Gerry Wolstenholme
By dint of a comfortable victory over Preston, Darwen moved back to the top of the 3D Sports Northern Premier League, displacing Barrow who drop to second place following defeat by Netherfield.
At Birch Hall Preston batted first and only professional Bilal Asad with 58 made any headway and the only other player in double figures was Ramon Shah who made a modest 11. Andrew Mercer took 3-26 and Yasim Patel 2-26 for Darwen who then won by five wickets with 119-5. Gareth Cordingley carried on his good form and made 59 not out while Chris Clarke made 28 and Rhys Williams did his best for Preston with 2-30.
Barrow were bowled out for 152 thanks to Scott Clement's magnificent 5-22 and there were two wickets apiece for Marc Hadwin and Charl Langeveldt, the former for 25 runs and the latter for 57 runs. Professional Pasan Wanasinghe made a top score of 47 for Barrow and Chris D'Leny chipped in with 32 and Iain Kermode with 20. But the Barrow total was nowhere near enough when Craig 'The Worm' Walmsley got to work and he blasted 86 not out and with Ryan Brown making 32 and Chris Parry 26, Netherfield were home and dry by eight wickets in 33 overs with 157-2.
Kendal kept the pressure on the leaders by defeating Chorley by 111 runs as, despite losing the prolific Ikram Ullah for a duck, they made a massive 256-6 before declaring. Terry Hunte made only 24 but Phil Thornton, on his Kendal debut, made 80, Kevin Howarth 62 and Graeme Aldridge 54 not out as Stephen John took 2-61 and Paul Hughes 2-64 for Chorley. Andrew Holdsworth then made 73 for Chorley but his only real assistance came from Guarav Dhar with 22 as Ben Simm took an impressive 5-30, Chris Miller 2-49 and Aldridge 2-52 with Chorley succumbing for 145.
Fleetwood made only a modest 154 against Leyland but it was enough to give them victory by 33 runs as they bowled the visitors out for 121. Michael Clinning made 44 for Fleetwood and he was aided by 26 from Nick Coultas, 18 from James Ellis, 15 from Wayne Clarke and 14 from Tom Wilson as Ameer Khan, coming into the attack as the fourth bowler, took 8-33 from 17.4 overs. Only two batsmen flourished for Leyland, Peter Cummings with 44 and Khan with 36, the next best effort being 14 from Karl Cross as Tom Blundell took 5-33, Clinning 2-31 and Adam Breakell 2-24.
Blackpool went down at Stanley Park to Lancaster who once again were well led by Tim Barry. Blackpool batted first and made 225-2 with Luis Reece leading the way with a best-yet 87 not out and Charles Boucher making 65 and Justin Kreusch 51.But Lancaster won by five wickets with 11 balls to spare as they made 226-5 with Jamie Heywood making 91, Jannisar Khan 57 and Michael Walling 28. Reece, despite being on the losing side, staked a claim for the man-of-the-match award by taking 3-43, the only bowler to take more than one wicket on the day.
Finally the only draw of the day came at Morecambe where the home side posted 181-7 in reply to the St Annes total of 207-6 to which Gareth Evans contributed 62, Shane Harwood 49 not out, Stephen Twist 36 and Ian Austin 23. Gareth Peddar, 2-54, was the most successful bowler while Werner Coetsee took 2-65. Coetsee then made a top score of 90 for Morecambe as Peddar made 36 and Tommy Clough 33 as Harwood bowled unchanged to take 4-83. Everything was put into perspective, however, as a minute's silence was held for Morecambe player 17-year-old Conah David Higgins who passed away last Wednesday night.
Division One scores in brief (home side in bold):
Blackpool 225 - 2 (Reece L 87*, Boucher 65, Kreusch 51), Lancaster 226 - 5 (Heywood J 91, Jannisar Khan 57)
Blackpool 4 points, Lancaster 12 points
Kendal 256 - 6 dec (Thornton 80, Howarth 62, Aldridge 54*) , Chorley 145 (Holdsworth 73, Simm 5-30)
Kendal 15 points, Chorley 2 points
Preston 118 (Asad 58), Darwen 119 - 5 (Cordingley 59*)
Preston 1 point Darwen 12 points
Fleetwood 154 (Clinning 44, Ameer Khan 8-33), Leyland 121 (Cummings 44, Blundell 5-33)
Fleetwood 15 points Leyland 3 points
St Annes 207 - 6 (Evans 62, Harwood 49*), Morecambe 181 - 7 (Coetsee 90, Harwood 4-82)
St Annes 9 points , Morecambe 5 points
Barrow 152 (Wanasinghe 47, Clement 5-22) , Netherfield 157 - 2 (Walmsley 86*)
Barrow 1 point, Netherfield 12 points
* Not Out
3D SPORTS NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Darwen |
7 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
65 |
| Barrow |
7 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
60 |
| Kendal |
7 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
9 |
58 |
| Netherfield |
6 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
54 |
| Leyland |
7 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
47 |
| Morecambe |
7 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
46 |
| Chorley |
6 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
45 |
| Lancaster |
6 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
44 |
| Fleetwood |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
42 |
| St Annes |
6 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
25 |
41 |
| BLACKPOOL |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
17* |
33 |
| Carnforth |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
14 |
28 |
| Preston |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
12 |
27 |
Teams in BLOCK CAPITALS have had points deducted,
* 2 points deducted for slow over rate
Batsman of the day in Division Two was Morecambe's Ben Akrigg who made 101 not out in their total of 260-3 but the game ended in a draw as St Annes' ninth wicket fell to the last ball of the game with John Musgrave saving the day with 82 not out.
Again a minute's silence was held at the game In memory of 17-year-old Conah David Higgins who passed away last Wednesday night.
Paul Moralee of Lancaster took the day's bowling honours with 6-39 as Blackpool were bowled out for 141 to lose by 72 runs, But mention should also be made to the wholehearted Sifton Prince who turned in a fine performance as Leyland defeated Fleetwood by 56 runs. Prince took 5-16 as Fleetwood were bowled out for 84 in reply to Leyland's 140-8.
Division Two results in short (home team in bold):
Barrow 135 (Heffernan 43, Chambers 4-14), Netherfield 138 - 0
Barrow 0 points, Netherfield 12 points
Kendal 182 (McDonald 52, Mead 5-27), Chorley 183 - 4 (Hotham 66*,)
Kendal 3 points, Chorley 12 points
Lancaster 213 - 5 (Moffay K 50, Turton 43*), Blackpool 141 (Aga 54, Moralee 6-39)
Lancaster 15 points, Blackpool 2 points
Leyland 140 - 8 (Farrington 42) , Fleetwood 84 (Prince 5-16)
Barrow 15 points, Fleetwood 3 points
Preston 165 - 5 (Jefferies 44*) , Darwen 168 - 4 (Jackson 60*)
Preston 2 points , Darwen 12 points
Morecambe 260 - 3 (Akrigg 101*, Whincup 60, Armstrong 47) , St Annes 191 - 9 (Musgrave 82*)
Morecambe 10 points, St Annes 4 points
* Not Out
3D SPORTS NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Netherfield |
6 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
66 |
| Darwen |
7 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
62 |
| Chorley |
6 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
59 |
| Blackpool |
7 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
14 |
58 |
| Morecambe |
7 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
20 |
53 |
| Lancaster |
6 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
51 |
| Kendal |
7 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
46 |
| Leyland |
7 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
14 |
46 |
| Fleetwood |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
42 |
| Barrow |
7 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
13 |
41 |
| St Annes |
6 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
36 |
| Carnforth |
6 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
30 |
| Preston |
6 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
12 |
20 |
There will be no match report this week due to Gerry still not being fit
