Heywood bows out after scoring over 12,000 league runs
David Heywood bows out at Lancaster after an illustrious career
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The Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League (incorporating Readers Cricket Balls) season comes to a conclusion this coming Saturday with the main issues already decided.
St Annes were crowned Champions of Division One on a rain-ruined afternoon last Saturday while Leyland retained their Division Two title.
St Annes skipper Kellett rated this success higher than his side's 2009 success. Kellett said: "In 2009 we had Stephen Twist and Michael Baer, who have since left the club. This year some people have talked about us being a two-man team but we have had six or seven under-19s who have played regularly and developed well.
"We have also been without our pro Dinuka Hettiarachchi since July, when he returned to Sri Lanka for the birth of his third child. We have recruited some good sub-pros, especially Qaiser Abbas which was a big plus. The key was that though we lost Dinuk we did not lose our team spirit.
"I also think this was a better league than 2009 because six or seven teams could have won it this time."
Leyland won the Readers Division One Cup, Leyland Seconds the Readers Division Two Cup and Kendal the Jamie Heywood Twenty20 Cup.
With one game remaining in Division One St Annes (235pts) lead the way from Leyland (217pts) and Chorley (205pts). St Annes are at Preston with the Church professional Saeeed Anwar Junior as sub-pro while Chorley entertain Leyland.
Blackpool (190pts) meet Morecambe (188pts) at Stanley Park with both sides having hopes of leapfrogging Netherfield into fourth place. Netherfield (197pts) have finished their fixtures. Marc Brown finished top runs-scorer for Netherfield in his first season since joining the club from Carlisle CC; he scored 576 league runs at 28.80. The highly impressive opening bowler Stuart Nixon captured 45 wickets at 18.
Australian ODI Ben Laughlin, a mid season call-up after South African Brady Barends was unable to fulfil his engagement as pro scored 147 runs and took 27 wickets.
Last Sunday's wash-out at Lune Road also meant Lancashire Colts completed their second season in the league. They won four and lost six of their 13 games and had the misfortune to have three abandoned. They earned 77pts, two less than 2010 when they won three, lost seven, drew one and had two games abandoned.
Ammer Mirza scored 283 league runs for the Colts at an average of 40.43 and Mattie McKiernan captured 11 wickets at 17.18. The Colts used over 60 players during the season.
So far a total of 40 games have been abandoned in Divisions One and Two, 20 in each division. Darwen and Netherfield have been worst affected in D1 with five games each ending with no result. St Annes Seconds and Kendal Seconds have each suffered five wash-outs.
In 2010 a total of 49 games were abandoned, compared to 52 in 2009 and 54 in 2008.
Darwen conclude their Centenary season with a trip to Carnforth where popular pro Gareth Pedder bows out after three years as paid man at Lodge Quarry. Toby Bulcock, the former Lancashire U19s captain and current Elton pro takes over as Carnforth pro in 2012. Slow left-armer Bulcock took eight wickets for 62 for Elton in their top of the table Bolton Association clash against Blackrod last Saturday
Toby Bulcock signs on at Carnforth
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Brett Pelser will return to Leyland as professional in 2012 for a third season after rejecting several lucrative offers from Lancashire League clubs. Dinuka Hettiarachchi has re-signed at St Annes and Gaurav Dhar will be back at Chorley while Kendal are hopeful of re-signing Kiwi star Jamie How.
Barrow's South African pro Pieter Malan, who has played his final game for the club is the only batsman so far to reach 1,000 runs. Malan scored 1,051 league runs at an average of 65.69, a new league record for Barrow.
Three other batsmen are chasing the magical 1,000 runs mark; St Annes' opener Atiq Uz-Zaman has hit 974 runs and the Leyland pair of Luis Reece (954) and pro Pelser (967) are also closing in on the target. Reece has set a new Leyland amateur batting record while Pelser needs another ten runs to surpass Gordon Greenidge's pro record set in 1993. Atiq needs 102 to set a new St Annes amateur record, held by Ian Austin with 1,075 runs in 2006.
Lancaster's Ben Simm, who will captain the side in 2012 has taken 58 wickets, three short of the club amateur record he set last year. The Barrow pair of Daryl Wearing and Gary Collins have each taken 40 wickets and are chasing Graham Dawson's club record of 43.
Ben Simm is chasing his own Lancaster club record |
David Heywood bows out after a wonderful Lancaster career; he plays his final game in the league on Saturday having scored over 12,000 league runs at an average of over 34. Heywood, who has hit nine hundreds and 76 fifties calls it a day having made his first team bow back in 1987.
In Division Two leaders and defending champions Leyland had an anxious wait to confirm their retention of the title after their game against third-placed Blackpool was washed out. But when second-placed Chorley's game was washed out Leyland's players could celebrate.
Leyland Seconds, with an unassailable 16pts lead over Chorley entertain Ian Mawdesley's side at Fox Lane with Blackpool also having hopes of clinching runners-up position. Chorley's opening bowlers Chris Harty and Jimmy Lee are in top form and will pose a big test to the double-winners. Blackpool are at Morecambe.
Chorley Seconds opening bowlers Chris Harty and Jimmy Lee are in top form |
Next Monday Lancashire Seconds entertain Notts Seconds in the final of the Second Eleven Trophy. The 40-over game will be held at Aigburth and has a noon start. Leyland's Luis Reece, Alex Davies (Darwen) and Liam Livingstone (Barrow) are all in contention for a place in the Lancashire side.
The Scratching Shed Dream Teams for Divisions One and Two will also be named next week and the individual award-winners will be named in each division.
The first division awards are sponsored by TWP Financial Planning and the second division awards by Scratching Shed.
A reminder that the League Presentation Dinner will be held at Leyland Golf Club on Friday 7 October; tickets are available from League committee members for the popular event at which all clubs and award winners will be represented.
The Webmaster would like to thank many club captains, scorers, officials and players for their help and co-operation in the compilation of this website during the 2011 season, and acknowledges in particular the assistance of John Kettlestring and Ian Farrington.
Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League (incorporating Readers Cricket Balls)
Fixtures
Round 26
Saturday 10th September
12-30pm start
Division One
Blackpool v Morecambe
Carnforth v Darwen
Chorley v Leyland
Kendal v Fleetwood
Lancaster v Barrow
Preston v St Annes
Netherfield free date
Division Two
Barrow v Lancaster
Darwen v Carnforth
Fleetwood v Kendal
Leyland v Chorley
Morecambe v Blackpool
St Annes v Preston
Netherfield free date
