Match Day 14th May 2005 ST ANNES MARCH ON By Gerry Wolstenholme St Annes opened a 15-point gap at the top of the Northern Premier League table when they sensationally defeated Kendal at Shap Road on Saturday. Of the chasing pack Blackpool and Darwen also won but Barrow, after last week's heroics, lost. Kendal batted first at Shap Road and lost early wickets, including Terry Hunte for nought, but they fought back to reach a respectable 207-8 with Ikram Ullah making 66 and Ahmed Elech top scoring with 82 but only Kabir Khan with 21 making any other significant contribution. For St Annes Shane Harwood took 3-49, Stephen Twist 3-69 and Adam Cotton 2-32. In the St Annes reply Gareth Evans made 55, Shane Harwood 43, Twist 37 not out and Ian Austin 35 as the last ball proved decisive to give St Annes 12 points. Chris Miller took 3-17 and Kevin Howarth 3-69 for Kendal. Blackpool comfortably rolled over Barrow for whom only Ian Allington, 44, and Paul Wilcock 35 not out reached double figures as they were bowled out for 124 chasing Blackpool's 186-7. Justin Kreusch made a top score of 58 and there was 34 from Charles Boucher and 33 from Tim Barry as Rawl Lewis's leg spin earned him 5-52. Darwen defeated Fleetwood by eight wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 142 with Doug Watson making a top score of 58 but only Andrew Clough of the rest passing 20 as he made 25. Andrew Cook was the best bowler with 3-13 and Keith Semple took 2-37 to which he added 57 not out in the Darwen reply of 144-2. Gary Jackson ably assisted with 45. Morecambe beat Leyland by 57 runs after they had scored 216-5 and then bowled the home side out for 159. Mark Orchard made his first NPL century with 111 and Mark Woodhead contributed 58 not out. When Leyland replied Brian Tennant made 57 not out to add to his 2-29 which was just as well for only Martin Brown with 21 provided any support as Warren Quinn took 6-63. Preston and Lancaster were involved in a close-fought game at Lune Road with the visitors coming out on top by 20 runs having made 162 to which Mario Ventura contributed 45, Ian McDonnell 34 and Greg Bamber 24 as Grahame Barnes took 4-57 and Paul Dennison 3-12. David Heywood's 51 and Ian Parkinson's 30 were the best efforts in Lancaster's all out 142 as Lukman Vahaluwala took 5-39. Finally Chorley defeated Leyland Motors by 41 runs as Tom Smith made 109 not out from their 188-5 with Nigel Heaton making a next best effort of 33. David Makinson took 3-54 and then added 64 runs as Motors were bowled out for 147 thanks to Bill Smith's 5-25. Results in brief (home side in bold): Blackpool 186-7 (Kreusch 58, Lewis 5-52), Barrow 124 (Allington 44) Blackpool 15 points, Barrow 2 points Chorley 182-5 (Smith T 109*), Leyland Motors 147 (Makinson D 64, Smith B 5-25) Chorley 15 points, Leyland Motors 2 points Fleetwood 142 (Watson 58), Darwen 144-2 (Semple 57*, Jackson 45) Fleetwood 1 point, Darwen 12 points Kendal 207-8 (Elech 82, Ullah 66), St Annes 208-9 (Evans 55, Harwood 43) Kendal 6 points, St Annes 12 points Preston 162 (Ventura 45, Barnes 4-57), Lancaster 142 (Heywood D 51, Vahaluwala 5-39) Preston 15 points, Lancaster 4 points Morecambe 216-5 (Orchard 111, Woodhead 58*), Leyland 159 (Tennant 57*, Quinn 6-63) Morecambe 15 points, Leyland 2 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 6 1 3 1 0 0 1 4 63 Blackpool 6 2 0 1 0 1 2 6 48 Darwen 6 0 2 0 1 0 3 1 38 Barrow 6 1 0 1 0 1 3 5 36 Morecambe 5 1 0 1 0 1 2 8 35 Fleetwood 6 1 0 1 0 2 2 7 34 Netherfield 5 1 0 1 1 0 2 7 33* Chorley 6 1 0 0 3 0 2 9 33* Preston 6 1 0 0 0 2 3 3 30 Kendal 5 0 1 0 1 1 2 7 28 Leyland Motors 5 0 1 0 0 3 1 5 21 Lancaster 5 0 0 0 0 3 2 6 14 Leyland 5 0 0 0 0 2 3 2 14 * 2 points deducted for Slow Over Rate In the Second Division the day's best performance was by Mark Richardson who scored 150 in Chorley's massive 263-6 which gave them victor by 43 runs as Leyland Motors were bowled out for 220. Scores in brief (home side in bold): Blackpool 166, Barrow 170-4 (Heffernan 48*, Miles 43) Barrow 12 points, Blackpool 2 points Fleetwood 178-6 (Wilson 65, Emery 4-26), Darwen 162 (Painter 61, Gregson 4-30) Fleetwood 15 points, Darwen 3 points Chorley 263-6 (Richardson 150, Hotham 65), Leyland Motors 220 (Cartwright 70, Harty 4-38) Chorley 15 points, Leyland Motors 4 points Leyland 151-9, Morecambe 153-1 (Izzat 85*) Leyland 4 points, Morecambe 12 points Lancaster 83 (Pick 4-29), Preston 85-3 Lancaster 0 points, Preston 12 points Kendal 191-9 (Yasin 60), St Annes 192-2 Kellett 83* Taylor, Adam 77*) Kendal 3 points, St Annes 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Barrow 6 0 3 1 1 0 1 7 52 St Annes 6 0 3 0 1 0 2 3 48 Morecambe 5 0 2 2 0 0 1 10 46 Chorley 6 1 1 0 1 0 3 2 42 Preston 6 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 40 Fleetwood 6 1 0 0 1 2 2 11 35 Darwen 6 0 1 2 0 1 1 10 34 Leyland Motors 5 0 1 2 1 1 0 10 31 Netherfield 5 0 0 2 1 0 2 9 26 Blackpool 6 0 0 1 0 3 2 12 24 Leyland 5 0 0 0 1 2 2 3 12 Kendal 5 0 0 0 1 3 1 6 11 Lancaster 5 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 10 MATCH ACTION BLACKPOOL STROLL TO VICTORY Blackpool 186-7, Barrow 124 By Gerry Wolstenholme Barrow, last week's conquerors of champions Fleetwood came down to earth with a bump at Stanley Park on Saturday when, on a sunny but still chilly afternoon, Blackpool comprehensively defeated them by 62 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Blackpool made a respectable 186-7 and then bowled a disappointing Barrow side out for 124 to give themselves the maximum 15 points and keep the pressure on early leaders St Annes. There was controversy early in the third over when Steven Croft, not then off the mark,appeared to edge a ball to slip where Tod Bamber seemed to take the catch. The umpire was not sure whether the ball had carried and after consulting his colleague at square leg the decision went in favour of the batsman. Croft only profited to the tune of 16 runs for he then went for a quick single to extra cover but Robin Adams' underarm hit the stumps and Croft was run out as 34-1. Charles Boucher, 34 and dropped at second slip by Rawl Lewis on 15, and a more subdued Tim Barry, 33, took the total to 76 before the former edged Lewis to wicketkeeper Dean Williams. Barry departed at 119-3 when he was undone by a ball that did not bounce on the county strip that was being used for the first time and he was bowled by Daryl Wearing, who had returned for a second spell. The in-form Justin Kreusch then took over the majority of the scoring and he had made 58 at a run a ball with six fours when he was very smartly stumped, much to his disappointment, by the alert Williams off Lewis and that was 161-4. Prash Aga went in the same over without scoring when he edged Lewis to Williams and Martin Pickles made just three before he went the same way when he tried to sweep the leg spinner and that was 173-6. Paul Danson made seven before skying Lewis to Rob Lightfoot at extra cover at 183-7 which left Steve Mercer not out 27, Mike Taylor not out nought and Blackpool a respectable 186-7. Lewis, who took advantage of the uneven bounce finished with 5-52. Barrow's reply never really got going and the Blackpool bowlers took wickets at regular intervals to leave the visitors with virtually no chance of reaching their target. Adams was the first to go when he chased a wide ball from Chris Taylor and David Baker behind the stumps did the rest and that was 22-1. Williams, promoted to number three, could not get the ball away and eventually he resorted to a slog against the accurate Barry with the result that his middle stump went cartwheeling and he had gone for two at 48-2. Lewis too made only two before he played a rash stroke at Barry and a leaping Mercer at extra cover held the catch and Barrow were 58-3. The crucial wicket went down at 67 when skipper Ian Allington who had looked as though he would last the course fell to Barry's slower ball when he was bowled for a fine 44 made from 81 balls with six fours. Thereafter only the combative Paul Wilcock kept the scoreboard moving and he was undefeated at the end with 35 although Mercer at third slip had missed a sharp chance offered when he was 12. The rest of the batsmen fell to Croft, 3-34, and Kreusch, 3-25. Croft accounted for Bamber, six, caught by Kreusch at second slip when he flashed hard at a widish ball, Ray Mowat,eight, leg before wicket at 84-6 and John Mullin, nought, bowled at 86-7. Kreusch had Lightfoot caught behind for two at 106-8, took a one-handed return catch to dismiss Wearing for five at 124-9 and had Peter Lawson caught at extra cover by Martin Pickles for nought to end the innings at 124. Barry also took three wickets, for just 19 runs from 12 overs, and Chris Taylor had 1-22.

Click Here to send your comments.