Match Day 30th May 2005 ST ANNES SUCCESS CONTINUES By Gerry Wolstenholme St Annes cemented their place at the top of the Northern Premier League table with a comfortable win over now bottom-placed Preston and there were also wins for Lancaster and Darwen. Preston batted first at West Cliff and made only 125 with Mario Ventura making 63 but the next best effort being only 14 from Luxman Vahaluwala then extras with 13 as Shane Harwood took 3-28 to take his wicket tally to 30 for the season. Ian Austin and Michael Baer took two wickets each, for 17 runs and 45 runs respectively before Adrian Darlington's 66 put St Annes completely in control as they cruised to 129-2 and victory by eight wickets. Gareth Evans made 27 and Austin 24 not out. Lancaster made it a bumper Bank Holiday weekend with a thumping victory over Morecambe who were bowled out for just 72 at Woodhill Lane. Peter Stephens top scored with 14, Mark Orchard made 12 and Mark Woodhead 10 but no other batsman reached double figures as Grahame Barnes took 5-26 and Yasim Bari 4-26. David Heywood made 29 not out and Jamie Heywood 26 as Lancaster won by nine wickets with 73-1. Darwen cracked 241-7 against Chorley with Stuart Grant returning from injury and making 82, Gareth Cordingley 39, Neil Cordingley 37 not out and Chris Lowe 33 as Grav Dhar took 3-76. Chris Chatterton then took 4-18 as Chorley were dismissed for 128 to lose by 113 runs. Paul Greenwood made 50 and Jack Catterall 39 not out for Chorley. There were 434 runs scored in the Leyland derby but there was no winner as Leyland replied to Motors' 234-6 declared with 200-3. Atif Ashraf hit his first century of the season for Motors as he made 127 while Leyland's James Wright had 4-76. Adam Parker made 74 and Chris Parkinson 71 not out in Leyland's reply. It was also a high scoring game in Kendal where Netherfield's 236-5 was too many for chasing Kendal who made 190-9. Pierre de Bruyn scored his second century of the season, making 103 not out while Gareth White made 51 and Chris Parry 44 with Kevin Howarth the most successful bowler with 3-43. Terry Hunte replied with 103 but only Ahmed Elech with 36 gave him any substantial support and it was left to Kabir Khan, 11 not out, and Chris Miller to hold out for a draw as de Bruyn made it a good all-round day with 5-43. Finally at Stanley Park Blackpool and Fleetwood drew as the home side could not reach Fleetwood's 188-5 to which Doug Watson contributed 99 not out and Charles Boucher took 4-29. Justin Kreusch made 68 for Blackpool but they fell 18 runs short of victory at 171-7. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Fleetwood 188-5 (Watson 99*, Boucher 4-29), Blackpool 171-7 (Kreusch 68) Fleetwood 9 points, Blackpool 4 points Darwen 241-8 (Grant S 82), Chorley 128 (Greenwood 50, Chatterton 4-18) Darwen 15 points, Chorley 2 points Netherfield 236-5 (de Bruyn 103*, White 51, Parry 44 Kendal 190-9 (Hunte 103, de Bruyn 5-43) Netherfield 10 points, Kendal 5 points Leyland Motors 234-6 dec (Ashraf 127, Wright 4-76), Leyland 200-3 (Parker 74, Parkinson 71*) Leyland Motors 7 points, Leyland 5 points Morecambe 72 (Barnes 5-26, Bari 4-26), Lancaster 73-1 Morecambe 0 points, Lancaster 12 points Preston 125 (Ventura 63), St Annes 129-2 (Darlington 66) Preston 0 points, St Annes 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts St Annes 8 1 4 1 1 0 1 7 79 Netherfield 8 1 1 3 1 0 2 19 65* Blackpool 9 2 0 2 1 1 3 13 64 Darwen 9 1 2 0 2 0 3 3 56 Barrow 8 1 1 1 1 1 3 10 54 Fleetwood 9 1 0 2 0 3 3 13 48 Kendal 8 0 1 1 2 1 3 17 47 Morecambe 8 1 0 2 1 2 2 12 44 Lancaster 8 0 2 0 0 3 3 6 42 Chorley 9 1 0 0 3 2 3 13 41* Leyland 8 0 1 1 1 2 3 11 40 Leyland Motors 8 0 1 1 0 4 2 12 36 Preston 8 1 0 0 1 3 3 5 31* * 2 points deducted for Slow Over Rate Perhaps the best team performance of the day in the Second Division came from Fleetwood, as they were bowled out by Blackpool for only 108 but they bowled Blackpool out for 101 to win by seven runs. Neil Gregson took 5-38. Best all-round performance of the day came from Morecambe's Tommy Clough who took 6-27 and a catch as Lancaster were bowled out for 89 and then he scored 32 in Morecambe's reply of 90-2. He was closely followed by Darwen's Michael Grant who scored 55 and took 5-21 but his side finished three runs short of victory at 161-9 chasing Chorley's 163. Top individual score of the day came from Kendal's Steve Cooper who made 76 in his side's defeat by Netherfield. Scores in brief (home sides in bold): Chorley 163 (Hotham 61, Grant M 5-21), Darwen 161-9 (Grant M 55, Mawdsley 5-37) Chorley 9 points, Darwen 6 points Fleetwood 108, Blackpool 101 (Gregson 5-38) Fleetwood 15 points, Blackpool 3 points Lancaster 89 (Clough 6-27), Morecambe 90-2 Lancaster 0 points, Morecambe 12 points Leyland 211-3 (Dyson 70*), Leyland Motors 68 (Gill 5-26) Leyland 15 points, Leyland Motors 0 points Netherfield 151 (King 52), Kendal 130 (Cooper 76, Wilson 5-56, Miller 4-36) Netherfield 15 points, Kendal 3 points St Annes v Preston postponed - to be re-arranged SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Chorley 9 1 3 1 1 0 3 7 75 Morecambe 8 0 4 2 0 0 2 10 74 Fleetwood 9 2 2 0 1 2 2 11 74 Netherfield 8 3 0 2 1 0 2 9 71 Barrow 8 0 3 1 1 1 2 11 60 Preston 7 2 1 0 1 0 3 0 55 Darwen 9 0 2 2 1 2 1 17 54 St Annes 7 0 3 0 1 0 3 3 52 Leyland Motors 8 0 1 2 1 3 1 13 38 Leyland 8 1 0 0 1 3 3 3 31 Blackpool 9 0 0 1 0 5 3 15 31 Kendal 8 0 0 0 1 6 1 13 18 Lancaster 8 0 0 0 1 4 2 3 12 MATCH ACTION HIGH SCORING DRAW Fleetwood 188-5, Blackpool 171-7 By Gerry Wolstenholme Fleetwood put the horrors of Fox Lane on Saturday behind them at Blackpool on Monday when they fought hard to earn a creditable draw with the home side. Winning the toss and batting on a track that was of uneven bounce, they did well to reach 188-5 in their 52 overs thanks to a hard-fought 99 not out from professional Doug Watson. Then when Blackpool replied some tight bowling and keen fielding restricted Blackpool to 171-7 when at one time it looked as though they would win. Watson and James Ellis opened strongly and they looked in no danger in putting on 45 for the first wicket at which point Ellis was beaten for pace by Steven Croft and bowled for a good 23. Michael Clinning joined Watson and together they put on 73 runs for the second wicket before the off-spin of Charles Boucher wreaked havoc among the middle order. First he bowled Clinning for an excellent 32 made from 72 balls with two fours and then he accounted similarly for Andrew Clough for one. But the tragedy came when, with his first ball to John Wright, he trapped the Fleetwood skipper leg before wicket from a ball that did not get above ankle high. Wayne Clarke did not last much longer before he flicked Boucher to Justin Kreusch at mid-on and he was gone for nought and from the relative comfort of 118-2, Fleetwood had slipped to 124-5. Watson was only able to watch the disasters from the other end but he then found an able ally in Adam Sharrocks, who batted splendidly particularly in giving the strike to his partner. He ran extremely fast between the wickets and at in one over the pair took five successive singles to a fielder at a short backward square leg. Sharrocks scored his 21 at a run a ball with one four and he engineered Watson to the striker's end for the final ball when the professional was on 98. Unfortunately he was only able to get a single to take him to 99 not out made from 140 balls with eight fours as Fleetwood closed at 188-5 with Boucher taking a fine 4-29. The Fleetwood total initially appeared to be perhaps 30 or 40 short of a defendable target but early pressure on the Blackpool batsmen and the uneven bounce and slow track soon showed 188 to be a reasonable total. Blackpool had advanced cautiously to 35 when Croft drove Tom Blundell to Wright at mid-off and he was gone for 15. It became 56-2 when Boucher played a loose shot and Dave Fish bowled him for 30. Tim Barry was going along slowly but Kreusch came in and started to score quickly from the off but once Clough was introduced into the attack his forcing shots became fewer and he was missed in the gully and escaped a stumping chance as well as being missed off a relatively easy caught and bowled chance when he had made 41. Clough, bowling a fine spell of leg-spin, bowled Barry for 22 at 106-3 and although Fleetwood were back in the game, Blackpool were still slight favourites. And Kreusch tried desperately to keep Blackpool on top with more attacking shots but he went for one too many off the returning Steve Hill and Clough took a running catch straight down the ground. Kreusch had gone for 68 made from 94 balls with six fours. Steve Mercer kept the scoreboard moving with a quick-fire 17 before a jubilant Hill bowled him at 167-5 with Blackpool still intent on chasing the runs. Robin Bracewell made only three before Ellis stumped him off Fish at 170-6 and when Michael Taylor fell leg before wicket to Fish without addition, Blackpool had little option but to put up the shutters. Prash Aga, six not out, and Steve Metcalf, no score, kept the bowlers at bay and at 171-7 stumps were drawn with honours even.

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