Match Day 13th August 2005 FLEETWOOD, MORECAMBE, KENDAL CLOSE THE GAP - BUT ST ANNES LEAD IS STILL 34 POINTS By Gerry Wolstenholme Even without playing, they were the team with no game this weekend, St Annes managed to keep well ahead of the chasing pack as closest challengers Netherfield and Blackpool could not win, the former earning a draw and the latter losing. Meanwhile wins for Fleetwood, Morecambe and Kendal means that there is only 22 points between second and sixth place with Darwen only four points further behind in seventh. Netherfield need all the points they can muster if they are to put any late pressure on the leaders and failing to beat Leyland Motors on Saturday at Parkside did their cause little good. They batted first and declared on 188-9 with Craig Walmsley making a top score of 55 and Rishi Girdhari, 30, and Grahame Clarke, 23, chipping in as David Makinson took 3-28 and Peter Cummings 3-36. Motors then held on at 152-9 despite the best efforts of Nick White, 3-18, and Ryan Wilson, 3-51, as Cummings top scored with 34 as Tom Reece made 28 and Atif Ashraf 26. Morecambe had a late start as a motorway accident delayed Blackpool but the home side made up for lost time as they dismissed the visitors for a paltry 97, which took 48 overs in the making. Only veteran Robin Bracewell, 35, made any headway with Tim Barry, 19, the only other batsman to reach double figures as Gareth Peddar took 4-17, Tommy Clough 2-11 and Mark Orchard 2-22. Morecambe lost five wickets in reaching 98 with Justin Kreusch taking three of them for 43 runs and Phil Dennison, 26, Mali Maketa, 25, and Orchard, 24, making the bulk of the runs. Fleetwood had a scare against Leyland who made a brave effort to reach the home side's total of 205-6 declared but failed by just 11 runs, being bowled out for 194. Fleetwood lost early wickets before stand-in professional Mahendra Nagamootoo made 108 not out and was assisted by Andrew Clough, 26, and Steve Hill, 22 not out, as Steve Pallett took 3-73 and Adam Parker 2-43. The mainstay of Leyland's reply was Parker who made 65 and was helped by Alex Mercer, 37, and Nathan Pearson, 23. But in the end Tom Blundell, 3-15, won it for Fleetwood with the last two wickets as Clough had a good all-round day by taking 4-27. Kendal won at West Cliff where Preston made 118-8 in a reduced overs contest. Paul Mann made 47, Glenn Johnstone 10 and Lukman Vahaluwala 15 but there was little support from elsewhere as Chris Miller took 3-30 and Kabir Khan 2-24. Kendal lost five wickets in reaching 119 for victory and Ikram Ullah's 59 was the most significant contribution as Khan came next with a modest 15. Darwen were victorious at Barrow where the home side were indebted to Daryl Wearing for a splendid 78 not out that contained five sixes and seven fours. He was assisted by Tod Bamber who made 41 and Steve Glasgow who made 21 as Andrew Mercer took 4-30 and Neil Cordingley 2-45. Chris Lowe then made 55 and Keith Semple an unbeaten 64 as Darwen romped home by seven wickets at 172-3. The game between Chorley and Lancaster was washed out and both sides took four points. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Barrow 168-8 (Wearing 78*, Bamber 41, Mercer 4-30), Darwen 172-3 (Semple 64*, Lowe 55) Barrow 2 points, Darwen 12 points Chorley v Lancaster - match abandoned - both sides 4 points Fleetwood 205-6 dec (Nagamootoo 108*), Leyland 194 (Parker 65) Fleetwood 15 points, Leyland 4 points Blackpool 97 (Peddar 4-17), Morecambe 98-5 Blackpool 1 point, Morecambe 12 points Netherfield 188-9 dec (Walmsley 55), Leyland Motors 152-9 Netherfield 10 points, Leyland Motors 5 points Preston 118-8 (Mann P 47), Kendal 119-5 (Ullah 59) Preston 1 point, Kendal 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 19 3 10 3 1 1 1 18 200 Netherfield 19 2 5 7 1 2 2 41 166* Blackpool 20 3 4 3 3 4 3 31 151 Fleetwood 20 4 3 3 2 5 3 27 149 Morecambe 19 3 4 4 2 4 2 26 145 Kendal 19 4 3 1 2 6 3 30 144 Darwen 20 1 6 2 4 3 3 29 140 Barrow 20 1 5 1 2 8 3 27 120 Chorley 20 3 0 2 5 6 4 34 106* Leyland 19 1 3 1 4 7 3 28 99 Preston 19 1 1 4 2 8 3 34 84*** Leyland Motors 19 1 1 2 3 10 2 37 83 Lancaster 19 1 2 0 2 11 4 23 80 * 2 points deducted for Slow Over Rate *** two points deducted for slow over rate on two occasions, three points deducted for slow over rate once Two of the deductions Subject to appeal Three Second Division games were washed out but the three that were played all produced positive results. Morecambe defeated Blackpool in a low scoring contest, Blackpool's second eleven making just one more run than their counterparts in the first as Faruk Patel took 5-45 and Graham Lee 4-17. Gulam Maje then made 51 of Morecambe's reply of 100-3. Steve Cooper starred for Kendal as he made 94 not out from their 135-1 after he had taken 4-33 to help Andy Dugdale, 4-54, restrict Preston to 131-8. And Chorley had a comfortable win against Lancaster who made 124 only to see their opponents romp home with 125-4. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Blackpool 98 (Patel 5-45, Lee 4-17), Morecambe 100-3 (Maje 51) Blackpool 0 points, Morecambe 12 points Preston 131-8 (Cooper 4-33, Dugdale 4-54), Kendal 135-1 (Cooper 94*) Preston 0 points, Kendal 12 points Lancaster 124, Chorley 125-4 Lancaster 1 point, Chorley 12 points No play at Darwen v Barrow, Leyland v Fleetwood and Leyland Motors v Netherfield. All sides take four points. SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Netherfield 19 8 2 2 1 3 3 21 186 Barrow 20 5 4 4 1 3 3 32 184 Fleetwood 20 4 7 0 2 4 3 21 179 St Annes 19 2 9 1 2 2 3 18 174 Chorley 20 3 6 2 2 4 3 24 163 Morecambe 19 2 7 4 0 4 2 24 162 Darwen 19 1 5 2 2 6 2 29 122 Blackpool 21 2 2 3* 0 11 3 41 120 Leyland Motors 19 1 4 2 3 7 2 27 109 Preston 19 3 3 0 1 9 3 9 103 Leyland 19 2 2 1* 3 7 4 22 100 Kendal 19 3 2 0 1 12 1 21 95 Lancaster 18 0 0 0 1 14 2 18 27 * Includes 5 points for a Tie MATCH ACTION FLEETWOOD HOME - JUST! Fleetwood 205-6 dec, Leyland 194 By Gerry Wolstenholme Fleetwood had a scare or two along the way to victory over Leyland on Saturday. We have just witnessed Edgbaston 2005 when England scraped home by two runs and while the finish at Fleetwood on Saturday may not have been quite as close as the Ashes Test, it certainly had spectators on the edge of their seats. Replying to Fleetwood's 205-6 declared made in 46 overs, Leyland inched their way towards their target even after they had lost their ninth wicket at 176. In the end they fell 12 runs short of victory when Tom Blundell dramatically bowled last man Charlie Williams with 20 minutes of the game remaining and Leyland, all out for 194 had lost by 11 runs. Batting first Fleetwood were quickly in trouble and lost their first wicket at 11 when Michael Clinning pushed tentatively forward to Steve Pallett and was caught behind the wicket by Williams for seven. The second, third and fourth wickets all fell at the same total, 33, as James Ellis, dropped at slip on three, was bowled by Adam Parker for 13, young Tom Wilson, having looked good in making a most promising 12, hit a low return catch to Pallett, who then had Adam Sharrocks caught behind first ball. The hat-trick was avoided by Wayne Clarke but the fifth wicket fell 11 runs later at 44 when Pallett did get his man, leg before wicket for four but then the game ran away from Leyland due to some big hitting by stand-in West Indian professional Mehandra Nagamootoo and to some slack fielding by the visitors. Nagamootoo gave Leyland some heart early in his innings as he began unpromisingly but once settled he quickly got into his stride and smote the ball to all parts of the ground, some shots intended, others not quite so. With the reliable Andrew Clough as his partner the total raced along and the pair put on 100 in just 78 minutes before the latter was caught by Alex Mercer off Chris Parkinson for an excellent 26. Steve Hill, promoted in the batting order and relishing his new role as a batsman, put on 61 runs in just 24 minutes with Nagamootoo as the Leyland fielding wilted under the pressure. Nagamootoo reached his century and finished on 108 not out made from 111 balls with 12 fours and one powerfully struck six into an adjacent garden and Hill was on 22 not out, from 14 balls with four fours, when the declaration came at 205-6. Fleetwood struck early when Leyland replied as Tom Blundell had Parkinson caught behind by Ellis for four with the total on six and with one run added, Hill dived forward to take a return catch from James Wright who had gone for one. With the fielders all picking the batsmen's pockets, Mercer, dropped at slip when one, and Parker then put on 96 runs in 77 minutes with professional Parker doing most of the scoring but Mercer doing his job admirably by picking up the singles and rotating the strike. At 103, Parker, 65 made from 81 balls with seven fours, holed out to Dave Fish at long-on off Michael Clinning but Nathan Pearson continued the good work for Leyland and he scored a quick 23 before, the ball after escaping a caught and bowled chance, he edged Clough to Ellis and was gone at 138-4. Mercer's useful knock came to an end when he had made 37 from 122 balls with one six and three fours when he edged Fish to Ellis and it was 138-5. Chris McMahon made eight and was then leg before wicket to Clough at 149-6 and Chris Gibirdi made six before Ellis snared his fourth victim of the afternoon with a smart stumping to make it 158-7. Clough then had his second wicket in two balls when he bowled Pallett to leave Leyland struggling on 158-8. Young Paul Busby and Williams made great efforts to take Leyland closer to their goal and they put on 18 runs before Blundell returned to prove too fast for Busby in the gathering gloom at 7.30pm. Even then the drama was not over for Chris Kelly kept out the best efforts of the Fleetwood bowlers while Williams gathered a few runs to inch Leyland ever closer to victory. But when he had made 13 and it was beginning to look as though the game would go right down to the wire, Blundell produced an absolute beauty to beat Williams' forward stroke and bowl him. And that was that in near darkness at 7.45 pm as brave Leyland were bowled out for 194 to present Fleetwood with a hard-fought victory by 11 runs. Clough's fine spell of leg-spin bowling brought him 4-27 while Blundell had 3-15. A morning that had begun with torrential rain with cricket looking most unlikely ended in a bright but sometimes chilly, and latterly dark, afternoon that produced some splendid cricket that was a credit to both sides. And the spectators not only had their own version of Edgbaston re-enacted but also saw 399 runs to boot. Mahenda Nagamootoo pulls the ball to leg Fleetwood's Sub Professional Mahendra Nagamootoo poses for the camera after making 108 not out Leyland Professional Adam Parker bowls to Fleetwood's Andrew Clough 9 Fleetwood fielders surround the bat.

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