow chose to bat on a track that looked as though there were plenty of runs in it. But the visitors did not capitalise to the full and made only 175 in their 57 overs. St Annes paced their reply so well that there were 17.1 overs of the final 20 remaining when they won the game by five wickets at 178-5.
Skipper Ian Allington and Shaun Miller opened and with the former striking one or two lusty blows over extra cover it looked as though they may make a good start. But when he had made 14 and the total was 24 Allington fell to an excellent catch by Jimmy Adams. He ran from long-off across to long-on before taking the ball close to the ground and held on as he fell. James Riley did not last long as he edged Stephen Twist to wicketkeeper Duncan Whalley and he was gone for nought as Barrow became 32-2. And it was 40-3 after professional Rawl Lewis, who had struck one straight six, fell leg before wicket to Twist for seven.
This brought in the combative Paul Wilcock and he and Miller began to rebuild the Barrow innings. As St Annes surprisingly employed only three bowlers they put on 79 runs until Wilcock rashly carved Richard Thomas to extra cover where Danny Hagen ran across from point to take the catch. He was gone for 33 made from 71 balls with five fours and it was 119-4.
Miller made most of the remaining runs with his main assistance coming from Tod Bamber. Stephen Glasgow made only three before Thomas bowled him as he tried a vainglorious slog across the line and that was 130-5. Ray Mowat made two before Adams lured him down the track and Whalley stumped him at 139-6 and in the next over the unlucky Dean Williams was run out without facing a ball. Miller struck a firm drive back down the track and a diving Thomas deflected the ball onto the stumps with Williams out of his ground and that was 139-7.Miller and Bamber, 19, then put on 33 runs before the opener fell. In the 55th over he went for a head-in the-air drive and Adams bowled him for a splendid 78 made from 148 balls with seven fours. Bamber returned a catch to Twist at 172-9 and when Adams bowled Daryl Wearing for four in the final over that left Peter Lawson not out two and Barrow dismissed for 175. The three bowlers each took three wickets, Twist for 43, Thomas for 62 and Adams for 64.
The St Annes reply got off to a fine start as Charles Boucher and Hagen resisted anything the Barrow bowlers could throw at them. They put on an untroubled 65 before Lawson at slip held onto an edge from Boucher off Lewis and the South African was out for 43 made from only 36 balls with six fours. Adams joined Hagen and made one or two attractive shots but when he had reached 18 he played rather lamely in Riley's first over and Wearing at extra cover took the simple catch. He was gone for 18 and it was 91-2.
Twist made only four before he chopped a catch to a diving Wilcock at backward point and at 97-3 the game was in the balance. Hagen went on to make 40 from 85 balls with seven fours before Lewis bowled him at 123-4. But Joe Davies was just beginning to get into his stride and his powerful hitting coupled with the more sedate Russ Bradley took St Annes to 150 at the start of the final 20 overs. The drinks break brought the downfall of Bradley as Riley trapped him leg before wicket for 10 shortly afterwards and that was 150-5.
The end then came in a rush as Davies, 43 not out from 53 balls with one six and eight fours, and Whalley, a very quick-fire 12 not out, including the winning boundary, made light of the Barrow bowling and inside 2.5 of the final 20 overs the game was won and lost as St Annes reached 178-5 for victory by five wickets.
