Match Day 9th September 2006 WELL DONE LEYLAND ... BUT MORECAMBE ARE CHAMPIONS Congratulations must go to Leyland this week for pulling off their first victory of the season in the final game, what a great effort by a great bunch of lads after what must have been a very trying season. But it is Morecambe who take the accolades by winning their fourth title and their first since 1995 (the other two were in 1968 and 1992). Leyland batted first against Barrow and made 167-9 in their 50 overs thanks to 43 from Russ Miller, 22 from Alex Mercer and 21 from Brian Tennant as Ahmed Amla took 5-42 and Iain Kermode 2-45. Amla then made the majority of Barrow's runs, 75 not out from a total of 108 that gave Leyland a deserved victory by 59 runs. Ian Allington with 13 was the only other Barrow batsman in double figures as James Wright took 6-32 and he was supported by Tennant 2-21 and Adam Parker, 2-54. Morecambe beat Chorley by 60 runs by scoring 182 and then bowling their opponents out for 122. Tommy Clough held the Morecambe innings together with a fine 83 while Damian Gudgeon chipped in with 23 and Gareth Peddar with 21 as Stephen John, Guarav Dhar and Andy Holdsworth all took three wickets, for 27, 44, and 21 runs respectively. David Naylor top scored for Chorley with 28 while John Ratledge made 25 and Billy Smith at number 11 made 12 not out. Graham Lee took 4-18 for Morecambe, Peddar had 3-43 and there was a wicket for Stuart Errington, 1-6. Carnforth once again scored heavily but once again their total of well over 200 was not enough as Preston overhauled their 258 all out in 46.1 overs with 260-3 made from 41.3 overs. Atiq Uz Zaman made 104, Lyndell Richardson 42 and Darren Nelson 26 for Carnforth while Yasin Patel took 6-75 and Lukman Vahaluwala 4-66 for Preston. Bilal Asad then completed a fine first season with a magnificent 133 (one more than his tremendous 132 not out in a Twenty20 game at Stanley Park earlier in the season) and Paul Mann made 70 not out at Preston made easy meat of their target. Blackpool also scored over 200 and lost, their 210-9 being beaten by Netherfield's 213-4, which came with 7.1 overs remaining. David Newton, 33, and Charles Boucher, 53, gave Blackpool a good start with a partnership of 93 and then with Zaheer Rehman making 69, Blackpool were at one point 175-2 but they fell away in the face of some good bowling by Peter Lawson 4-46 and Scott Clement 3-34. Craig Walmsley then got the Netherfield innings off to its usual explosive start and 50 were on the board by the sixth over. Walmsley eventually went for an excellent, and always entertaining, 79 while Mohammad Wasim made 53 and Simon Little 46 not out. Kendal won their ninth game of the season batting first when they totalled 171-9 against Leyland Motors who were then dismissed for 144 to lose by 27 runs. Kevin Howarth made 51 for Kendal, Dilawar Khan 30, David Fallows 24 and Ikram Ullah 23 as Ameer Khan took 5-53 and Andrew Makinson 3-43. Andrew Makinson then made the top score for Motors with 47 but only Ameer Khan, 25, and Alan Richardson, 21, gave him much support as Dilawar Khan took 4-42, Howarth 2-22 and Kabir Khan 2-27. Fleetwood failed miserably at home to Darwen although their eventual 125 all out looked a distant dream when the top four had gone for 16. Adam Sharrocks, 28, Wayne Clarke, 26, and James Ellis, 31, pulled them round as Keith Semple led the bowling with 3-32. Darwen made short work of their target and had 126-4 on the board with plenty of overs to spare as Semple, 39, and Gareth Cordingley, 35, led them to victory by six wickets. St Annes were the day's top scorers with a massive 281-8 but once again they could not dismiss the opposition and had to settle for a draw as Lancaster batted out time with 189-5. Gareth Evans made his second century in three starts, this time 136 not out, Ian Austin added 57 to his new St Annes amateur record, Adrian Darlington made 34 and Joe Davies 20 as Tim Barry toiled away for 3-42 and Michael Stevens had 2-47. It was Stevens who led Lancaster's reply and he was still there at the end with 95 not out, which, aided by 17 from Luke Phillips, 29 from Lee Sparks and 32 not out from the old dependable David Heywood, after three early wickets had been lost, saw Lancaster safely to the draw. First Division scores in brief (home sides in bold): Carnforth 258 (Uz Zaman 104, Richardson 53, Patel Y 6-75, Vahaluwala 4-66 , Preston 260-3 (Asad 133, Mann 70*) Carnforth 3 points, Preston 12 points Morecambe 182 (Clough 83), Chorley 122 (Lee 4-18) Morecambe 15 points, Chorley 3 points Fleetwood 125, Darwen 126-4 Fleetwood 0 points, Darwen 12 points Kendal 171-8 (Howarth 51, Ameer Khan 5-53), Leyland Motors 144 (Makinson A 47, Dilawar Khan 4-42) Kendal 15 points, Leyland Motors 3 points St Annes 281-8 (Evans 136*, Austin 57), Lancaster 189-5 (Stevens 95*) St Annes 8 points, Lancaster 6 points Leyland 167-9 (Miller 43, Amla 5-42), Barrow 108 (Amla 75*, Wright 6-32) Leyland 15 points, Barrow 3 points Blackpool 210-9 (Rehman 68, Boucher 53, Lawson 4-46), Netherfield 213-4 (Walmsley 79, Mohammad Wasim 53, Little 46*) Blackpool points 3 points, Netherfield 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division One Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Morecambe 26 3 13 2 1 3 4 11* 235 Kendal 26 9 1 3 1 7 5 29 209 Darwen 26 1 10 3 3 4 5 33 203 Netherfield 26 4 4 6 2 6 4 51* 201 Lancaster 26 3 6 4 5 4 4 43 197 St Annes 26 0 7 7 3 4 5 62 197 Fleetwood 26 6 4 1 3 8 4 29 190 Preston 26 4 5 3 1 9 4 40 189 Carnforth 26 1 6 4 3 8 4 52 174 Blackpool 26 2 5 4 3 7 5 41 170 Leyland Motors 26 3 4 4 2 10 3 34 157 Barrow 26 0 1 4 4 13 4 66 114 Chorley 26 0 4 0 9 8 5 37 112 Leyland & Farington 26 1 0 0 7 14 4 29 67 * 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 Congratulations to Morecambe who leapfrogged Lancaster on the final day to take the Second Division championship. Both sides won but Morecambe batted first, thus picking up 15 points, while Lancaster batted second and picked up 12 points, the title therefore going to Morecambe by a single point as they trailed by two before the last round of games. It is Morecambe's sixth title, all won since 1991 and it is their second title in the last three seasons. Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold): Barrow 152 (Busby P 6-43), Leyland 153-5 (Busby P 46, Farrington 44) Barrow 2 points, Leyland 12 points Blackpool 217-9 (Reddy J 58, Penny 54), Netherfield 145 Blackpool 15 points, Netherfield 4 pointsFleetwood 108, Darwen 109-7 (Emsley 4-19) Fleetwood 2 points, Darwen 12 points Kendal 183 (van Molendorff 55, Cartwright 5-62), Leyland Motors 101 Kendal 15 points, Leyland Motors 3 points Morecambe 257-4 (Maje 76, Hird 56, Fisher 51*), Chorley 164 (Hotham 60, Quinn 6-65) Morecambe 15 points, Chorley 2 points Carnforth 93, Preston 94-8 Carnforth 0 points, Preston 12 points St Annes 171-6 dec (Bartholomew 56*), Lancaster 172-6 (Parkinson63*) St Annes 3 points, Lancaster 12 points SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE Division Two Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Morecambe 26 2 11 7 0 3 3 42 244 Lancaster 26 6 9 2 2 3 4 19 243 St Annes 26 3 8 4 5 1 5 40 222 Netherfield 26 4 5 5 1 8 3 57 210 Fleetwood 26 6** 6 1 2 6 5 14 204 Leyland Motors 26 3 6 2 2 9 4 37 180 Blackpool 26 3 6 2 2 8** 5 26 173 Kendal 26 3 5 2 3 8 4 31 163 Chorley 26 1 7 0 1 13 4 36 152 Darwen 26 1 5 2 5 9 4 46 150 Carnforth 26 0 8 0 1 15 2 32 137 Barrow 26 2 1 5 3 11 4 55 136 Preston 26 3 2 2 4 11 4 23 120 Leyland & Farington 26 1 4 0 3 14 3 40* 116 * 2 points deducted for slow over rate ** Fleetwood awarded the game 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: DARWEN WIN A LOW SCORING ENCOUNTER Fleetwood 125, Darwen 126-4 By Gerry Wolstenholme The last game of the season at Broadwater proved to be a disappointing one for Fleetwood who lost convincingly to Darwen by six wickets. Choosing to bat first Fleetwood fared badly early on, recovered a little and were eventually all out for a very modest 125. Darwen also lost a couple of early wickets but then steadied themselves to reach 126-4 and a six-wicket victory without too many further alarms. The Fleetwood innings got off to a sensational start for, with the last ball of the third over, professional Doug Watson gave himself out. He had made just two when he chased a leg side delivery from Keith Semple and Chris Clarke took the ball and joined in the appeal for a dismissal. The umpire called 'over' and departed towards square leg at which point Watson turned and retired to the pavilion, obviously knowing that he had touched the ball. As if that were not bad enough, John Wright followed him back when the total had advanced to only 12. He edged one that moved away late from Andrew Mercer and Semple at first slip took the easy catch and Wright was gone for five. Michael Clinning hit the first boundary of the innings but did not survive much longer for when he had made eight and the total was 16 a ball from Semple deceived him and clipped the top of the leg stump. Without addition to the total and before he had scored, Nick Coultas steered Semple into the safe hands of Mercer at point and Fleetwood were in deep trouble at 16-4. Adam Sharrocks and Wayne Clarke struggled early in their attempt to rebuild the innings but they stuck it out and slowly took the total to 58 at which point Clarke rather rashly dashed down the track and took a cross-batted swing at Andrew Cook, who had earlier had a good shout for leg before wicket turned down, and was bowled. Clarke's fighting 26 came from 60 balls with three fours. James Ellis joined Sharrocks and he took much of the strike and did much of the scoring so much so that when the partnership had reached 49 he had made 31 of them, from 44 balls with three fours. But at that point he hit a long hop from Darwen's professional Imran Ali straight into the hands of Gareth Cordingley at point and that was 107-6. Sharrocks sound innings came to an end when he had made 28 from 97 balls with two fours as he too took a swing and was bowled by Mercer at 115-7. Joe Bell made seven before he became the first of three run outs that ended the innings. Gary Jackson on the boundary threw in, hit directly and Bell was gone at 121-8. Steve Hill, who finished on 10 not out, and Tom Blundell tried for a two but Blundell was well out of his ground when the throw went in and Dave Fish was given run out, although seemingly to many spectators, and some of the Darwen players on the boundary, when he had passed the popping crease. That left Fleetwood somewhat in tatters at 125 all out with Semple taking 3-32, Mercer 2-19, Cook 1-22 and Ali 1-32. Darwen's reply got off to a slow start and then two wickets fell as the total reached 20. Imran Ali, having just driven Hill for four, tried to repeat the dose but only succeeded in providing Watson with an exciting catch. Ali skied the ball behind the bowler and Watson ran from on to off, dived and caught the ball as he fell and Ali was gone for seven at 19-1. And it was 20-2 when Chris Clarke was adjudged leg before wicket to Fish for eight, even though there was a strong suggestion of an edge onto pad. Semple and Gareth Cordingley began as had done Clarke and Sharrocks, not convincingly, but, just like the Fleetwood pair, their confidence grew and so did there totals. Both struck seven fours and both were out in the 30s by which time the game was almost won. Gareth Cordingley was the first to go at 98 when Blundell bowled him for a fine 35 made from 59 balls and at 104 Watson caught and bowled Semple for 39 made from 72 balls. Gary Jackson and Neil Cordingley supplied the denouement, the former 13 not out and the latter eight not out as Darwen won by six wickets at 126-4 with 14 overs unused. Watson's wicket cost 16 runs, that of Hill 32 and that of Blundell 31 but the game undoubtedly belonged to Darwen who departed for Old Trafford and their clash with Bootle in fine spirits - intending also to have a quiet night in preparation! Skipper John Wright awaits the ball from Darwen skipper Andrew Mercer James Ellis plays the ball to leg Gareth Cordingley has just pulled David Fish to leg James Ellis dives to take the ball down the legside from Tom Blundell Gary Jackson plays forward to Adam Shorrocks Gary Jackson drives the ball through the offside to score the winning runs The Fleetwood players set off on their crossfield race after the match. Its over, the last act of the season, the crossfield race ends. The winner (and the non starter) shall remain nameless

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