By Gerry Wolstenholme
Kendal opening batsmen Ikram Ullah and Kevin Howarth had a field day at Carnforth on Sunday and broke the league's opening partnership record by putting on 304 before Ullah, 151, was out in the final over. The in-form Howarth remained unbeaten on 131 as Kendal closed on a massive 308-1. Carnforth replied with 140-2 from 32.4 overs before rain had the last say. Atiq Uz Zaman was not out 57 and Quasim Ali was not out 47 but all the two teams got was a draw.
It was a draw too at Barrow where Darwen posted 260-5 with Gareth Cordingley getting his eighth league century, a career-best equalling 122, Keith Semple making 55, Chris Lowe 30 and Neil Cordingley 26 not out. Barrow replied with a modest 154-6 with professional Ahmed Amla not out 75 and Stuart Knox making 37 while substitute professional Zahoor Elahi took 3-42 and Andrew Mercer 2-37.
A surprise draw was at Woodhill Lane where leaders Morecambe had the worse of the game against Leyland Motors who batted first and made 202-8 with Karl Cross making a top score of 47, Ameer Khan making 37, Alan Richardson 27 and Faisel Patel 23 and Garnett Kruger taking 4-78. Phil Thornton then made 52 as Morecambe struggled to 117-5 before the rain came.
St Annes too could only draw with Netherfield when rain interrupted their reply when they were on course for victory. Netherfield made 205-8 thanks to 57 from Tommy Prime as Arshad Khan bowled all through and ended with 5-67. Ian Austin led the St Annes reply and he was 89 not out from 192-4 when two rain breaks, the last one terminal, ended their hopes when there were nine and then five overs and two balls remaining.
At West Cliff Preston made short work of Fleetwood after they piled up 205-5 batting first. They then dismissed the visitors for only 96 to register a 109-run victory. Lukman Vahaluwala, 54, Pip McDonald 51, Bilal Asad 47, and Paul Mann, 41, were Preston's leading scorers with Steve Hill's 2-50 being the best the Fleetwood bowlers could offer. Two ducks in the first four did not help Fleetwood's cause when they replied and it was only 29 from Adam Sharrocks and 11 from Wayne Clarke that took them on until Tom Blundell, 18 not out, and Dave Fish, 15, put some semblance of respectability on the total with a swashbuckling last-wicket stand. Vahaluwala made it a good all-round day with 4-13.
Michael Stevens of Lancaster carried his good form of the previous day into the game against Chorley and he made his first senior century, 105 not out, and with Jannisar Khan making 77 and Jamie Heywood 55, Lancaster totalled 257-3 before declaring. Chorley made a brave effort to reach their target but Iain Burstow, 5-62, was just too good and despite 75 not out from Guarav Dhar 30 from Ian Oakes and 24 from Andy Holdsworth, Chorley were bowled out for 181 to lose by 76 runs.
Finally Blackpool finished their game at Fox Lane very early as they bowled out Leyland for 81 with Justin Kreusch and Michael Taylor both taking 4-26, the latter improving on his career best performance of the previous day. For Leyland only Sean Dunk, 17, Steve Pallett, 12, and Charlie Williams, 12, reached double figures. Blackpool knocked off 83-1 for victory in 13.3 overs with Charles Boucher making 58 not out, the only wicket to be lost that of Dave Newton for 19.
First Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Darwen 260-5 (Cordingley G 122, Semple 55), Barrow 154-6 (Amla 75*)
Darwen 8 points, Barrow 3 points
Kendal 308-1 (Ullah 151, Howarth 131*), Carnforth 140-2 (Uz Zaman 57*)
Kendal 7 points, Carnforth 2 points
Lancaster 257-3 dec (Stevens 106*, Khan 77, Heywood J 56), Chorley 181 (Dhar 75*, Burstow 5-62)
Lancaster 15 points, Chorley 3 points
Leyland 81 (Kreusch 4-26, Taylor M 4-26), Blackpool 83-1 (Boucher 58*)
Leyland 0 points, Blackpool 12 points
Leyland Motors 202-8 (Cross 44), Morecambe 117-5 (Thornton 52)
Leyland Motors 8 points, Morecambe 3 points
Preston 205-5 (Vahaluwala 54, McDonald 51, Asad 47, Mann 41, Fleetwood 96 (Vahaluwala 4-13)
Preston 15 pints, Fleetwood 1 point
Netherfield 205-8 (Prime 57, Khan 5-67), St Annes 192-4 (Austin 89*)
Netherfield 7 points, St Annes 6 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
21 |
2 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
195 |
| Darwen |
21 |
1 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
30 |
176 |
| Netherfield |
21 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
47* |
173 |
| Kendal |
21 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
29 |
167 |
| Fleetwood |
21 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
29 |
166 |
| Lancaster |
21 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
36 |
165 |
| St Annes |
21 |
0 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
52 |
159 |
| Preston |
21 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
36 |
150 |
| Blackpool |
21 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
30 |
150 |
| Carnforth |
21 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
49 |
148 |
| Leyland Motors |
21 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
1 |
31 |
119 |
| Chorley |
21 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
9 |
6 |
2 |
30 |
93 |
| Barrow |
21 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
11 |
2 |
56 |
92 |
| Leyland & Farington |
21 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
12 |
2 |
27 |
42 |
* 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):
Leyland 149 (Brown, Martin 56, Booth 6-29), Blackpool 150-3 (Reddy 68*)
Leyland 1 point, Blackpool 12 points
Chorley 215-5, Lancaster 216-3 (Sparks 104, Welbourne 85)
Chorley 3 points, Lancaster 12 points
Darwen 208-6 (Painter 92, Heys 48, Heffernan 4-52), Barrow 78-6
Darwen 8 points, Barrow 2 points
Preston 121 (McDonald J 60*), Fleetwood 38 (Starkie 7-18)
Preston 15 points, Fleetwood 3 points
Kendal 234-9 (Killiner 113, Ali 43*), Carnforth 200 (Dugdale 51, Hornby 47, Parkin 5-86)
Kendal 15 points, Carnforth 6 points
Leyland Motors 117 (Quinn 6-44), Morecambe 118-2 (Maje 69*, Izatt 43)
Leyland Motors 0 points, Morecambe 12 points
Netherfield 249-8 (Goldstein 95), St Annes 186-3 (Taylor, Adam 56)
Netherfield 7 points, St Annes 6 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Lancaster |
21 |
6 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
17 |
208 |
| Morecambe |
21 |
1 |
10 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
38 |
201 |
| St Annes |
21 |
3 |
8 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
29 |
195 |
| Netherfield |
21 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
47 |
192 |
| Fleetwood |
21 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
175 |
| Leyland Motors |
22 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
3 |
32 |
159 |
| Blackpool |
22 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
4 |
25 |
152 |
| Kendal |
21 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
2 |
28 |
125 |
| Barrow |
21 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
9 |
2 |
50 |
119 |
| Chorley |
21 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
2 |
34 |
118 |
| Darwen |
21 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
8 |
2 |
45 |
114 |
| Carnforth |
21 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
0 |
27 |
112 |
| Preston |
21 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
10 |
2 |
23 |
99 |
| Leyland & Farington |
21 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
13 |
1 |
36* |
78 |
* 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:
RAIN HAS THE FINAL SAY
Netherfield 205-8, St Annes 192-4
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Both St Annes and Netherfield were looking to put the pressure on leaders Morecambe when they met at Vernon Road on Sunday but, after beginning in sunshine, the clouds rolled in and rain forced the players from the field and the game ended in a draw. St Annes had won the toss, put Netherfield in to bat and then restricted them to 205-8 in their 50 overs. In reply St Annes were on course for victory when the first rain break came with nine overs remaining. The players did manage to return for 10 balls but then the rain came with a vengeance and the game was abandoned with St Annes within striking distance of their target at 192-4.
The game began badly for St Annes for in the second over bowled by Arshad Khan a ball spat off a length, flew past an astonished Pierre de Bruyn and hit wicketkeeper Duncan Whalley a sickening blow below the left eye. After lengthy treatment on the field he had to retire and Adam Cotton took over behind the stumps.
Craig Walmsley had begun in his usual flamboyant way and struck one fine four in the opening over but when he had made 11 a ball appeared to stop on him and he could only lob a gentle catch to Russ Bradley at mid-off from the bowling of Joe Davies and Netherfield were 12-1. Oliver Hill joined de Bruyn and the pair took the total to 59 before the professional was out when he drove Khan to Davies at mid-on the ball after imperiously pulling Khan for four and he had gone for 25. Hill, dropped at slip by Austin off the luckless Dave Taylor on eight and, as is often the way, driving the next ball to the boundary, was the next to go when he was bowled by Khan for 12 at 68-3.
There followed the most productive partnership of the innings between Tommy Prime and Chris Parry, which was broken when Cotton snared his first stumping of the innings when Parry, 21, went down the track to Khan and that was 136-4. Prime was the next to go as he too was stumped by Cotton off Khan after making a fine 57 from 73 balls with seven fours and Netherfield were 155-5.
Ben Haddrick made a quick 13 before Austin caught him head high at mid-wicket off Michael Baer at 186-6 and it was 189-7 when Darren Moore, one, became Cotton's third stumping, again off Khan. As was stated by someone very closely involved it was "a masterclass of wicketkeeping" by the deputy stumper! A subdued Grahame Clarke made 19, one straight six off Michael Baer and 13 singles, before Baer got his revenge when Clarke carved a ball to Khan at third man and that was 191-8. There was just time for the combative Scott Clement to make seven not out and Peter Lawson six not out as Netherfield closed on 205-8. Khan, bowling unchanged, took 5-67, Baer 2-61 and Davies 1-23.
The St Annes reply got off to a bad start when Gareth Evans, two, got a leading edge to Marc Hadwin, who opened the bowling, and was caught by Prime at mid-off at 5-1. Adrian Darlington rolled back the years as he and Austin put on 74 runs for the second wicket, a partnership that ended when the former, 32, was superbly caught by de Bruyn off Clement. He drove Clement to extra cover where the South African made ground and dived upwards and backwards to take a stunning one-handed catch that equally that of Jack Bond at Lord's in 1971!
Russ Bradley could not get going and had just appeared to settle with a four through extra cover when he edged Clement to Parry behind the stumps. He was gone for five and it was 109-3. Enter Joe Davies and he realised that the weather was closing in and went for his shots from the first ball and he had made 37 from 46 balls with seven fours when the first rain break came with nine overs remaining and At Annes on 179-3.
A short delay meant the loss of two overs but St Annes were still in the driving seat even though the gloom was by then stygian. Davies perished to the first ball after the break when he drove at Hadwin only to be caught at backward point by a diving Lawson and that was 179-4. Khan struck a boundary and Austin imperiously drove Hadwin down out of the ground for six as St Annes tried to beat the weather. But they failed as rain fell more heavily and the umpires had little option but to take the players from the field with St Annes on 192-4 and Austin on 89 not out made from 118 balls with one six and 10 fours. Hadwin had two for 44 and the wholehearted Clement 2-42 but the draw did neither side much good in significantly closing the gap even though Morecambe only managed a draw too.
Concerned St Annes Players gather round the injured Duncan Whalley
Another injury, this time Dave Taylor received a nasty blow
on the hip bone while fielding, fortunately he quickley recovered
Netherfield's Pierre De Bruyn plays foward to Ashard Khan
Ian Austin on the backfoot
