Match Day 26th August 2006 IT COULD WELL BE MORECAMBE'S TITLE By Gerry Wolstenholme Results on Saturday were such that Morecambe's lead at the top of the table was increased and a win for Kendal turned the Cumbrians into their nearest rivals. And a win for resurgent Lancaster combined with defeats for Netherfield and Darwen moved the Lune Road side into a deserved third place. Four hundred and seventy five runs were scored at Parkside Road and Morecambe made one more than Netherfield to win by five wickets with two balls of the game remaining. Craig Walmsley (batting without the Wellington boots he wore while batting in Terry Hunte's benefit game on Sunday!) with 55 was Netherfield's top scorer in their 237-8 as Pierre de Bruyn scored 46, Simon Little 20 and then there was an unbroken ninth wicket stand of 70 plus by Ben Haddrick, 45 not out, and Marc Hadwin a career-best 33 not out (and as he said later, "probably a lifetime best") as Jono Gates took the bowling honours with 4-47. Phil Dennison 125 not out, substitute professional Rahman, who had earlier taken 2-59, 53, Mark Lomas 28 and Tommy Clough with eight not out saw Morecambe home with their 238-5. Darwen slipped up at Leyland Motors where the home side made a modest 160 but it was enough to win the game by 25 runs as Darwen were vanquished for just 135. Alan Richardson top scored for Leyland Motors with 40 while Tom Reece made 28 and Faisel Patel 23 as Keith Semple took 4-36, Andrew Mercer 3-36 and Imran Ali 2-42. Darwen top order failed and it was left to Andrew Mercer, 41 not out, to put some respectability on the total as only Yasin Patel, 17, and Chris Clarke, 14, made more than the 11 of Keith Semple and the 10 of Gareth Cordingley. David Makinson took 4-23 and Ameer Khan 4-67. Preston won at Chorley where their 202-9 from 45 overs was 58 runs too many for Chorley who were bowled out for 144 thanks to Bilal Asad's 5-40, Roger Kaye's 2-43 and Yasin Patel's 2-47 with John Ratledge making 62 but then only Andy Holdsworth, 23, passing the 20 mark. Asad made 71 for Preston and there was 33 each from Paul Mann and Pip McDonald as Guarav Dhar took 4-68 and Stephen John 3-81. At Shap Road Terry Hunte made his 39th Northern League century with a magnificent 132 not out and with Gareth Ashburner making 40, Kendal were able to declare at 227-4 after 45 overs. Leyland then began disastrously and at one time they were 2-5. They made something of a recovery, relatively speaking, and totalled 57 all out to lose by a massive 170 runs. Adam Parker made 15 and Sean Dunk made 27 not out as Kabir Khan took an impressive 8-31, with Kevin Howarth 1-18 and Dilwar Khan 1-8. Lancaster carried on with their impressive season by totalling 257-3 after a good opening partnership by father and son David and Jamie Heywood as the former made 65 and the latter 58 but the innings of the day came from Jannisar Khan who made 105 not out. Carnforth were then dismissed for 122 to lose by 135 runs as runs came from number nine Robert Parker, 39, and number eight Graham Wilson, 24, after Atiq Uz Zaman made 26 earlier on. Graham Barnes was the main destroyer with 4-45 as Khan took 3-49 and Tim Barry 3-23. Barrow drew with Blackpool at Stanley Park after they batted first and scored 191-8 thanks to Ahmed Amla's 59, Tod Bamber's 34 and Jonathan Miles' 19 not out as Justin Kreusch took 2-28 and Paul Danson 2-51. Blackpool then lost an over at then end of their innings when they looked on track for victory but in the end they had to settle for a draw with 186-8 to which Charles Boucher contributed 61, Mark Griffiths 29 and Kreusch 26 with Miles taking 3-26 and Iain Kermode 2-28. There was also a draw at Broadwater where Ian Austin delayed his declaration until three balls from the end of the innings by which time his side has scored a massive 274-4 with Gareth Evans making 104 and Austin 82. Fleetwood replied with 135-9, having lost four overs at the end of their innings, with Doug Watson making 61 and Michael Clinning 47 as Arshad Khan bowled a controlled spell of off-spin to finish with 5-26. Division One scores in brief (home sides in bold): Barrow 191-8 (Amla 59), Blackpool 186-8 (Boucher 61) Barrow 9 points, Blackpool 6 points Preston 202-9 (Asad 71, Dhar 4-68), Chorley 144 (Ratledge 62, Asad 5-40) Preston 15 points, Chorley 4 points St Annes 274-4 dec (Evans 104, Austin 82), Fleetwood 135-9 (Watson 61, Clinning 47, Khan 5-26) St Annes 10 points, Fleetwood 1 point Kendal 227-4 dec (Hunte 132*, Ashburner 40), Leyland 57 (Khan K 8-31) Kendal 15 points, Leyland 0 points Lancaster 257-3 (Khan 105*, Heywood D 65, Heywood J 58), Carnforth 122 (Barnes 4-45) Lancaster 15 points, Carnforth 0 points Leyland Motors 160 (Richardson 40, Semple 4-36), Darwen 135 (Mercer 41*, Makinson D 4-23, Khan 4-67) Leyland Motors 15 points, Darwen 3 points Netherfield 237-8 (Walmsley 55, Gates 4-47), Morecambe 238-5 (Dennison 125*, Rahman 53) Netherfield 4 points, Morecambe 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Morecambe 23 2 13 1 1 3 3 8* 209 Kendal 23 8 1 3 1 7 3 29 186 Lancaster 23 3 6 4 3 4 3 36 184 Darwen 23 1 9 3 3 4 3 33 183 Netherfield 23 4 3 6 2 6 2 51* 181 St Annes 23 0 6 6 3 4 4 58 173 Fleetwood 23 5 4 1 3 7 3 29 171 Preston 23 4 4 3 1 8 3 36 169 Blackpool 23 2 5 4 3 5 4 35 160 Carnforth 23 0 6 4 3 7 3 49 152 Leyland Motors 23 3 3 4 2 9 2 31 138 Barrow 23 0 1 4 4 11 3 61 105 Chorley 23 0 4 0 9 7 3 34 101 Leyland & Farington 23 0 0 0 7 13 3 27 46 * 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): Barrow 249-5 (Lightfoot 75, Glasgow 54, Halfpenny 44, Wilcock 43*), Blackpool 73-0 Barrow 7 points, Blackpool 2 points Carnforth 218-8 (Darby 109), Lancaster 219-2 (Atkinson 100*, Sparks 86) Carnforth 3 points, Lancaster 12 points Darwen 185-6 (Heys 76, Cartwright 4-42), Leyland Motors 141 (Woolard 56, Lawrenson 5-36) Darwen 15 points, Leyland Motors 2 points Leyland 132 (Farrington 81, Dugdale 5-19), Kendal 60 (Pallett 4-19) Leyland 15 points, Kendal 3 points Netherfield 152-8 (Stephens 4-33), Morecambe 153-8 Netherfield 3 points, Morecambe 12 points Preston 93, Chorley 94-4 Preston 0 points, Chorley 12 points St Annes 246-4 (Taylor 72, Kellett 69, Bartholomew 46), Fleetwood 208-8 (Buschini 56*, Emsley 40, Musgrave 5-72) St Annes 9 points, Fleetwood 4 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Lancaster 23 6 8 2 1 3 3 17 224 Morecambe 23 1 11 6 0 3 2 38 217 St Annes 23 3 8 3 5 0 4 34 208 Netherfield 23 4 5 5 1 6 2 50 199 Fleetwood 23 5 6 1 2 5 4 14 183 Leyland Motors 24 3 5 2 2 8 4 34 165 Blackpool 24 2 6 2 2 7 5 26 158 Chorley 23 1 6 0 1 12 3 34 134 Darwen 23 1 4 2 5 8 3 45 133 Kendal 23 2 4 2 3 8 3 31 132 Barrow 23 2 1 5 3 9 3 53 130 Carnforth 23 0 7 0 1 14 1 30 119 Preston 23 3 1 2 3 11 3 23 103 Leyland & Farington 23 1 3 0 3 13 2 35* 95 * 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 FLEETWOOD HANG ON FOR DRAW St Annes 274-4 dec, Fleetwood 135-9 By Gerry Wolstenholme A game that was twice interrupted by rain at Broadwater on Saturday eventually ended in a draw after St Annes had posted a massive 274-4 before declaring in the final over of their 48 over innings, two overs having been lost to a rain break. Fleetwood replied with 134-9 after four overs had been chopped out of their reply due to a late flurry of rain so perhaps St Annes left their declaration too late for an earlier closure would have given them more overs to bowl out Fleetwood and perhaps they would also have avoided the rain by finishing the game sooner. In the absence of Steve Hill, Tom Blundell and Dave Fish opened the bowling but neither looked particularly effective on a track that did not give them much help. Adrian Darlington and Gareth Evans moved completely untroubled past the half-century and then Darlington struck a glorious straight four down the ground off Fish but the next ball he was early on an attempted drive and succeeded in only giving a grateful Fish a gentle return catch. He had gone for 30 and the total was 58-1. Evans and Ian Austin then continued the onslaught as John Wright rotated his bowlers, even giving returning professional Doug Watson six overs with his off-cutters. But nothing ruffled the batsmen although Tom Clarke dropped Austin on the long-on boundary on 17. Tom Clarke eventually got his revenge but not until Austin had progressed to 82 made from 97 balls with two sixes and seven fours at which point he struck Clarke to long-on where Watson held the catch at 224-2. Evans moved to a delightful century but on 104, made from 140 balls with 15 sweetly struck fours, he holed out to Fish at long-off from the bowling of Tom Wilson and it was 234-3. Duncan Whalley made only eight before Blundell bowled him as he looked for late runs at 253-4 and there was time for Joe Davies to strike a rapid 27 not out and Arshad Khan to nonchalantly flick a six into an adjacent garden from his first ball on his way to eight not out before Austin called him men in with three balls of the innings remaining. The declaration at 274-4 came about when Wilson stuck out a hand to stop a straight drive and injured his hand and was about to be replaced by Sharrocks for the final three balls but Austin decided to declare instead. Wilson's 1-35 was Fleetwood's best bowling effort while the other wicket takers were somewhat expensive with Tom Clarke 1-60, Fish 1-69 and Blundell 1-71. St Annes struck early when Fleetwood replied as Wright went for an expansive drive off Ben Dowling and was caught behind by Whalley for two at 4-1. Watson, not quite in the touch that he was last season in the early stages of his innings, and Michael Clinning, dropped by Khan at second slip off Davies when one, then looked in no danger as they took the Fleetwood total past the 100 mark. But the drinks break upset their concentration and both were out within a few minutes of the resumption and the first of the wickets precipitated the fall of seven wickets for just six runs as the Fleetwood middle order disintegrated. A disappointed Watson was the first to go when he had made 61 from 83 balls with 10 fours, the later ones more perfectly timed than those earlier, when he mis-hit Dave Taylor to mid-off where Davies took a good low catch. Two balls earlier he too had struck a straight drive to the boundary to take Fleetwood to 111 but Clinning had become becalmed after a smooth 47 from 79 balls with four fours and he drove Taylor to extra cover where Khan took another low catch and Fleetwood were 112-3. It was 113-4 when Wayne Clarke failed to score and was scooped up at mid-wicket by John Ashworth, who a few balls previously had dropped him from a sharp chance at short extra cover. Adam Sharrocks made two but then Davies held another good catch at backward short leg off Khan and that was 114-5. James Ellis scored all three runs that took the total to 117 before Khan trapped him leg before wicket and without addition Blundell inexplicably charged down the track to Khan to be stumped by a country mile by Whalley. Khan then yorked Fish for a duck and that was Fleetwood in deep trouble at 117-8. Young Bruce Budden survived a confident appeal for leg before wicket from his first ball but he and Wilson, bravely batting with his injured finger, took Fleetwood to 126-8 when the light rain became much heavier and the players had to leave the field. The covers were put on, the rain became heavier and it looked very much like Fleetwood had escaped but suddenly the skies cleared, the covers were removed and play was restarted with the eight overs that had been left reduced to four. Budden and Wilson negotiated three of them but from the first ball of the last, bowled by the returning Dowling, Wilson was bowled for five and that was 134-9. In came Tom Clarke. He survived his first ball, took a single off his second and then watched as Budden safely negotiated the final three balls, the last of which brought a vehement appeal for leg before wicket, more in hope than expectation. Fleetwood therefore closed on 135-9 to earn one point for their valiant efforts but they did prevent St Annes from picking up the maximum 15. Khan bowled extremely well for St Annes and finished with 5-26 from 15 overs, Taylor took 2-36 and Dowling 2-28. Fleetwood's Pro from last season Doug Watson returns to Sub Pro for the rest of the season. Doug Watson bowls to Ian Austin St Annes Gareth Evans plays David Fish to Leg Doug Watson receives his first ball from Joe Davies David Taylor bowls to Doug Watson Watson on the attack against Arshad Khan St Annes crowd Fleetwood's Bruce Budden.

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