By Gerry Wolstenholme
Although Morecambe only drew on Monday, it was with one of their closest challengers and Kendal's washout at Netherfield plus the abandonment at Darwen that meant that Morecambe retain the lead and barring any miracles cannot fail to land the Northern Premier League title this season.
All their leading batsmen made 40s against Lancaster, Mark Lomas 46 not out, Phil Thornton 46, substitute professional Sunil Joshi 42, Mark Woodhead 41 and Phil Dennison 40 as they posted a formidable 263-3 as Tim Barry took 2-58. Lancaster's reply was thwarted after 40 overs when they had scored 162-2 with Jamie Heywood making 72 and Jannisar Khan still there with 70 not out as Sunil Joshi bowled unchanged to take both wickets for 52 runs.
Carnforth were the day's highest scorers with 302-8 to which Nishit Shetty contributed 102, Darren Nelson 41, Quasim Ali 39 and Atiq Uz Zaman 32 while Ahmed Amla took 3-84 and Iain Kermode 3-82. Barrow were then dismissed for just 81 to lose by a massive 221 runs with Stuart Knox making 19 and the only others in double figures being Tod Bamber, 14, Greg Reynolds, 14, and Wayne Platts, 12 as Darren Nelson led the bowling with 3-36 and there were two wickets each for Shetty, for no runs, Robert Parker, for 12 runs, and Lewis Bradley, for 24 runs.
Fleetwood were the day's best movers with 15 points from their win over Blackpool. Doug Watson's 78 proved vital and Michael Clinning added 41 and Nick Coultas 33 to their total of 172 all out. It proved 62 runs too many for Blackpool who were bowled out for 110 thanks to 4-18 from Clinning and 4-40 from Dave Fish. There were four wicket hauls too for Blackpool's Steven Croft, 4-35, and Richard Gleeson, 4-37.
Leyland Motors had a comfortable victory over Leyland for whom Adam Parker held the innings together with 78 not out, James Wright, 24, and Chris Parkinson, 22, being the only other Leyland batsmen in double figures as they made 167-7. Karl Cross made 50, Peter Cummings 72 not out and Ameer Khan 37 not out as Motors won by nine wickets with 168-1.
St Annes disposed of Preston at Vernon Road where the visitors batted first and made 192 with Bilal Asad making 54, Sajid Patel 53 and Lukman Vahaluwala 26 as Arshad Khan took 4-48 and Michael Baer 4-100. St Annes were indebted to Russ Bradley with 63 not out as they won by four wickets with 196-6. Khan made 34, Ian Austin 23 and Yasin Patel took 2-25 and Vahaluwala 2-31 for Preston.
Darwen only had 10 overs against Chorley and made 39-2 with Imran Ali 34 not out and Nigel Eastham taking both wickets to fall for 24 runs before rain caused the abandonment, despite the best efforts of Darwen to dry the ground out. And at Parkside Road there was no play in the local derby with Kendal after rain had seeped under the covers.
First Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Carnforth 302-8 (Shetty 102, Nelson D 41), Barrow 81
Carnforth 15 points, Barrow 2 points
Darwen 39-2 v Chorley - match abandoned both sides 4 points
Fleetwood 172 (Watson 78, Clinning 42, Croft 4-35, Gleeson 4-37), Blackpool (Clinning 4-18, Fish 4-40)
Fleetwood 15 points, Blackpool 3 points
Leyland 167-7 (Parker A 78*), Leyland Motors 168-1 (Cummings 72*, Cross 50)
Leyland 2 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
Morecambe 263-3 (Lomas 46*, Thornton 46, Joshi 42*, Woodhead 41, Dennison 40), Lancaster 162-2 (Heywood J 72, Khan 70*)
Morecambe 7 points, Lancaster 3 points
Netherfield v Kendal - match abandoned both sides 4 points
Preston 192 (Asad 54, Patel S 53, Khan 4-48, Baer 4-100), St Annes 196-6 (Bradley 63*)
Preston 4 points, St Annes 12 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Morecambe |
24 |
2 |
13 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
11* |
216 |
| Kendal |
24 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
4 |
29 |
190 |
| Lancaster |
24 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
38 |
187 |
| Darwen |
24 |
1 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
33 |
187 |
| Fleetwood |
24 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
3 |
29 |
186 |
| Netherfield |
24 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
51* |
185 |
| St Annes |
24 |
0 |
7 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
58 |
185 |
| Preston |
24 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
3 |
40 |
173 |
| Carnforth |
24 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
7 |
3 |
49 |
167 |
| Blackpool |
24 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
38 |
163 |
| Leyland Motors |
24 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
31 |
150 |
| Barrow |
24 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
3 |
63 |
107 |
| Chorley |
24 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
9 |
7 |
4 |
34 |
105 |
| Leyland & Farington |
24 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
14 |
3 |
29 |
48 |
* 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 117 (Wilcock 48, Bradley 5-45), Carnforth 121-4
Barrow 0 points, Carnforth 12 points
Darwen 115, Chorley 116-5
Darwen 1 point, Chorley 12 points
Netherfield 163 (Parkin 5-60, Dugdale 4-42), Kendal 164-6 (Bell D 74*)
Netherfield 3 points, Kendal 12 points
Morecambe 232-7 (Maje 89, Milner 49). Lancaster 136-6 (Welbourne 53)
Morecambe 8 points, Lancaster 3 points
Leyland 190 (Snape 46), Leyland Motors 196-7 (Royle 69)
Leyland 5 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
St Annes 167-4 (Bradley 50, Bartolomew 46, Taylor 46), Preston 120-5
St Annes 7 points, Preston 1 point
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Lancaster |
24 |
6 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
19 |
227 |
| Morecambe |
24 |
1 |
11 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
42 |
225 |
| St Annes |
24 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
4 |
37 |
215 |
| Netherfield |
24 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
53 |
202 |
| Fleetwood |
23 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
14 |
183 |
| Leyland Motors |
25 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
34 |
177 |
| Blackpool |
24 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
5 |
26 |
158 |
| Chorley |
24 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
3 |
34 |
146 |
| Kendal |
24 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
8 |
3 |
31 |
144 |
| Darwen |
24 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
9 |
3 |
46 |
134 |
| Carnforth |
24 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
1 |
30 |
131 |
| Barrow |
24 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
10 |
3 |
53 |
130 |
| Preston |
24 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
11 |
3 |
23 |
104 |
| Leyland & Farington |
24 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
14 |
2 |
40* |
100 |
* 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:
CAPTAINCY SWINGS IT FOR FLEETWOOD
Fleetwood 172, Blackpool 110
Gerry Wolstenholme
John Wright's captaincy for Fleetwood was first-rate all afternoon at a cold and blustery Broadwater on Monday. First of all he won the toss and elected to bat and then, after his side had made a modest 172 all out, he made a significant bowling change that started Blackpool's collapse to 110 all out.
The only down side for Wright was that he made only one when he opened the batting and was then undone by a ball from Richard Gleeson that left him and found the edge to be superbly caught by a diving Steven Croft at second slip to make it 3-1. Doug Watson and Michael Clinning then added 70 runs with the latter the more forthright as he made 42 from 57 balls with eight fours and having been dropped at slip by Justin Kreusch when one, before he lofted Kreusch to Charles Boucher at mid-off.
Adam Sharrocks failed to score but he kept Watson company while the total advanced to 90 before Danson, who had dropped him shortly before, took a good diving catch as Sharrocks flashed rashly at Kreusch. Enter Nick Coultas and he remained for 31 balls from which he scored 33 runs with six fours, many punched off the off-spin of Boucher whose three overs cost 25 runs. Croft then entered the attack and with his second balls he bowled Coultas and that was 145-4.
Wayne Clarke made two before Croft had him pulling a ball to which he only managed to get a top edge and Kreusch took the catch at backward point and that was 157-5. Watson who had advanced to 78 from 139 balls with 10 fours was the next to go when he rashly slogged at Gleeson and was bowled with eight overs remaining. That left Fleetwood on 162-6.
Three wickets then went down while the total was stuck on 168. Croft trapped James Ellis leg before wicket for nought and then bowled Steve Hill, who left a ball that clipped his off-stump (and either came back a foot, his version, or was dead straight, brother Andy's version!) also for nought and he caught Joe Bell off Gleeson when he had made six. Gleeson wrapped the innings up by bowling Fish for three and with Tom Blundell not out one, Fleetwood were all out for 172 with one over and one ball remaining of their allocation of 49, one having been lost to a brief rain break. Croft took 4-35, Gleeson 4-37 and Kreusch 2-26.
Blackpool's reply began with a blaze of shots from Croft and Boucher, culminating in a mighty pulled six out of the ground by Croft off Hill. But Hill had the last word because he had Croft, 21, caught behind from the next ball when the batsman held his bat out to dry and Ellis pouched the catch to have Blackpool 38-1. Next ball it was 38-2 as Hill moved one away from Kreusch and Coultas took the resultant edge at second slip. The game had made a significant swing in two balls.
Dave Newton made two and Fish then had him leg before wicket at 60-3 at which point Wright decided to take Hill from the attack, not because he was bowling badly but because he felt strongly that a slower bowler would induce Boucher to loft a catch. And so it proved as in Clinning's first over Boucher, who had been missed off a caught and bowled chance to Blundell when 21, lobbed the most gentle catch to Adam Sharrocks at mid-wicket and he was gone for 35 and Blackpool were in deep trouble at 62-4.
Clinning continued to wreak havoc as he had Luis Reece, seven, caught behind by Ellis at 72-5 and Chris Taylor, four, caught by Sharrocks at point at 86-7. In between Fish had Michael Moore, six, caught by Ellis at 72-5 and then bowled Paul Danson for two at 80-8. Clinning made it 89-9 when he had David Baker, four, swinging and only top edging to Clarke at slip. There followed the best batting of the Blackpool innings as Michael Taylor, 14 not out, and Gleeson, 12, put on 21 for the last wicket. The partnership ended when Gleeson edged Fish to Ellis and Blackpool, 110 all out, had lost by 62 runs.
The Fleetwood skipper commented, "I decided to bat to go for the maximum points and thanks to Doug Watson we posted a competitive total. There were beginning to look dangerous when Steve Hill took his two wickets in two balls and thereafter Michael Clinning and Dave Fish sealed the satisfying win."
Fleetwood's Doug Watson plays down the ground
Michael Clinning takes the aerial route
Blackpool's Michael Moore on the attack
Fleetwood captain John Wright looks on as
Richard Gleeson tries to save Blackpool
