Gerry Wolstenholme
Last week's leaders Darwen suffered their first defeat of the season when they were well beaten by Fleetwood at Broadwater and this allowed Netherfield, who comfortably defeated Blackpool at Stanley Park to leapfrog them and go into first place. Meanwhile Bilal Asad made hay while the sun shone and roared to 170 not out at Carnforth as his side made 308-9, which, after a spirited reply from Carnforth, gave them victory by 34 runs.
Darwen could make little headway against the Fleetwood bowling and could make only 162-9 in their 50 overs. Atif Ashraf top scored with a modest 32 while Gary Jackson made 27, Gareth Cordingley 21, Mark Emery 21 and Keith Semple 20 as Tom Blundell took 4-43 and Kyle Smit 3-39. Nick Coultas led Fleetwood's reply with 54 and he was aided by 32 from Michael Clinning and 20 from Adam Sharrocks before John Wright, eight not out, and Wayne Clarke, 11 not out, saw Fleetwood home by three wickets at 163-7. Jeff Hacking very nearly took the game away from the home side with a return of 5-24 in 13.5 overs.
Preston lost half their wickets while just passing the 100 mark but then blossomed as Bilal Asad ran riot with a magnificent 170 not out with his main assistance coming from Paul Mann, 29, Yasin Patel 25 and Sajid Patel, 23. Carnforth's professional Irfan Fazil took five wickets but they did cost him 144 runs from his 22 overs. Fazil then made 40 and with Atiq Uz Zaman making 84, Ben Hornby 78 and Robert Parker 23, Carnforth made a bold attempt to win the game but Lukman Vahaluwala's 6-67 aided by 2-84 from Rhys Williams prevented them doing so as they were dismissed for 274.
While Darwen were losing, elsewhere on the Fylde Coast Netherfield beat Blackpool to go to the top of the table. Blackpool were put in to bat and made 192-4 in their 50 overs with Justin Kreusch being unluckily run out while backing up via a deflection from the bowler making a top score of 54. Adam Parker chipped in with 45 not out, Luis Reece made 35 and Charles Boucher 28. But Netherfield made short shrift of this total and Craig Walmsley, 74, and Chris Parry, 76 not out, rattled up 159 for the first wicket so substitute professional Dan Christian had only to make 29 not out to see Netherfield home by nine wickets with plenty of overs in hand.
One piece of news that has filtered through to me is that Grahame Clarke announced that the Stanley Park game would be his last (unfortunately I was not there to speak to him myself so I can only trust that this piece of news is true) and if that is so, the Northern League will miss a great player who has graced the game for many years. Thanks for the memories Grahame, you will be sadly missed.
Stephen John top scored for Chorley with 46 as they entertained Morecambe. Andrew Holdsworth, 42, Josh Tolley, 34, and Ian Mawdesley, 21, all helped as Chorley made a reasonable 190-9. John then fired out five Morecambe batsmen for 65 but it was just not enough to prevent his side going down by two wickets as Werner Coetsee made 72, Mark Lomas 34, and Vishnal Goyal 21. But it was the ninth wicket pair of Damien Gudgeon, 19 not out, and Graham Lee, 13 not out, who took Morecambe to victory at 193-8. For the second time in two weeks Chorley lost a game that appeared at one time to have been in their grasp.
One-time leaders Barrow lost at Fox Lane where they batted first and Pasan Wanasinghe made 100 not out from their 191-9. The only other Barrow players in double figures were Chris D'Leny, 31, Gareth Smith, 27, and captain Robin Adams, 12, as David Makinson took 4-45 and son Andrew 2-22. Leyland won by five wickets with 192-5 as Ameer Khan carried on his good form with 57 not out and Chris Parkinson made 62 while Tod Bamber took 3-18 for Barrow.
And finally St Annes won their first game of the season when they successfully chased Lancaster's 199-9, making 201-8 and this after losing three wickets very cheaply. Tim Barry was missing for Lancaster for whom Montcin Hodge made a top score of 86 with Michael Stevens making 20 and Jannisar Khan and Luke Phillips 17 each while Brendan Hetherington with 10 not out was the only other player in double figures. Shane Harwood, captaining St Annes in the absence of the injured Duncan Whalley, took 3-50 and Stephen Twist 3-57. Harwood then made 42 while the in-form Adrian Darlington added 65 to his impressive season's tally but it was Aiden Cotton, who kept wicket and took four catches when Lancaster batted, with 13 not out and Dave Taylor with 14 not out who took St Annes to victory by two wickets and this despite the best efforts of Iain Burstow who finished with 5-36.
Division One scores in brief (home side in bold):
Blackpool 192 - 4 (Kreusch 54, Parker 45*), Netherfield 195 - 1 (Parry 76*, Walmsley 74)
Blackpool 3 points, Netherfield 12 points
Preston 308 - 9 (Bilal 170*, Fazil 5-144) , Carnforth 274 (Uz Zaman 84, Ben Hornby 78, Fazil 40, Vahaluwala 6-67)
Preston 15 points, Carnforth 6 points
Chorley 190 - 9 (John 46, Holdsworth 42, Coetsee 4-70, Lee 4-73), Morecambe 193 - 8 (Coetsee 72, John 5-65)
Chorley 5 points Morecambe 12 points
Darwen 162 - 9 (Blundell 4-43), Fleetwood 163 - 7(Coultas 54, Hacking 5-24)
Darwen 4 points Fleetwood 12 points
Lancaster 199 - 9 (Hodge 86), St Annes 201 - 8 (Darlington 65, Harwood 42, Burstow 5-36)
Lancaster 5 points , St Annes 12 points
Barrow 191 - 9 (Wanasinghe 100*, DMakinson 4-45) , Leyland 192 - 5(Parkinson 63, Ameer Khan 57*)
Barrow 4 points, Leyland 12 points
* Not Out
3D SPORTS NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
9 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
13 |
84 |
| Darwen |
10 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
20 |
82 |
| Morecambe |
10 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
17 |
79 |
| Fleetwood |
9 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
78 |
| Kendal |
9 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
13 |
77 |
| Barrow |
9 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
21 |
70 |
| St Annes |
9 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
32 |
65 |
| Leyland |
9 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
62 |
| Lancaster |
9 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
20 |
62 |
| Chorley |
9 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
11 |
55 |
| Preston |
9 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
21 |
55 |
| BLACKPOOL |
10 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
22* |
52 |
| Carnforth |
9 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
29 |
48 |
Teams in BLOCK CAPITALS have had points deducted,
* 2 points deducted for slow over rate
Bowling honours in Division Two went to Fleetwood's veteran Neil Gregson who took a splendid 8-25 while in the same game Darwen's Cameron Anwar took 5-5 in three overs. Netherfield's Ben Haddrick, who last week scored 153, this week turned his arm to bowling and took 6-71 as his side defeated Blackpool in a high scoring game. Fleetwood's Mark Emsley led the way with the batting by making 86 not out in his side's 100-run victory over Darwen.
Division Two results in short (home team in bold):
Leyland 146 (Williams 51), Barrow 149 - 6 (Sturgeon 40)
Leyland 2 points, Barrow 12 points
Fleetwood 223 (Emsley 86, Metcalf 46, Anwar 5-5), Darwen 123 (Gregson 8-25)
Fleetwood 15 points, Darwen 3 points
Chorley 199 (Demming 56, Cupit 5-65) , Morecambe 220 - 9 (Milner 61, Maje 47, Moulton 4-70)
Chorley 6 points, Morecambe 12 points
Blackpool 239 - 9 (Smith 75, Bracewell 40, Haddrick 6-71) , Netherfield 243 - 9 (Hill 81, Armstrong 4-58)
Blackpool 6 points, Netherfield 12 points
Preston 218 (Donaldson 58, McDonald 47) , Carnforth 170 (Russell 58*, McDonald 5-33)
Preston 15 points , Carnforth 5 points
St Annes 230 - 5 (Bartholomew 83*, Costin 61, Bradley 54) , Lancaster 234 - 6 (Heywood 70*, Welbourne 61)
St Annes 4 points, Lancaster 12 points
* Not Out
3D SPORTS NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
9 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
98 |
| Lancaster |
9 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
87 |
| Blackpool |
10 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
26 |
82 |
| Chorley |
9 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
16 |
80 |
| Darwen |
10 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
17 |
80 |
| Morecambe |
10 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
25 |
73 |
| Barrow |
9 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
13 |
65 |
| Preston |
9 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
12 |
62 |
| Kendal |
9 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
11 |
61 |
| Fleetwood |
9 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
14 |
60 |
| St Annes |
9 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
24 |
58 |
| Leyland |
9 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
21 |
54 |
| Carnforth |
9 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
18 |
42 |
I apologise for the lack of a match action report but I am as yet not well enough to attend a game, still recovering from my hospitalisation.
