Match Day 10th September 2005 HARWOOD'S HUNDRED! By Gerry Wolstenholme Congratulations to Shane Harwood whose three wickets on Saturday gave him exactly 100 for the season and he is only the second man after Colin Hilton of Morecambe in 1968 to take the magical 100 wickets. Harwood's side had won the title the previous week but they had the trophy presented at Chorley after they had completed their 18th victory of the season. Netherfield held onto second place, Blackpool to third and Darwen defeated and overtook Morecambe to finish fourth. At Chorley, Harwood took the three wickets of Mark Richardson, Michael Critchley and Craig Millward to complete his century and then, suffering a slight injury, he retired from the attack with 3-22 to allow the others finish off the innings. Michael Baer took 3-3 as only Ghurav Dhar with 12 and Paul Greenwood with 10 reached double figures in Chorley's 60 all out. Fittingly Harwood scored the winning runs as he made 28 not out from St Annes' reply of 64-2 with Billy Smith taking both wickets at a cost of 24 runs. Second-placed Netherfield held onto the position despite taking no points from a lack-lustre performance at Stanley Park where Blackpool bowled them out for 111 and then scored 112-4 to win by six wickets. Grahame Clarke's 33 was the top score for the Cumbrians as Steven Croft took 4-33 and Michael Taylor 3-8. Croft then made 31 before Steve Mercer, 23 not out, and Robin Bracewell, 20 not out, took Blackpool to victory and assured them of third place. Four wickets each for Andrew Mercer, for 19 runs, and Neil Cordingley, for 35 runs, saw Darwen bowl Morecambe out for just 115 as skipper Phil Dennison top scored with 29 and Reg Cupit made 20. Keith Semple then made 59 not out and Neil Cordingley 28 not out as Darwen romped home by six wickets with 118-4. Kendal made only 132 against Leyland but it was enough to see them win by 17 runs as Leyland were dismissed for 115 courtesy of a 6-34 return from Kabir Khan plus 2-25 from Stuart Parkin and a 50th wicket of the season for Kevin Howarth who took 1-29. Paul Busby top scored for Leyland with 32 while Ian Farrington made 25 and there were 23 extras. Simon Little's 54 was Kendal's best effort but then only Tony Yasin with 37 and Oliver Killiner with 11 reached double figures as Steve Pallett took 4-38 and Adam Parker 2-30. Preston were the day's top scorers with 208-7 to which Lukman Vahaluwala contributed 42, Mario Ventura 39, Richard Dixon 30, Ian McDonnell 27 and Paul Mann 25 while there were two wickets each for Peter Lawson, Rawl Lewis and Din Bandara. Signing-off in style, Ventura, 5-31, and Yasin Patel, 4-33, then bowled Barrow out for 129 to give their side a comprehensive 79-run victory. Robin Adams made 35 and Ian Allington 17 for Barrow who suffered their 10th defeat of the season while Preston lifted themselves from the last spot. Leyland Motors won for the fourth time this season as they defeated Lancaster by four wickets after the latter had been restricted to 141-9 with Jamie Heywood making 56 and David Heywood 31 while Peter Cummings took 4-55 and David Makinson 4-23. Atif Ashraf then finished the season in style as he made 55 not out with Alan Richardson making 27 not out and James Aspinwall 21 in Motors' reply of 142-6. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Netherfield 111 (Croft 4-33), Blackpool 112-4 Netherfield 0 points, Blackpool 12 points Chorley 60, St Annes 64-2 Chorley 0 points, St Annes 12 points Kendal 132 (Little 54, Pallett 4-38), Leyland 115 (Khan 6-34) Kendal 15 points, Leyland 3 points Lancaster 141-9 (Heywood, J 56, Makinson, D 4-23, Cummings 4-55, Leyland Motors 142-6 (Ashraf 55*) Lancaster 2 points, Leyland Motors 12 points Morecambe 115 (Mercer 4-19, Cordingley, N 4-35), Darwen 118-4 (Semple 59*) Morecambe 0 points, Darwen 12 points Preston 208-7 (Vahaluwala 42), Barrow 129 (Ventura 5-31, Patel 4-33) Preston 15 points, Barrow 2 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 24 4 14 3 1 1 1 18 263 Netherfield 24 3 6 8 1 4 2 50 206* Blackpool 24 5 6 3 3 4 3 31 205 Darwen 24 2 9 2 4 3 3 29 191 Kendal 24 6 4 1 2 8 3 35 191 Morecambe 24 4 5 5 3 5 2 33 184 Fleetwood 24 4 4 3 2 8 3 33 167 Barrow 24 1 6 2 2 10 3 36 145 Chorley 24 3 1 2 6 8 4 39 124* Leyland Motors 24 2 2 2 3 13 2 43 116 Leyland 24 1 3 1 5 11 3 40 112 Preston 24 2 1 4 3 9 3 42 108*** Lancaster 24 1 2 1 2 15 4 34 95 * 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 St Annes who clinched the Second Division title last week thus completing a notable double for the club gained their 16th victory of the season over Chorley to finish with an 18-point lead over second placed Netherfield who won their final match of the season by seven wickets against Blackpool. Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold): Preston 100 (Mullin 7-21), Barrow 101-2 (Hughes 54*) Preston 0 points, Barrow 12 points Morecambe 207-8 (Whincup 65, Maje 41, Cooper 4-57), Darwen 120-7 (Painter 40) Morecambe 9 points, Darwen 3 points Lancaster 76, Leyland Motors 77-4 Lancaster 0 points, Leyland Motors 12 points Kendal 157-8 (Brooks 71, Bethell 4-48), Leyland 86-6 (Potts 5-27) Kendal 6 points, Leyland 3 points Blackpool 104 (White 4-24), Netherfield 105-3 (Dugdale 43) Blackpool 0 points, Netherfield 12 points St Annes 186-9 (Bickerdike 49, Lee 4-29), Chorley 85 St Annes 15 points, Chorley 3 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 24 6 10 1 2 2 3 18 246 Netherfield 24 10 3 2 1 5 3 21 228 Morecambe 24 4 8 6 0 4 2 34 222 Barrow 24 5 5 4 1 6 3 41 205 Fleetwood 24 5 7 0 3 6 3 29 203 Chorley 24 3 7 2 2 7 3 33 184 Darwen 24 1 8 3 3 6 2 35 169 Leyland Motors 24 2 7 2 3 8 2 27 160 Blackpool 24 3 2 4* 0 12 3 44 142 Kendal 24 3 4 1 2 13 1 25 126** Leyland 24 2 2 1* 5 10 4 35 115 Preston 24 3 3 0 1 13 3 19 113 Lancaster 24 0 0 1 2 19 2 25 39 * Includes 5 points for a Tie ** 2 points deducted for Slow Over Rate MATCH ACTION BLACKPOOL WIN IN LOW-KEY FINISH TO THE SEASON Netherfield 111, Blackpool 112-4 By Gerry Wolstenholme It was such a low-key finish to the season at Stanley Park that spectators were more interested in repeatedly reporting that Newcastle United were losing 1-0 than following the progress of the game between second-placed Netherfield and third-placed Blackpool. However, that was only to be expected as the poor fare that was on offer on the field was hardly riveting and the visitors from Yorkshire who attended could be forgiven for not realising that they were watching two of the top three teams in the League. The first surprise was that on winning the toss Blackpool's Paul Danson, with his side needing a maximum 15 points to overtake Netherfield in second place, chose to field first and thus guarantee the Cumbrians their second place finish. Admittedly it would have been a tall ask to restrict Netherfield to no bonus points but many spectators were left wondering about the decision. Netherfield then played as though knowing that they were safe as runners-up and capitulated for 111 after at one time being 100-4. Blackpool then reached 67-1 before a slight wobble put them temporarily on the back foot at 67-4 but Steve Mercer and Robin Bracewell came together and played their side out of trouble and took them to what turned out to be an easy victory. Netherfield had already had one alarm by the time they reached 17 as Craig Walmsley had been given a life by Robin Bracewell at silly mid-off when he had made four. But 'Worm' profited only to the tune of five further runs for when he had made nine he fired a straight drive back down the track and with spectators looking for the ball at the boundary, Justin Kreusch took a stunning one-handed return catch. Gareth White made 10 before he was adjudged caught at slip by Kreusch off Tim Barry from a ball that appeared to strike his pad then the wicketkeeper's gloves before finding the safe hands of the Blackpool professional and that was 34-2. Meanwhile Pierre de Bruyn was looking ominously good but, having made 29 from 64 balls with five fours, two of them his trademark slash through the covers, he got an inside edge to Chris Taylor and was bowled at 51-3. Chris Parry had eight to his name when Kreusch took his third catch this time off the bowling of Steven Croft and that was 65-4. The end was in sight when Grahame Clarke, a pugnacious 33 from only 32 balls with five powerfully struck fours, played Michael Taylor to mid-off where Bracewell stooped low to take a good catch and that was 100-5. Croft then had young Alex Hampshire leg before wicket before he had scored at 103-6 and then one run later accounted for Marc Hadwin for a duck as he drove to Steve Mercer at mid-off, Mercer taking the catch sitting down as the ball died on him at the last minute. Tommy Prime stuck around for 34 balls for his 13 but then Michael Taylor had him caught behind by David Baker and that was 110-8. Croft then wrapped things up by bowling Stuart Nixon and Ryan Wilson both for nought and this left Scott Clement four not out and Netherfield all our for a paltry, and uninspiring, 111. All five Blackpool bowlers took wickets with Croft leading the way with 4-33 while Michael Taylor had an excellent 3-8 from five overs, Kreusch had 1-16, Chris Taylor 1-21 and Barry 1-32. Blackpool sent Kreusch in first in an effort for him to reach 1,000 League runs for the season but when he had made 13 of the 60 or so he required he edged Clement to wicketkeeper for the day de Bruyn and Blackpool were 20-1. Jamie Reddy, 21, and Croft, 31 from 56 balls with five fours, then took Blackpool to 67 before three wickets were lost. Croft drove Wilson to Hampshire at extra cover, Reddy was run out when called for a quick single by Barry, who then fell to a catch at the wicket by de Bruyn off Hadwin before he had scored. Netherfield briefly stepped up their game but Bracewell, 20 not out, and Mercer, 23 not out and with a cut for two for the winning runs, saw Blackpool safely home by six wickets at 112-4. Explaining his decision later Blackpool captain Paul Danson said, "I felt it was unlikely that we would prevent Netherfield getting any bonus points if we batted first so I gambled on a win batting second that would confirm our third place finish. Fortunately it all worked out and we are now in the Lancashire Cup for next season." Blackpool on the attack Marc Hadwin fo Netherfield Scott Clement and Craig Walmsley (right) of Netherfield St Annes Double Champions St Annes 2nd XI leave the field as Champions after bowling out Chorley John Cotton (Northern Premier League Chairman) presents the Division 2 Championship Trophy to St Annes Captain Andy Kellett St Annes 2nd team Division Two Champions League Chairman John Cotton Presents the Premiership Throphy to St Annes Captain Ian Austin in front of the Home fans after Mr Norman Poole of the League Exectutive had presented the Trophy at Chorley Shane Harwood the St Annes Professional only the second bowler take 100 or more wickets in a season. St Annes 1st Team Division 1 Champions.

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