By Gerry Wolstenholme
Morecambe kept their lead at the top of the table courtesy of a comfortable victory over Blackpool at Woodhill Lane. Blackpool batted first and made 217-9 with Justin Kreusch making 91 and Chris Taylor 53, his maiden first team half-century, but Charles Boucher's 13 was the next best effort while Quinton Friend took 4-62, Jono Gates 3-46 and Warren Quinn 2-34. Just over 200 was not enough as Morecambe won by six wickets with 218-4. Mark Woodhead made 62, Phil Dennison made 40 while Friend and Tommy Clough were there at the end, both with 35 not out.
With a draw Darwen held onto second place because none of those directly around them could force a win. At Birch Hall Darwen made 185 with Atif Ashraf making 71 and Keith Semple 40 while Neil Cordingley's 19 was the best of the rest as Quasim Ali took 5-55 and Graham Wilson 4-41. Carnforth struggled to make any impression and finished on only 106-8 from their 50 overs with Ali top scoring with 30, Zeeshan Pervez making 16, Ryan Nelson 15 not out and Richard Forsythe 13. Semple took 3-23 and Neil Cordingley 2-16.
St Annes lost in a high-scoring game at Vernon Road where they batted first and made 246-7 thanks to 66 from Ian Austin, 41 each from Gareth Evans and Duncan Whalley and a late 24 not out from John Musgrave as Kabir Khan took 3-63. Kendal opened with a partnership of 103 from Ikram Ullah, 57, and Kevin Howarth, 72, then Terry Hunte made a quick 34, Kabir Khan an equally quick 27 and Kendal won by four wickets at 250-6 with 19 balls left.
Leyland Motors and Chorley drew at Sandy Lane where rain reduced the Chorley innings to 38.3 overs in which they made 142-6 with Stephen John 81 not out and Michael Critchley 24. This was in reply to Motors 228-8 to which Karl Cross contributed 101, Ameer Khan 42 and Tom Reece 33 while Billy Smith took 3-49 for Chorley.
Lancaster defeated Barrow at the Ernest Pass Memorial Ground by nine wickets after the home team had posted 205-6 in which Ahmed Amla made 56, Tod Bamber 48, Jonathan Miles 31 and Stuart Knox 29 while substitute professional Nadeem Javed bowled unchanged and took 4-90 and Iain Burstow 2-70. But Lancaster made short work of their target and Jamie Heywood, 30, was the only batsman dismissed as Javed made 91 not out with four fours and eight sixes and the in-form Michael Stevens 70 not out. Naveed remarkably won the game with five sixes in the final over.
Adam Parker made an excellent century for Leyland and was undefeated with 113 when their innings closed on 225-7 to which Stuart Parker contributed 52 and David Fisher, the next best scorer, 19. Lukman Vahaluwala took 5-64 and made 28 in Preston's reply of 228-5 that gave them a five-wicket victory. Bilal Asad made another century, this time 123, Pip McDonald made 33 and Munaf Bavla 21 while Tom Coxhead took 3-31.
Finally Netherfield and Fleetwood finished with the scores level at Parkside Road with both sides making 181 but the game a draw for Netherfield lost nine wicket and Fleetwood seven. Simon Little was Netherfield's top scorer with 55, Oliver Hill made 28 Pierre de Bruyn 25 and Scott Clement 18 as Dave Fish took 7-57. In Fleetwood's innings Michael Clinning made 82 not out and James Ellis made 42 while openers John Wright and Zac Taylor both made 19. Fleetwood needed seven runs from the final two overs but de Bruyn restricted them to two from the penultimate one. Needing five from the final over Steve Hill failed to score from the first two balls, struck a four from the third ball, failed to score from the fourth and was run out from the fifth and another run out off the last ball ensured the match ended in a draw. Clements who bowled the final over took 3-47.
First Division results in brief (home sides in bold):
Barrow 205-6 (Amla 56, Bamber 48, Javed 4-90), Lancaster 207-1 (Javed 91*, Stevens 70*)
Barrow 3 points, Lancaster 12 points
Darwen 185 (Ashraf 71, Semple 40, Ali 5-55), Carnforth 106-8
Darwen 9 points, Carnforth 4 points
Leyland Motors 228-8 (Cross 101, Ameer Khan 42, John 4-64), Chorley 142-6 (John 81*)
Leyland Motors 8 points, Chorley 4 points
Blackpool 217-9 (Kreusch 91 Taylor C 53, Friend 4-62), Morecambe 218-4 (Woodhead 62, Dennison 40)
Blackpool 3 points, Morecambe 12 points
Netherfield 181-9 (Little 55, Fish 7-57), Fleetwood 181-7 (Clinning 82*, Ellis 42)
Netherfield 9 points, Fleetwood 7 points
Leyland 225-7 (Parker A 113*, Parker S 52, Vahaluwala 5-64), Preston 228-5 (Asad 123)
Leyland 4 points, Preston 12 points
St Annes 246-7 (Austin 66, Evans 41, Whalley 41), Kendal 250-6 (Howarth 72 Ullah 57)
St Annes 4 points, Kendal 12 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
17 |
2 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
168 |
| Darwen |
17 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
26 |
143 |
| Netherfield |
17 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
35* |
134 |
| St Annes |
17 |
0 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
36 |
134 |
| Carnforth |
17 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
36 |
132 |
| Lancaster |
17 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
29 |
130 |
| Preston |
17 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
30 |
129 |
| Fleetwood |
17 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
22 |
128 |
| Kendal |
17 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
26 |
115 |
| Blackpool |
17 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
24 |
115 |
| Leyland Motors |
17 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
1 |
23 |
88 |
| Barrow |
17 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
46 |
80 |
| Chorley |
17 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
6 |
2 |
23 |
62 |
| Leyland & Farington |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
8 |
2 |
24 |
39 |
* 2 points deducted for slow over rate
If teams have the same number of points then the team with most wins comes first,
if they are equal then it is the number of 15 point wins
Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Blackpool 197-6 (Reddy 84, Wall 41), Morecambe 199-6 (Maje 54 Cassidy 42*)
Blackpool 4 points, Morecambe 12 points
Darwen 194-7 (Ainslie 59*, Jackson 49), Carnforth 196-9 (Hornby B 52)
Darwen 6 points, Carnforth 12 points
Leyland Motors 274-6 (Totham 69, Rounding J 58, Afsar 44), Chorley 152-2 (Oakes 80*)
Leyland Motors 7 points, Chorley 3 points
Netherfield 198-9 (Goldstein 45), Fleetwood 124 (Nixon 4-57)
Netherfield 15 points, Fleetwood 3 points
Kendal 153-9 (Dugdale 71, Bartholomew 4-44), St Annes 154-6 (Bartholomew 50)
Kendal 2 points, St Annes 12 points
Barrow 120 (Gledhill 4-55), Lancaster 121-3 (Johnstone 56)
Barrow 0 points, Lancaster 12 points
Preston 160-9 (Lewis 4-33), Leyland 162-9 (Martin Brown 49, Vardy 41)
Preston 5 points, Leyland 12 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
17 |
1 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
30 |
161 |
| Lancaster |
17 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
160 |
| St Annes |
17 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
20 |
157 |
| Netherfield |
17 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
38 |
148 |
| Leyland Motors |
18 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
22 |
145 |
| Fleetwood |
17 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
141 |
| Blackpool |
18 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
18 |
129 |
| Barrow |
17 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
41 |
96 |
| Chorley |
17 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
2 |
25 |
94 |
| Kendal |
17 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
24 |
93 |
| Darwen |
17 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
39 |
91 |
| Carnforth |
17 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
0 |
17 |
90 |
| Leyland & Farington |
17 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
9 |
1 |
29* |
71 |
| Preston |
17 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
23 |
68 |
* 2 points deducted for slow over rate
If teams have the same number of points then the team with most wins comes first,
if they are equal then it is the number of 15 point wins
MATCH ACTION:
KENDAL WIN IN RUN CHASE
St Annes 246-7, Kendal 250-6
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Kendal came out on top in a Northern Premier League game that had almost 500 runs at Vernon Road on Saturday. St Annes won the toss, batted and made a respectable 246-7 but Kendal replied strongly and won by four wickets with 250-6 with three overs and one ball remaining.
St Annes lost Adrian Darlington early when he fell leg before wicket to Kevin Howarth for all five runs that were on the board but then followed a partnership of 114 by Gareth Evans and Ian Austin, with the latter making much of the running with a punishing 66 that included boundaries all round the ground. Evans, 41 from 82 balls with eight fours, was the first to go to a stunning diving catch by Kabir Khan at mid-on as the batsman advanced down the track to Chris Miller and struck a thunderbolt that looked a boundary all the way until Kabir Khan intervened and St Annes were 119-2.
Austin followed at 136-3. He was out when he tried to pull a ball from Ben Simm and was bowled after he had faced 81 balls and struck 14 fours. Duncan Whalley, dropped at slip by Dave Fallows before he had scored, and Russ Bradley carried on the good work and took the total to 175 before the former tried to swing Kabir Khan to leg only to be bowled in similar fashion to his captain and his 41 had come from 46 balls with five fours and one six.
Bradley escaped being stumped off Dilwar Khan on 10 but when he had made 14 Ikram Ullah caught him at wide mid-off and St Annes were 189-5. Aiden Cotton struck one six in his 10 before Kabir Khan bowled him at 209-6 and Joe Davies struck a quick 13 before Kabir Khan bowled him also and it was 215-7. John Musgrave, 24 not out, and Dave Taylor, two not out, took St Annes to their 246-7 as Kabir Khan was the most successful bowler taking 3-63, all three wickets coming in a very good second spell. All the other bowlers took wickets as Howarth had 1-25, Dilwar Khan 1-79, Miller 1-33 and Simm 1-24.
Kendal opened strongly as they had done in the recent Cup tie and Howarth and Ullah raced along and put on 103 in 70 minutes before Ullah struck a wide ball outside the off stump straight to Evans at extra cover and he was gone for 57 made from 57 balls with nine fours. Terry Hunte, needing just 96 runs to become the Northern League's leading runscorer, started as though he would get them in this innings. He very quickly struck two sixes and four fours and was also dropped at long-on by Aiden Cotton when on 19. But it was not too costly for, having struck one six and one four off an Evans' over, he fell to a catch by Musgrave at deep mid-wicket from the final ball and he was gone for 34 at 165-2.
It quickly became 169-3 when Evans trapped Dilwar Khan leg before wicket for three and then Howarth, who had lost the strike for some time and was watching the disasters from the other end, went without addition to the total. From the first ball he had received for some time he got an edge to Whalley behind the stumps off Michael Baer after he had made an excellent 71 from just 80 balls with one six and 12 fours. Captain Kabir Khan made sure that the innings did not degenerate further with six fours in his 27 that came from 28 balls and ended when Bradley caught him off Davies at 211-5. Tony Yasin played in his usual manner, struck two thumping boundaries and then edged Baer to Austin at slip and it was 220-6.
Dave Fallows batted sensibly to ensure no further disasters and when Damian Gudgeon struck Baer for four over long-on it was all over with Fallows 23 not out, Gudgeon 18 not out and Kendal winners by four wickets at 250-6. Evans was the most successful St Annes bowler with 2-25 while Baer took 2-68, Taylor 1-48 and Davies 1-66.
Kevin Howarth bowls to St Annes captain Ian Austin
Dilawar Khan has Gareth Evans on the defensive
Gareth Evans on the run after pulling Dilawar Khan
Ian Austin acknowledges the applause after making 66
Kevin Howarth of Kendal on the attack
Kevin Howarth makes his way to the pavillion after making 71
