Match Day 24th April 2004
PRESTON, BLACKPOOL, MORECAMBE ALL WINNERS
By Gerry Wolstenholme
The second Saturday of the Northern Premier League season was as different from the first as a winter's day is from a summer's day. The sun shone, all games went the distance and three teams were winners while there was a tie in the First Division for the first time since August 1991.
The tie was a most exciting one in that Lancaster had made 193-6 in their 57 overs with Renier Munnik making a magnificent 102 not out and St Annes in reply, after looking as though they would cruise to victory, were pegged back and bowled out off the final ball of a 60-over innings for 193. Gareth Evans was the mainstay of the St Annes total with 101 while Ben Simm took 5-71. Both sides thus took five points for the tie plus their bonus points.
The formbook was overturned at Darwen where last year's champions were beaten by last year's wooden-spoonists. Blackpool batted first and made a modest 154-6 to which stand-in professional Charles Dagnall made 48, new recruit Tim Barry, once of Leyland, made 43 and Steven Croft chipped in with 25 while Andrew Mercer took 4-40
Darwen in reply relied too heavily on Keith Semple whose innings of 61, with one six and seven fours, ended when he was caught on the boundary by Steve Mercer off Karl Marsland. Jeff Hacking did his best with 29 but the failure of the Cordingley's, who made just one run between the three of them, contributed to Darwen's downfall as they were bowled out for 126 with Gary Jackson, 14, the only other batsman to reach double figures. Steven Croft took the bowling honours with 5-32, Marsland had 2-18 and Barry 2-20.
Preston too were perhaps unlikely winners for they made only 114 against Netherfield and had to thank veteran Pervez Shah for 44 of those runs and only Munaf Bavla, 21, and Glenn Johnstone, 16, of the rest reached double figures. For Netherfield, Marc Hadwin took 3-40 and stand-in professional Asif Mujtaba 2-28. The visitors however fell to Raouf Akbar whose 5-40 played a large part in their dismissal for just 99 and defeat by 14 runs. Graeme Dodds' 32 was the top score with Tommy Prime's 18 being the next best effort.
Morecambe comfortably disposed of Leyland Motors who could manage only 117 all out with a top score of 36 by Peter Cummings and with 21 from David Makinson while Morecambe's stand-in professional Franklyn Rose took 5-47. Mark Woodhead was back among the runs for Morecambe as he made 40 of the 123-3 that gave Morecambe a seven-wicket victory. Rose added to his five-wicket haul with 39 not out.
At Shap Road Fleetwood made 157 with Michael Dewhurst making a top score of 62 and Michael Clinning's 25 being the next best score as Kendal's Kabir Khan took 5-41. In reply Kendal hung on at 131-9 despite the best efforts of Doug Marillier who took 6-50 with his penetrative off-spin. Simon Little made 34 but it was Damien Gudgeon, 20 not out, and 16-year-old newcomer Chris Miller who defied the Fleetwood attack for the final four overs.
Barrow could not clinch their first win in the League as they had to settle for a draw at Leyland. They batted first and posted a formidable 225-9 with James Riley making 61, Paul Wilcock 35 from number eight and Ray Mowat 27. Despite Mowat adding 3-15 to his runs, Leyland managed to survive for the draw at 144-8 with Moin-ul-Atiq making 44 and Steve Pallett 34.
Results in brief (home side in bold):
Blackpool 154-6 (Dagnall 48, Barry 43, Mercer 4-40), Darwen 126 (Semple 61
Croft 5-32)
Blackpool 15 points, Darwen 2 points
Fleetwood 157 (Dewhurst 62, Khan 5-41), Kendal 131-9 (Marillier 6-50)
Fleetwood 9 points, Kendal 5 points
Barrow 225-9 (Riley 61), Leyland 144-8 (Moin-ul-Atiq 44)
Barrow 10 points, Leyland 6 points
Leyland Motors 117 (Rose 5-47), Morecambe 123-3 (Woodhead 40)
Leyland Motors 1 point, Morecambe 12 points
Preston 113 (Shah 44), Netherfield 99 (Akbar 5-40)
Preston 15 points, Netherfield 4 points
Lancaster 193-5 (Munnik 102*), St Annes 193 (Evans 101, Simm 5-71)
Lancaster 12 points, St Annes 10 points
With a narrow four-run victory in their Second Division encounter against Netherfield, Preston made it a good day for the club. Batting first they made 136-9 and then with Roger Kaye taking 4-33 and A Starkie 4-32, they bowled out Netherfield for 132. Sean Bickerdike was another four-wicket man as he took 4-13 as St Annes, 168-6, defeated Lancaster by 110 runs.
And Faruk Patel had his second five-wicket haul in two games for Morecambe but his 5-32 was not enough to secure a win as Leyland Motors held out at 120-9. In the same game, Morecambe's veteran Gulam Maje made 63 and M Cottam, 5-54, and C Sibley, 4-30, took the bowling honours for Motors. Fleetwood were the only other winners in the Second Division as Colin Sherlock, 4-21, and Mark Wilkinson, 4-15, helped bowl Kendal out for just 87 and then John Whalley made 43 not out to take Fleetwood to a six-wicket victory at 91-4.
Second Division scores in brief(home team in bold):
Leyland 155 (Cosgrove 5-27), Barrow 104-8 (Karim 4-26)
Leyland 8 points, Barrow 5 points
Darwen 203 (Emery 74, Clarke 43, Armstrong 5-39, Gleeson 4-52),
Blackpool 131-5 (Horton 67*)
Darwen 9 points, Blackpool 5 points
Kendal 87 (Sherlock 4-21, Wilkinson 4-15), Fleetwood 91-4 (Whalley 43*)
Kendal 1 point, Fleetwood 12 points
St Annes 168-6, Lancaster 58 (Bickerdike 4-13)
St Annes 15 points, Lancaster 2 points
Morecambe 149 (Maje 63, Cottam 5-54, Sibley 4-30), Leyland Motors 120-9
(Patel 5-32)
Morecambe 9 points, Leyland Motors 5 points
Preston 136-9, Netherfield 132 (Starkie 4-32, Kaye 4-33)
Preston 15 points, Netherfield 4 points
ACTION REPLAY
A TREMENDOUS TIE!
Lancaster 193-5, St Annes 193 all out
By Gerry Wolstenholme
As an advertisement for Northern Premier League cricket, this game was the best as both teams played their part to the full although at the close one was delighted and the other was dejected. That is because although Lancaster, who had been put in to bat, had posted a formidable 193-6 from their 57 overs, it looked as though St Annes would cruise to victory when they were at one point 131-1 with plenty of overs remaining. But Lancaster fought back magnificently and took the final nine St Annes wickets for 62 runs to leave the game tied at 193 apiece.
Lancaster's innings began badly as skipper Ian Parkinson was caught behind by his former teammate Danny Hagen off Steve Twist for four with the total on 11 and then without addition Steve Johnstone was caught in the gully by Adam Cotton off Joe Davies for nought.
This brought together David Heywood and Renier Munnik and the two righted the Lancaster innings with a partnership of 52 runs during which neither batsman looked in any particular difficulty against some steady bowling on a track that probably favoured the batsmen. It came as something of a surprise therefore when Heywood, 19, essayed a tentative prod at Michael Baer's left arm spin and Hagen gleefully snapped up the chance.
Luke Phillips joined Munnik and the pair went merrily along without alarms with Phillips straight driving Baer for a sweetly struck six. It was a left arm spin partnership for St Annes for Jimmy Adams was in tandem with Bear and it was he who struck next when he had Phillips leg before wicket when a low full toss struck the batsman on the boot. He was gone for 20 and Lancaster were 106-4.
Munnik passed his half century but then he lost Colin Abraham for five when Adams had him leg before wicket with the total on 128. Munnik and Lee Sparks then embarked on a fruitful partnership of 65 runs made in only 32 minutes. Munnik struck two mighty sixes off successive balls from Baer and reached his deserved, chanceless century in the final over while Sparks played arguably the best, and certainly the cheekiest, shot of the day when he reverse swept Adams to the boundary. At the close he was 20 not out made from only 18 balls and Munnik was 102 not out from 167 balls with three sixes and eight fours. Adams was the most successful bowler with 2-45 from his 19 overs.
The St Annes reply got off to a solid and speedy start as Adrian Darlington and Gareth Evans treated the bowling with disdain. They had put on 55 before Darlington, 18, did not quite get hold off an intended off-drive from Ben Simm and Munnik at long-off took a tumbling catch. Evans played two delightful straight drives for four and with Adams looking languidly solid and also played one supreme square cut to the boundary, the total mounted steadily. When it reached 131 the unexpected happened and Adams was out. And what a moment it was for 15-year-old Central Lancaster High School pupil Liam Moffat, who had played most of his cricket in the third team last season and who was a late call-up for this game. He took his first senior wicket when he induced Adams to follow one down the leg side for Sparks to take the resultant edge.
There were still plenty of overs for St Annes to win and with wickets in hand it looked almost a forgone conclusion. But Lancaster responded magnificently and steadily worked their way through the remainder of the St Annes batting. Twist, eight, was caught by Sparks off Chris Glover at 149-3 and when Davies holed out to Barnes at third man for a duck off Simm, St Annes were 154-4.
Evans duly reached a fine century but when he had advanced to 101 from 156 balls with 13 fours, he lofted a gentle catch to Glover at mid-off from the bowling of Graham Barnes, whose second spell was superb. That was 173-5 and it was 174-6 when Russ Bradley, nought, skied a soft shot to mid-off where Barnes took the catch off the bowling of Simm. Hagen struck three good boundaries that eased St Annes' nerves and put Lancaster on edge but then Barnes induced an edge and Sparks did the necessary. Hagen had gone for 15 and it was 182-7.
In the gathering gloom Munnik appeared to take a fine tumbling catch off Adam Cotton but as the Lancaster players were about to engulf him in celebrations he sportingly signalled that the ball had been taken on the half-volley. Given such a reprieve Cotton could have won the game for his side as he struck boldly at Simm when the total was on 188 but the ball did not sail for the anticipated six, it was caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary by Glover Cotton gone for three and six runs or two wickets still needed for victory.
Dave Taylor did not survive the Simm over for he played on for a duck at 189-9 and the last pair of Charlie Boucher and Baer had two overs to face. They scrambled four runs from the penultimate over, the 59th of the innings, and this left Baer facing Simm for the final over. Three dot balls were followed by two more of similar kind and it was all down to the final ball with the scores level. Boucher got on his starting blocks, Simm bowled, Baer swung and the ball arrowed down the track. As the batsmen frantically tried to complete the necessary single, Simm picked up the ball and threw down the stumps. That left St Annes 193 all out and the game tied, much to the delight of the celebrating Lancaster players.
Simm finished with 5-71 but all the Lancaster bowlers played their part in getting something out of a game that at one time looked as though it had drifted away from them.
