Match Day 7th August 2004 NETHERFIELD OPEN SLIGHT LEAD By Gerry Wolstenholme Although all three of the leading sides won on Saturday, leaders Netherfield opened up a little more of a gap by way of picking up 15 points having won batting first while the main chasing pair, Morecambe and Fleetwood, both picked up 12 points for winning by batting second. Netherfield had another low scoring day when they were bowled out for 142 by Leyland Motors with Dale Benkenstein providing the backbone of the innings with 84 not out. Only Tommy Prime of the rest reached double figures as he made 19 while Iqbal Lilley took 3-16, Atif Ashraf 3-21, David Makinson 2-36 and there was one wicket each for Sifton Prince and Peter Cummings. When Motors replied the main wicket went when Grahame Clarke caught Atif Ashraf off Scott Clement for four and after that Motors never recovered as Clement finished with an impressive 6-23. On his first team debut, James Rounding made a top score of 35 with only James Aspinwall, 21, and Steve Cartwright, 20, of the rest reaching double figures as Motors were bowled out for 112 to lose by 30 runs. Benkenstein took 2-29, Stuart Nixon 1-15 and Marc Hadwin 1-29. At Vernon Road, St Annes batted first and on a track that was made for runs they made only 199-6, a total probably some 40 or 50 runs short of expectations. Peter Stephens did a manful job for Morecambe in restricting the runs as, in very hot conditions, he bowled throughout to return figures of 29-4-91-3. Adrian Darlington made a top score of 46 for St Annes with Duncan Whalley next best with 30. Morecambe's reply got off to a flying start as Phil Dennison made 50 of the first 53 runs on the board and was finally out for an excellent 83. Phil Thornton made his usual hard-hit runs, this time 53 of them, and Brendan Hetherington struck a swift 23 towards the end to ensure that Morecambe reached 202-6 to win by four wickets with three overs remaining. It was all over very quickly at Fleetwood where Chorley were bowled out for only 87 with Tom Smith's 24 being the top score and Michael Critchley, 16, and Jack Catterall, 16, being the only other batsmen to reach double figures as Dave Fish took his tally to 55 wickets this season with 6-23. John Wright struck a superb 55 in Fleetwood's reply as Stephen John did his level best to keep his side in the game with an excellent spell that brought him 4-24. But it was in vain as Fleetwood cruised home by six wickets at 89-4 in 24.3 overs. Darwen's title challenge perhaps died at Shap Road where the imperious Terry Hunte was in fine form for Kendal. He struck 134, from 129 balls in 151 minutes with four sixes and 12 fours, out of Kendal's total of 211-4 that gave them victory by six wickets as they chased Darwen's 208-7. In the Darwen total, Gary Jackson top scored with a battling 53 made in 147 minutes from 136 balls with four fours and Keith Semple made 41. Also the three Cordingleys, John, Gareth and Neil, got started but did not fully capitalise as John's 31 was the best of their efforts with Neil making 21 and Gareth 20. For Kendal, 15-year-old Chris Miller, one of the most promising young off-spinners in the League, took a best-yet of 5-41 before Hunte monopolised the scoring to such a degree that Simon Little and Kabir Khan, both of whom made 16, came nearest to his total. Thanks to a maiden League century by professional Justin Kreusch Blackpool defeated Lancaster by 77 runs at Lune Road. Kreusch made 107 not out, with seven fours, and aided by Steven Croft's 55, Tim Barry's 28 and Steve Mercer's 23, Blackpool closed on 234-4. Only Ben Simm replied in kind for Lancaster as he made 51 but the 33 extras that Blackpool generously conceded was the second top score as only Ben Harrison and Steve Rawes, who both made 25, reached double figures of the rest. Barry took 6-40 and Mercer took 3-33 as Lancaster were bowled out for 157. Finally at West Cliff, Preston provided Barrow with their fourth League victory as their 146 all out was easily overhauled by the visitors whose 148-3 gave them a comfortable victory. Raouf Akbar made 50 for Preston and Rawl Lewis kept up his recent good form with runs and wickets, 66 not out and 4-52. Scores in brief (home teams in bold): Chorley 87 (Fish 6-23), Fleetwood 89-4 (Wright 55) Chorley 1 point, Fleetwood 12 points Darwen 208-7 (Jackson 53, Semple 41, Miller 5-41), Kendal 211-4 (Hunte 134) Darwen 4 points, Kendal 12 points Blackpool 234-4 (Kreusch 107*, Croft 55), Lancaster 157 (Simm 53, Barry 6-40) Blackpool 15 points, Lancaster 2 points Netherfield 142 (Benkenstein 84*), Leyland Motors 112 (Clement 6-40) Netherfield 15 points, Leyland Motors 4 points Preston 146, Barrow 148-3 Preston 2 points, Barrow 12 points St Annes 199-6 (Darlington 46), Morecambe 202-6 (Dennison 83, Thornton 53) St Annes 5 points, Morecambe 12 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Netherfield 19 6 3 4 1 2 3 32 187 Morecambe 19 4 7 1 2 3 2 22 180 Fleetwood 18 3 7 3 0 4 1 35 180 Darwen 18 3 5 4 0 4 2 33 162 Chorley 18 5 2 2 0 6 3 31 150 Kendal 18 5 2 1 3 6 1 34 144 Blackpool 18 2 5 1 3 5 2 37 142 Preston + 18 3 4 1 1 9 1 38-2 138 St Annes 19 1 4 1* 4 6 3 49 133 Leyland Motors 19 2 2 3 2 8 2 43 119 Barrow 19 1 3 2 3 8 2 48 118 Lancaster 18 1 2 3* 3 7 2 47 110 Leyland 18 0 0 0 2 14 2 39 49 * includes 5 point for a tie + 2 Points deducted for slow over rate (Subject to appeal) In the Second Division it was top versus second and, as when two of the top teams met recently in the Premier Division, it was an unexpectedly one-sided contest. Ian Palmer took 4-31 for St Annes as, with skipper Stuart Errington making 74 not out, they restricted Morecambe to just 148-8 but it proved to be 64 runs too many. Faruk Patel was back among the wickets and his 5-34 was the main reason that St Annes were bowled out for just 84. It could just be the result that clinches the title for Morecambe. Mark Emsley's 92 for Fleetwood in a losing cause was the best individual effort of the day as he made his runs out of Fleetwood's 164 all out with Ross Demming taking 4-44. Chorley, thanks to Nigel Moxham making 83 not out and P Hurst 47, replied with 166-2 for victory by eight wickets. Best bowling of the day came from Kendal's Andy 'Shaky' Dugdale as he took 6-58 and together with another veteran, Adrian 'Shed' Potts who took 4-63, he bowled Darwen out for 133, Kendal's 134-5 gave them the 12 points for a third successive win. Anthony Totham 75 not out and Vincent Joes 54 of Leyland Motors top scored in their side's 218-6 and Monty Cottam took 4-57 as Netherfield were dismissed for 155 to lose by 63 runs. Results in brief (home side in bold): Preston 165 (Patel 48),Barrow 168-6 (Parker 44) Preston 4 points, Barrow 12 points Blackpool v Lancaster postponed Fleetwood 164 (Emsley 92, Demming 4-44), Chorley 166-2 (Moxham 83*, Hurst 47) Fleetwood 2 points, Chorley 12 points Darwen 133 (Dugdale 6-58, Potts 4-63), Kendal 134-5 Darwen 2 points, Kendal 12 points Morecambe 148-8 (Errington 74*, Palmer 4-31), St Annes 84 (Patel 5-34) Morecambe 15 points, St Annes 3 points Leyland Motors 218-6 (Totham 75* Jones 54), Netherfield 155 (Kennedy 52, Cottam 4-57) Leyland Motors 15 points, Netherfield 3 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Morecambe 19 4 9 4 1 1 0 29 214 St Annes 19 5 7 1 2 3 1 24 193 Chorley 18 3 9 1 0 4 1 14 175 Darwen 18 5 3 2 1 4 3 28 160 Netherfield 19 2 4 2 3 6 1 54 147 Fleetwood 18 2 3 3 1 8 1 39 122 Lancaster 17 1 6 1 1 7 1 25 121 Barrow 18 1 4 3 3 5 2 34 120 Leyland Motors 19 2 3 0 5 7 2 39 118 Blackpool 17 0 3 3 2 7 2 41 99 Kendal 18 0 4 1 2 9 2 32 94 Preston 19 2 1 2 3 11 0 35 88 Leyland 17 0 0 3 2 10 2 45 67 ACTION REPLAY: FLEETWOOD QUICKLY DISPOSE OF CHORLEY Chorley 87, Fleetwood 89-4 By Gerry Wolstenholme Both sides had key players missing at Broadwater on Saturday but visitors Chorley suffered most as they were bowled out for just 87 thanks to some superb seam bowling from the Fleetwood trio of Steve Hill, Tom Blundell and Dave Fish, with the last named being particularly impressive as he took his haul of wickets for the season to 55. John Wright then set Fleetwood off well with most of the early runs and when he was dismissed the game was almost over as Fleetwood cruised to 89-4 and a six-wicket victory in just 24.3 overs. The Chorley innings opened interestingly as Hill and Blundell regularly beat the bat but did not find an edge so openers Tom Smith and Jack Catterall build a stand uncomfortably at first but one that began to look as though it had potential when Smith suddenly blossomed and struck Hill for two fours and a two in one over. But he was the first to go when Fish came on as first change and trapped him leg before wicket for 24 made out of the opening stand of 35. Hill then bowled Catterall for 12 at 43-2 and the remaining eight wickets were then lost for the addition of 44 runs. Stephen John made a somewhat laboured nine, including being dropped by Doug Marillier at first slip, before the alert James Ellis snapped up a leg side edge off Fish and that was 61-3. A second wicket fell in the same over with the total unaltered as Fish had Jim Fazackerley leg before wicket without scoring. And one run later Paul Greenwood, one, edged Blundell, who had replaced Hill, and Marillier took the looping catch at slip. The following ball Ian Oakes played no stroke at a ball from Blundell that came back on him and removed his off stump and that was 62-6. The hat-trick ball was survived and Michael Critchley, who had been watching the calamities from the other end, and Grav Dhar put on 16 runs for the seventh wicket before the former lofted Fish gently to Blundell at mid-off and he was gone for 16, made from 44 balls with one six and two fours, and it was 78-7. Fish bowled Dhar for eight at 81-8 and then after Billy Smith had been missed off a caught and bowled chance to Marillier Fish repeated the dose to dismiss Smith for two at 86-9. Marillier then bowled Andy Harty for one and with Andy Holdsworth three not out, it was all over for Chorley at just 87 made in 42.1 overs. John Wright set Fleetwood's reply off in fine style with a series of boundaries all round the ground and he had scored most of the first 45 runs made in just 43 minutes when his partner, John Hall, fell leg before wicket to John for six. John proved just too much for Adam Sharrocks when he chased a ball that was leaving him and presented Catterall behind the stumps with an easy catch. He was gone for two at 51-2. Wright reached a deserved half-century and had moved to 55 made from 72 balls before John, doing everything he could to help his side get back in the game, trapped him in front of his stumps at 76-3. John, who finished with 4-24, then had Wayne Clarke caught by Catterall for three at 86-4 but by that time it was almost all over. Marillier, who struck one huge six in his 12 not out, drove through the off-side and Fleetwood were home by seven wickets at 89-4 with a plethora of overs in the bank! ACTION REPLAY PART TWO MORECAMBE BIG GUNS SEE THEM HOME St Annes 199-6, Morecambe 202-6 By Gerry Wolstenholme The early finish at Broadwater meant a quick trip along the Fylde Coast to see the end of the St Annes versus Morecambe game where St Annes had knocked up 199-6 after batting first. The total was generally felt to be some 40 or 50 runs short of a reasonable total to defend on a track that posed little fears for the batsmen. Phil Dennison was in full flow in Morecambe's reply and he had scored 50 out of the first 53 runs on the board. John Hird then set about catching him up and when he was out for 24 the total had advanced to 89 as Hird edged behind the wicket to be caught for 24. Gareth Peddar then made two, struggling a little against the spin bowling of Jimmy Adams and Michael Baer, before he edged the latter to slip where Russ Bradley snapped up the catch and that was 96-2. Stand-in professional Zeeshan Pervez failed, for on two he played an expansive drive at Baer and Duncan Whalley took the resultant edge and that was 105-3 with the final 20 overs just about to start. But the Morecambe wobble ended there as skipper Phil Thornton joined skipper elect Dennison and they took the total to 139 at which point Dennison holed out to long-off where Adam Cotton held the catch. Dennison was gone for a fine 83 made from138 balls with 10 fours. The effervescent Brendan Hetherington then joined Thornton and the two took the attack to St Annes and with some big hitting they took their side to the verge of victory before both were dismissed in the space of four runs. Hetherington, 23 with one exocet-like six that was dropped by Adrian Darlington at long-on as the ball flew into the fence, was first to go when Darlington redeemed himself and held on at long-on off Adams and that was 194-5. And Thornton, 53 from 48 balls with four huge sixes and three fours and also dropped off a difficult chance to Richard Thomas at leg gully when he had made 44, was out at 198-6 when Adam Cotton caught a skier at mid-off from the bowling of Jimmy Adams. In came the combative Andy Bird and, after some watchful defence, he cut a short ball from Adams through the off-side to the boundary to give Morecambe their four-wicket victory with three overs remaining. Nick Milner ended one not out and Baer and Adams finished with three wickets each, Baer for 57 runs and Adams for 76 runs.

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