By Gerry Wolstenholme
Lancaster's comprehensive victory over Blackpool at Lune Road yesterday saw them move back to the top of the table. Graham Barnes with 6-24 and Jannisar Khan with 3-32 were instrumental in bowling Blackpool out for 81 to which Louis Reece contributed a top score of 21 not out and Steven Croft made 18. Lancaster lost Jamie Heywood for 23 but Chris Flintoff, 27 not out, and Khan, 25 not out, saw them to a nine-wicket victory at 82-1.
Leyland Motors gained their first win of the season at the expense of Carnforth who they restricted to 160-7 with Ryan Nelson making 36, Lyndell Richardson 35, and Omari Banks and Lewis Bradley 23 each as David Makinson took 3-50. Motors were led by professional Ameer Khan in his first visit to the crease as he made 83 not out and Karl Cross made 47 from Motors' 164-3 that gave them a seven-wicket win. Robert Parker took 2-33 for Carnforth.
Darwen had an easy victory over Preston who they bowled out for 115 with Lukman Vahaluwala making 49 and Munaf Bavla 25 as Andrew Mercer and Andrew Cook both took three wickets, for 32 and 20 respectively. Darwen lost an early wicket in reply but then Atif Ashraf, 63 not out, and Keith Semple, 33 not out, took them to their nine-wicket victory.
Fleetwood restricted Leyland to 83-9 in their reduced overs as only Adam Parker, 28, and Brian Tennant, 20, made much headway against the pace attack of Steve Hill, 4-35, and Dave Fish, 4-32. John Whalley then made 25 before James Ellis and Wayne Clarke saw Fleetwood to their six wicket win with 84-4.
St Annes defeated last week's leaders Morecambe by four wickets after they had bowled the visitors out for 109 with Vishnal Goyal's 35 being the top score and Ian Austin taking a best yet 7-23 for St Annes. Stephen Twist's 47 was the backbone of the St Annes reply of 110-6.
Netherfield and Barrow fought out a draw at the Ernest Pass Memorial Ground after Netherfield had made 165-8, a total that came about after an eighth wicket partnership of 73 by skipper Scott Clement, 33 not out, and Dirk Nannes, 31. Darren Moore made 23 and Barrow professional Ahmed Amla took 2-35 and Wayne Platts had 2-27. Amla then made it a good all-round day as he contributed 55 to Barrow's modest reply of 116-9. Jonathan Miles with 23 was the next best scorer and there were two wickets each for Clement, Peter Lawson, Marc Hadwin and Nannes, the last named having 2-3 from seven overs.
Finally Kendal could not take the final Chorley wicket at Shap Road so that their 127-8 only earned them a draw with the visitors hanging on at 96-9. Terry Hunte made 46 for Kendal, Ikram Ullah 24 and Kabir Khan 23 as Guarav Dhar took 3-35. For Chorley Jack Catterall was top scorer with 28, Mark Richardson made 26 and John Ratledge, in his first league game of the season, 15 as Kendal professional Dilawar Khan in his first league game of the season took 5-23.
First Division results (home side in bold):
Netherfield 165-8, Barrow 116-9 (Amla 55)
Netherfield 9 points, Barrow 3 points
Carnforth 160-7, Leyland Motors 164-3 (Khan 83*, Cross 47)
Carnforth 2 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
Kendal 127-8 (Hunte 46), Chorley 96-9 (Dilawar Khan 5-23)
Kendal 7 points, Chorley 3 points
Blackpool 81 (Barnes 6-24), Lancaster 82-1
Blackpool 0 points, Lancaster 12 points
Leyland 83-9 (Fish 4-31, Hill 4-35), Fleetwood 84-4
Leyland 0 points, Fleetwood 12 points
Preston 115 (Vahaluwala 49), Darwen 116-1 (Ashraf 63*)
Preston 0 points, Darwen 12 points
Morecambe 109 (Austin 7-23), St Annes 110-6 (Twist 47)
Morecambe 1 point, St Annes 12 points
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Lancaster |
7 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
69 |
| Morecambe |
7 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
64 |
| Fleetwood |
7 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
63 |
| Netherfield |
7 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
15 |
63 |
| Darwen |
7 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
60 |
| St Annes |
7 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
16 |
57 |
| Preston |
7 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
45 |
| Carnforth |
7 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
18 |
42 |
| Blackpool |
7 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
35 |
| Barrow |
7 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
19 |
33 |
| Chorley |
7 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
29 |
| Kendal |
7 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
17 |
29 |
| Leyland Motors |
7 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
18 |
| Leyland & Farington |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
16 |
In the Second Division Chris Stanhope shone for Fleetwood even though his side did not win, but after being bowled out for just 69 they did not lose either. Mick Brown took 6-38 as Fleetwood were dismissed for their low total to which Stanhope made a modest top score of 15. Leyland were then reduced to 35-9 with Stanhope taking 3-7. It was a most unusual draw!
Second Division results (home side in bold):
Blackpool 140-5 (Caunce 41), Lancaster 136-5 (Parker 4-32)
Blackpool 8 points, Lancaster 2 points
Chorley 135-5 (Catterall D 47), Kendal 138-3 (Yasin 54)
Chorley 0 points, Kendal 12 points
Darwen 170-5 (Jackson G 89*, Grant M 47), Preston 72-7
Darwen 8 points, Preston 2 points
Fleetwood 69 (Mick Brown 6-38), Leyland 35-9
Fleetwood 7 points, Leyland 4 points
Carnforth 98-9 (Cottam 4-9), Leyland Motors 99-3
Carnforth 0 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
Morecambe 208 (Sharma 52, Fisher 43), St Annes 145-8 (Jackson 6-67)
Morecambe 9 points, St Annes 5 points
Netherfield 189-5 dec (Dodds 72*), Barrow 117 (Cosgrove 41, Hartley 4-28, Miller 4-36)
Netherfield 15 points, Barrow 1 point
SURRIDGE NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
7 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
20 |
63 |
| Fleetwood |
7 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
62 |
| St Annes |
7 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
61 |
| Morecambe |
7 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
16 |
60 |
| Chorley |
7 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
55 |
| Leyland Motors |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
53 |
| Lancaster |
7 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
49 |
| Blackpool |
8 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
48 |
| Kendal |
7 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
44 |
| Darwen |
7 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
42 |
| Leyland & Farington |
7 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
36 |
| Barrow |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
9 |
29 |
| Preston |
7 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
29 |
| Carnforth |
7 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
7 |
19 |
MATCH ACTION
AUSTIN AND TWIST THE ST ANNES' HEROES
By Gerry Wolstenholme
Rain prevented play until three o'clock at Vernon Road but once the game started it was action all the way. Winning the toss St Annes put Morecambe in to bat and at one point were staring down the barrel of a total of perhaps 150-160 when Vishnal Goyal and Phil Thornton were putting on 72 for the first wicket in 18 overs. But then all 10 wickets were lost for the addition of 37 runs as Ian Austin ran amok with 7-23. St Annes did not have it all their own way as a hostile opening spell by Garnet Kruger had them on the back foot and at 46-4 it was anyone's game. However Stephen Twist came to St Annes rescue and with 47 took them to the verge of victory that they completed by four wickets at 110-6.
It was an interesting opening partnership in that the powerful Thornton had four lives in his innings of 26 and in addition he went along with his partner's suppositious desire to touch bats at the end of each over! Davies at extra cover let Thornton off when he was still in single figures, the batsman then got the benefit of the doubt in a run out decision when 13 after Adrian Darlington's throw to Duncan Whalley had him stretching for the crease. Twist then dropped him at slip and to give him his fourth life the unfortunate Davies dropped a swirling skier, once again at extra cover, when he was 21. But on 26, made from 40 balls with four fours, Austin, who had replaced Adam Griffith after an opening spell of 4-0-23-0, bowled him neck and crop and that was 72-1.
Goyal who was caught behind by Whalley off a Twist no-ball when on 27 and had played some nice shots all round the ground, none more positive than from the first ball of the match when he straight drove Griffith, a stroke that only brought a single due to the dampness of the outfield. Mark Lomas joined him but only briefly because on one he was trapped leg before wicket by Griffith and that was 73-2. Kruger made four before he drove Griffith, who had replaced Twist at the south end, to Russ Bradley at mid-off and he was gone for three at 79-3.
Goyal's 82-ball innings came to an end at 84 when Austin struck again as he bowled the opener who had hit three boundaries. Gareth Peddar made two before driving Austin to Adam Cotton at mid-on and that was 90-5 and it was 94-6 when Tommy Clough, who failed to get off the mark, was leg before wicket on the back foot to Austin who then had Stuart Errington fatally going back and bowled him for two at 102-7. Andrew Armstrong was caught by Gareth Evans off Austin for nought at 102-8 and it was 105-9 when Griffith bowled Warren Quinn for one.
Phil Dennison, who had watched all the disasters from the other end, was last man out when he was caught by Griffith at mid-off off Austin for 18 and with Jono Gates not out nought, Morecambe were 109 all out. Austin had splendid figures of 12.4-2-23-7, his best return yet for St Annes.
If St Annes thought that it was going to be a cruise to victory they were mistaken for Kruger came out firing and bowled the fastest opening spell seen at the ground since Harwood's heroics last season. Even Darlington, who opened with Davies, called for a helmet. Davies was unfazed, however, and he played one splendid stroke in the South African fast bowler's opening over as he drove it straight down the ground for what was initially signalled as a six but at the end of the over the umpire revised his decision and signalled to the scorers that it was a four. It was certainly a shot worth six runs!
Davies struck another boundary off Peddar in the second over but in the third he perished as Kruger fired a ball down that clipped the off bail and hurtled down to the boundary where not only did it smack into the advertising boards but had one spectator jumping for very quickly for safety. Davies had gone for 10 and St Annes were 14-1.
Evans made two before he edged a Kruger flier to Goyal and that was 20-2. Darlington relished the battle and he made 14 before driving Peddar, who has put on a yard or two of pace since last season, to Errington at mid-off and St Annes were 40-3. The prize wicket of Austin, was the next that Morecambe captured and it was Peddar who forced him back on his crease and moved the ball from off to hit middle and leg. Morecambe were buoyant with St Annes 46-4 but that turned out to be the highpoint of the innings as far as they were concerned.
Twist and Griffith got their heads down and put on 50 runs for the fifth wicket, the best moment coming in one over from Quinn when Twist took 6, 4,1 off the first three balls and then Griffith struck another six before being caught by Kruger at wide mid-on from the following ball. He had gone for 18 and St Annes were on the verge of victory at 96-5. Twist perhaps should have seen them to that victory but he essayed a pull at a short ball from Quinn and Clough took a fine catch at short mid wicket. His excellent 47 came from 58 balls and included one six and five fours. It was left to Adam Cotton, six not out, and Russ Bradley, two not out, to see St Annes safely home for their first win of the season at 110-6. Another bitter cold day at Vernon Road was over!
Phil Thornton of Morecambe returns to the pavillion
St Annes Captain Ian Austin applauded from the field after taking 7-23
Morecambe's Professional Garnet Kruger in reflective mood
Adrian Darlington survives a LBW appeal by Garnet Kruger
Adrian Darlington on the front foot against Gareth Pedder
Gareth Evans (Hidden by Morecambe's Professional Garnet Kruger) caught behind
Stephen Twist plays inside a ball from Garnet Kruger
