By Michael Latham
Lancaster players
applaud Ben Simm off the field after his record-breaking
achievement |
Barrow clinched the runners-up spot in the
Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League
(incorporating Readers Cricket Balls) as a memorable season
endured a watery end. Just five definite results were possible
in both divisions after heavy overnight rain but Barrow made
sure of the highest position since they joined the league in
2004 after an eight wickets win over Preston at Ernest
Pass.
Preston struggled to 122 for 9 in their 50
overs, losing eight wickets for 63 after reaching the relative
prosperity of 59 for 1. Barrow skipper Daryl Wearing used nine
bowlers with spinners Gary Collins and Liam Livingstone each
taking two wickets. Preston pro Bilal Asad was top-scorer with
25 on what was believed to be his final appearance for the
club after five fine seasons at West Cliff.
Cumberland county opener Jon Miles hit an
unbeaten 58 in Barrow's reply and finished the season with 878
runs at an average of 46.21, second only to St Annes' Atiq
Uz-Zaman in the Castle Awards.
Pasan Wanasinghe bowed out after four seasons as
the club's popular professional with an undefeated 41 and
finished in style, hitting Krishan Parekh for six to take
Barrow past the winning post.
Barrow's previous highest placing was sixth in
2009 but they won 16 and lost only four games and their final
points-tally was 30 points more than that with which St Annes
won the title last year.
Skipper Daryl Wearing had promised the Barrow
faithful at last season's club presentation evening that they
would challenge for the title and he was as good as his
word.
With champions Leyland suffering a wash-out
against Darwen at Fox Lane, Barrow closed the gap at the top
to nine points. Leyland (265pts) were leaders, Barrow (256pts)
runners-up and defending champions St Annes (236pts) third
with Darwen (209pts) and Blackpool (199pts) completing the
top-five and the Lancashire Cup places for next season.
Lancaster were the most improved side in 2010,
recovering from the wooden spoon to finish seventh. Michael
Stevens' side had a dramatic 62 runs win over Carnforth at
Lodge Quarry to end the season with a maximum points-haul.
In a match reduced to 44 overs per side after a
shower interrupted Lancaster's innings after 15 overs, the
visitors posted 166 for 8 with skipper Stevens (33), pro Roy
Silva (37) and Kiran Uppour (31) the main contributors.
Carnforth pro Gareth Pedder took the two wickets he needed to
surpass Warren Quinn's Northern League club record of 53
wickets set last year, having Tim Barry caught by Lewis
Bradley and then Stevens caught behind by Tom Barnfield.
Carnforth pro Gareth Pedder celebrates a
new club bowling record |
Pedder proved his versatility by keeping wicket
impressively for the final 12 overs, having finished with 54
wickets at 19.57.
Lancaster off-spinner Ben Simm needed five
wickets to set a new club record for an amateur and beat
Kendal's Chris Miller to the Castle Bowling Award. Silva
bowled superbly for Lancaster to take five for 34 but Simm
claimed three victims as Carnforth slumped to 86 for 8.
Opener Ryan Nelson batted majestically to make
65 for Carnforth off 92 balls and took his season's aggregate
up to 666 runs at an average of 37.00.
Ryan
Nelson hits Ben Simm for four on his way to 65 for
Carnforth |
Nelson was ninth man out for Carnforth,
brilliantly caught in the deep by Tom Burrow off Simm. Simm
was then hit for three successive sixes by Pedder before the
Carnforth pro holed out to Silva at deep extra cover off the
last ball of the 30th over. Carnforth were bowled out for 104
and Simm, with figures of five for 70, ended the season with
61 wickets at an average of 19.97.
Simm beat Brian Charlesworth's club record for
an amateur of 60 wickets set in 1961 and won the Castle Award
for the second time in the last three seasons after taking 46
wickets for Kendal in 2008.
Netherfield stalwart Craig Walmsley ended his
21-year career at the club in style as they beat Chorley by
ten wickets at Parkside Road. Walmsley, who made his
Netherfield debut in 1990, was sportingly afforded a guard of
honour by the Chorley players as he came out to bat at
Parkside Road for a final time after announcing his
retirement.
The talented left-handed batsman scored over
5,500 Division One runs for the club with a season's best of
814 in 2006. It was a splendid act of sportsmanship by Andy
Holdsworth's side, especially after they had been skittled for
40 in just 21 overs. Stuart Nixon took seven for 20 and Ryan
Wilson three for 20 did the damage with only opener Jack
Catterall (22 off 54 balls) reaching double figures.
Walmsley (9 not out) and Ben Haddrick (30 not
out) hurried Netherfield to victory in 6.3 overs.
The other Division One games at St Annes and
Morecambe were abandoned without a ball being bowled. Darwen
pro Mohammad Zaman Khan was denied the chance to reach one
thousand runs but finished top of the league run charts with
965 runs at 48.25.
Chorley players
sportingly applaud Craig Walmsley onto the field for his
final innings for Netherfield (photo courtesy Sue
Parry) |
Atiq Uz-Zaman lifted the Castle Batting Award
for the third successive season after making 927 runs at 54.53
for St Annes. St Annes' pro Dinuka Hettiarachchi was denied
the chance to become only the third bowler in league history
to take 100 wickets in a season. The Sri Lankan spin ace was
stranded on 94 wickets at average of 11.80 with fellow
countryman Wanasinghe taking 74 at 11.96. Barrow 'keeper Chris
D'Leny won the Castle wicketkeeping award and Fleetwood's Ryan
Smith the fielding award.
FIRST DIVISION SCORES
BARROW v PRESTON
Barrow (12pts) defeated Preston (0pts) by 8
wickets
Preston 122 for 9 Barrow 123 for 2 (J Miles
58no, P Wanasinghe 42no)
CARNFORTH v LANCASTER
Lancaster (15pts) defeated Carnforth (2pts) by
62 runs
Lancaster 166 for 8 Carnforth 104 (R Nelson
65, R Silva 5 for 34, B Simm 5 for 70)
LEYLAND v DARWEN
Match abandoned (4pts each)
No Play
MORECAMBE v BLACKPOOL
Match abandoned (4pts each)
No play
NETHERFIELD v CHORLEY
Netherfield (12pts) defeated Chorley (0pts) by
10 wickets
Chorley 40 (S Nixon 7 for 20) Netherfield 41
for 0
ST ANNES v FLEETWOOD
Match abandoned (4pts each)
No play
Kendal No match
FURNESS BUILDING SOCIETY
( INCORPORATIN READERS CRICKET
BALLS )
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Leyland |
25 |
6 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
25 |
265 |
| Barrow |
25 |
7 |
9 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
26 |
256 |
| St Annes |
25 |
4 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
20 |
236 |
| Darwen |
25 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
39 |
209 |
| Blackpool |
25 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
26 |
199 |
| Morecambe |
25 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
4 |
38 |
182 |
| Lancaster |
25 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
5 |
40 |
180 |
| Netherfield |
25 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
6 |
32 |
164 |
| Fleetwood |
25 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
12 |
3 |
53 |
143 |
| Kendal |
25 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
11 |
4 |
61 |
138 |
| Carnforth |
25 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
54 |
126 |
| Preston |
25 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
10 |
4 |
38 |
124 |
| Chorley |
25 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
15 |
2 |
51 |
103 |
| Lancashire Colts |
13 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
2 |
28 |
79 |
SECOND DIVISION
In Division Two Chorley's Stu Naden scored the
six runs he needed to beat Bob Dickinson's club record against
Netherfield at Windsor Park. Dickinson scored 721 runs at
48.06 in 1993.
The Readers Division Two Cup holders made 172
for 8 in a game reduced to 34 overs per side. Naden reached 24
off 17 balls before he became one of Muhammad Nazir's five
victims and the teenaged right-handed opener, who will shortly
leave for a winter playing in Australia ended the campaign
with 740 runs at an average of 38.95.
Netherfield looked beaten at 122 for 7 but
skipper Tom Barton hit an undefeated 36 off 18 balls including
four sixes and one four to steer his side home by two wickets
with three balls to spare. Wicketkeeper Shane Hyland made 47
off 61 balls.
St Annes won a rain-reduced game at Broadwater,
defending their modest 97 for 8 by bowling out Fleetwood for
71. Richard Thomas took five for 46 and Nick Jones four for
17.
Champions Leyland reached 7 for 0 against Darwen
at Birch Hall before the game was abandoned and the remaining
three games all fell foul of the elements.
Leyland (248pts) were champions with Blackpool
(229pts) in runners-up spot. League President Brian Standing
journeyed to Stanley Park to present Blackpool captain Kevin
Reid with the runners-up trophy.
Overnight rain had caused an early postponement
at Stanley Park and ruined a potentially fascinating match
with Blackpool's Ross Parker and Morecambe's Nick Milner tying
for the Scratching Shed Bowling Award with 54 wickets apiece
and Reid just three behind on 51.
The award will now be shared by Parker and
Milner. Leyland's club record holder Daniel Hall hit 846 runs
at 60.43 to lift the Scratching Shed Batting Award while
Blackpool wicketkeeper James Smith and Preston's Yasin Patel
won the respective fielding awards.
Chorley (212pts), Darwen (192pts) and St Annes
(180pts) completed the top five with defending champions
Lancaster trailing in a disappointing 11th.
SECOND DIVISION SCORES
BLACKPOOL v MORECAMBE
Match abandoned (4pts each)
No play
CHORLEY v NETHERFIELD
Netherfield (12pts) defeated Chorley (4pts) by
2 wickets
Chorley 172 for 8 (M Nazir 5 for 46)
Netherfield 174 for 8 (S Hyland 47)
FLEETWOOD v ST ANNES
St Annes (15pts) defeated Fleetwood (2pts) by
26 runs
St Annes 97 for 8 (John Wilkinson 4 for 35)
Fleetwood 71 (R Thomas 5 for 46, N Jones 4 for 17)
DARWEN v LEYLAND
Match abandoned (4pts each)
Leyland 7 for 0; Darwen did not bat
LANCASTER v CARNFORTH
Match abandoned (4pts each)
No play
PRESTON v BARROW
Match abandoned (4pts each)
No play
Kendal no match
FURNESS BUILDING SOCIETY
( INCORPORATING READERS
CRICKET BALLS)
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
l |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Leyland |
24 |
6 |
8 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
26 |
248 |
| Blackpool |
24 |
6 |
9 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
15 |
229 |
| Chorley |
24 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
45 |
212 |
| Darwen |
24 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
26 |
192 |
| St Annes |
24 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
34 |
180 |
| Morecambe |
24 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
4 |
18 |
177 |
| Barrow |
24 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
5 |
37 |
158 |
| Netherfield |
24 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
3 |
29 |
152 |
| Preston |
24 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
6 |
29 |
147 |
| Fleetwood |
24 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
12 |
2 |
41 |
145 |
| Lancaster |
24 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
5 |
19 |
141 |
| Kendal |
24 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
5 |
32 |
116 |
| Carnforth |
24 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
18 |
3 |
47 |
79 |
