In-form Gleeson wins it for Blackpool
Chorley's Will Moulton just fails to catch Chris Williams off his own bowling |
St Annes recorded a 12 point victory over Darwen to increase their lead in the Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League (incorporating Readers Cricket Balls) Division 1 table as they were the only side to win at home in round 17 of the league's fixtures. Elsewhere Morecambe secured a 74 run victory over fellow title challengers Chorley and there were also away from home wins for Blackpool at Barrow, Netherfield at Fleetwood, Carnforth at Kendal and Lancaster at Preston.
At Vernon Road, Darwen batted first and made 226 for 7 from their allotted 50 overs. Opening batsman Alex Davies who has spent the week with the England Under 17 team, played a fluent innings of 85 from 117 balls with 8 fours and two sixes. There was able support for Davies from Mohammad Zaman Khan, Gareth Cordingley, Jordan Clarke and Kamran Anwar, all of who passed 20 but were unable to push on and make a bigger score. For St Annes professional Dinuk Hettiarachchi bowled an unchanged spell of 25 over to take 3 for 83.
St Annes reply was built around a masterful century from Atiq Uz-Zaman The former Pakistan test player displayed his usual powerful stroke play to record his eleventh league century for St Annes. He shared an opening partnership of 84 with youngster Nanthesh Kiruparan who made 34. The St Annes innings also contained a fifty on debut from Kushan Mirando, a Sri Lankan student currently studying at Fleetwood Nautical College. Mirando made exactly 50 from 54 balls with 4 fours and 1 six.
Darwen fought hard in the field with Chris Wade taking 3 for 37. When Kamran Anwar dismissed Uz-Zaman LBW for 107 (from 110 balls, 14 fours and two sixes), Darwen sensed a way back into the game, but Ben Dowling held his nerve to hit the winning runs off the penultimate delivery of the match.
Third placed Chorley took on Morecambe at Windsor Park. Morecambe batted first and made 174 for 6 from 50 overs. A patient opening stand of 51 between captain Mark Woodhead and Josh Dixon saw off testing spells of left arm seam bowling from Billy Smith and Kieran McCullagh. On a slow wicket Ikram Ullah top scored for the visitors with 34, but Morecambe were indebted to an aggressive innings of 33 from 26 balls (5 x fours, 1 x six) from wicket keeper Lewis Edge to boost their score in the late overs.
Morecambe opener Josh Dixon |
Professional Gaurav Dhar battled a head injury sustained at practice during the week, to take 4 for 42, including the wickets of Edge and the Cumberland pair Ullah and Chris Williams. Chorley found life difficult after the tea interval in the face of some disciplined bowling from Chris Williams and Morecambe's professional Anwar Ali.
Ikram Ullah celebrates running out Chorley's Stu Naden |
Netherfield took advantage of Chorley defeat to move up to third place with a 6 wicket victory over Fleetwood at Broadwater. Fleetwood batted first and made 180 for 8. Adam Parker batted with great style to make 85 form 96 balls (5 fours, 4 sixes) for the home side. Parker was well supported by Mike Clinning who made 38 in a partnership of 88 that helped weather a hostile opening spell of pace bowling from Netherfield's Australian professional Be Laughlin.
The bowling hero however for the visitors was the often unsung Stuart Nixon who bowled with great control to take 6 for 69 from 19 overs, his 6 wickets being the top six batsmen in the Fleetwood line up. Netherfield's run chase centred round a superb innings from Cumberland batsman Alex Atkinson. Atkinson, who led the Northern League U21 team against the MCC recently, was particularly aggressive against short pitched bowling and made 78 from 84 balls (10 fours, 3 sixes) before he was dismissed by Sam Bell.
The surprise result of the day came at Parkside Road, where Carnforth beat Kendal by 67 runs in a low scoring encounter. The visitors were asked to bat first and struggled in the face of some accurate bowling from Stu Parkin (3 for 36), Nick Lewthwaite (3 for 42) and Kendal's captain Chris Miller (3 for 50). That Carnforth could reach 160 all out owed much to a counter attacking innings of Darren Nelson who made 32 not out batting at number seven. The game appeared to be well balanced with Kendal poised on 88 for 5, but a devastating spell of bowling from Carnforth professional Gareth Pedder saw the home side lose their last 5 wickets for just 5 runs to be dismissed for 93 in 37.5 overs. Pedder finished 6 for 24 from 13.5 overs, his third five wicket haul of the season.
Lancaster chalked up their sixth win of the season after beating Preston by two wickets in a tense encounter at West Cliff. The side batted first and totalled 143 for 9 from their 50 overs. Preston captain Lukman Vahaluwala top scored with 43 and the well-travelled Rehman Shah made 36 not out batting at number eight. Ben Simm bowled unchanged for Lancaster to take 5 for 49 from 25 overs in an excellent display of off spin bowling.
Lancaster looked to be in trouble in their reply as Vahaluwala ripped out four early wickets, but a mature partnership of 61 between Lee Sparks and Joe Atkinson led the recovery for the home side. Atkinson fell four short of a deserved maiden Division One half-century as his side crept home with 8 wickets down.
Vahaluwala confirmed his reputation as one of the most dangerous all-rounders in the league to finish with 6 for 67 from 19.4 overs.
At the Ernest Pass Memorial Ground, Richard Gleeson again showed his all-round abilities with a virtuoso performance as Blackpool took the honours with a 24 run victory over Barrow. The Cumberland all-rounder top scored with 38 not out in his team's total of 177 for 7. Youngster Craig Brown made 36 and professional Con De-Lange 34. For Barrow professional Pieter Malan took 2 for 48 from 20 overs and effective cricket in the outfield accounted for four Blackpool batsmen being run out. After tea Gleeson picked up the key wicket of Malan clean bowled for one on his way to figures of 5 for 36 from 13 overs. Malan's opening partner former captain Daryl Wearing batted superbly to make 61 from 100 balls (7 fours, 1 six) and also Iain Kermode made 41. However Gleeson's return to the attack saw the last four Barrow wickets go down for 13 runs as they were dismissed for 153.
Gert Maartens took three wickets for Morecambe |
St Annes (164 points from 17 matches) now lead defending champions Leyland (151 points from 16 games) who were without a game in this round of fixtures by 13 points. Netherfield are third with 143 points from 17 games, with Morecambe (138 points from 16 games) and Chorley (133 points for 16 games) still in contention.
FIRST DIVISION SCORES
Barrow v Blackpool
Blackpool (15 points) defeated Barrow (3 points) by 24 runs
Blackpool 177 for 7, Barrow 153 all out (Wearing 61, Gleeson 5-36)
Chorley v Morecambe
Morecambe (15 points) defeated Chorley (1 point) by 74 runs
Morecambe 174 for 6 (Dhar 4-42), Chorley 100 all out
Fleetwood v Netherfield
Netherfield (12 points) defeated Fleetwood (3 points) by 6 wickets
Fleetwood 180 for 8 (Parker 85, Nixon 6-69), Netherfield 181 for 4 (Atkinson 78)
Kendal v Carnforth
Carnforth (15 points) defeated Kendal (3 points) by 67 runs
Carnforth 160 all out, Kendal 93 all out (Pedder 6-24)
Preston v Lancaster
Lancaster (12 points) defeated Preston (3 points) by 2 wickets
Preston 143 for 9 (Vahaluwala 43, Simm 5-49) , Lancaster 145 for 8 (J. Atkinson 46, Vahaluwala 6-67)
St Annes vs Darwen
St Annes (12 points) defeated Darwen (4 points) by 5 wickets
Darwen 226 for 8 (A Davies 85), St Annes 229 for 5 (Uz-Zaman 107, Mirando 50)
Leyland - No Game
FURNESS BUILDING SOCIETY
( INCORPORATIN READERS CRICKET
BALLS )
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| St Annes |
17 |
3 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
19 |
164 |
| Leyland |
16 |
1 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
26 |
151 |
| Netherfield |
17 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
20 |
143 |
| Morecambe |
16 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
18** |
138 |
| Chorley |
16 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
28 |
133 |
| Blackpool |
16 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
26 |
125 |
| Kendal |
17 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
32 |
115 |
| Barrow |
17 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
38 |
115 |
| Darwen |
15 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
25 |
111 |
| Lancaster |
16 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
16 |
102 |
| Carnforth |
16 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
1 |
33 |
86 |
| Preston |
17 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
38 |
77 |
| Fleetwood |
16 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
11 |
0 |
38 |
65 |
| Lancashire Colts |
8 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
62 |
** 2 points deducted for slow over rate
Division Two (2nd XI)
In Division Two, second placed Chorley took advantage of top of the table Leyland's blank weekend with a hard fought 15 point victory at Morecambe. Chorley were dismissed for 119, but fought back in the second innings with the ever dependable James Lee taking 6 for 40 to bowl Morecambe out for 93. Ian Mawdesley's side now trail Leyland by 26 points with both sides having played 15 games. Blackpool are clear in third after an 8 wicket victory over Barrow at Stanley Park. Adrian Darlington made 50 as Blackpool chased down their target of 158 in 41.2 overs. The veteran opening batsman, who has recently taken over the wicket keeping duties for his team now has 698 runs in Division 2 this season.
Darwen are up to fourth after Gary Jackson's side had the better of a low scoring game against St Annes and Netherfield slipped to fifth after a dramatic collapse saw them lose their last 8 wickets for 20 runs to be dismissed for 113, a total Fleetwood chased down for the loss of 8 wickets. Kendal maintained their recent good form with a win over Carnforth and Preston recorded a morale boosting victory over Lancaster.
SECOND DIVISION SCORES
Blackpool v Barrow
Blackpool (12 points) defeated Barrow (1 point) by 8 wickets
Barrow 157 all out (Cartmell 41no) , Blackpool 159 for 2 (Darlington 50, Wall 46no)
Carnforth v Kendal
Kendal (15 points) defeated Carnforth (3 points) by 103 runs
Kendal 226 for 9 (Nightingale 64, Du Plessis 58) , Carnforth 123 all out (M. Dugdale 4-23, Nelson 4 for 51)
Darwen v St Annes
Darwen (15 points) defeated St Annes (3 points) by 84 runs
Darwen 139 all out (Chatburn-Jones 45, Sunderland 4-26), St Annes 55 all out
Lancaster v Preston
Preston (15 points) defeated Lancaster (3 points) by 42 runs
Preston 130 all out, Lancaster 88 all out
Morecambe v Chorley
Chorley (15 points) defeated Morecambe (3 points) by 26 runs
Chorley 119 all out , Morecambe 93 all out
Netherfield v Fleetwood
Fleetwood (12 points) defeated Netherfield (2 points) by 2 wickets
Netherfield 113 all out (Clarke 5-56, Gregson 5-28), Fleetwood 114 for 8 (Singleton 44, Stuart Dixon 5-56)
Leyland - No Game
Sunday 24th July
Readers Cup - 2nd Round
Fleetwood v St Annes
Fleetwod defeated St Annes by 5 runs
Fleetwood 203 - 8, St Annes 198 - 8
FURNESS BUILDING SOCIETY
( INCORPORATING READERS
CRICKET BALLS )
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Leyland |
15 |
9 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
184 |
| Chorley |
15 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
158 |
| Blackpool |
16 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
21 |
154 |
| Darwen |
15 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
14 |
135 |
| Netherfield |
16 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
5++ |
131 |
| Barrow |
16 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
35 |
110 |
| Kendal |
16 |
3 |
1 |
2*** |
0 |
7 |
3 |
24 |
102 |
| Morecambe |
16 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
1 |
25 |
89 |
| Preston |
16 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
23 |
87 |
| Carnforth |
16 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
2 |
35 |
84 |
| Fleetwood |
15 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
18 |
81 |
| St Annes |
16 |
0 |
3 |
2*** |
3 |
5 |
3 |
15++ |
75 |
| Lancaster |
16 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
18 |
73 |
++ 15points deducted
*** Tied match 5 points
