It proved to be a bumper weekend for Northern League batsmen with no fewer than 8 scores of over 200 recorded across the 13 fixtures of the bank holiday weekend.
DIVISION ONE:
Blackpool v Barrow
Blackpool retained top spot in the league standings thanks to an excellent performance which saw them decimate their Cumbrian opposition.
Batting first the Fylde Coast outfit racked up 258-3 on a typically flat Stanley Park wicket.
Ciaran Johnson 89 and Matt Houston 20 made good early progress before the former was joined by Tom Jefferson 29, fresh from a winter in Australia,
The pair added 60 for the 2nd wicket before debutant Anurag Verma strode to the crease. The New Zealander wasted little time in getting acquainted with his surroundings as he hit a quick-fire 77 not out from just 70 balls.
In adding 100 for the 3rd wicket with Johnson as the youngster recorded his highest First Division score in an innings which lasted 137 balls.
Steve Twist 27no then compounded Barrow's misery as he blitzed an unbeaten 27 from 15 deliveries to close Blackpool's innings.
In response, the Furness Peninsula side made good headway as Ryan Gilmour 39 and Toby Mowat 28 added 77 for the 1st wicket.
The pair's resistance was finally broken with Verma 1-30 claiming his first Northern League wicket as he rearranged Ryan Gilmour's stumps.
Josh Boyne then entered the fray as he removed Mowat, Jamie Pinfold 2 and Greg Reynolds 4 to reduce Barrow to 85-4.
From then on it was something of a fait accompli as Declan Fisher entered the attack with immediate impact, with the 18-year-old claiming the remarkable figures of 5-8 from four overs to condemn Barrow to defeat as they ended 101 all out with 32 overs gone.
Fleetwood v St Annes
Fleetwood claimed their first victory of the 2017 campaign as they obtained the early bragging rights over St Annes in the first Fylde Coast derby of the season.
Initially, Matt Grindley's decision to bowl was vindicated as his side had Fleetwood well and truly on the rack at 47-5 with three of the early victims falling to the Grindley's medium pace as he claimed 3-66.
Unperturbed, Mat Clark 65 and professional Neels Bergh 114no then proceeded to add 183 for the 6th wicket as they moved Fleetwood to a diametric position with the Broadwater outfit sitting pretty at 230-6 before they concluded their innings at the 50 over mark with a fine total of 241 runs for the loss of seven wickets.
In reply the St Annes top order found life difficult as Sam Bell 2-40 and Joe McCluskey 1-20 claimed three early wickets.
Nathan Armstrong 44 and Tom Higson 26 then offered some resistance before both were dismissed by Neels Bergh who completed a magnificent day's work by claiming 5-46 from 11.1 overs to reduce the Vernon Road outfit to 172 all out in the 44th over.
Kendal v Leyland
Leyland also maintained their 100% record as they delivered a typically dogged performance to claim a 29 run victory over Kendal at Shap Road.
Batting first, the Fox Lane outfit were again indebted to the middle order pairing of Andrew Makinson 36 and Tom Reece 41 as they batted stoically to ensure that Leyland used each of their allocated deliveries to reach a score of 150-8 at the 50 over mark.
Kendal made fluent progress as they moved to 44-2 with Ryan Shepherd 26 and Ben Phillips 24 leading the chase.
However, their advance was then stunted as Leyland began to claim regular wickets with David Makinson 4-26 and Henry Thompson 4-17 beguiling the Kendal batsmen with some impressive spin bowling.
Makinson claimed the final wicket as he had Toby Tyson adjudged LBW to leave the scoreboard reading 121 all out in the 49th over.
Lancaster v Netherfield
Netherfield claimed victoryas they chased down the Lancaster total.
At Lune Road Lancaster made 154 from 48 overs as Jamie Heywood 66 held the innings together at the top of the order.
Unfortunately he found little further support as Stuart Nixon 4-59 and Nathan Chambers 3-32 did much of the damage with the ball to ensure that Netherfield remained in the ascendency as they endered their innings.
The Parkside Road outfit wasted little time as they chased an eminently achievable target with Josh Dixon hitting an unbeaten 57 and debutant professional Obus Pienaar hitting 56 not out to allow Netherfield to cruise to an eight wicket victory at the end of the 28th over.
Penrith v Chorley
Joint leaders Chorley also made short work of their counterparts as they returned from the Eden Valley with 15 points.
After being asked to bat, Penrith would have been relatively pleased as they arrived at 43-0 with brothers, Sam 13 and Greg 28 Hall making solid progress at the top of the order.
Unfortunately, this was as good as it got for the Tynefield Park side as they were soon reduced to 46-3 with Ian Oakes claiming each of the wickets to fall.
Oakes then wasted little time in removing four further members of the Penrith batting line up as he bowled with terrific accuracy to claim 7-24 from 15.2 overs, reducing Penrith to 97 all out in the process.
In reply Chorley found themselves 2-1 as Jack Bentham was removed early in the piece, Kyle Dixon 29 and Gayan Maneeshan 23 made steady progress as they steered their side toward the winning post.
Edwin 19 and Will Moulton 16 then built upon this to get Chorley to within touching distance before the Windsor Park side moved to 98-5 with 23 overs gone.
Preston v Morecambe
At West Cliff Preston claimed their first victory of the season as they remained firm under pressure to collect a one wicket victory over Morecambe.
Bowling first the Ribble Valley side were confronted with a well organised Morecambe top order as Lewis Smith 26 and Devon Conway 36 made steady going before the former was removed by Sabir Patel who claimed 5-20 from a fifteen over spell which contained eight maidens.
Lukman Vahaluwala 2-28 was the only other bowler to register any major impact as he claimed the crucial wicket of Devon Conway. in what proved to be a miserly 17 over spell.
Chasing 122 Preston also made a steady start as Irshad Desai 24 and Lukman Vahaluwala 34 began to move their side toward victory.
Eddy Read had different ideas as he regained some control for Morecambe, with the seamer claiming 5-40 from 17 overs to rattle Preston.
Fortunately, Rizwan Ali 18 and Andrew Starkie 6no were not deterred as they held fast to ensure that Preston crossed the winning line with 21 deliveries remaining.
FIRST DIVISION SCORES
Blackpool v Barrow
Blackpool (15 pts) defeated Barrow (0 pts) by 157 runs
Blackpool 258-3 (Ciaran Johnson 89, Anurag Verma 77no), Barrow 101 (Declan Fisher 5-8)
Fleetwood v St Annes
Fleetwood (15 pts) defeated St Annes (2 pts) by 56 runs
Fleetwood 241-7 (Neels Bergh 114no, Matt Clark 65), St Annes 185 (Nathan Armstrong 44, Neels Bergh 5-46)
Kendal v Leyland
Leyland (15 pts) defeated Kendal (3 pts) by 29 runs
Leyland 150-8 (Tom Reece 41), Kendal 121 (Henry Thompson 4-17, David Makinson 4-26)
Lancaster v Netherfield
Netherfield (15 pts) defeated Lancaster (1 pt) by 8 wickets
Lancaster 154 (Jamie Heywood 66, Stuart Nixon 4-50), Netherfield 156-2 (Josh Dixon 57no, Obus Pienaar 56no)
Penrith v Chorley
Chorley (15 pts) defeated Penrith (1 pt) by 5 wickets
Penrith 97 (Ian Oakes 7-24), Chorley 98-5
Preston v Morecambe
Preston (15 pts) defeated Morecambe (3 pts) by 1 wicket
Morecambe 122-9 (Sabbir Patel 5-20), Preston 123-9 (Edward Read 5-40)
CHORLEY BUILDING SOCIETY
( INCORPORATING READERS
CRICKET BALLS)
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division One
| Club |
P |
W15 |
D6 |
T |
D1 |
D0 |
L |
NR5 |
BP |
Pts |
| Blackpool |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
| Chorley |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
| Leyland |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
| Kendal |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
18 |
| Preston |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
18 |
| Netherfield |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
17 |
| St Annes |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
17 |
| Fleetwood |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
16 |
| Barrow |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
| Morecambe |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
| Penrith |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
| Lancaster |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Division Two
Division 2 Round Up:
In Division Two, Blackpool find themselves sitting 12 points clear at the top of the table thanks to their double headed weekend.
Barrow v Blackpool
On Saturday, the seaside outfit found themselves batting first on a particularly good track at Ernest Pass.
Sam Owen's side were soon in a position of control as Danny Dixon 23 and Dan Barling added 77 for the 2nd wicket.
Barling was then joined by Tom Myerscough 96 in what proved to be a fruitful partnership as the pair added 159 for the 3rd wicket with the former hitting a classy unbeaten century from 128 balls before the declaration came.
In defence of their total Blackpool wasted little time as they claimed wickets with regularity to reduce Barrow to 67 all out in the 35th over.
Peter Deeks was the only Barrow batsmen to offer any resistance as he made 38 in the face of some impressive bowling from Chris Baines 3-13 and Matthew Siddall 3-5.
Chorley v Penrith
Chorley were asked to bat first and they made steady progress as Max Harper 39 staved off the attentions of the Penrith attack.
Adam McCullagh 56no and Andy Flear 33 then took advantage of the foundations which were laid by Harper as they moved Chorley to an imposing total of 198-7 at the 45 over mark.
In response Penrith made a good fist of the chase but found themselves 39 runs short of victory as their top order faltered under close examination from Joe Barker 4-33.
Chis Toward 45 and Jamie Parker 26 put Penrith in with a chance of victory but neither could make a telling contribution as the Eden Valley side were dismissed for 160 in the 41st over.
Leyland v Kendal
At the Stanning Memorial ground Leyland picked up a fairly straightforward victory as they beat Kendal by nine wickets.
Bowling first Leyland did not have the early rub of the green as Paul Dodds 31 and Finlay Richardson 20 resisted the attentions of the Leyland openers.
However, a change of personnel got Leyland into the game as Elliot Boardman 2-23 and Michael Birchall 2-30 both claimed two wickets apiece before Ellis Robinson devastated Kendals lower order in claiming 5-9 from just 33 balls, leaving the Shap Road outfit down and out at 101 all out in the 41st over.
In reply the Fox Lane side wasted little time as Hamza Khan 21, Mason Crosby 24no and James Chaplin 34no marshalled the chase with aplomb to take Leyland to victory in the 24th over.
Morecambe v Preston
Preston maintained their unbeaten record as they completed a splendid victory over Morecambe at Woodhill Lane.
Batting first the West Cliff outfit found life difficult as Jack Lupton 3-21 bowled well to restrict scoring opportunities.
Mustaq Tailor 25 and Syed Shah 24 made the most telling contributions of the day as they moved the scoreboard along before Izhar Ullah returned to the attack to claim three quick wickets and reduce Preston to 107 all out.
In defence of their total, Preston were soon amongst the wickets as Mustaq Tailor 4-20 showed his credentials with the ball in hand.
He also found support from Mohammed Ilyas 2-18 and Akmal Shah 2-15 as they routed Morecambe for 73 in just 31 overs, with Mark Woodhead 30 the only Morecambe batsmen to offer any resistance.
Netherfield v Lancaster
At Parkside Road, Netherfield were made to work for their first victory of the season as Lancaster amassed 202-7 in the first innings.
Danny Welbourne made 87 at the top of the order as he put his old club to the sword in partnerships of 82 with Lewis McGinley 26 and 71 with Brendan Hetherington 31 as the Lune Road side put in a terrific batting performance to set an imposing total at the 45 over mark.
Having claimed 3-36 from 10 overs, stand-in captain Theo Gallagher then set about the Lancaster attack as he made an unbeaten 92, he found further support from Daniel Gaunt 34 and Brendon Herron 39no as his youthful Netherfield side stormed to an 8 wicket victory in 34.1 overs.
St Annes v Fleetwood
Fleetwood claimed the lion's share of the points at Vernon Road as they also took advantage of a terrific batting wicket.
After being asked to bat the Broadwater outfit made progress with little impediment as each of the top five made double figures with Paul Willis 65 and Michael Wilson 60 making effective contributions to allow their side to move to 229-5 at the 45 over mark.
St Annes remained collected in the face of such a total and set about their chase with some panache as Alex Bradley 21 and Andy Drake made a positive start.
Jack Wilkinson 2-33 then claimed two quick wickets to shift the balance before David Watson 39 joined Drake.
When the former fell to the bowling of Michael Wilson, the Vernon Road side were quickly placed on the back foot as James Gregson 3-47 returned to the attack to claim three quick wickets.
However, Drake remained firm and carried his bat for an excellent 102no from 133 deliveries to ensure that St Annes left the field at 213-8 with 45 overs gone.
Monday 1st May
Blackpool v Morecambe
Blackpool found themselves on the wrong end of the toss for the 3rd game running as they were invited to bat on a particularly flat wicket at Stanley Park.
Sam Owen's side were in a spot of bother at 17-1 but the matter was soon rectified as Owen added 88 with Dan Barling 37 to take the score to 105-2.
He was then joined by Tom Myerscough 58 as both batsmen took the upper hand and made good use of the conditions in a partnership of 113.
Owen had fluently made his way to 98 before he fell agonisingly short of a century as he was removed by Andy Bird 2-13 in the penultimate over of the Blackpool innings.
Chasing a target of 229 for victory, Morecambe began in a stoic fashion before two quick wickets from Matthew Siddall 3-28 brought Lloyd Smith 32 and Phil Thornton 70 together. the pair adding 50 for the fourth wicket.
Thornton continued in a belligerent fashion as he took advantage of any loose deliveries in a powerful knock which lasted for 85 balls, before he was removed by Sam Owen (2-23).
Blackpool ended with 12 points as they were unable to force the issue with the Woodhill Lane outfit holding out for a draw, reaching 148-8 in the 45th over.
SECOND DIVISION SCORES
Barrow v Blackpool
Blackpool (15 pts) defeated Barrow (1 pt) by 170 runs
Blackpool 237-4dec (Dan Barling 100no, Tom Myerscough 96), Barrow 67
Chorley v Penrith
Chorley (15 pts) defeated Penrith (3 pts) by 38 runs
Chorley 198-7 (Adam McCullagh 56no), Penrith 160 (Chris Toward 45, Joe Barker 4-33)
Leyland v Kendal
Leyland (15 pts) defeated Kendal (0 pts) by 9 wickets
Kendal 101 (Ellis Robinson 5-9), Leyland 105-1
Morecambe v Preston
Preston (15 pts) defeated Morecambe (3 pts) by 34 runs
Preston 107, Morecambe 73 (Mustaq Tailor 4-20)
Netherfield v Lancaster
Netherfield (15 pts) defeated Lancaster (3 pts) by 8 wickets
Lancaster 202-7 (Danny Welbourne 87), Netherfield 206-2 (Theo Gallagher 92no)
St Annes v Fleetwood
Fleetwood (12 pts) winning draw St Annes (5 pts)
Fleetwood 229-5 (Paul Willis 65, Michael Wilson 60), St Annes 213-8 (Andy Drake 102no)
Monday 1st May 2017
Blackpool v Morecambe
Blackpool (10 pts) winning draw Morecambe (1 pt)
Blackpool 228-4 (Sam Owen 98, Tom Myerscough 58), Morecambe 148-8 (Phil Thornton 70)
CHORLEY BUILDING SOCIETY
( INCORPORATING READERS
CRICKET BALLS)
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
Division Two
| Club |
P |
W15 |
D6 |
T |
D1 |
D0 |
L |
NR5 |
BP |
Pts |
| Blackpool |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
42 |
| Chorley |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
| Leyland |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
| Preston |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
25 |
| St Annes |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
20 |
| Morecambe |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
19 |
| Netherfield |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
16 |
| Fleetwood |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
13 |
| Kendal |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
7 |
| Lancaster |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
| Penrith |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
| Barrow |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
