Gerry Wolstenholme
In a season when the leadership of the ECB 3D Sports Northern Premier League has frequently changed hands, St Annes, with their sixth win, are the latest team to challenge at the top. They gained 15 points by a comprehensive win over overnight leaders Morecambe who dropped down to second place. Netherfield, with a 12-point victory over Barrow, are equal on points with St Annes but sit in first place by dint of having won nine games to St Annes six. Kendal, with a home victory over Chorley, moved into third place. Just 14 points now separate the top six sides.
St Annes were put in at Vernon Road and thanks to 87 from Gareth Evans and minor contributions from Adrian Darlington, 25, and Stephen Twist, 17, and despite Werner Coetsee's 4-48, they reached 206-9 in their 50 overs. That was 152 too many for Morecambe who capitulated for just 54 with only Vishnal Goyal with 28 making any impression. Indeed Coetsee with 10 was the only other player in double figures as Michael Baer took 4-11, substitute professional Saeed Anwar junior 3-26 and Ian Austin 2-17.
Bottom club Blackpool suffered their 11th defeat of a miserable season as they went down by five wickets at Lune Road. Blackpool, put in to bat, made 179-9 with nobody going on to make a good score after plenty of starts. Adam Parker top scored with 36 and there was 25 from Richard Gleeson, 20 from Michael Penney, 18 from Luis Reece, 18 not out from Luke Melville, 17 from Justin Kreusch and 12 from Alex Smith as Michael Walling took 5-42 and Tim Barry 3-80 for Lancaster. Blackpool then had Lancaster in some trouble at 81-4, with Michael Stevens 28, and 106-5 but Jannisar Khan 79 not out and Barry 32 not out stopped the rot and took Lancaster to a five-wicket victory with 180-5 as Luis Reece took 3-28.
Justin Quint, back from injury, opened the innings for Barrow and was still there at the end with 106 not out but the only real support that he received was from John McMenemy who made 25 as substitute professional Dan Christian took 5-51 and Scott Clement 2-67. Netherfield opened strongly and then only lost the wicket of Craig Walmsley for 48 as Chris Parry, 53 not out, and Christian, 68 not out, saw them comfortably home by nine wickets with 182-1.
There was a real cliffhanger at Fox Lane where home side Leyland won by two runs off the last ball of the game. Batting first Leyland made 192-7 with 46 from Peter Cummings, 32 from Ian Farrington and 26 from Rounding as Nick Coultas took 3-38. Kyle Smit hit form for Fleetwood and made 85 with 14 fours and one six and James Ellis made 41. Support came from Tom Wilson with 17 but the drama came in the final over when Fleetwood 190-8 lost two wickets for no runs, the last wicket going down from the last ball. Tom Blundell was stumped from the first ball and youngster James Wilson, at 13 years of age, was dismissed from the final ball so Fleetwood, 190 all out, lost by two runs. Ameer Khan took 6-81 for Leyland to keep up his excellent season with the ball.
Chorley batted first at Shap Road and Graeme Aldridge with 4-44 and Ben Simm with 3-28 were instrumental in bowling them out for 171 with Stephen John making 54, Andrew Holdsworth 32 and Guarav Dhar 22. Kendal reached their target with four wickets down at 173-4 with Terry Hunte making 85 not out and Kevin Howarth 43 as Billy Smith took 2-30 for Chorley.
Preston batted first at West Cliff and made 142 all out as Munaf Bavla made 32, Paul Mann 29, Rehman Shah 21 and Bilal Asad 14 with Jeff Hacking taking 4-40, Keith Semple 3-26 and Atif Ashraf 2-35. Darwen replied with 146-5 for a five-wicket victory after being 53-4. Chris Lowe steered Darwen home with 48 not out, as Mark Emery made 36 and Hacking was not out 20. Rhys Williams took 2-32.
First Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Barrow 180-8 (Quint 106*), Netherfield 182-1 (Christian 68*, Parry 53*, Walmsley 48)
Barrow 3 points, Netherfield 12 points
Chorley 171 (John 54, Aldridge 4-44), Kendal 173-4 (Hunte 85*)
Chorley 2 points, Kendal 12 points
Blackpool 179-9 (Walling 5-42), Lancaster 180-5 (Khan 79)
Blackpool 3 points, Lancaster 12 points
Leyland 192-7 (Cummings 46), Fleetwood 190 (Smit 85, Khan 6-81)
Leyland 15 points, Fleetwood 5 points
Preston 142 (Hacking 4-40), Darwen 146-5 (Lowe 48*)
Preston 2 points, Darwen 12 points
St Annes 206-9 (Evans 87, Coetsee 4-48), Morecambe 54 (Baer 4-11)
St Annes 15 points, Morecambe 3 points
* Not Out
3D SPORTS NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
18 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
15 |
154 |
| St Annes |
18 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
40 |
154 |
| Darwen |
19 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
20 |
153 |
| Morecambe |
19 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
28 |
149 |
| Kendal |
19 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
17 |
143 |
| Leyland |
19 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
3 |
21 |
142 |
| Preston |
18 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
33 |
128 |
| Barrow |
19 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
33 |
123 |
| Lancaster |
18 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
27 |
115 |
| Fleetwood |
18 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
4 |
25 |
109 |
| CARNFORTH |
18 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
33* |
95 |
| Chorley |
18 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
5 |
28 |
92 |
| BLACKPOOL |
19 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
11 |
2 |
42* |
81 |
Teams in BLOCK CAPITALS have had points deducted,
* 2 points deducted for slow over rate from the Bonus Points Column
Ian Oakes took the batting honours in the Second Division with a fine 103 not out as Chorley defeated Kendal by seven wickets with 167-3 after Oliver Killiner had contributed 73 to Kendal's 164. Bowling honours went to Lancaster's Liam Moffatt with 7-79 as Blackpool made exactly the same as their first team, 179-9.
Thanks to Andy Armstrong's 5-61 for Blackpool, Lancaster made harder work of the win than did their seniors but got safely home by three wickets with 182-7. Roger Kaye of Preston bowled his side to victory with 6-20 and Preston's 131 proved 15 runs too many for Darwen.
Second Division scores in brief (home sides in bold):
Blackpool 179-9 (Griffiths 42, Moffat 7-79), Lancaster 182-7 (Smith 56, Armstrong 5-61)
Blackpool 4 points, Lancaster 12 points
Kendal 164 (Killiner 73, Hughes 4-15), Chorley 167-3 (Oakes 103*)
Kendal 2 points, Chorley 12 points
Preston 131, Darwen 116 (Hampson 43, Kaye 6-20)
Preston 15 points, Darwen 3 points
Fleetwood 106 (Cartwright 4-26), Leyland 97
Fleetwood 15 points, Leyland 3 points
St Annes 214-5 (Bradley 56, Adam Taylor 55), Morecambe 203-9 (Akrigg 49, Milner 49)
St Annes 10 points, Morecambe 5 points
Barrow 214-5 (Lauderdale 61, Livingstone 55, Chamber 5-59), Netherfield 220-9 (Dodds 58, Winder 50*)
Barrow 6 points, Netherfield 12 points
* Not Out
3D SPORTS NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Lancaster |
18 |
5 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
179 |
| Netherfield |
18 |
2 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
10 |
168 |
| Morecambe |
19 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
31 |
166 |
| St Annes |
18 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
38 |
140 |
| Chorley |
18 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
31 |
139 |
| Darwen |
19 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
31 |
132 |
| Barrow |
19 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
3 |
35 |
127 |
| Blackpool |
19 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
3 |
39 |
126 |
| Leyland |
19 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
29 |
120 |
| Preston |
18 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
20 |
114 |
| Fleetwood |
18 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
3 |
21 |
94 |
| Kendal |
19 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
4 |
21 |
91 |
| Carnforth |
18 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
3 |
37 |
85 |
MATCH ACTION
LEADERS HUMBLED
S Annes 206-9, Morecambe 54
By Gerry Wolstenholme
In what was purportedly the match of the day in the Northern Premier League Division One, overnight leaders Morecambe were comprehensively defeated by St Annes by 152 runs. Morecambe won the toss and put St Annes in to bat and then found themselves chasing a total of 206-9. They never remotely looked as though they would reach their target, wickets fell regularly and Morecambe were bowled out for a paltry 54 in just 22.1 overs.
The St Annes pair of Adrian Darlington and Gareth Evans began very well and quickly put on 54 runs for the first wicket before the former, on 25, drover Gareth Peddar to Graham Lee at mid-off. Fifty-four for one quickly became 54-2 when substitute professional Saeed Anwar junior was bowled leg stump by Peddar from the third ball he received. Ian Austin then made six before he was adjudged caught at slip by Mark Lomas off Werner Coetsee to make it 72-3.
Evans and Stephen Twist put on 30 for the fourth wicket before Twist, 17, drove a return catch to Coetsee and that was 102-4. Adam Cotton was immediately missed off a stumping chance by Damien Gudgeon off Lee before he had scored and he profited with a six and two fours before, on 15, he edged Coetsee to Lomas at slip and that was 126-5.
Meanwhile Evans was still quietly accumulating and looked well set for a deserved century, even though Andy Armstrong dropped him at long-off when he had made 63. He scored most of the runs in a brief partnership sixth wicket with Aiden Cotton, who was caught by Stuart Errington for four at 145-6. Surprisingly Evans was the next man to go when, on 87 from 126 balls with 10 fours and one six, he drove Coetsee to mid-on and set off for a single that he never made as Peddar's throw to the bowler defeated him by a couple of yards and that was 174-7.
John Musgrave made a spirited 18 before Peddar returned to bowl him at 187-8 which left Duncan Whalley, 12 not out, and Russ Bradley, 13 including a straight drive for six and finally caught at long-on by Woodhead off Coetsee to the last ball of the innings, to see St Annes to their final 206-9. Coetsee finished with 4-48, Peddar with 3-65 and Lee with 1-56.
The Morecambe reply began badly and got no better. Woodhead, one, was leg before wicket to Austin with nine on the board and then the total limped to 22 before Coetsee drove Anwar to Darlington at long-off and he was gone for 10. Skipper Lomas, two, was bowled by Austin at 35-3 and it was 36-4 when Tommy Clough was adjudged caught by Aidan Cotton at silly mid-off before he had scored.
Vishnal Goyal, whose 33-ball innings was by far the longest of the day for Morecambe, was badly missed off a stumping in Michael Baer's first over but after driving a boundary from the next ball he holed out to Musgrave at deep square leg two balls later. He had hit four fours in his 28 and Morecambe were now in deep trouble at 43-5. And it was 47-6 when Peddar, one, edged Anwar to Whalley behind the stumps.
Gudgeon played the second longest innings of the day for Morecambe but his 17-ball vigil for seven ended when a ball from Baer bounced more than most and lobbed off his bat to a wide slip. That was 51-7 and no runs had been added when Baer bowled Lee for nought. With Errington unable to bat owing to a recurring back injury, the innings was ended when Armstrong, one, drove Baer down the ground to Bradley at long-off and with Jono Gates two not out Morecambe were all out for just 54. Baer had 4-11 in 4.1 overs, Anwar 3-26 and Austin 2-17. Morecambe skipper Mark Lomas could only say remorsefully, "That was a bad day at the office." It most certainly was from a Morecambe perspective!
