Match Day 7th May 2005 CHAMPIONS BEATEN By Gerry Wolstenholme Last season's champions Fleetwood suffered a first reverse of the new season when Barrow staged a remarkable comeback from eight wickets down and the half-century just passed to win the game at the Ernest Pass Memorial ground on Saturday. There were wins too for Blackpool, and St Annes. At Barrow the home side subsided to the bowling of Dave Fish, 4-31, and Steve Hill, 4-30, before Daryl Wearing, 43, and Dean Williams, 38, put on 78 for the ninth wicket to take the total to a more respectable 130 all out. Fleetwood's reply was undone by Rawl Lewis who took 6-30 as only Doug Watson, 27, passed 20. John Wright and Wayne Clarke made 16 each, James Ellis 13 and Rob Clark 10 as Fleetwood fell to 104 all out to lose by 26 runs. At Stanley Park Blackpool made hay while the sun shone and totalled 260-2 against a poor Lancaster attack. Steven Croft set the tempo with a quick-fire 54 and then Tim Barry, 80 not out, and professional Justin Kreusch, 103 not out, put the 260-2 declared total well out of Lancaster's reach. David Heywood made 36 and professional Yasim Bari 28 as Lancaster subsided to 114 all out to suffer defeat by a massive 146 runs. St Annes lost five wickets early to Leyland Motors but then recovered with good knocks from Stephen Twist, 83, Adam Cotton 42 and Danny Hagen, 41, to reach 243-8. Peter Cummings struck four massive sixes in his 52 but that was more than half Motors' all out total of 95, thus giving St Annes victory by 148 runs. Shane Harwood continued his magnificent season with 7-20. Closest call of the day came at Parkside Road where Netherfield and Chorley shared 434 runs with the home side making 220 of them before declaring with five wickets down. Chris Parry made 70 not out, Gareth White 47 and Tommy Prime, who opened with quick runs, 40. Chorley's reply centred around a second wicket partnership of 182 by Tom Smith, 78, and Nigel Heaton, 98, but once the pair were dismissed, both caught on the edge, Chorley could not quite make the necessary runs for victory and finished at 214-7 with Ryan Wilson taking 4-47 for Netherfield. There was no play at Darwen where Kendal were the visitors and at Preston where Leyland were the guests. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Barrow 130 (Wearing 43, Hill 4-30, Fish 4-31), Fleetwood 104 (Lewis 6-30) Barrow 15 points, Fleetwood 3 points Blackpool 260-2 dec (Kreusch 103*, Barry 80*, Croft 54), Lancaster 114 (Kreusch 5-37) Blackpool 15 points, Lancaster 0 points Darwen v Kendal - match abandoned 4 points each side Netherfield 220-5 dec (Parry 70*, White 47, Prime 40), Chorley 214-7 (Heaton 98, Smith T 78, Wilson 4-47) Netherfield 9 points, Chorley 5 points Preston v Leyland - match abandoned 4 points each side St Annes 243-8 (Twist 83, Adam Cotton 42, Hagen 41), Leyland Motors 95 (Cummings 52, Harwood 7-20) St Annes 15 points, Leyland Motors 2 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 5 1 2 1 0 0 1 4 51 Netherfield 5 1 0 1 1 0 2 7 35 Barrow 5 1 0 1 0 0 3 3 34 Blackpool 5 1 0 1 0 1 2 6 33 Fleetwood 5 1 0 1 0 1 2 6 33 Darwen 5 0 1 0 1 0 3 1 26 Kendal 4 0 1 0 1 0 2 1 22 Chorley 5 0 0 0 3 0 2 9 20 Morecambe 4 0 0 1 0 1 2 8 20 Leyland Motors 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 3 19 Preston 5 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 15 Leyland 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 12 Lancaster 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 10 Match of the day in the Second Division was between Fleetwood and Barrow at Broadwater where the visitors were triumphant by two wickets after chasing 219 for victory. Fleetwood made 218-6 with David Latus making a top score of 59 not out but Barrow managed a stunning victory with 219-8 with Rob Lightfoot making 42 and Tod Bamber 41. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Chorley v Netherfield - match abandoned 4 points each side Fleetwood 218-6 (Latus 59*, Emsley 45, Stanhope 42), Fleetwood 5 points, Barrow 12 points Barrow 219-8 (Lightfoot 42, Bamber 41, Miles 40, Laird 4-62) Darwen 190-7 (Bolton 55, Heys 55), Kendal 141-4 (Williams 71*) Darwen 7 points, Kendal 4 points Blackpool 214-5 (Caunce 78), Lancaster 90-7 Blackpool 9 points, Lancaster 2 points Leyland v Preston - match abandoned 4 points each side Leyland Motors 130 (Reece 44, Thomas 4-40), St Annes 107-9 (Cartwright 5-48) Leyland Motors 7 points, St Annes 4 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Barrow 5 0 2 1 1 0 1 7 40 St Annes 5 0 2 0 1 0 2 3 36 Morecambe 4 0 1 2 0 0 1 10 34 Darwen 5 0 1 2 0 0 1 7 31 Preston 5 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 28 Chorley 5 0 1 0 1 0 3 2 27 Leyland Motors 4 0 1 2 1 0 0 6 27 Netherfield 5 0 0 2 1 0 2 9 26 Blackpool 5 0 0 1 0 2 2 10 22 Fleetwood 5 0 0 0 1 2 2 11 20 Leyland 4 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 11 Lancaster 4 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 10 Kendal 4 0 0 0 1 2 1 3 8 MATCH ACTION VERY MUCH KREUSCH'S DAY Blackpool 260-2 dec, Lancaster 114 By Gerry Wolstenholme It was definitely South African Justin Kreusch's day at a sunny but bitingly cold Stanley Park on Saturday when he scored an unbeaten 103 in Blackpool's massive 260-2 declared and then went on to take five wickets for 37 runs as Lancaster were routed for just 114 to lose by 146 runs. Luke Phillips won the toss and put Blackpool in to bat, a decision that looked quite promising when Graham Barnes had Charles Boucher adjudged leg before wicket for 16 at 28-1. But by then Steven Croft was getting into his big-hitting stride and with a free scoring Tim Barry as his partner and with some loose Lancaster fielding, the total quickly advanced to 97 at which point Croft, on the verge of a very big score, played a lazy shot and was caught at backward square leg by Yasim Bari This brought in Kreusch and he too quickly got into his stride and runs came all round the ground with Lancaster unable to do anything to stem the flow. Not only did they not curtail the scoring but neither did they trouble the batsmen who raced on and it was only a declaration that ended the mayhem. Kreusch began to overhaul his partner who had a 40-run lead and skipper Paul Danson allowed him to reach a virtually trouble free century before calling his side in after 48 overs. Kreusch had one anxious moment when he lofted a shot close to two Lancaster fielders when he was in the 90s but neither moved to the ball so he escaped to finish on 103 not out from just 96 balls with one six and 14 fours while Barry made 80 not out from 100 balls with 10 fours as Blackpool declared at an unassailable 260-2. Barnes with 2-102 was the only successful bowler. As if they did not already have a mountain to climb, matters got worse for Lancaster as, with only four extras on the board, they lost their first three batsmen. Jamie Heywood edged Kreusch to David Baker, Ian Parkinson was caught by Steve Mercer off Kreusch and Phillips uncharacteristically lofted Kreusch to Boucher at extra cover. Thereafter Lancaster's first run from the bat came in the 12th over and David Heywood and Bari had advanced the total to 63 before the latter was caught by Prash Aga off Barry for 28. Lee Sparks made five before Kreusch ran him out at 72-5 and Ian Burstow made 10 before Barry trapped him leg before wicket at 89-6. Kreusch returned to bowl Ramon Shah for a duck at 90-7 and then Lancaster's resistance was virtually over when anchorman David Heywood edged Kreusch to Danson at slip when he had made 36 in the 43rd over after he had received 126 balls and struck four fours and that was 95-8. Kreusch took his fifth wicket when Croft caught Dennison for two at 97-9 and then there were just a few lusty blows from Barnes, 13, before Croft bowled him and that left Liam Moffat six not out and Lancaster, 114 all out, had been well beaten by 146 runs.

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