Kendal pro shows How to break records
Leyland record-breakers Luis Reece and pro Brett Pelser
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The 2011 season in the Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League (incorporating Readers Cricket Balls) was a record-breaking one for many players.
As the League celebrates its 60 th anniversary next year there can be few campaigns where so many records were broken.
In Division One two Leyland batsmen, Luis Reece and pro Brett Pelser became the first Leyland players to top one thousand runs in a league season.
Reece hit 1,027 runs a 60.41 to shatter the previous Leyland amateur record held by David Wareing who hit 953 runs at 56.05 in 1973.
Pelser surpassed the club professional record held by West Indies great Gordon Greenidge who made 976 runs at 57.41 in 1993. Pelser hit 1,008 runs at an average of 67.20.
Barrow's South African pro Pieter Malan became the first player from Ernest Pass to reach 1,000 runs since they joined the Northern League in 2004. He made 1,051 league runs at an average of 65.69, including five hundreds.
Barrow pro Pieter Malan enjoyed a prolific season |
Pasan Wanasinghe held the previous record with 930 runs at 51.67 in 2007.
In Division Two Blackpool's Adrian Darlington, one of only nine batsmen to pass 10,000 Division One runs, established a new club record.
Darlington hit 866 league runs at an average of 45.58 to beat the previous record held by David Bartholomew who made 792 runs at 56.07 in 1992.
Kendal's Donovan Du Plessis beat his own Kendal record, hitting 635 runs at 63.50 to surpass his 2010 tally of 603 runs at 37.69. Du Plessis had only 12 innings during the season, two of which were not out.
On the bowling front Preston captain Lukman Vahaluwala earned a new club record with 74 wickets at 12.72 to beat Geoff Hill's record of 65 wickets at 8.56 in 1971.
Vahaluwala narrowly missed out on the Preston batting record, finishing with 696 runs at 30.26, just short of Doug Green's record of 754 runs at 50.26 in 1986.
Kendal's captain Chris Miller capped another fine season with 64 wickets at 13.48 to beat his own record of 60 wickets at 15.90 set last year.
Fellow off-spinner Ben Simm was prevented by rain from challenging the Lancaster record of 61 wickets at 19.97 he set in 2010. Simm was left stranded on 58 wickets at 18.53 when Lancaster's final two games were washed out.
In Division Two Chorley's opening bowler Chris Harty capped a fine personal season by taking 54 wickets at 13.30. Harty beat Dave Sherrington's club record of 52 wickets at 14.96 established in 1965.
Meanwhile, in Division One Lancashire Colts batsman Ammer Mirza made 231 runs at 38.50 to establish a new Colts record in the Northern League while Mattie McKiernan took eleven wickets at 17.14, a new bowling record.
Several records for highest individual scores were also broken during the season.
Preston's Pip McDonald hit 138 for his side at Carnforth in Division Two on the opening day of the season and was unable to play again during the campaign due to injury. McDonald surpassed Neil Calderbank's unbeaten 126 in 1992.
Elsewhere in Division Two Donovan Du Plessis established a new Kendal record with an unbeaten 166 against Lancaster to beat fellow South African born batsman Charlie van Molendorff's record of 135 in 2006.
Carnforth's Darren Moore smashed an unbeaten 140 in a Division Two game at Chorley to surpass Tom Barnfield's club record of 128 in 2006.
Darren Moore set a new Carnforth D2 record
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Leyland opener Wes Royle made an unbeaten 132 at Carnforth to surpass Keith Halliwell's 121 in 1966.
Morecambe batsman Ryan Pearson hit an unbeaten 141 against Carnforth, just short of Hedley Giles's club record of 143 made in 1960.
In Division One Kendal's New Zealand Test professional Jamie How hit an unbeaten 157 at Fleetwood to set a new club record held previously by Ikram Ullah who made 151 in 2006.
Kendal pro Jamie How in action in a T20 game against Netherfield |
Lukman Vahaluwala fell just short of Bilal Asad's club record for Preston after hitting 166 at Carnforth, four adrift of Bilal's unbeaten 170 on the same ground in 2007.
Ammer Mirza's 79 for Lancashire Colts at Darwen set a new record for the Colts in the league while Matthew McKiernan's bowling analysis of 7/41 at Kendal was also a new milestone.
