Match Day 18th July 2004
HIGH SCORING AT BARROW
By Gerry Wolstenholme
It was a day for plenty of runs at the Ernest Pass Memorial Ground at Barrow on Sunday when the two sides produced 542 of them including the third time this season that visitors Kendal have passed the 250 mark. Kendal batted first and with Terry Hunte once again in imperious form they totalled 289-4 with Hunte making an unbeaten 126 and skipper David Fallows making 64 not out. The game continued until around 8-40pm due to play being delayed by the helicopter landing at the adjacent hospital and by then Barrow had replied with 253-9 to which Rawl Lewis contributed 116 and Kabir Khan continued to be among the wickets with 7-93. The game was a treat for spectators and resulted in an honourable draw.
Leaders Netherfield were held to a draw by a fighting display by Lancaster at Lune Road. Netherfield batted first and Gareth White made a top score of 57 with Dale Benkenstein contributing 46, Grahame Clarke 44, Craig Walmsley 28 and Tommy Prime a not out 20 while Chris Glover bowled well for Lancaster to take 4-79. In reply Lancaster, helped by 59 from in-form Renier Munnik, reached 209-7 at the close. Craig Heywood was next best scorer with 30 and Ben Harrison made 26 as Marc Hadwin wheeled away for 4-86 and Stuart Nixon took 3-37.
Morecambe moved into second place courtesy of victory over Chorley who have had a miserable weekend. Nigel Heaton made 70 with three sixes and seven fours in Chorley's 139 all out to which extras with 17 was the next best effort as Stephen John made 15 and Bill Smith 14. Peter Stephens took 7-73 for Morecambe who then won by five wickets as they reached 140-5 with Charl Langveldt, who also took 3-51, making 47 not out, and with, Brendan Hetherington 26 not out, put on a match-winning partnership of 52. Phil Dennison made 25 and Stephen John took 4-35 for the losers.
Darwen kept up their challenge to retain the title as they comfortably defeated bottom club Leyland. Keith Semple made 106 not out and Gareth Cordingley 81 not out while John Cordingley was the best of the rest with 26 in Darwen's total of 240-2. Semple then produced a remarkable bowling analysis with 11.1-10-1-3 and Andrew Mercer took 4-27 as Leyland were bowled out for 101 to lose by 139 runs. Adrian Walsh, 19, was the Leyland top scorer while Alex Mercer, 17, Moin-ul-Atiq, 17, and the dependable Charlie Williams, 14, also got into double figures.
After Atif Ashraf's performance the previous day, he failed against Preston when he made only 13 of Leyland Motors' total of 150. Andrew Makinson top scored with 36 while Dad David made 24 as Manoj Parekh, 4-44, and Sam Seadon, 4-49, took the majority of the wickets. Preston replied with 153-3 to win by seven wickets as Seadon completed a good all-round day with 50 not out, Ian McDonnell made 43 and Raouf Akbar was 34 not out at the end.
It was a sterile draw at Stanley Park where visitors St Annes kept Blackpool to 228-7 to which Steven Croft contributed 94, Tim Barry 54 and Prash Aga 43. St Annes then made no noticeable attempt to get the necessary runs for victory, falling further and further behind so that in the end they had to settle for maximum batting bonus points as they reached 180-7. Danny Hagen made 69 and Justin Kreusch took 4-68.
Results in brief (home teams in bold):
Kendal 289-4 (Hunte 126*, Fallows 64*), Barrow 253-9 (Lewis 116, Khan 7-93)
Kendal 11 points, Barrow 5 points
Blackpool 228-7 (Croft 94, Barry 54, Aga 43), St Annes 180-7 (Hagen 69, Kreusch 4-68)
Blackpool 10 points, St Annes 7 points
Chorley 139 (Heaton 70, Stephens 7-73), Morecambe 140-5 (Langveldt 47*, John 4-35)
Chorley 2 points, Morecambe 12 points
Darwen 250-2 (Semple 106*, Cordingley G 81*), Leyland 101 (Mercer 4-27)
Darwen 15 points, Leyland 0 points
Netherfield 236-7 (White 57, Benkenstein 46, Clarke 44, Glover 4-79),
Lancaster 209-7 (Munnik 59, Hadwin 4-86)
Netherfield 10 points, Lancaster 7 points
Leyland Motors 150 (Parekh 4-44, Seadon 4-49), Preston 153-3 (McDonnell 43, Seadon 50*)
Leyland Motors 2 points, Preston 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
16 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
32 |
160 |
| Morecambe |
16 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
22 |
141 |
| Fleetwood |
15 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
35 |
141 |
| Darwen |
15 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
25 |
138 |
| Preston + |
16 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
1 |
30-2 |
129 |
| St Annes |
16 |
1 |
4 |
1* |
4 |
3 |
3 |
36 |
120 |
| Blackpool |
15 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
29 |
119 |
| Chorley |
15 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
30 |
119 |
| Kendal |
16 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
1 |
34 |
117 |
| Lancaster |
16 |
1 |
2 |
3* |
3 |
5 |
2 |
43 |
106 |
| Leyland Motors |
16 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
39 |
100 |
| Barrow |
16 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
2 |
44 |
90 |
| Leyland |
16 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
12 |
2 |
30 |
40 |
* includes 5 point for a tie
+ 2 Points deducted for slow over rate
In the Second Division Sean Bickerdike continued to pile up the runs as he made 110 and Aidan Cotton 59 as St Annes scored 218-7 and beat Blackpool, 140 all out by 78 runs. John Caunce took 4-73 for Blackpool.
Paul Greenwood was the unluckiest player of the day as he made 99 not out in Chorley's 168-8 and then found himself on the losing side as Morecambe won by eight wickets at 182-2 with Rajesh Yadav making 86 not out.
Rob Lightfoot made almost half of the Barrow total of 121 when he scored 60 as Andy Dugdale took 5-50 but Paul Dowker 47 not out and Craig Caswell 46 not out put on a match winning partnership for Kendal as they won by nine wickets at 124-1.
It was a game for bowlers at Leyland where Ahmed Mansoor, 5-31, and Robert Bethell, 5-35, bowled Darwen out for just 128 but the pair were then upstaged by Chris Davies whose 8-36 was the significant factor in Leyland being bowled out for 101 to lose by 27 runs.
Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Barrow 121 (Lightfoot 60, Dugdale 5-50), Kendal 124-1 (Dowker 47*, Caswell 46*)
Barrow 0 points, Kendal 12 points
Darwen 128 (Mansoor 5-31, Bethell 5-35), Leyland 101 (Davies 8-26)
Darwen 15 points, Leyland 4 points
Chorley 168-8 (Greenwood 99*), Morecambe 172-2 (Yadav 86*)
Chorley 2 points, Morecambe 12 points
Lancaster 100 (Marshall 49*, Hartley 5-22), Netherfield 103-2 (Welbourne 50*)
Lancaster 0 points, Netherfield 12 points
Preston 165-7, Leyland Motors 135-9
Preston 10 points, Leyland Motors 4 points
St Annes 218-7 (Bickerdike 110, Aidan Cotton 59, Caunce 4-72), Blackpool 140
St Annes 15 points, Blackpool 4 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
16 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
24 |
182 |
| St Annes |
16 |
5 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
179 |
| Chorley |
15 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
9 |
142 |
| Darwen |
15 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
22 |
139 |
| Netherfield |
16 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
36 |
129 |
| Lancaster |
16 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
25 |
109 |
| Fleetwood |
15 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
36 |
104 |
| Barrow |
15 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
30 |
92 |
| Blackpool |
15 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
35 |
89 |
| Leyland Motors |
16 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
36 |
87 |
| Preston |
16 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
0 |
30 |
71 |
| Kendal |
16 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
32 |
70 |
| Leyland |
15 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
2 |
42 |
63 |
ACTION REPLAY:
A STERILE DRAW
Blackpool 228-7, St Annes 180-7
By Gerry Wolstenholme
The weather was perfect for the local derby at Stanley Park on Sunday and the track looked full of runs. It was a surprise therefore that Blackpool, from a high point of 150-2 with plenty of overs remaining, made only 228-7 and an even bigger surprise that St Annes, at one point being 121-1 but with overs running out, reached only 180-7 in reply. The result was the most unlikely of draws.
Winning the toss and asking Blackpool to bat was a good decision early on as Stephen Twist bowled makeshift opener Paul Danson for nought in the third over when there was still not a run on the board. Enter Steven Croft and immediately he began blazing boundaries with pulls, cover drives and on-drives so that he had five fours in the 22 runs he had scored when the second wicket fell at 23. That was Steve Mercer, one, who was adjudged run out as he tried to re-make his ground at the bowler's end from a direct hit from mid-wicket by Jimmy Adams.
Croft and Tim Barry then put the St Annes bowling to the sword and rattled up 127 runs in 105 minutes before Croft fell. He tried to force Adams on the on-side and Twist took a catch at short mid-on and he was gone for an excellent 94 made from 112 balls with one six and 12 fours. He was demonstrably disappointed for a century was there for the taking and he knew it.
The Blackpool momentum was further slowed when four runs later Barry fell as he edged Richard Thomas to Duncan Whalley behind the stumps and he departed for 54 made from 83 balls with six fours. With two new batsmen at the crease St Annes got back into the game with a few cheap overs and the total had only advanced to 176 when Justin Kreusch edged Adams to Whalley and he was gone for 13 at 176-5. And it was 179-6 when Thomas trapped Steve Metcalf leg before wicket for one.
Prash Aga, 43 from 52 balls with one six and three fours, and Matthew Horton then put some substance back on the Blackpool total as they added 48 runs in 26 minutes with a mixture of boundaries and swift running between the wickets. Aga fell off the penultimate ball when Adams trapped him leg before wicket as he tried to sweep and that was 227-7. There was just time for Michael Taylor to make a single and with Horton 13 not out the Blackpool innings closed at 228-7, probably some 50 runs fewer than they might have expected. Adams with 3-65 was the most successful bowler.
The tea break view was that St Annes would win comfortably but how wrong was everyone to be! They started circumspectly and continued in the same vein. Danny Hagen and Charles Boucher put on 44 with the latter caught behind of a Kreusch no-ball. But he did not profit much as Barry bowled him for 18 and this brought in the potential matchwinner in Adams.
However he did not immediately stamp his authority on the bowling for, although not in any trouble, apart from when trying to pull a ball that flew high to the wicketkeeper's right and was dropped when he had made only six, he fell into the ways of his partner. This was not to score too quickly against some tight bowling and good fielding.
The pair reached the final 20 overs with the total on a modest 101-1, thus St Annes needed to score at six runs an over for victory, something they had not managed by a fair margin up to that point. And surprisingly they continued to move along at a gentle pace although Adams was perhaps beginning to up the tempo when Kreusch bowled him as he played an ambitious head-in-the-air drive. He was gone for 35 made in 76 minutes with four fours from 51 balls and St Annes were 121-2.
In came Adam Cotton on an unenviable do-or-die mission. He made a quick 15 before he perished in the chase for runs and Taylor caught him on the deep mid-wicket boundary at 146-3. Joe Davies, one, went the same way as he was run out by a direct hit from Danson at backward point and that was 148-4.
The question then was whether St Annes would get the maximum batting bonus points rather than would they win. They just did the former but failed miserably with the latter. Whalley, eight, edged Kreusch to Cragg and Russ Bradley, six, likewise did the same at 160-6 and 171-7. Twist, seven not out, and Adrian Darlington, four not out, saw St Annes creep to 180-7 as by then the game was drifting aimlessly towards an unexpected draw. Kreusch had 4-68 and Barry 2-72 but the most intriguing question of the afternoon was "What happened to the St Annes batting?"
