Match Day 28th August 2004 FLEETWOOD DISPLACE NETHERFIELD AT THE TOP By Gerry Wolstenholme With Netherfield having a free Saturday, it was an opportunity for Fleetwood to move to the top of the table with them entertaining Leyland Motors at Broadwater. They duly did so by achieving a 50-run victory on a damp track that was difficult for run scoring. They batted first and made 130-9 with Michael Clinning making a top score of 40 and David Makinson taking 4-22 and Sifton Prince 3-24, the latter in an admirable opening spell of 14 overs. When Motors replied they were 62-2 at their best but then were bowled out for just 80 as Dave Fish took 5-23 and with only Atif Ashraf, 28, and Faruk Patel, 25, reaching double figures. The 15 points Fleetwood earned now give them a 10-point lead at the top of the table. At nearby Stanley Park, Blackpool overcame Morecambe by seven wickets as Steve Croft broke the Blackpool amateur batting record with a stunning 126 not out that took his side to 192-3 in reply to Morecambe's 189-9 from 55 overs, two overs being lost to a rain interruption. There was a collapse in the Morecambe innings as they went from 143-3 to their final 189-9 with Brendan Hetherington scoring 77, substitute professional Nawaz 30 and Phil Thornton 22 while Justin Kreusch took 5-47 for Blackpool. Croft then dominated the Blackpool innings and his 126 takes him to 992 runs for the season. Another eight runs and he will become the first amateur batsman since Netherfield's Grahame Clarke in 1996 to score 1,000 runs in a season. In the Blackpool reply he was assisted by Kreusch, 28, and Robin Bracewell, 16 not out, was with him at the close. Barrow suffered the ignominy of losing their first three batsmen, Ian Allington, Shaun Miller and James Riley, for ducks and but then, despite two more ducks in the late order, they recovered to reach 144-9 at Chorley. Rawl Lewis made 63, Tod Bamber 36 and Ray Mowat was 28 not out while Stephen John took 6-27 and Billy Smith 3-49. The Barrow total was, however, 46 runs too many for Chorley who were bowled out for just 98 with Nick Woods making 42 and the 14 extras being the next best contribution. Paul Greenwood made 12. Daryl Wearing with 5-42 was the star Barrow bowler. Darwen racked up an impressive 247-3 with all their batsmen doing well. Keith Semple led the way with 93 not out and Gareth Cordingley made 53 but there was 36 from Gary Jackson, 33 not out from Neil Cordingley and 24 from John Cordingley. Lancaster then put up a stern rearguard action and held out for 63 overs, 26 of which were maidens, reaching 91-8 to which Ben Harrison contributed 44 and David Heywood was thee at the end with 17 not out. Neil Cordingley took 3-10 and Jeff Hacking 3-13. Preston were involved in the lowest scoring game of the day at West Cliff as Kendal bowled them out for just 65 with Manoj Parekh, in his final home game for the club, top scoring with 29 and talented youngster George Pennington making 13. Kevin Howarth with 6-32 and Kabir Khan with 4-25 were the two bowlers who did the damage. Kabir then made 36 not out as Kendal cruised home by seven wickets at 69-3. Finally the game between Leyland and St Annes was abandoned and both sides took four points. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Morecambe 189-9 (Hetherington 77, Kreusch 5-47), Blackpool 192-3 (Croft 126*) Morecambe 4 points, Blackpool 12 points Barrow 144-9 (Lewis 63, John 6-27), Chorley 98 (Woods 42, Wearing 5-36) Barrow 15 points, Chorley 4 points Darwen 247-3 (Semple 93*, Cordingley G 53), Lancaster 91-8 (Harrison 44) Darwen 10 points, Lancaster 2 points Fleetwood 130-9 (Clinning 40, Makinson D 4-22), Leyland Motors 80 (Fish 5-23) Fleetwood 15 points, Leyland Motors 4 points Leyland v St Annes - match abandoned each side four points Preston 65 (Howarth 6-32, Khan 4-25), Kendal 69-3 Preston 1 point, Kendal 12 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Fleetwood 21 5 8 3 0 4 1 35 222 Netherfield 21 7 3 5 1 2 3 38 212 Darwen 21 3 6 5 1 4 2 43 189 Morecambe 21 4 7 1 2 5 2 26 184 Kendal 21 5 4 1 4 6 1 37 172 Chorley 21 5 3 2 0 7 4 35 170 Preston 21 4 4 2 1 10 1 43 164 Blackpool 21 2 6 1 5 5 2 43 162 St Annes 22 1 4 3* 4 6 4 55 151 Barrow 22 2 3 2 3 10 2 54 139 Leyland Motors 21 2 2 3 2 9 3 47 127 Lancaster 21 1 2 3* 4 9 2 54 118 Leyland 21 0 0 0 2 16 3 44 58 * includes 5 point for a tie In the Second Division the bowling performance of the season came from Lancaster's Paul Dennison who took 9-17 as Darwen were dismissed for 59 in reply to Lancaster's modest 124 to which Brian Phillips contributed 54 and Michael Grant took 4-19 for Darwen. Gareth Peddar, originally named in the first team, was the batsman in form as he made a sparkling 102 for Morecambe in their 207-6 but Blackpool held on for a draw with Mark Griffiths making 70 not out of their 127-9. Faruk Patel was once again among the wickets, this time with 5-62. And it was a bowlers' day at Leyland Motors where Colin Sibley took 6-25 when Fleetwood were dismissed for 134 but Colin Sherlock replied in kind with 6-27 as Motors were dismissed for 71 to lose by 63 runs. Second Division results in brief (home teams in bold): Chorley 237-6 (Hotham 71*, Richardson 57, Sweeney 56), Barrow 105 (Fairhurst 4-10) Chorley 15 points, Barrow 2 points Preston 73 (Cowperthwaite 5-20), Kendal 75-7 Preston 3 points, Kendal 12 points Lancaster 124 (Phillips B 54, Grant M 4-19), Darwen 59 (Dennison 9-17) Lancaster 15 points, Darwen 4 points Fleetwood 134 (Sibley 6-25), Leyland Motors 71 (Sherlock 6-27) Fleetwood 15 points, Leyland Motors 4 points Morecambe 207-6 (Peddar 102), Blackpool 127-9 (Griffiths 70*, Patel 5-62) Morecambe 11 points, Blackpool 3 points Leyland 125 (Jolly 53), St Annes 127-2 (Kellett 53*, Bartholomew 41) Leyland 0 points, St Annes 12 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Morecambe 21 4 10 5 1 1 0 36 237 St Annes 22 5 9 2 2 3 1 27 224 Chorley 21 5 9 1 1 4 1 17 209 Darwen 21 5 3 2 2 6 3 37 170 Netherfield 21 2 5 2 3 7 1 55 160 Fleetwood 21 4 3 4 1 8 1 42 159 Lancaster 20 2 6 1 1 9 1 33 144 Barrow 22 1 4 4 4 7 2 46 137 Leyland Motors 21 2 3 1 5 8 2 49 132 Blackpool 20 1 4 3 3 7 2 43 129 Kendal 21 0 5 1 3 10 2 36 111 Preston 22 2 1 2 4 13 0 43 97 Leyland 21 0 0 5 3 11 2 55 86 ACTION REPLAY: FLEETWOOD STORM TO TOP OF TABLE Fleetwood 130-9, Leyland Motors 80 By Gerry Wolstenholme A storming 15-point victory put Fleetwood at the top of the Northern Premier League table on Saturday night as they defeated Leyland Motors by 50 runs at Broadwater. John Wright won the toss, batted and then saw his team struggle on a damp and difficult to score on track. They eventually made 130-9, a respectable total in the conditions and one that was always going to be difficult to beat. Motors proved that to be the case as, from a high point of 62-2 they capitulated and lost their last eight wickets for 18 runs to be all out for just 80. When Fleetwood started it was obvious from the off that runs were not going to be easy to come by and with 16 on the board Wright, eight, fell to a ball that popped on him from the veteran Sifton Prince and he could only paddle it round to backward square leg where Iqbal Lilley took the catch. John Whalley, dropped on 13 by Lilley at long-on, added only one more run before a ball from Prince kept deceptively low and bowled him and that was 33-2. And it was 34-3 when Rob Clark, seven, edged Prince through to wicketkeeper Phil Iddon. Doug Marillier struck one six and one four in his 19 before he flashed at a ball from Peter Cummings and Ashraf at slip took the catch and it was 58-4. Michael Clinning, batting at number five, and Andrew Clough then set about rebuilding the innings and together they put on 55 runs before they were both out at the same total and with Adam Sharrocks failing to score Fleetwood were suddenly 113-7. David Makinson bowled Clinning for a fine 40, made from 81 balls with four fours, quite an achievement on the wet outfield and worth many more on a good day, Sharrocks edged David Makinson to Iddon when he was trying to run the ball down to third man and Clough, 19, was last to go when he fell leg before wicket to the admirable Lilley. James Ellis made only one before he was leg before wicket to David Makinson and Tom Blundell made three before Iddon took his third catch, this time off David Makinson and it was 123-9. Steve Hill hit two fours in his little cameo 10 not out and with Dave Fish not out nought, the Fleetwood innings ended on 130-9 with David Makinson taking 4-22 and Prince 3-24. When Leyland Motors replied they lost their first wicket in the first over without a run on the board when Hill trapped James Rounding leg before wicket. Then Faruk Patel and Atif Ashraf dug in and scored slowly although the former did hit two huge sixes and one four in his 54-ball innings. He went for 25 when the total was 36 when Fish bowled him. Ashraf and James Aspinwall then took the Motors total to 62 before Aspinwall played all round a straight ball from Blundell and was bowled for nine. It was 63-3 at the start of the last 20 overs and the game was very much in the melting pot. The crucial wicket came at 67 when Marillier, whose first spell had not been too successful, returned and bowled beautifully to dismiss Ashraf leg before wicket for 28, made from 69 balls with two fours. Peter Cummings made one before Ellis completed a smart piece of stumping off Fish and that was 70-5. Andrew Makinson was missed at wide long-on by Clark but he profited little for when he had made six Fish bowled him and that was 75-6. Richard Rounding made two before he went down the track to Clough and Ellis once again whipped off the bails and that was 78-7. Iqbal Lilley, who had gone in to boost the run rate, lost a lot of the strike but with the dependable David Makinson at the crease there was every chance that Motors would save the game. However Fish had David Makinson playing back instead of forward and bowled him for one and it was 80-8. Iddon followed next ball as Fish had him leg before wicket but Prince avoided the hat-trick only to perish soon afterwards for nought as he went for an unlikely second run. Marillier chased the ball from slip and threw to Ellis with Prince well short of his ground and with Lilley stranded on two, Motors were all out for a disappointing 80 to lose by 50 runs with 8.1 overs of the final 20 remaining. Although all the Fleetwood bowlers kept a tight line and length, Dave Fish was the hero with his 5-23.

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