Match Day 30th April 2005 MOTORS THE ONLY WINNERS By Gerry Wolstenholme Leyland Motors were the only side to win on Saturday on a day when rain once again played havoc with the fixtures with the Lancaster versus Barrow game washed out altogether and the rest affected to one degree or another. Motors, at home to Preston, saw the visitors bat first and made a modest 137 with professional Mario Ventura making a top score of 40 followed by Ian McDonnell and Lukman Valhaluwala who both made 15 with Iqbal Liley the most successful bowler with 4-44. Motors replied with 138-3 to win by seven wickets with stand-in Sri Lankan professional Passan Wanasinghe the match-winner with 68 not out. Reigning champions Fleetwood made a draw with runners-up Netherfield at Broadwater where the home side were put in to bat and struggled to reach 142-7 with John Wright's 42 not out being the best effort and Scott Clement taking 3-32 for the visitors. Netherfield then looked as though they would manage to reach their target until some extremely tight bowling from Dave Fish and Tom Blundell put the brakes on and Netherfield had to settle for a draw at 101-7. Blackpool made a late start at Chorley and reached a commendable 182-5 with Tim Barry leading the way with 53. Professional Justin Kreusch who only got off the 'plane that morning made 53, Steven Croft 38 and Prash Aga, who took two sixes and two fours off one Tom Smith over, 31 not out. Billy Smith took 4-46 but then the Chorley batsmen struggled to reach 77-8 with only Paul Greenwood, 15, and Neil Bannister, 13, reaching double figures as Kreusch completed an excellent afternoon's work with 3-18. St Annes drew at Darwen where Ian Austin, returning from his ban, made 78 not out, Gareth Evans 32, Adrian Darlington 26 and Stephen Twist 22 not out as St Annes reached 169-3. Darwen's reply faltered at 141-7 with Keith Semple making 56 and Gary Jackson 26 as Shane Harwood took his season's tally to 12 wickets with a 3-28 return and Austin took 2-40. Finally Kendal drew at Morecambe where the home side piled up the day's largest total of 215-5 as professional Mark Orchard made 81 not out and Gareth Pedder made 73 while young off-spinner Chris Miller took two wickets. Kendal's reply was 127-7 with Terry Hunte making a top score of 33 with Ikram Ullah chipping in with 29 as Orchard completed a fine all-round day with 6-31. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Blackpool 182-5 (Barry 53, Kreusch 42, Smith B 4-46), Chorley 77-8 Blackpool 9 points, Chorley 2 points St Annes 149-3 (Austin 78*), Darwen 141-7 (Semple 56) St Annes 8 points, Darwen 2 points Fleetwood 142-7 (Wright 42*), Netherfield 101-7 Fleetwood 7 points, Netherfield 3 points Lancaster v Barrow abandoned without a ball bowled - each side 4 points Preston 137 (Ventura 40, Liley 4-46), Leyland Motors 138-3 (Wanasinghe 68*) Preston 0 points, Leyland Motors 12 points Morecambe 215-5 (Orchard 81* Pedder 73), Kendal 127-7 (Orchard 6-31) Morecambe 9 points, Kendal 2 points In the Second Division Leyland Motors scored 183 without loss with Kevin Cross making 110 not out and Anthony Totham 50 not out but Preston held on for a draw with 127-4. Aiden Cotton made 87 not out for St Annes whose 163-3 ensured a seven-wicket victory after Dominic Heys had helped Darwen to 162-8. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Lancaster 41, Barrow 42-4 Lancaster 0 points, Barrow 12 points Blackpool 110-5, Chorley 111-7 (Armstrong 4-20) Blackpool 2 points, Chorley 12 points Kendal 60 (Cupit 4-25), Morecambe 61-0 Kendal 0 points, Morecambe 12 points Netherfield 163-9 (Goldstein W 52, Whiteside 4-35), Fleetwood 114-9 (Goldstein J 4-5) Netherfield 9 points, Fleetwood 4 points Leyland Motors 183-0 dec (Cross 110*, Totham 50*), Preston 123-4 Leyland Motors 7 points, Preston 1 point Darwen 162-6 (Heys 57), St Annes 163-3 (Aiden Cotton 87*) Darwen 2 points, St Annes 12 points MATCH ACTION NETHERFIELD HANG ON FOR DRAW Fleetwood 142-7, Netherfield 101-7 By Gerry Wolstenholme Fleetwood and Netherfield, with the co-operation of the umpires, did very well to start just 35 minutes late at Broadwater on Saturday. Netherfield won the toss asked Fleetwood to bat and the home side made a creditable 142-7 from their 47 overs. In reply Netherfield never really looked as though they were going to reach their target and lost wickets steadily so skipper Tommy Prime and Scott Clement batted out for a draw at 101-7. New professional Doug Watson opened the Fleetwood innings with John Whalley and it was the South African who kept the scoreboard moving, playing one or two very nice straight drives. He did survive a loud appeal for leg before wicket off Wilson but it was Whalley who was the first to fall when he edged Clement to slip where Pierre de Bruyn held the catch and that was 23-1. Michael Clinning did not last long and when he had made two he played away from his body and Craig Walmsley in the gully took the catch at 31-2. Watson continued to pepper the straight boundary with shots off both front and back foot, escaped a chance to Prime at extra cover on 21 but when he had made 36 he played across a ball from de Bruyn and was bowled. Fleetwood had lost their third wicket for 56. Andrew Clough, who had struggled to get the ball away and had escaped a run out appeal, made 11 before he essayed a cut at Nick White and was caught at slip by Chris Parry. Rob Clark made six, with a two and a four from successive balls from de Bruyn, who got his revenge with the very next ball when Clark reached for and played at a full toss with the bottom of the bat and de Bruyn took the return catch. That was 85-5 and it was soon 94-6 when Adam Sharrocks, opening last week, hit a return catch to Nick White when he had made three. Fortunately John Wright was keeping the scoreboard ticking over and he found an able ally in James Ellis and the pair put on 42 valuable runs for the seventh wicket. Wright was dropped by Parry at slip early on and then by Grahame Clarke running round from mid-on when he had made 29 but it was Ellis who departed at 136-7. He edged the returning Clement to Gareth White behind the stumps when he had made 16. Steve Hill clubbed a quick five runs and with Wright 42 not out made from 60 balls with two fours, Fleetwood closed at 142-7. Clement was the most successful bowler, taking 3-32 while de Bruyn and Nick White took two each, for 31 and 36 runs respectively. Netherfield's reply began slowly as Hill and Blundell bowled particularly well. The advent of Fish into the attack saw Netherfield put on a spurt as they took 10 runs from his first over before the bowler decided that a change of boots was required. It worked for he very quickly bowled de Bruyn for 21 when the total was 40 and then had Walmsley smartly stumped by Ellis for 20 at 43-2. Gareth White and Parry took the total steadily to 68 before the latter fell leg before wicket to Blundell for nine to a ball that kept very low. And then, when he had made 18 Gareth White was fishing outside the off-stump only to get an edge to Ellis off Blundell and Netherfield were 77-4. That quickly became 77-5 as Blundell had Rishi Girdhari driving to Wright at mid-wicket where the skipper dived to take the catch. Grahame Clarke hit one huge six that miraculously fell between a row of parked cars and then set about trying to win the game for his side with some hefty blows. He did not connect as well as usual and when he had made 21 from 43 balls with one six and one four, he holed out when he slashed Hill to Clark at point and that was 97-6. Fish trapped Nick White leg before wicket for nought in the next over and at 97-7 Netherfield had to hang on for a point. Prime, eight not out, and a watchful Clement, two not out, duly held on as Netherfield closed at 101-7 to take three points to Fleetwood's seven.

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