Match Day 2nd July 2005 NO CHANGE AT THE TOP - BUT A SHUFFLE IN THE NEAREST CHALLENGERS By Gerry Wolstenholme Wins for St Annes and Netherfield left the top two unchanged but there was a shuffling of the pack underneath the leaders. Wins for Fleetwood and Darwen, a draw for Blackpool and a defeat for Barrow meant that Fleetwood leapfrogged into third place while Barrow fell off the pace as the second half of the season began on Saturday. St Annes easily defeated Lancaster at Lune Road after the home side had battled back from 16-5 to reach 116 thanks to David Heywood carrying his bat for 56 and contributions of 36 from Lee Sparkes and a valuable seven from Liam Moffatt who helped Heywood in a good partnership for the ninth wicket. Shane Harwood was in his now familiar devastating form as he took 6-19 and Michael Baer had 2-19 while there was a wicket each for Stephen Twist and Ian Austin, who then made 62 not out. Duncan Whalley's 32 was the next best score for St Annes and Harwood made 24 not out as their 123-2 gave them an eight-wicket win. Netherfield batted second at Barrow and successfully chased the home side's 182-6 to which Iain Kermode contributed a top score of 45 not out and he had most assistance from Robin Adams, 32, and Rawl Lewis, 30. There were two wickets each for the spinners, Nick White, for 50 runs, and Marc Hadwin, for 47 runs. Pierre de Bruyn, missed when he had only one, went on to make 113 not out while Craig Walmsley, missed twice early in his innings, made 35 as Netherfield won by eight wickets at 184-2. Fleetwood's Doug Watson made a superb 109 not out and Michael Clinning an equally fine 59 not out as last season's champions declared on 223-3. Chorley battled hard to avoid defeat but eventually lost by 82 runs with 20 minutes remaining as they were bowled out for 141. Jack Catterall made a fighting 44 and Mark Richardson 38 as Dave Fish took 3-24 and Andrew Clough 3-50 with his leg-spin. At West Cliff Mario Ventura made 45 not out in Preston's 164-7 but it wasn't enough to avoid defeat as Darwen won by six wickets with 167-4. Preston's other main runmakers were Ian McDonnell with 30, Lukman Vahaluwala, 28, and Paul Mann, 26, and there were two wickets each for Darwen's Andrew Mercer and Craig Chatterton. In Darwen's reply Keith Semple made 37 and Chris Lowe 24 but it was the Cordingley brothers, John and Neil, who saw Darwen home with 34 not out and 33 not out respectively. Blackpool's openers both made centuries at Stanley Park, Stephen Croft 117 and Charles Boucher 121 not out as they put on 230 for the first wicket and the home side declared on 241-1. However Leyland held on for a draw with 151-6 in 54 overs. Chris Parkinson batted all through for 55 not out and stand-in professional Gaekwad made 41 with Chris Taylor taking 2-17 and Croft 2-27 for Blackpool. Morecambe defeated Leyland Motors by five wickets as their 180-5 surpassed Motors total of 177 all out. For the latter Atif Ashraf made 44 and Peter Cummings 25 while Tommy Clough took 4-39 and Mark Orchard 3-49. Phil Dennison top scored for Morecambe with 65 and Clough completed a fine day with 49 while Iqbal Liley took all five wickets at a personal cost of 48 runs. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Barrow 182-6 (Kermode 45*), Netherfield 184-2 (de Bruyn 113*) Barrow 3 points, Netherfield 12 points Blackpool 241-1 dec (Boucher 121*, Croft 117), Leyland 151-6 (Parkinson 55*, Gaekwad 41) Blackpool 8 points, Leyland 2 points Fleetwood 223-3 dec (Watson 109*, Clinning 59*), Chorley 141 (Catterall 44) Fleetwood 15 points, Chorley 1 point Lancaster 119 (Heywood D 56*, Harwood 6-19) St Annes 123-2 (Austin 62*) Lancaster 0 points, St Annes 12 points Leyland Motors 177 (Ashraf 44, Clough 4-39), Morecambe 180-5 (Dennison 65, Clough 49) Leyland Motors 3 points, Morecambe 12 points Preston 164-7 (Ventura 45*), Darwen 167-4 Preston 2 points, Darwen 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 13 2 7 2 1 0 1 10 137 Netherfield 13 2 3 4 1 1 2 23 112* Fleetwood 13 3 1 2 0 4 3 16 93 Blackpool 13 2 1 3 3 1 3 23 92 Darwen 13 1 4 1 2 1 3 8 89 Barrow 13 1 3 1 2 3 3 15 84 Morecambe 13 1 2 3 2 3 2 20 81 Leyland 13 0 3 1 3 3 3 16 71 Chorley 13 1 0 2 4 3 3 26 63* Lancaster 13 1 2 0 0 7 3 11 62 Leyland Motors 13 1 1 1 1 7 2 22 62 Kendal 12 0 1 1 2 5 3 26 56 Preston 13 1 0 2 2 5 3 21 56* * 2 points deducted for Slow Over Rate In the Second Division the highlight of the day came at Windsor Park where Fleetwood defeated leaders Chorley who had their visitors in trouble after the top order had gone with less than 50 on the board. But then John Whalley, 135 not out, and Steve Whiteside, 107, put together a great partnership that enabled Fleetwood to finish on 287-5. Chorley made a valiant effort through Ian Oakes, 83, and A Peacock, 75, but Alex Laird's 4-22 was instrumental in them being dismissed for 233 to lose by 54 runs. Entertaining game of the day was at Fox Lane where Leyland and Blackpool played out a tie at 163 runs each. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Fleetwood 287-5 (Whalley 135*, Whiteside 107, Demming 4-79), Chorley 233 (Oakes 83, Peacock 75, Laird 4-22) Fleetwood 15 points, Chorley 4 points Preston 137 (Vinter 72*), Darwen 138-7 Preston 2 points, Darwen 12 points Leyland 163 (Brown M 65), Blackpool 163 (Reddy J 45) Leyland 10 points, Blackpool 10 points Leyland Motors 138, Morecambe 141-5 Leyland Motors 1 point, Morecambe 12 points Barrow 198 (Miller 71, Miles 57), Netherfield 193 (Hartley 58, Miller 45) Barrow 15 points, Netherfield 6 points Lancaster 37 (Palmer 4-21), St Annes 38-1 Lancaster 0 points, St Annes 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Fleetwood 13 3 4 0 1 3 2 14 116 Barrow 13 2 4 2 1 2 2 17 112 Netherfield 13 4 1 2 1 3 2 21 110 Chorley 13 2 4 1 1 2 3 14 109 Morecambe 13 1 5 2 0 3 2 18 109 St Annes 12 1 6 0 2 0 3 6 107 Darwen 13 1 5 2 1 2 1 17 105 Leyland Motors 13 0 3 2 1 6 1 20 69 Blackpool 13 2 0 2* 0 6 3 23 74 Leyland 13 2 1 1* 1 5 3 12 72 Preston 12 2 1 0 1 5 3 7 62 Kendal 12 2 0 0 1 8 1 16 51 Lancaster 13 0 0 0 1 9 2 9 18 * Includes 5 points for a Tie MATCH ACTION A HARD FOUGHT VICTORY Fleetwood 223-3 dec, Chorley 141 By Gerry Wolstenholme Fleetwood had to work hard for their 82-run victory over Chorley at Broadwater on Saturday as Chorley battled gamely to save the game after the home side had declared with a formidable 223-3 to which professional Doug Watson contributed a chanceless 109 not out. Chorley lost half their side for 84 but some late order defiance and a plucky visit to the crease at number 11 by opening batsman and captain Neil Bannister whose damaged finger was aggravated while he was in the field made Fleetwood sweat until they claimed the final wicket with three of the scheduled overs remaining but with 20 minutes still left until the eight o'clock finish. Tom Smith bowled an excellent maiden opening over to Watson but it was not long before it became obvious that the South African had set his stall out to be there at the close of the innings. He was middling the ball supremely well and looked in no difficulty against any of the Chorley bowlers. He did, however, see his side lose two early wickets as Smith bowled John Wright for seven as he played forward at 23-1 and had James Ellis leg before wicket for three at 33-2. But by then Watson had got into his stride and he was joined by the in-form Adam Sharrocks, whose running between the wickets is always a delight to behold. The pair put on 55 runs as Chorley rotated their bowlers in an attempt to break the partnership and it came about when Sharrocks, 23, edged Grav Dhar to 14-year-old wicketkeeper Josh Tolley and that was 88-3. That, however, was the end of the Chorley success as they lost skipper Bannister with his finger injury and Michael Clinning came in and played a cameo innings that included two sixes, both straight down the ground and rare scoring shots in a Clinning innings, and five fours. He had 59 not out, from only 69 balls, when the declaration came but the hero of the innings was Watson who had peppered the boundary with some delightful off-drives and had advanced to his 109 not out from 137 balls with 14 fours. Tom Smith took 2-40 but mention must be made of his opening partner, another 14-year-old in Sam Sweeney who bowled four very tidy overs in his spell. Fleetwood's 223-3 came from 47 overs. Chorley's reply began badly as Tom Blundell struck twice while the total advanced to only 13. First he had Tom Smith edging to Ellis for four, made from an exquisite cover drive, at 5-1 and then he saw Rob Clark take a magnificent reaction catch at short leg to dismiss Michael Critchley also for four, this one a fortuitous edge through the slips. Mark Richardson, 38, and Ian Mawdsley, 20, began the fightback and they put on 52 runs for the third wicket before Andrew Clough's leg spin undid them both. Ellis stumped Mawdsley as he edged forward at 65-3 and Richardson was beaten and bowled at 74-4. Ten runs later and Clough claimed his third wicket as Dhar, five, drove to short extra cover where Dave Fish dived to take the catch. Ellis completed his second stumping when he had Sweeney, one, out of his ground from the bowling of Fish and that was 89-6. Jack Catterall, who played a sterling innings of 44, and young Josh Tolley, who was tremendous and unfazed in making his 12, then looked as though they might save the game for their side as they were urged on by their team-mates from the pavilion. But two bowling changes undid them as Clinning came on and Catterall had a rush of blood and danced down the track only to miss and find himself stumped by a country mile and that was 127-7. Steve Hill then returned to the attack and at 128 Tolley's gallant effort came to an end when Ellis snared his fifth victim off an edge and with Fish trapping Andy Harty leg before wicket for nought, Chorley were on the verge of defeat at 136-9. But Bannister decided it was worth the pain to try and save the game so he went to the crease and immediately struck Fish for an effortless four through mid-off and with Chris Roe, unorthodox maybe but relatively sound at the other end, it seemed as though Chorley would earn an unlikely draw. Fish had other ideas and he got through Roe's patient defence when he had made six and with Bannister five not out, Chorley were dismissed for 141 to lose by 82 runs. There were wickets for all five bowlers, Fish had 3-24, Clough 3-50, Blundell 2-37, Hill 1-22 and Clinning completed a fine personal afternoon with 1-7 from four overs of tidy off-spin. Fleetwood captain John Wright commented, "It was an excellent victory albeit we had to work hard for our success as Chorley fought very hard. I was perhaps a trifle fortunate that my bowling changes produced wickets but I had to try something to break the Chorley resistance, with their young wicketkeeper playing particularly well. In our innings once again we can thank Doug Watson for a superb knock but let us take nothing away from Michael Clinning who did just what was required at the right time." And Clinning commented with a smile about his two sixes, "You don't see that too often!"

Click Here to send your comments.