By Gerry Wolstenholme
Fleetwood were the day's earliest victors in their game at Chorley's Windsor Park where the home side were clinically despatched for just 81 as Dave Fish took a hat-trick, dismissing Jack Catterall caught at cover before claiming two leg before wicket decisions. For good measure he had another leg before wicket decision to make it four wickets in five balls as he finished with 4-13. Stephen John, 28, was Chorley's top scorer and Mark Richardson made 19. Fleetwood then cruised to their early finish, winning by eight wickets with 82-2, as Michael Dewhurst made 35 and Michael Clinning 27 not out.
Carnforth once again batted well and made 233-4 at Blackpool's Stanley Park against a side shorn of the bowling of Justin Kreusch, injured, and Steven Croft, called away by Lancashire. This left bowling resources a little bare and Carnforth took full advantage as Lyndell Richardson struck 69 and Omari Banks 66. But Carnforth could not capitalise on their excellent batting display and, despite having Blackpool at 108-8 with 14 overs remaining, they were unable to take the final two wickets as Paul Danson and Richard Gleeson not only held out but also took their side to two batting bonus points at 168-8.
Preston had a good win at West Cliff where Leyland Motors made 180-7 with James Aspinwall making 50 and Preston professional Bilal Asad taking 3-65. It was not enough, however, as the home side won by seven wickets with 181-3. Lukman Vahaluwala top scored with 52 not out, Asad made 44 and Munaf Bavla made 30
It was a nail biter at Shap Road where Terry Hunte made 64, Kabir Khan 60 not out and Ahmed Elech 28 from Kendal's 207-6 as Keith Semple took 2-77. But with Darwen professional Atif Ashraf in great form they lost by four wickets as Ashraf, who had managed to engineer the bowling from a misfield off the penultimate ball, struck a boundary off the final ball to take his personal score to 154 not out and his side to victory by four wickets at 209-6. Gareth Cordingley was next best with 19 and Aslam Qurashi took 3-74.
Another exciting finish was at Lune Road where Netherfield, on the back of 50 from Grahame Clarke, 32 from Tommy Prime, 28 from Rishi Girdhari and 24 from Simon Little made 194-8 with Grahame Barnes taking 3-77 and Jannisar Khan 2-33. Lancaster made a valiant effort, thanks to Khan's 85 and new captain Tim Barry's 65, but the latter was run out and Lancaster closed two runs short of their target at 193-5 and had to settle for a draw. Scott Clement took 2-43 and Peter Lawson 2-55 for Netherfield.
Leyland earned a draw at home to Morecambe where the visitors made 162-9 to which Leyland replied with 127-7, with Adam Parker making 46 and Alex Mercer 22 while Jono Gates took 2-11 and Gareth Peddar took 2-25. For Morecambe Phil Thornton made 54 and Mark Lomas 40 with Phil Dennison making 16 as Brian Tennant took 3-26.
St Annes were the day's highest scorers with 234-6 to which Adrian Darlington contributed 57, Stephen Twist 40, Joe Davies 34, Zeshan Pervez 26 and Gareth Evans 22 while Daryl Wearing took 3-54. But they could not finish off Barrow who closed on 152-8 after some late resistance from Wearing, 58 not out, and Lee Cosgrove, 32 not out, who added an unbroken 89 for the ninth wicket. Davies took 3-32, Twist 2-28 and Michael Baer 2-36
First Division results (home side in bold):
Carnforth 233-4 (Richardson 69, Banks 66*), Blackpool 168-8 (Kreusch 52)
Carnforth 9 points, Blackpool 3 points
Chorley 81 (Fish 4-13), Fleetwood 82-2
Chorley 0 points, Fleetwood 12 points
Kendal 207-6 (Hunte 64, Khan 60*), Darwen 209-6 (Ashraf 154*)
Kendal 4 points, Darwen 12 points
Netherfield 194-8 (Clarke 50), Lancaster 193-5 (Khan 85, Barry 65)
Netherfield 8 points, Lancaster 6 points
Morecambe 162-9 (Thornton 54, Lomas 40), Leyland 127-7 (Parker 46)
Morecambe 8 points, Leyland 4 points
Leyland Motors 180-7 (Aspinwall ), Preston 181-3
Leyland Motors 3 points, Preston 12 points
St Annes 234-5 (Darlington 57, Twist 40), Barrow 152-8 (Wearing 58*)
St Annes 9 points, Barrow 3 points
There were two century makers in Division Two. Prash Aga made 106 not out for Blackpool as they defeated Carnfoth in a high-scoring encounter, 254 played 259-2 and Aidan Cotton made 128 not out for St Annes as they totalled 240-3 before bowling Barrow out for 105 and a 135-run victory.
Best bowling of the day came from Leyland Motors' Nishat Afsar who took 7-24 as Preston were bowled out for 98 and his side scored 99-7 to win by three wickets.
Division Two results (home side in bold):
St Annes 240-5 (Cotton 128*), Barrow 105
St Annes 15 points, Barrow 1 point
Carnforth 254 (Barnfield 72, Tomlinson 71, Russell 54), Blackpool 259-2 (Aga 106*, Caunce 75, Moore 62*)
Carnforth 3 points, Blackpool 12 points
Kendal 269-5, Darwen 258-5
Kendal 8 points, Darwen 5 points
Chorley 190-5 (Oakes 58, Holdsworth 44*), Fleetwood 193-4 (Whiteside 58, Emsley 57)
Chorley 3 points, Fleetwood 12 points
Preston 98 (Afsar 7-24), Leyland Motors 99-7
Preston 2 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
Leyland 146-7 (Farrington 90*), Morecambe 147-6 (Maje 48, Lewis 4-29)
Leyland 3 points, Morecambe 12 points
Lancaster 241 (Welbourne 89, Atkinson 45, Hartley 4-52, Wilson 4-78), Netherfield 188 (Hampshire 73, Moffatt 4-52)
Lancaster 15 points, Netherfield 6 points
MATCH ACTION
CARNFORTH 233-4, BLACKPOOL 168-8
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Carnforth's first visit to Stanley Park brought them the better part of a drawn game in which, on a superb batting track, they scored an excellent 233-4 from their 50 overs. But then reducing Blackpool to 108-8 they were unable to finish the job as skipper Paul Danson and Richard Gleeson fought a rearguard action to take Blackpool to safety at 168-8.
The game opened sensationally with Lyndell ('Mushie') Richardson hooking Chris Taylor's second ball straight into, and out of, the hands of Jamie Reddy at fine leg. He profited from this escape and with a series of dashing strokes raced on to a fine half-century. His partner, Ryan Nelson, was the perfect foil, keeping the scoreboard moving and allowing his free scoring partner as much of the strike as he could. They put on 105 in 25 overs and were separated just before the drinks break when Richardson, having plundered two boundaries from the over, tried for a third and was bowled by Gleeson when forcing to leg.
Nelson went on to 44 before he too perished unnecessarily. He swung at the off-spin of Charles Boucher and only succeeded in picking out the safe hands of Martin Pickles, a late replacement for Steven Croft, at deep mid-off and that was 131-2. The tall Omari Banks opened cautiously and increased his score in singles and when he had 13 of them he too had a life when the unfortunate Reddy spilled a catch at long-off. Quasim Ali meanwhile was taking on the Richardson role and he struck two fours and one six in a quick-fire 28 from 27 balls. He too had a life when dropped off a leading edge on seven at backward short leg before he holed out to long-on where Justin Kreusch took the catch off Michael Taylor and that was 180-3.
By then Banks was in his stride and although he lost Atiq Uz-zaman for nine when Robin Bracewell took a good catch diving forward at short mid-wicket off Michael Taylor, he went on to make 66 not out from 73 balls with two fours and one huge six deep into the car park. Captain Darren Nelson, who was bowled by a no-ball when on two, made seven not out as Carnforth closed on a very defendable 233-4. Michael Taylor took 2-62, Gleeson 1-27, and Boucher, who was perhaps kept on too long with another off-spinner Paul Danson in the side, 1-93.
Blackpool's reply began badly and, as last week, Boucher was dismissed in the first over when he played a poor shot and Darren Nelson bowled him off his pads at 1-1. Kreusch and Reddy then put on 59 in 46 minutes with the professional the senior partner before the latter, who had been caught at slip off a no-ball when 14, fished outside the off stump to Banks and was caught by Uz-zaman for 21 at 60-2.
Kreusch went on to make 52 before a leading edge off Banks lobbed to Robert Parker at mid-on and, after a bit of juggling, he took the catch to make Blackpool 89-3. It was very quickly 89-4 when Lewis Bradley bowled Michael Taylor, 14, once again off his pads. Bracewell and Louis Reece, who had earlier bowled a good spell of six overs for 12 runs, took the total to 102 before the former, who had been dropped off a caught and bowled chance to Ali on seven, swept Banks only to be caught at deep backward square leg by Darren Nelson for nine.
Three wickets were then lost for one run and Carnforth looked well on course for their first victory. Reece, six, carved a ball into the outfield where Parker comfortably held the catch at deep mid-off, Pickles, sweeping, was adjudged leg before wicket for two, and Chris Taylor shouldered arms only to find his off stump knocked back by Ali before he had scored and that was 108-8 with 14 of the 50 overs remaining.
However Carnforth lacked the final cutting edge and, with the field on occasions surprisingly deep, Danson and Gleeson negotiated the final overs with no difficulty and even took their side to two bonus points. Danson made 37 not out from 49 balls with five fours and one six, and Gleeson 13 not out from 47 balls as Blackpool closed on 168-8. Banks had 4-50 from 20 overs, Ali 2-21, Darren Nelson 1-22 and Bradley 1-42.
Carnforth's Lyndell Richardson acknowledges his 50
Omari Banks Carnforth's Professional
Blackpool's Justin Kreusch on the denfence
St Annes Sub Professional Zeeshan Pervez
