By Gerry Wolstenholme
Ian Allington with 42 and Wanasinghe with 26 not out led Barrow, 104-2, to an eight-wicket victory over reigning champions Morecambe who were bowled out for 103 to which Mark Lomas made a top score of 26 and Vishnal Goyal made 17. For Barrow Justin Quint took 3-11 and Wanasinghe 3-36.
Last season's runners-up Kendal comprehensively disposed of Blackpool at Shap Road. Ikram Ullah scored the season's first Division One century, 101, while the evergreen Terry Hunte made 75 and New Zealand professional Graeme Aldridge made 30 not out. Richard Gleeson took 6-45 for Blackpool but ended on the losing side as Blackpool were bowled out for 151 to lose by 98 runs. Justin Kreusch made Blackpool's top score of 53, Paul Danson made 26 and Dave Newton 23 while Aldridge had a good all-round day with 5-49, assisted by Chris Miller who took 4-50.
Jack Cattterall's debut as Chorley captain was a successful one for not only did he made 71 not out, he led the side to a 48-run victory. Stephen John made 24 towards the Chorley total while Adnan Malik had 6-65 for Carnforth. Malik then made 34 but Lyndell Richardson's 29 was the only significant contribution as John, 3-50, Guarav Dar, 3-48, and Sam Sweeney 3-28, bowled Carnforth out for 145.
Leyland batted first at Fox Lane and with Ameer Khan making 71, Karl Cross 26 and Steve Pallett 23, Leyland were dismissed for 159 with Keith Semple taking 3-31, Andrew Mercer 2-33 and Gareth Cordingley 2-20. Chris Clarke with 66, Gareth Cordingley with 40 not out and Chris Lowe who made 35 before retiring hurt led Darwen to victory by seven wickets at 160-3.
Lancaster put Fleetwood in at Lune Road and reaped the benefit with a seven-wicket victory. Wayne Clarke top scored for Fleetwood with 28 as Danny Milligan took 5-20 as the visitors were dismissed for 105. Newcomer to the league Michael Walling made 40 not out as Lancaster won comfortably by seven wickets with 106-3.
Finally Netherfield made short work of Preston as Scott Clement took 3-39, Asif Mutjaba 2-13 and Ryan Wilson 2-6 as only Reman Shah with 39 made anything significant for Preston who made just 92. Craig Walmsley then put the game beyond any doubt with a typically robust 58 as Netherfield made 94-3 for their seven-wicket win.
Division One scores in brief (home side in bold):
Morecambe 103, Barrow 104-2 (Allington 42)
Morecambe 0 points, Barrow 12 points
Chorley 193-8 (Catterall J 71*, Malik 6-65), Carnforth 145
Chorley 15 points, Carnforth 3 points
Kendal 249 (Ullah 101, Hunte 75, Gleeson 6-45), Blackpool 151 (Kreusch 53, Aldridge 5-49, Miller 4-50)
Kendal 15 points, Blackpool 4 points
Leyland 159 (Khan 71), Darwen 160-3 (Clarke C 66, Cordingley G 40*)
Leyland 1 point, Darwen 12 points
Fleetwood 105 (Milligan 5-20), Lancaster 106-3 (Walling 40*)
Fleetwood 0 points, Lancaster 12 points
Preston 92, Netherfield 94-3 (Walmsley 58)
Preston 0 points, Netherfield 12 points
In the Second Division Glen Russell made the day's top score with 118 not out in a game that produced 582 runs.
Ben Hornby contributed 52 as Carnforth chased down Chorley's 288-7 with 294-6 for a four-wicket win.
For Chorley John Hotham made 88, Josh Tolley 65 not out and David Catterall, just failed to match his son's effort in the first team, with 64.
Division Two results in short (home team in bold):
Kendal 158-8 (Melville 4-33), Blackpool 132 (Potts 5-35)
Kendal 15 points, Blackpool 2 points
Chorley 288-7 (Hotham 88, Tolley J 65*, Catterall D 64), Carnforth (Russell 118*, Hornby 52)
Chorley 4 points, Carnforth 12 points
Darwen 138 (Mercer 4-40), Leyland 136 (Williams 49)
Darwen 15 points, Leyland 3 points
Fleetwood 150 (Whalley 48, Lees 4-28), Lancaster 68 (Clarke 5-24)
Fleetwood 15 points, Lancaster 3 points
Morecambe 230-9 (Milner 50, Roosool 40), Barrow 167-9 (Kermode S 47, Myles 41)
Morecambe 10 points, Barrow 6 points
Netherfield 146 (Waring 4-20), Preston 115 (Jefferies 55, Hadwin 4-33)
Netherfield 15 points, Preston 3 points
MATCH ACTION
MILLIGAN LEADS LANCASTER HOME
Fleetwood 105, Lancaster 106-3
Gerry Wolstenholme
Opening bowler Danny Milligan decimated the Fleetwood top order with three of the first four wickets that fell while 29 runs were tenuously garnered and then returned to wrap the Fleetwood innings up with two more wickets in one over to finish with an impressive 5-20 as Fleetwood were all out for 105. Michael Whallings, recruited from Garstang, then made 40 not out as Lancaster took just 23.5 overs to reach the 106 they required for victory, which they achieved by seven wickets.
The opening over was certainly eventful. Nick Coultas took a single from the second ball from Milligan who then bowled South African professional Kyle Smit first ball. Smit, without time to get used to the pace of the pitch, missed a rather expansive shot and the ball struck middle and off and that was 1-1.
Coultas scored the bulk of the next 20 runs with some typically powerful blows before his partner, Michael Clinning, chased a wide ball from Liam Moffatt and Brendan Hetherington gratefully took the catch. Clinning had gone for two and Fleetwood were 21-2.
Milligan struck again as the total advanced to 29 when he produced a well-disguised slower ball that clipped Coultas' bails and he had gone for 26 made from 33 balls with five fours. James Ellis, who had been scoring runs prolifically in Australia during the winter, failed to score as a ball from Milligan kept low and struck the stumps no more than a third of the way up and that was a calamitous 29-4.
Then followed the best stand of the innings by Adam Sharrocks, who had also benefited from a winter in Australia, and skipper Wayne Clarke. Clarke led the way in the early stages of the partnership but Sharrocks, after a watchful start, began to score equally freely. It took the advent of the experienced old warhorse Tim Barry to break the partnership when it had added 46 and the total had advanced to 75. Sharrocks played tentatively forward, got the thinnest of edges and once again Hetherington took the catch.
Clarke was the next to go when he had made a top score of 28 from 61 balls with four fours. Having played very sensibly, particularly to the tempting offerings of Ian Burstow, he decided that he would pull him over mid-wicket, missed and was leg before wicket at 91-6. It was then 95-7 when Steve Whiteside and Chris Stanhope hesitated in taking a single and Burstow's throw to Hetherington beat the despairing attempt of Whiteside to get home and he had gone without scoring.
Stanhope, who played two glorious shots, one a drive through mid-off from Barry and another a powerful club one bounce onto the banking off Burstow, was missed by Alex Gledhill at mid-wicket but was then bowled by Barry as he got an under edge onto his stumps and that was 96-8. Tom Wilson and Adam Breakell battled hard to take the total into three figures but at 105 Milligan was reintroduced into the attack. He deceived Breakell, two, who could only spoon a catch into the safe hands of Barry at mid-on and three balls later he bowled Tom Blundell for a duck, which left Wilson six not out and Fleetwood all out for 105.
Milligan had figures of 8-3-20-5 while Barry had 2-18, Burstow 1-11 from six enterprising overs, and Moffatt 1-24.
Lancaster's reply got off to a sparkling start as Michael Walling and Jamie Heywood got the board moving rapidly off Blundell and Breakell. They had rushed to 41 when the introduction of Smit into the attack brought a wicket. Heywood on 26 edged the ball high towards wicketkeeper Ellis who managed to palm the ball towards first slip where Clarke took a very good head-high catch.
In came substitute professional Anil Nazir and he showed his intentions from the start. With not too much foot movement he found the gaps in the field and with two nonchalantly struck sixes, one almost into the River Lune and one into the adjacent gardens on the shorter boundary side he quickly scored 28, from 31 balls with three fours to go with his two sixes, before he skied Wilson to Blundell running behind the bowler and that was 99-2.
West Indian Montcin Hodge came to the crease, crashed one boundary and then holed out to Smit at extra cover off Stanhope and Lancaster, on the verge of victory, were 104-3. It took Tim Barry very little time to score the two runs necessary for the win and with Walling 40 not out from 68 balls with five fours, Lancaster cruised home with 26 overs and one ball remaining. It was really all too easy for the home side as the game finished before five-thirty.
