St Annes picked up 12 points on Saturday and while Netherfield did claw three back on the leaders by gaining 15 points, the title is still very much on its way to Vernon Road. A win against Preston on Monday and whatever happens anywhere else, the title is theirs. Overall, disappointingly, there were five sub-100 totals, the lowest of which was Lancaster's 42 and the best being Fleetwood's modest 71.
The game finished at 5-30pm at Vernon Road but there were thrills throughout the four hours cricket as Fleetwood were fired out for just 71 with Shane Harwood taking the best bowling figures of the season with 9-22, which gives him 89 for the season and every chance of getting the magical 100. However Fleetwood fought back magnificently and took eight St Annes' wickets as the leaders managed to battle their way to 72-8 and an eight-wicket victory. Steve Hill had 4-29 for Fleetwood.
At Parkside Road, Netherfield were the only big scorers of the day against Leyland as they knocked up 207 with Pierre de Bruyn hitting another century, this time 119, and Chris Parry making the next best score of 22. For Leyland, James Wright bowled well for 4-41 and there were two wickets each for Steve Pallett, for 65 runs, and Adam Parker, for 73 runs. Parker then made his side's top score of 22 while Chris Parkinson made 12 and Simon Dunk 11 not out as Leyland were dismissed for 66 with Ryan 'Rhino' Wilson taking 6-14.
At Kendal, Blackpool won by 73 runs, scoring 191-7 and then dismissing the home side for 118. Extras with 40 made the best contribution to the Blackpool total as Tim Barry made 35 not out, Justin Kreusch 34, Jamie Reddy 24 and Steven Croft 22. Kabir Khan, 5-97, and Kevin Howarth, 2-81, bowled unchanged for Kendal who then succumbed to Barry, 5-49, and Croft, 4-30. Khan and David Fallows were joint top scorers with 19 each and Simon Little made 18.
Leyland Motors made just 57 against Barrow where Peter Lawson took 5-19 and Atif Ashraf made a top score of 14. Barrow won by eight wickets with 58-2 with Robin Adams' 27 being the game's best effort while Dean Williams made 21 not out.
In the Morecambe versus Preston game the home side won by 77 runs as they made 168-6 and then bowled Preston out for 91.Paul Mann top scored for Preston with 29 while Gareth Peddar a half-century, Sub Pro K Shahzad 31 and Nick Milner 21 no for Morecambe.
At Darwen, Lancaster were bowled out for 42 courtesy of 6-21 from Neil Cordingley and 4-15 from Andrew Mercer who bowled unchanged for 26 overs as no Lancaster batsman reached double figures with David Heywood's eight being the best effort while Lee Sparks made seven. Darwen then lost only one wicket in making 44-1 in 10.3 overs with Dominic Heys making 31 not out.
Scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Lancaster 42 (Cordingley N 6-21, Mercer 4-15),Darwen 44-1
Lancaster 0 points, Darwen 12 points
Blackpool 191-7 (Khan 5-97), Kendal 118 (Barry 5-49, Croft 4-30)
Blackpool 15 points, Kendal 2 points
Leyland Motors 57 (Lawson 6-15), Barrow 58-2
Leyland Motors 0 points, Barrow 12 points
Morecambe 168-6 (Pedder 50), Preston 91
Morecambe 15 points, Preston 1 point
Netherfield 207 (de Bruyn 119, Wright 4-41), Leyland 66 (Wilson 6-14)
Netherfield 15 points, Leyland 3 points
Fleetwood 71 (Harwood 9-22), St Annes 72-8 (Hill 4-29)
Fleetwood 2 points, St Annes 12 points