By Gerry Wolstenholme
There were six centurions on Saturday in the Northern Premier League and the unluckiest must have been Blackpool's Justin Kreusch. He scored a magnificent 167 made from 155 balls with 18 fours and five sixes and with Dave Newton making 49, Blackpool totalled 265-6. In Kreusch's own words the following day, "We made 120 too few!" It proved to be the case as substitute professional Nishit Shetty replied with a superb 172 not out made from just 115 balls with 20 fours and six sixes and Ryan Nelson added 47 and Atiq Uz Zaman finished with 25 not out as Carnforth won by eight wickets with 13 overs to spare with 267-2.
Ahmed Alma made his third successive century but finished on the losing side. His 107 towards Barrow's 189-9 was assisted by Jon Sturgeon's 34 and Ray Mowat's 21 as Joe Davies took 3-24 and Michael Baer 3-51. St Annes then went on to score 190-6 to record a four-wicket victory. Davies made it a good all-round day with 46 not out with four fours and two sixes and Adrian Darlington made 33, Ian Austin 28, Adam Cotton 22, Russ Bradley 21 and Arshad Khan, who had earlier taken 2-58 and 20runs. For Barrow Amla took 2-61 and Mowat 2-61.
Terry Hunte's 114 towards Kendal's 233-6 was also in a losing cause. Hunte had support from Kevin Howarth, 32, Kabir Khan, 26 not out, and Ben Simm, 24 not out while Andrew Mercer took 4-41 for Darwen. Chris Clarke, 18, was Darwen's only casualty as Atif Ashraf with 116 not out and Keith Semple with 88 not out led Darwen to a nine-wicket victory with 237-1, the only wicket falling to Dilwar Khan for 108 runs.
Leyland Motors' Ameer Khan was another whose century was in vain as he made 102 out of 165 all out with Alan Richardson making 22 and Faisel Patel 20. The Motors' batsmen had no answer to Bilal Asad who took 8-33 and then went on to make 85 not out with 11 fours and one six and with 'Pip' McDonald hitting six fours in his 39 not out, Preston romped home by eight wickets with 166-2.
Leyland batted when they visited Woodhill Lane but had no joy as Tommy Clough with 4-24, Graham Lee with 3-9 and Gareth Peddar with 3-43 bowled them out for 121. Alex Mercer, 39, and James Wright, 30, were the only two Leyland batsmen to reach double figures. Phil Dennison, 70 not out with 12 fours, and Mark Lomas, 39 not out, saw Morecambe home by nine wickets at 122-1.
Dave Fish was Fleetwood's hero at Broadwater as he took 6-25 as Chorley were bowled out for 122. John Wright scored a quick 37 and substitute professional Mohammed Faroukh made 40 not out as Fleetwood won by six wickets with 123-4.
The only draw of the day came at Parkside Road where Lancaster made 250-9 to which Netherfield replied with 182-6. Jannisar Khan top scored for Lancaster with 80 made from 90 balls with 10 fours and one six and Jamie Heywood made 37 and Michael Stevens 33 as Peter Lawson took 4-76 and Marc Hadwin 3-65. Last year's professional Pierre de Bruyn made a return for Netherfield but he only made seven with Chris Parry, 46 from 78 balls with four fours, Craig Walmsley, 34, and Tommy Prime, 28, being Netherfield's main contributors as Khan took 3-45 with one wicket each to Tim Barry, Graham Barnes and Ian Burstow.
First Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Barrow 189-9 (Alma 107), St Annes 190-6 (Davies 46*)
Barrow 4 points, St Annes 12 points
Blackpool 265-6 (Kreusch 167, Newton 49), Carnforth 267-2 (Shetty 172*)
Blackpool 3 points, Carnforth 12 points
Kendal 233-6 (Hunte 114, Mercer 4-41), Darwen 237-1 (Ashraf 116*, Semple 88*)
Kendal 3 points, Darwen 12 points
Chorley 122 (Fish 6-25), Fleetwood 123-4 (Faroukh 40*)
Chorley 1 point, Fleetwood 12 points
Leyland Motors 165 (Khan 102, Asad 8-33), Preston 166-2 (Asad 85*)
Leyland Motors 2 points, Preston 12 points
Leyland 121 (Clough 4-24), Morecambe 122-1 (Dennison 70*)
Leyland 0 points, Morecambe 12 points
Lancaster 250-9 (Khan 80), Netherfield 182-6 (Parry 46)
Lancaster 8 points, Netherfield 7 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
15 |
2 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
144 |
| Darwen |
15 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
20 |
133 |
| Netherfield |
15 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
27* |
122 |
| Carnforth |
15 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
28 |
124 |
| St Annes |
15 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
27 |
121 |
| Lancaster |
15 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
24 |
109 |
| Kendal |
15 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
25 |
102 |
| Blackpool |
15 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
21 |
100 |
| Fleetwood |
15 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
16 |
106 |
| Preston |
15 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
30 |
105 |
| Leyland Motors |
15 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
15 |
75 |
| Barrow |
15 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
42 |
76 |
| Chorley |
15 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
2 |
20 |
46 |
| Leyland & Farington |
15 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
7 |
2 |
18 |
32 |
* 2 points deducted for slow over rate
In the Second Division there were centuries for Ian Parkinson of Lancaster and Paul Wilcock of Barrow. Parkinson's 125 not out came in Lancaster's 254-5 which was 65 runs too many for Netherfield who were 189 all out. Wilcock's 109 not out came as his side lost to St Annes whose 237-8 beat Barrow's 232-5.
The day's best bowling figures came from James Rounding who took a sensational 9-20 against Preston who were 80 all out in reply to 219-5. He bowled 8.3 overs, three of which were maidens and only the dismissal of Jonty McDonald, caught by Matthew Watkinson off Stephen Cartwright, prevented him getting all 10.
Blackpool's 15-year-old Alex Smith had a good all-round day as he took 5-25 that helped bowl out Carnforth for 169 who were replying to Blackpool's 210-7 in which Smith made a top score of 60.
Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Blackpool 210-7 (Smith A 60, Bracewell 51), Carnforth 161 (Darby 64, Smith A 5-25)
Blackpool 15 points, Carnforth 4 points
Fleetwood 220 (Stanhope 77, Whalley 51), Chorley 219 (Hotham 67*, Oakes 53)
Fleetwood 15 points, Chorley 6 points
Kendal 268-8 (Parkin 82, van Mollendorff 61), Darwen 187-6 (Carr 76*)
Kendal 8 points, Darwen 6 points
Lancaster 254-5 (Parkinson 125*), Netherfield 189 (Goldstein 55, Haddrick 48, Lees 4-41)
Lancaster 15 points, Netherfield 4 points
Leyland 212-6 (Hutton 56), Morecambe 196-9 (Maje 61, Milner 50, Armstrong 50)
Leyland 9 points, Morecambe 5 points
Leyland Motors 219-5 (Woolard 61, Jones 43), Preston 80 (J Rounding 9-20)
Leyland Motors 15 points, Preston 1 point
Barrow 232-5 (Wilcock 109*), St Annes 237-8 (Bradley N 74*, Ashworth 43, Fluker 40, Astle 5-57)
Barrow 5 points, St Annes 12 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Lancaster |
15 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
145 |
| Morecambe |
15 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
30 |
137 |
| St Annes |
15 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
20 |
133 |
| Netherfield |
15 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
38 |
118 |
| Fleetwood |
15 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
123 |
| Leyland Motors |
16 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
19 |
123 |
| Blackpool |
16 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
14 |
110 |
| Chorley |
15 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
21 |
89 |
| Kendal |
15 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
22 |
91 |
| Barrow |
15 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
36 |
87 |
| Darwen |
15 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
30 |
82 |
| Carnforth |
15 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
0 |
14 |
75 |
| Preston |
15 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
15 |
59 |
| Leyland & Farington |
15 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
1 |
29* |
59 |
* 2 points deducted for slow over rate
MATCH ACTION
CHORLEY SELF DESTRUCT - FLEETWOOD CRUISE HOME
Chorley 122, Fleetwood 123-4
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Chorley had only themselves to blame for a comprehensive defeat at Broadwater on Saturday as from a high point of 44-0 they lost all 10 wickets for the addition of 78 runs to be dismissed for 122 in 38.5 overs. Fleetwood needed only 31 overs to complete the victory by six wickets with 123-4.
John Wright won the toss and put Chorley in to bat and, despite a fine opening spell of 7-5-2-0 by Tom Blundell, one of the runs being a wide, the visitors in the guise of John Ratledge and Mark Richardson got to 44 without much trouble, the only alarm being when an edge from the latter off Tom Wilson flew through the slip cordon to the boundary. Ratledge was the main strokemaker and one shot through mid-on was a glorious effort that would have won the champagne moment in any match. But when he had 29, having just taken two boundaries from the over, he fell to the last ball as he cut a rising delivery from Wilson straight to Adam Sharrocks at backward point. Chorley's troubles had begun!
Craig Millward made only four before Steve Hill, returning to bowl unusually from the north end of the ground, trapped him leg before wicket and that was 49-2. It was 60-3 when Richardson, 20, gloved a ball from Hill onto his stumps. Stephen John and Gaurav Dhar then looked as though they would pull the innings round in a partnership that realised 20 runs but at 80 John, having just driven a four down the ground, could only disappointingly lob a ball from David Fish gently to Wilson at mid-wicket.
Dhar, 13, followed when he clipped a ball from Fish straight to Zac Taylor at square leg and half the Chorley side were out for 86. Skipper Michael Critchley and Andy Holdsworth then put on 24 runs before the former steered Fish to Wayne Clarke at backward point and he was gone for eight and it was 104-6. Dave Naylor made two before he was the seventh Chorley batsman to be dismissed at 114 when Blundell took an excellent catch over his shoulder at deep mid-on off Taylor.
Sam Sweeney had failed to get off the mark when Fish bowled him at 118-8 and then after Holdsworth had fought hard for his 24 he fell to a magnificent catch by substitute professional Mohammed Faroukh at mid-wicket and Chorley were on their last legs at 122-9. No further runs were added when Fish finished the innings by bowling Chris Roe for nought and with Nigel Eastham not out nought Chorley had fallen for 122. Fish had taken 6-25, although in his own opinion he had not bowled as well as he could have done, and Hill 2-30 while there was one wicket each for Wilson, for 25 runs, and Taylor, for 10 runs.
Fleetwood's reply got off to an explosive start as John Wright confidently struck boundaries around the ground off both John and Eastham and the total was 34, 30 to Wright and four leg byes, when his partner Taylor got off the mark. Wright continued on his merry way and had reached 37, from 33 balls with eight fours, when he was adjudged to have edged John through to Naylor and Fleetwood were 46-1. Roe bowled Taylor for five to make it 54-2 and it was 67-3 when Michael Clinning was caught at short extra cover by a diving Critchley off Roe for 12. Runs continued to flow and when the total was 75, 68 of the runs had come in boundaries.
Faroukh opened cautiously and he and Sharrocks took the total to 106 before Sharrocks, who had looked in good form, unexpectedly left a ball from John that bowled him and he was out for 16. There were no further disasters as Faroukh moved smoothly to 40 not out from 51 balls with one six and four fours and Wayne Clarke, whose pulled single to fine leg was the winning run, was five not out as Fleetwood completed a fine six-wicket victory with 123-4. John bowled throughout and finished with 2-39 from 16 overs and Roe had 2-27.
Fleetwood skipper John Wright commented, "We bowled well, particularly Tom Blundell who was unlucky to go without a wicket in an excellent opening spell and I would have been disappointed not to have won when we had bowled them out for only 122. Our batting was sound and our professional batted well at the end."
Dave Fish, who was later watering the track for Sunday's game with a hose pipe that let out water about as much as spitting over the pitch would have done commented, "It's a bit like my bowling this hose pipe, useless but effective!" It was a good, unassuming (and genuine) comment on which to end the day!
Steve Hill of Fleetwood bowls to Chorley's John Ratledge
The Choley batsman plays the ball down
John Wright defends against Chorley Professional Stephen John
Mohammed Faroukh Fleetwood's Substitute Professional
