Match Day 29th May 2004
THE MORECAMBE BANDWAGON ROLLS ON
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Five points may not be an earth shattering margin but the gap of that size that Morecambe have opened up at the top of the First Division is riches indeed in this season when the leaders have been so closely grouped together up to now. Preston stay in second place by dint of victory over previously unbeaten Blackpool, who drop to fourth place, and Netherfield are third with a convincing win over Barrow.
Morecambe were comfortable victors at Shap Road where they restricted Kendal to 163-7 from their 57 overs with Simon Little making a top score of 37. In reply Morecambe lost two early wickets but then Phil Dennison, 45 not out, and Phil Thornton, 78 not out from 72 balls with four sixes and seven fours, saw them stroll to victory.
Preston inflicted the first defeat of the season on Blackpool at West Cliff. A 49-minute rain break reduced Preston's overs to 50 but they made the most of them, making 207-7 with the classy Ian McDonnell top scoring with 61 and Munaf Bavla making 51 while Tim Barry took 5-49 for Blackpool. The Blackpool reply began well enough with Steven Croft making 57 and Justin Kreusch 64 so that at one point they were well-placed at 137-3. But Raouf Akbar had other ideas and the last seven wickets went down for 29 runs as Blackpool collapsed to 166 all out with Akbar returning 7-68.
Netherfield made short shrift of Barrow who were dismissed for only 86, Paul Wilcock making a top score of 21 and Rawl Lewis, 19, and Dean Williams, 12, the only other batsmen to reach double figures. Dale Benkenstein took 4-18 and there were two wickets each for Scott Clement and Stuart Nixon before Netherfield strolled to a seven-wicket victory at 89-3.
It was a similar story at Broadwater where the game was over by 5-30pm. Leyland's professional Moin ul Atiq made 59 but only extras, with 11, of the rest reached double figures as the impressive Tom Blundell took his best yet 6-28. John Whalley's 45 not out was the main contribution to Fleetwood's seven-wicket win at 99-3.
Chorley kept the pressure on the leaders as they defeated Lancaster by seven wickets at Lune Road. The home side made 218-9 with contributions all round so that Luke Phillips' 35 was the top score with David Heywood making 33, Steve Johnstone 31 and Lee Sparks 29. Stephen John bowled well to take 6-62. Chorley's Tom Smith then continued his good form as he made 75 and with Nigel Heaton contributing 66 not out and Nick Woods 52, Chorley coasted to victory at 221-3.
Finally in a somewhat bizarre game at Vernon Road St Annes and Darwen drew after the visitors had made just 151-8 from their 57 overs with making Neil Cordingley 41 and Jeff Hacking making a late onslaught on the bowling to make 36 not out. And St Annes had 57 overs in reply but they could manage only 123-7 to fall 29 runs short of victory as Jimmy Adams, a painful 37, made the top score.
Results in brief (home side in bold:
Barrow 86 (Benkenstein 4-18), Netherfield 89-3
Barrow 1 point, Netherfield 12 points
Leyland 98 (Moin ul Atiq 59, Blundell 6-28), Fleetwood 99-3 (Whalley 45*)
Leyland 1 point, Fleetwood 12 points
Kendal 163-7, Morecambe 166-2 (Thornton 78*, Denison 45*)
Kendal 2 points, Morecambe 12 points
Lancaster 218-9 (John 6-62), Chorley 221-3 (Smith T 75, Heaton 66*, Woods 52)
Lancaster 4 points, Chorley 12 points
Preston 207-7 (McDonnell 61, Bavla 51, Barry 5-49),
Blackpool 166 (Kreusch 64, Croft 57, Akbar 7-68)
Preston 15 points, Blackpool 5 points
Darwen 151-8 (Cordingley N 41), St Annes 123-7
Darwen 8 points, St Annes 4 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
8 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
80 |
| Preston |
8 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
75 |
| Netherfield |
8 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
19 |
74 |
| Blackpool |
7 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
72 |
| Chorley |
7 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
66 |
| Fleetwood |
7 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
14 |
62 |
| Darwen |
7 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
56 |
| Kendal |
7 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
13 |
46 |
| St Annes |
8 |
0 |
0 |
1* |
3 |
2 |
2 |
26 |
42 |
| Lancaster |
7 |
0 |
0 |
2* |
2 |
2 |
1 |
26 |
41 |
| Barrow |
8 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
23 |
35 |
| Leyland Motors |
7 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
18 |
30 |
| Leyland |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
14 |
19 |
* includes 5 point for a tie
In the Second Division leaders Chorley won by seven wickets thanks to 4-37 from the evergreen Dave Catterall and 70 from Ian Oakes as Lancaster's 121 all out was overhauled at 123-3. Gulam Maje kept up his runscoring for Morecambe with 46 and with Nick Milner also continuing his good form with 54 not out, Kendal's 160, Paul Dowker 58, R Cupit 5-44, was easy meat as Morecambe won by seven wickets at 162-3.
Barrow's Iain Kermode was the day's top scorer with 75 out of Barrow's 162-6 but his side had to settle for a draw against Netherfield's 180-9. Best bowling figures of the day came from Blackpool's Andy Armstrong who took 5-35 as Preston were routed for 103 with Robin Bracewell also among the wickets with 4-15. Blackpool won comfortably by eight wickets at 104-2.
Second Division Results in Brief (home sides in bold):
Preston 103 (Smith 47, Armstrong 5-35, Bracewell 4-15), Blackpool 104-2
Preston 0 points, Blackpool 12 points
Lancaster 121 (Catterall D 3-37), Chorley 123-3 (Oakes 70)
Lancaster 1 point, Chorley 12 points
Darwen 169-8 (Emery 67, Heys 59, Bartholomew 4-31), St Annes 148-7
Darwen 9 points, St Annes 5 points
Leyland 123 (Brown 50), Fleetwood 125-5 (Edwards 4-53)
Leyland 2 points, Fleetwood 12 points
Kendal 160 (Dowker 58, Cupit 5-44), Morecambe 162-3 (Milner 54*, Maje 46)
Kendal 3 points, Morecambe 12 points
Netherfield 180-9 (B Haddrick 53), Barrow 162-6 (Kermode 73, C Adams 51*)
Netherfield 9 points, Barrow 7 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Chorley |
7 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
80 |
| Morecambe |
8 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
79 |
| St Annes |
8 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
77 |
| Darwen |
7 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
64 |
| Barrow |
8 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
29 |
60 |
| Blackpool |
7 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
51 |
| Fleetwood |
7 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
17 |
50 |
| Netherfield |
8 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
28 |
50 |
| Lancaster |
7 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
17 |
38 |
| Leyland |
7 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
23 |
36 |
| Preston |
8 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
14 |
35 |
| Leyland Motors |
7 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
15 |
33 |
| Kendal |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
15 |
20 |
ACTION REPLAY:
THE MOST UNLIKELY RESULT
Darwen 151-8, St Annes 123-7
By Gerry Wolstenholme
After the end of one innings, the least likely result in this game at Vernon Road was a draw for Darwen had made only a modest 151-8 in their 57 overs. And with St Annes to receive 57 overs in return, it looked odds on a victory for one side or the other with the odds probably slightly favouring St Annes as the track was not particularly bowler-helpful and the home side did have the assistance of former West Indian captain Jimmy Adams. However, much to the astonishment of the majority of spectators on the ground, the game ended in a rather tame draw with St Annes managing only 123-7 as time was called.
Batting first Darwen were soon in trouble and before too long they had lost half the side for a meagre 46 runs. Stuart Grant started well and he had seven of the first 10 runs on the board before he was leg before wicket to a jubilant Joe Davies and without a run added his partner Gary Jackson, two, was caught at slip by Steve Twist off Richard Thomas who was starting a splendid spell of seam bowling that eventually produced 2-32 from 17 overs. The Darwen big guns, Keith Semple and Gareth Cordingley then took the total to 28 with the latter playing two especially fine cover drives to the boundary. But they were both out in the space of four runs as Davies produced a beauty to bowl Semple for seven at 28-3 and Russ Bradley, thankfully restored to first team action, picked up a slip catch to dismiss Gareth Cordingley for 13 at 32-4.
The other two Cordingleys, Neil and John, then advanced the total to 46 before Neil sent back John and Jimmy Adams produced his best bit of cricket of the day in stopping the ball at extra cover and throwing down the stumps with John Cordingley's bat tantalising poised in mid-air over the popping crease. He was gone for three and that was 46-5.
Neil Cordingley found a staunch ally in skipper Chris Lowe and the pair put on 30 runs with the former doing much of the scoring. But at 76 Michael Baer bowled Lowe for nine. Jeff Hacking, no mean batsman, then mixed watchful defiance with the occasional big shot and he and Neil Cordingley took the total to 96 before the latter, with a collection just around the corner, paddled, rather than struck, Baer round to square leg where Charlie Boucher took the catch. Neil Cordingley made 41 with four fours and one six.
Hacking and Andrew Mercer then put together the best partnership of the innings as they added 35 runs before Adams bowled Mercer, 17, at 131-8. There was just time for Michael Horsfield to make five not out and for Hacking to straight drive the final ball of the innings for six to take him to 36 not out so that Darwen closed on 151-8, a total well short of expectations but in the light of the early disasters one that was reasonably acceptable. There were two wickets each for Davies, Thomas and Baer and Adams had 1-34 from 11 overs.
The St Annes reply got off on as equally disastrous terms as Darwen's innings. Semple knocked back Boucher's off stump when he had made two and the total was six and Hacking, falling at slip, juggled a low catch to dismiss Twist for six at 12-2. Adams, watchful but not dominant, and Davies then consolidated with Davies looking the more likely to push the score along. He had reached 15 when he flicked Hacking to square leg where John Cordingley safely held the catch and that was 43-3.
Adam Cotton joined Adams and once again it was the amateur who took the lead and as the pair added 33 runs, Cotton scored 22 of them before Parkinson held a catch behind the stumps off Neil Cordingley and it was 76-4. With Russ Bradley joining the professional, St Annes were 79-4 at the drinks break and with 20 overs remaining they therefore required a comfortable 73 for victory. It seemed all over, particularly with Adams at the crease.
The total mounted slowly to 96 but then a misunderstanding between the batsmen had Bradley scurrying back to the bowler's end but Neil Cordingley fine pick up and throw from square on at mid-on ran out the batsman for seven. At this point there was some panic among spectators that the victory target might not be reached but then the comfort of Adams at the crease allayed any fears. But, batting perhaps as though it was a five-day Test match, he did not accelerate and at 105 disaster struck for St Annes.
Semple had returned to slow down the runs scoring, although Hacking's 10 over spell that brought him five maidens and figures of 1-5 had already done that, and he had Adams cutting to point where Stuart Grant picked up the catch. That was 105-6 with Adams making 37 in two hours and 31 minutes from 122 balls with four fours. It spelt the end of the St Annes charge for victory as the other batsmen were unable to pick up the tempo, something that would more than likely have happened had Adams remained at the crease.
The pressure was well and truly on Duncan Whalley and Aidan Cotton and with Darwen crowding the batsmen they found it difficult to score. Semple bowled Whalley for nine at 116-7 but that was the end of the wickets despite three slips, silly mid-on, silly mid-off and short extra cover. Aidan Cotton, 11 not out, and Richard Thomas, nought not out, held on to the end as St Annes, almost unbelievably, ended on 123-7 and picked up four points for a most unlikely draw
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