Match Day 3rd May 2004 BLACKPOOL MAKE IT THREE OUT OF THREE AND TOP THE TABLE By Gerry Wolstenholme Blackpool's win at St Annes was somewhat easier than the club expected as St Annes failed to take advantage of first knock and managed only 159-9 from their 57 overs with Danny Hagen's 32 being the best score. Paul Danson led the way in the bowling stakes with 3-15 from 10 overs of immaculate off-spin. Blackpool reached their target with 10 overs remaining as Steven Croft, 55 not out, and Tim Barry, 44 not out, put on 99 to take the score to 160-2 and give Blackpool an eight-wicket victory. Preston pulled off an astonishing win over Leyland Motors to put themselves in second place but it did not look like that would be the case early in the home side's innings. Motors had batted first and were bowled out for just 101 with Hanif Patel, now batting at number seven, making a top score of 30 and Manoj Parekh, 4-32, and Raouf Akbar, 4-39, doing the damage. Preston then succumbed to 55-7 but Parekh, 35, and John Winter, 21 not out, put on a match-winning stand that took Preston to victory by two wickets at 102-8. The veteran Sifton Prince was Motors best bowler with 3-25. Morecambe continue their topsy-turvy season by losing to Chorley. A good opening partnership by Phil Dennison, 52, and Mark Woodhead, 46, was somewhat frittered away by the later order with Gareth Peddar's 19 and Andy Bird's 14 not out being the next best efforts in an all out total of 179. Stephen John took 5-43 for Chorley who were then led to victory by Tom Smith's 47 and Neil Senior's 41 not out as they reached 182-4. Netherfield and Lancaster played out a draw at Parkside where Gareth White made a sparkling 106 not out from 166 balls with two sixes and 11 fours. He was ably assisted by Graeme Clarke whose 71 typically contained four sixes and six fours and came from just 63 balls. The pair put on 128 for the fourth wicket but Graham Barnes came out of it all with the respectable figures of 4-54 as Netherfield closed on 250-5. Renier Munnik then continued his so far magnificent season with 62 including one six and five fours but his dismissal did at least give him an average - a stunning 352.00! Luke Phillips made 45 not out as Lancaster comfortably earned the draw at 162-4. The Leyland versus Darwen game was a short affair mainly thanks to the bowling of Keith Semple whose 6-17 helped dismiss the home side for just 62 with A Jolley's 15 being the top score. Gareth Cordingley, 31, and Gary Jackson, 27 not out, almost won it without loss but a nine-wicket first win of the season at 63-1 was just the tonic last year's champions needed. No sooner had we reported Terry Hunte's 30th Northern League century than he notches up his 31st! He made 117 and Kabir Khan 100 as Kendal made an imposing 279-5. Khan then shone with the ball as he took 4-31 as Barrow were bowled out for 149 with Dean Williams making a top score of 43. Scores in brief (home teams in bold): Kendal 279-5 (Hunte 117, Khan 100), Barrow 149 (Williams 43, Khan 4-31) Kendal 15 points, Barrow 3 points Leyland 62 (Semple 6-17), Darwen 63-1 Leyland 0 points, Darwen 12 points Morecambe 179 (Dennison 52, Woodhead 46, John 5-43), Chorley 182-4 (Smith T 47, Senior 41*) Morecambe 3 points, Chorley 12 points Netherfield 250-5 (White 106*, Clarke 76, Barnes 4-54), Lancaster 162-4 (Munnik 62, Philips 45*) Netherfield 8 points, Lancaster 5 points Leyland Motors 101 (Parekh 4-32, Akbar 4-39), Preston 102-8 Leyland Motors 3 points, Preston 12 points St Annes 159-9, Blackpool 160-2 (Croft 55*, Barry 44*) St Annes 1 point, Blackpool 12 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Blackpool 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 39 Preston 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 5 36 Morecambe 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 3 34 Netherfield 4 1 0 1 0 1 1 8 31 Lancaster 4 0 0 2* 1 0 1 16 30 Kendal 4 1 0 0 3 0 0 10 28 Fleetwood 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 5 25 St Annes 4 0 0 1* 1 1 1 13 23 Leyland Motors 4 0 0 2 0 2 0 14 22 Chorley 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 4 20 Barrow 4 0 0 1 0 2 1 12 20 Darwen 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 18 Leyland 4 0 0 0 1 2 1 7 12 * includes 5 points for a Tie. In the Second Division Barrow registered the club's first win in the competition by defeating Kendal by six wickets with I Kermode making 70 not out in their 168-4 that eclipsed Kendal's 167 all out. Congratulations to them. Best individual batting performance of the day came from Lancaster's Craig Heywood as he scored 72 out of Lancaster's 217-9 but his side could not force a win as Netherfield held on at 161-9. All-round performance of the day came from R Cupit first of all took 4-28 as Chorley were restricted to 137-9, Dave Catterall making 46, and then he scored 57 as his side made 138-5 to win by five wickets . Robin Bracewell, a one-time leading amateur in the First Division, made 91 for Blackpool but he was upstaged by an opening partnership that put St Annes in a winning position. Blackpool's 160-8 was already on the horizon when Andy Kellett was out for 61 but Sean Bickerdike, 82 not out, remained through to the close when St Annes won by nine wickets at 161-1. Second Division scores in brief (home teams in bold): Kendal 167 (Kilmer 42), Barrow 168-4 (Kermode 70*) Kendal 3 points, Barrow 12 points Blackpool 160-8 (Bracewell 91), St Annes 161-1 (Bickerdike 82*, Kellett 61) Blackpool 2 points, St Annes 12 points Chorley 137-9 (Catterall D 46, Hotham 43, Cupit 4-28), Morecambe 138-5 (Cupit 57) Chorley 2 points, Morecambe 12 points Leyland 124-7 (Wright 46), Darwen 127-5 (Painter 44) Leyland 2 points, Darwen 12 points Lancaster 217-9 (Heywood C 72, Lord 48), Netherfield 161-9 (Dennison 5-51) Lancaster 11 points, Netherfield 7 points Preston 120 (Mann A 46, Cottam 6-40), Leyland Motors 122-6 (Sibley 49, Starkie 5-19) Preston 2 points, Leyland Motors 12 points NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 4 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 46 Morecambe 4 0 2 2 0 0 0 11 43 Lancaster 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 9 29 Chorley 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 2 26 Barrow 4 0 1 0 2 0 1 8 26 Darwen 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 5 25 Leyland 4 0 0 2 0 1 1 12 24 Fleetwood 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 7 23 Leyland Motors 4 0 1 0 1 1 1 6 23 Preston 4 1 0 0 1 2 0 6 22 Netherfield 4 0 0 0 1 2 1 16 21 Blackpool 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 9 11 Kendal 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 5 9 ACTION REPLAY: DANSON LEADS FROM THE FRONT St Annes 159-9, Blackpool 160-2 By Gerry Wolstenholme Skipper Paul Danson has done a marvellous job so far this season and on Monday at Vernon Road it was easy to see how he has done it. He marshalled the Blackpool side magnificently and now has the team playing as a unit. His field setting, bowling changes and general encouragement to his players was a pleasure to watch and in addition he has found his old bowling rhythm that had deserted him at Blackpool through lack of opportunity. He completed a further 10 overs and his output already for the season exceeds probably what he has bowled in the previous three! He won the toss and put St Annes in to bat and with 18 on the board Chris Taylor took the first wicket. Adrian Darlington played a rather extravagant drive and his off stump went toppling when he had made 10. This brought in Jimmy Adams to partner Danny Hagen, promoted to open the innings in the absence of Gareth Evans. He opened strongly with three delightful cover drives but, after one close call for a quickly run single, very nearly lost his wicket when he tried another with the ball going straight to mid-off. A desperate dive and an injured leg were all he suffered in the end as he just made his ground before the throw broke the wicket. The incident seemed to affect him and he was not as fluent thereafter and when he had made 23 and the total was 68 he edged Michael Taylor through to wicketkeeper Richard Cragg. Taylor thus became the second 15-year-old to capture the former West Indies captain's wicket this season. Hagen, who had also played some very nice shots on the off-side, was the next to go when he had made 32. He stopped his shot to a ball from off-spinning substitute professional Clinton Perren from Queensland and he was caught and bowled to leave St Annes at 80-3. Joe Davies came in, made all the next nine runs, and then departed as Paul Danson bowled him and Danson struck again soon afterwards when he had Steve Twist edging a ball through to Cragg and he was gone for 12 and St Annes had lost half their side for just 98. Russ Bradley made two before Danson bowled him at 100-6 and it was left to Adam Cotton and Charles Boucher to try and rescue the innings in the face of an ebullient Blackpool attack. Cotton struck one or two mighty blows until Tim Barry bowled him for 22 at 135-7 and in the very next over Perren struck against with another caught and bowled as David Bartholomew, nought, hit a full-blooded drive straight back at him and that was 136-8. Boucher and Dave Taylor, who ended up playing a little cameo innings of 11 not out, took the total to 145 before a superb piece of fielding saw the end of Boucher. Taylor hit a fierce drive towards the covers and it looked certain for at least a couple of runs when Perren flung himself to stop the ball and in the same instant threw it to the wicketkeeper with Boucher not even close to home. He was gone for 23 and St Annes had lost their ninth wicket. Taylor and Michael Baer, two not out, survived the rest of the overs and when the innings close St Annes were a disappointing 159-9 on a track that offered much nearer 200 or even more. Danson was the main wicket-taker with 3-15 and Perren tidy off-spin earned him 2-49 but everyone chipped in what was an all-round excellent team effort. When Blackpool replied they showed what should have been done and Perren and Steve Mercer looked in little trouble as they went to 54 in even time. Adams then had Mercer, 21, caught at deep mid-on by Bartholomew who was in the action again shortly afterwards when he dropped an easy chance of Perren, then on 30, at mid-wicket. Fortunately for St Annes it was not to prove too costly for when the professional had made 33 another stunning piece of cricket saw his dismissal. He went to drive Adams got an edge that flew awkwardly high to slip where Bradley performed acrobatics to take a sensational catch and that was 61-2. It was also the end of any success for St Annes for Steven Croft continued his fine form with the bat and with Barry he took Blackpool to a comfortable victory with 10 overs to spare. When Blackpool jubilantly arrived at 160-2 and their eight-wicket win, Croft was 55 not out made from 91 balls with six fours and Barry was 44 not out made from 93 balls with one six and five fours and the pair had put on 99 in 95 minutes. Adams was St Annes' only wicket taker with 2-36, for the other six bowlers tried it was an afternoon of toil particularly as the batsmen had left them little to bowl at on a friendly track. Blackpool skipper Paul Danson said of the victory, "It was a great win. The professional bowled well and when he and I were in tandem the scoring slowed right down and to restrict them to 159-9 was a job well done by the boys. Then our batsmen all performed well with Croftie in particularly good form so the win was very enjoyable." Of the team effort so far he commented, "It has been a great start to the season and I think we have as many wins now as we did all last season! They are a great bunch of lads to captain. They are hungry and want to win and so far it is three out of three." And young Michael Taylor, who is also on Blackpool Football Club's books, said of his part in the team, "I am perhaps surprised to be in but am delighted to be selected for such a side for they are one of the big clubs. And it was a bonus today to get the wicket of Jimmy Adams."

Click Here to send your comments.