Match Day 20th August 2005 MATHEMATICALLY POSSIBLE, BUT UNLIKELY - THAT ST ANNES ARE CAUGHT By Gerry Wolstenholme While St Annes notched their 14th victory of the season, Netherfield could only draw with Preston so the leaders increased their lead to 40 points over their nearest challengers. Kendal were the biggest movers of the week, going from sixth place to third by dint of their comfortable 121-run victory over professional-less Fleetwood. All this means is that while mathematically St Annes could be caught, it is highly unlikely as they would need disasters of major proportions to allow any other side to overhaul them. But until they cannot be caught, the title is arguably still up for grabs. St Annes did not have one of their best batting days at Barrow where they made a modest 166 with Adrian Darlington top scoring with 43, Stephen Twist making 31 and Duncan Whalley 24 while Peter Lawson took 4-60 and Rawl Lewis 4-64. But then they bowled the home side out for 121 to win by 45 runs with Shane Harwood once again impressing with 7-45 including a hat-trick, which needed no help from the field. He trapped Lewis leg before wicket, bowled Daryl Wearing and then had Dean Williams leg before wicket to complete his first NPL hat-trick. For Barrow Ian Allington was the only significant scorer with 41 and then came Lewis, 24, and Ray Mowat, who also took 2-2 when St Annes batted, 14. Twist had the other Barrow three wickets at a cost of 54 runs. Netherfield were involved in the closest finish of the day as they batted first and made 224-5 before declaring with skipper Tommy Prime going to his 50 not out with a six off the final ball. Pierre de Bruyn made 42, Grahame Clarke 39 and Craig Walmsley 37. Preston made a noble effort to win and, needing 11 from the final over, fell only six runs short of victory at 219-8 by which time Netherfield had fielders posted round the boundary to preserve the draw. Mario Ventura made a top score of 85 and he was aided by Yashin Patel and Lukman Vahaluwala who made 34 and 29 respectively as Marc Hadwin took 4-57 for Netherfield. Kendal mowed down Fleetwood with ease at Shap Road and the win was made all the more easy as the visitors had been unable to secure a professional so played with 11 amateurs. Kendal made 217-6 declared with Terry Hunte getting his customary century, 100, against Fleetwood and then Kabir Khan produced the season's second best bowling figures by taking 8-37 as Fleetwood were bowled out for just 96. James Ellis and Andrew Clough were the only batsmen who showed much resistance and both made 25 but the 15 extras were the only other significant contribution. Stuart Parkin took the other two wickets at a cost of 30 runs, while Simon Little made 38 and Michael Raikes and Kevin Howarth both made 25 in the Kendal innings. Morecambe made 228 against Chorley with Mark Orchard making 117 and Phil Dennison 58 as the Smith brothers both took three wickets, Tom 3-37 and Billy 3-25. Skipper Michael Critchley then led Chorley's resistance with 83 and he ensured that his side closed with a draw on 163-7 as Tom Smith made 32 and Orchard took 3-35. Lancaster scored 190 against Leyland but then could not get rid of Leyland's last pair who held out for a draw at 142-9. David Heywood made the top score for Lancaster with 93 and Luke Phillips contributed 31 as Adam Parker took 4-29 and Steve Pallett 3-61. No-one contributed much to the Leyland cause with the 27 extras being the top individual effort as Alex Mercer and Chris Parkinson both made 17 as Lancaster's substitute professional P Patel took 6-45. Finally Darwen defeated Leyland Motors, comfortably overhauling their 166-9 with 168-4. Details are sparse but James Aspinwall made 58 for Motors and Stuart Grant replied with 43 for Darwen. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): St Annes 166 (Darlington 41), Lawson 4-60, Lewis 4-6, Barrow121 (Allington 41, Harwood 7-45) St Annes 15 points, Barrow 3 points Morecambe 228 (Orchard 117, Dennison 58), Chorley 163-7 (Critchley 83) Morecambe 9 points, Chorley 6 points Kendal 217-6 dec (Hunte 100), Fleetwood 96 (Khan 8-37) Kendal 15 points, Fleetwood 1 point Lancaster 190 (Heywood D 93, Parker 4-29), Leyland 142-9 (Patel 6-45) Lancaster 10 points, Leyland 5 points Leyland Motors 166-9 (Aspinwall 58), Darwen 168-4 (Grant 43) Leyland Motors 2 points, Darwen 12 points Netherfield 224-5 (Prime 50*, de Bruyn 42, Preston 219-8 (Ventura 85, Hadwin 4-57) Netherfield 9 points, Preston 5 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 20 4 10 3 1 1 1 18 215 Netherfield 20 2 5 8 1 2 2 46 175* Kendal 20 5 3 1 2 6 3 30 159 Morecambe 20 3 4 5 2 4 2 31 154 Darwen 21 1 7 2 4 3 3 29 152 Blackpool 20 3 4 3 3 4 3 31 151 Fleetwood 21 4 3 3 2 6 3 28 150 Barrow 21 1 5 1 2 9 3 30 123 Chorley 21 3 0 2 6 6 4 39 112* Leyland 20 1 3 1 5 7 3 32 104 Lancaster 20 1 2 1 2 11 4 29 90 Preston 20 1 1 4 3 8 3 38 89*** Leyland Motors 20 1 1 2 3 11 2 39 85 * 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 Best individual batting performance of the week in Division Two came from St Annes' John Ashworth who fell just seven short of a century as his side racked up 211 before bowling Barrow out for 143 for a 68-run victory. Two all-round performances came from Faruk Patel at Morecambe and Craig Atkinson of Lancaster. The former made 72 out of his side's 244-8 and then took 4-68 as Chorley were bowled out for 201 to lose by 43 runs. And Atkinson made 75 not out as Lancaster totalled 177-8 but then his 4-26 could not earn his side a victory as Leyland held on with 142-9, ironically the same total as their seniors made. Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold): Leyland Motors 128, Darwen 131-3 (Heys 43) Leyland Motors 0 points, Darwen 12 points Fleetwood 176-7 dec (Singleton 60*), Kendal 81 (Whiteside 5-16) Fleetwood 15 points, Kendal 2 points Lancaster 177-8 (Atkinson 75*, Brown, Mick 4-43), Leyland 142-9 (Atkinson 4-26, Masterman 4-39) Lancaster 9 points, Leyland 4 points Morecambe 244-8 (Patel 72), Chorley 201 (Holdsworth 41, Patel 4-68) Morecambe 15 points, Chorley 5 points Netherfield 217-7 dec (Goldstein 59, Boyd 50), Preston 162 (Hopkin 78, Hartley 5-51) Netherfield 15 points, Preston 4 points St Annes 211 (Ashworth 93, Taylor 48, Miles 4-57), Barrow 143 (Lightfoot 58) St Annes 15 points, Barrow 4 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Netherfield 20 9 2 2 1 3 3 21 201 Fleetwood 21 5 7 0 2 4 3 21 194 St Annes 20 3 9 1 2 2 3 18 189 Barrow 21 5 4 4 1 4 3 36 188 Morecambe 20 3 7 4 0 4 2 24 177 Chorley 21 3 6 2 2 5 3 29 168 Darwen 20 1 6 2 2 6 2 29 134 Blackpool 21 2 2 3* 0 11 3 41 120 Leyland Motors 20 1 4 2 3 8 2 27 109 Preston 20 3 3 0 1 9 3 13 107 Leyland 20 2 2 1* 4 7 4 25 104 Kendal 20 3 2 0 1 13 1 23 97 Lancaster 20 0 0 1 1 16 2 23 36 * Includes 5 points for a Tie MATCH ACTION HUNTE THE MASTER Kendal 217-6 dec, Fleetwood 96 By Gerry Wolstenholme Dave Fish tossed up with Kabir Khan as John Wright, leaving late due to workcommitments, was still on his way and when the skipper arrived just before the start he found that his side had won the toss and had asked Kendal to bat. Ultimately the decision turned out to be not a good one as the home side, spurred on by the ebullient Terry Hunte, made 217-5 before declaring in the 50th over. Fleetwood then lasted only 26.5 overs as Kabir Khan ran riot and took the season's second best bowling figures of 8-37 as Fleetwood, without the assistance of a professional, managed only 96. Twenty-four runs were on the board when Ikram Ullah was the first Kendal batsman dismissed as Steve Hill trapped him leg before wicket for 16. Simon Little and Hunte then put on 51 for the second wicket against a rather tired looking Fleetwood attack, once Hill had been removed from the firing line after 10 overs that brought him 1-22. Little was the second man to go at 75 when he tried to cut Andrew Clough, got a bottom edge and was caught behind by the alert James Ellis for 38, made from 63 balls with five fours. And when Dave Fish bowled 'Tony' Yasin for four it was 86-3. Khan made five before he drove Clough straight to Wright at extra cover and that was 95-4 and in came youngster Michael Raikes. He gave Hunte superb support and played one or two delightful drives of his own as the master stepped up the pace and plundered runs from the Fleetwood bowling, going to his half-century in the grand manner, pulling a six over square leg. The pair put on 72 runs in 45 minutes before Fish had the promising Raikes leg before wicket for a very good 25. It is not a bad batting line-up that then has Kevin Howarth coming in at number seven and he started ferociously with 10 runs from the first five balls he received and he and Hunte carried on the run chase and put on 50 runs very quickly, the 50th of which brought up Hunte's century made from 110 balls with two sixes and 10 fours. The next ball he holed out to Chris Stanhope at long-off from the bowling of Clough who finished with 3-56 and with Howarth 25 not out made from only 18 balls with three fours, Kendal declared at 217-6 from 49.5 overs. Fish had 2-96 from 19 overs. When Fleetwood replied Wright took a couple from Khan who promptly bowled him to leave Fleetwood on 2-1. Young Tom Wilson made eight and had played Khan with increasing confidence when he tried to pull a ball that was too quickly on him and he only succeeded in skying a catch to Yasin at forward short leg and the ball went so high that the batsmen crossed before the catch was taken. And that was 14-2, the writing was on the wall for Fleetwood. Ellis showed some sound defence, mixed with the occasional attacking stroke off some very tight bowling, and Adam Sharrocks stayed for 36 minutes before he received an unplayable ball from Khan. It pitched on leg stump and as Sharrocks, five, went studiously forward it swung past his forward prod and knocked back the off stump and that was 38-3. Without a run added Michael Clinning edged Khan to Damian Gudgeon behind the stumps before Stuart Parkin broke the Khan bowling dominance by having Stanhope caught by Raikes as the batsman pushed loosely, and very gently, to silly mid-off. He had gone for one and it was 49-5. Ellis' defiance ended at 52 when, after making 25 from 54 balls with three fours, Dave Fallows at slip took a stupendous catch off his toes from the bowling off Parkin. Steve Hill made eight and helped Clough take the total to 73 before he became the first of the last four batsmen to be bowled by Khan, who yorked Tom Blundell first ball off the last ball of the over. The hat-trick was avoided but it was only a temporary reprieve as Khan bowled Joe Bell for seven and then Dave Fish, with an off break, before he had scored, all of which left Clough high and dry with 25 made from 26 balls with four fours and Fleetwood 96 all out having lost by 121 runs. David Fish of Fleetwood(standing in for John Wright) and Kendal Captain Kabir Khan at the Toss Up. Terry Hunte of Kendal on the attack against the Fleetwood bowling. Fleetwood opening bowler Tom Blundell attempts to make inroads to the Kendal innings Terry Hunte received the applause on his return to the pavillion after making 100 Fleetwood's James Ellis flicks the ball to leg James Ellis make an immaculate forward defensive stroke. Kendal's Kabir Khan leaving the field after destroying the Fleetwood innings taking 8-37

Click Here to send your comments.