Match Day 1st May 2004
ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT BLACKPOOL
By Gerry Wolstenholme
There was some high scoring in the Northern Premier Leagues third round of games on Saturday last with Morecambe leading the way with 296-5 and Lancaster close behind with 277 but the honours go to Blackpool who, admittedly having played only two games, have a one-hundred percent record.
They were at home to Leyland who batted first and were dismissed for just 141 with Moin-ul-Atiq making 56 and the ebullient Charlie Williams the next best scorer with 24. For Blackpool Steven Croft continued his good form with the ball in taking 4-44 while Tim Barry had 3-31 and Paul Danson, bowling his longest spell, 19 overs, for some considerable time, took 3-41. In reply Blackpool had Croft and Steve Mercer to thank for a partnership of 105 for the second wicket that was a matchwinner. Croft made 61 and Mercer 59 not out as Blackpool won by seven wickets at 145-3.
Morecambe's big score came courtesy of professional Carl Langeveldt, 76, Mark Woodhead, 59, and Tommy Clough, 43, and 296-5 was always going to be a mountain for Barrow to climb. They managed only 159 and much of that was thanks to skipper Ian Allington who made a splendid 67 not out batting at number eight. The next best contributor to the all out total of 159 that left them losers by 137 runs was wicketkeeper D Williams who made 29 while professional Rawl Lewis made 22. Peter Stephens and Jono Gates both took 4-21 for Morecambe.
Lancaster's David Heywood and in-form professional Renier Munnik put on the day's highest partnership as they lifted Lancaster from 47-2 to a final total of 277-2. Heywood just missed out on his 10th Northern League First Division career century with 97 not out, an innings that included 12 fours, while Munnik took his season's tally to 290, with a magnificent 128 not out including two sixes and 18 fours. It was Munnik's sixth century in his three seasons at the club. Kendal, however, managed to hang on for the draw with Terry Hunte registering his 30th Northern League century and finishing with 104 not out with one six and 13 fours as Kendal closed on 189-5. Graham Barnes was the most successful bowler with 4-40.
Preston and Fleetwood both posted over 200 with Fleetwood the victors by five wickets in a contest that saw 431 runs scored. Preston's contribution was 215-5 with Raouf Akbar smiting four sixes and three fours in his late assault on the Fleetwood bowlers that made him 66 not out. Greg Bamber made 49 and Ian McDonnell 44. Michael Dewhurst, 50, and John Wright, a more hectic 85 not out, saw Fleetwood home by five wickets at 216-5.
Netherfield had a good win at Windsor Park where they batted first and totalled 172 with Gareth White making 50 and Craig Walmsley 43 while Chorley's Nick Woods took 5-56. Chorley had a woeful time with 17 extras being the next best to Nigel Heaton's 50 as they were bowled out for 119 to lose by 53 runs. Stand-in professional M Hamid took 3-26 while Marc Hadwin took 3-43.
It was a draw at Leyland Motors where the home side batted first and made 239 with Atif Ashraf back to form with 129 with 18 fours and one six while Salim Ugrader chipped in with five fours and one six in his 56. The pair put on 181 for the third wicket after both Motors openers, Hanif Patel and Phil Iddon, had gone for ducks. Steven Twist had 5-52 for St Annes who then lost early wickets but Joe Davies, 71 with six fours and one six, plus 23 from Danny Hagen and 24 from Russ Bradley saved their side as they closed on 197-8.
Scores in brief(home sides in bold):
Morecambe 296-5 (Langeveldt 76, Woodhead 59, Clough 43),
Barrow 159 (Allington 67*, Stephens 4-21, Gates 4-21)
Morecambe 15 points, Barrow 3 points
Leyland 141 (Moin-ul-Atiq 56, Croft 5-44), Blackpool 145-3 (Croft 61, Mercer 59*)
Leyland 2 points, Blackpool 12 points
Netherfield 172 (White 50, Walmsley 43, Woods 5-56), Chorley 119 (Heaton 50)
Netherfield 15 points, Chorley 4 points
Preston 215-5 (Akbar 66*, Bamber 49, McDonnell 44),
Fleetwood 216-5 (Wright 85*, Dewhurst 50)
Preston 5 points, Fleetwood 12 points
Lancaster 277-2 (Munnik 128*, Heywood 97*), Kendal 189-5 (Hunte 104*,
Barnes 4-40)
Lancaster 9 points, Kendal 4 points
Leyland Motors 239 (Ashraf 129, Ugrader 56, Twist 5-52),
St Annes 197-8 (Davies 71)
Leyland Motors 10 points, St Annes 8 points
Unluckiest man of the day was probably Byron Kennedy of Netherfield Second XI who made 99 and then was on the losing side! His team made 219-3 to which Danny Welbourne contributed 46 and A Hampshire 53 but Chorley, with Jack Catterall leading the way with 54, overhauled them to win by three wickets with 220-7.
Mark 'The Crab' Wilkinson of Fleetwood followed up last weekend's four-wicket haul with an impressive 6-24 but Fleetwood, 183, John Whalley 53, could only draw with Preston who held on at 130-9.
David Booth of St Annes may have been upstaged in the wicket-taking by Richard Thomas's 5-25 but his figures of 10.4-4-7-4 certainly make good reading as St Annes beat Leyland Motors by 82 runs with their 184-5 proving too many for Motors' 102.
Second Division scores in brief(home teams in bold):
Kendal 101 (Dennison 5-43), Lancaster 102-3 (Phillips B 41*)
Kendal 1 point, Lancaster 12 points
Leyland 195-6 (Wright 58, Bretherton 56*), Blackpool 148-7 (Horton 40,
Harim 4-42)
Leyland 10 points, Blackpool 4 points
Morecambe 211-6 (Maje 52, Milner 48), Barrow 170-8 (Glasgow 78*)
Morecambe 10 points, Barrow 5 points
Netherfield 219-3 (Kennedy 99, Hampshire 53, Welbourne 46),
Chorley 220-7 (Catterall J 54)
Netherfield 6 points, Chorley 12 points
Fleetwood 183 (Whalley 53), Preston130-9 (Wilkinson 6-24)
Fleetwood 11 points, Preston 5 points
St Annes184-5 (A Taylor 51), Leyland Motors 102 (Thomas 5-25, Booth 4-7)
St Annes 15 points, Leyland Motors 2 points
NB Tables will follow after Bank Holiday Monday's games.
ACTION REPLAY:
THE WRIGHT WAY FOR FLEETWOOD
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Skipper John Wright led Fleetwood from the front against Preston at Broadwater on Saturday. Coming in at number five with Fleetwood wobbling a little at 74-3 in reply to Preston's 215-5, he remained until the end by which time he had made an impressive 85 not out and taken his side to a five-wicket victory at 216-5.
He had started the day by winning the toss and asking Preston to bat on a track that still had a tinge of green but, with conditions almost perfect, was probably going to benefit the batsmen more than the bowlers. Munaf Bavla and Greg Bamber opened the innings against some tidy bowling from Steve Hill and Tom Blundell and it was the former who struck first when he trapped Bavla, eight, leg before wicket when the total was 15.
Bamber, who had started slowly but who blossomed to play one or two lovely cover drives, was joined by Ian McDonnell who, like his partner peppered the cover boundary when the opportunity presented itself. They had some minor alarms such as when Michael Clinning at slip dropped a difficult chance off McDonnell when the batsman had made 38 and when Adam Shorrocks failed to get under a skied chance to square leg off Bamber when he had made 43.
The pair added 82 runs for the second wicket before McDonnell played an expansive cover drive at Blundell without ever getting into position and James Ellis behind the stumps took the catch and he was gone for a very good 44 made from 90 balls and with five fours.
That left Preston at 97-2 and, with his partner gone, Bamber seemed to struggle and only 10 runs had been added when, having been given the benefit of the doubt in similar fashion in the previous over, he was smartly stumped by Ellis off Fish for a fine 49 made from 108 balls and with four fours. This brought together Pervez Shah and professional Raouf Akbar, who had added a tinge of colour to his hair for the occasion!
Akbar survived a low chance to Ellis off Blundell when he had made only two and then he began to gain momentum as Shah at the other end pushed and prodded early in his innings. But momentum was gained and the pair put on 100 runs in just 56 minutes with Akbar hitting four sixes, two of them particularly fine straight drives, although he did survive another chance in the deep late in his innings.
The partnership ended when Shah, 37, holed out to Doug Marillier at a wide mid-wicket off the returning Hill but he displayed a poor piece of cricket when he failed to leave the crease while Akbar scampered down to the striker's end in an attempt to gain the strike. But because Shah had not moved Akbar had to return to the non-striker's end and this left Johnstone to face Hill with just five balls of the innings remaining.
Johnstone swung and missed the first, much to the exasperation of Hill he inside edged the second past the wicketkeeper for four and was bowled by the third leaving Preston at 211-5 and Akbar watching proceedings from the other end. Rhys Williams came in and did the necessary by taking a single and with Akbar making three from the final ball, Preston ended on 215-5 from their 57 overs. Hill was the most successful bowler with 3-53.
Fleetwood's reply began badly when John Hall, having cover driven the previous ball to the boundary, fell leg before wicket to Akbar for six at 15-1. Clinning joined Michael Dewhurst and he looked in good form and a cut to the boundary took him to 12 out of 28. But, in similar fashion to Hall, the following ball dismissed him when Williams bowled him.
Marillier and Dewhurst then embarked on a 46-run partnership with the professional playing two delightful straight drives for four but, when he had made 20, he went studiously forward to Manoj Parekh, a text book forward defensive stroke, but unfortunately he missed the ball that went straight on and knocked back his middle stump and that was 74-3.
Enter John Wright and he immediately showed the urgency that was necessary and began to stroke the ball around the ground and encouraged Dewhurst to keep the scoreboard moving. It was 151-3 with the final 20 overs beginning but three runs later, Dewhurst, who had completed a fine 50 from 99 balls with five fours, seemed unlucky to be adjudged leg before wicket to Akbar but out he was and that was 154-3.
Rob Clark joined his skipper and the two of them hurried things along until Clark, 17, found a ball from Akbar a little too quick for him and he was bowled at 193-5. there was just time for Adam Shorrocks to made seven not out as Wright took two balls of Bavla's first over to win the game. He had made a fine 85 not out from only 95 balls with seven fours and Fleetwood at 216-5 had won by five wickets to depose the early League leaders.
