HOME   NEWS   FIXTURES   RESULTS   STATISTICS   ARCHIVE   RECORDS 
Chorley Building Society

Northern League
Reader Cricket Balls
CONTENTS
 


3D Sports

Match Day 17th August 2002

TOP THREE ALL WIN

By Gerry Wolstenholme

Wins for the top three sides in the Northern Premier league left the table very much as it was after the last round of games. All three sides batted second, made winnings targets and thus pouched 12 points each.

Netherfield were the afternoon's first winners, victory coming just before 4-45pm - some late arrivals suggested that a 4-00pm start would be more sensible as at least games could go on until after tea!

It was the bowlers who were supreme for the Cumbrians as Blackpool were rolled out for just 53. Scott Clement started the rout by dismissing Martin Pickles and then all the bowlers chipped in with Stuart Nixon's 3-14 being the most impressive. Netherfield lost four wickets in reaching their target but it was all over before a quarter to five with Netherfield, 55-4, victorious by six wickets. Craig Walmsley played just the right kind of knock with 32 not out.

Second-placed Morecambe faced a Leyland total of 202 at Fox Lane with Mark Pallett leading the way with 48 and Ramesh Powar beguiling the Leyland batsmen to the tune of 4-53. But the visitors were not overawed and Phil Thornton made 51 not out and Powar 43 as the three-wicket victory at 203-7 was achieved.

Leaders Darwen had a similar situation at home to Leyland Motors who posted their highest total of the season with 203-4 to which Asif Ashraf contributed 100 and Andrew Mercer took all four wickets for 68 runs. Ironically it gave him 68 wickets for the season, needing just two to overtake the club's amateur record of 69 held by Dave Bonner. The irrepressible Keith Semple led Darwen's reply with 100 not out and with Gareth Cordingley making 50, the home side cruised in by seven wickets at 207-3. Cordingley's half-century took him to 688 runs for the season and he now requires 121 runs from the final four games to break the club's amateur batting record of 808 runs held by K Harwood since 1960.

The local derby between Fleetwood and St Annes at Broadwater went the way of the visitors for the third time this season in League and Cup. Fleetwood struggled to 137 thanks to runs from down the order. Of the top men, only Michael Clinning made any real show and then Alex Laird passed 20 and Steve Hill, with "a gritty four or five" supported Zac Taylor who was run out for 47 in the final over. Geoff Love continued his impressive form with the ball to take his fourth seven-wicket haul of the summer, this time 7-40. Jack Kelliher made 50 in the St Annes' reply after having survived a vehement appeal for a catch behind earlier in his innings. But it was Love who was the star with a fine 71 not out to take his side to 138-4 and victory by six wickets.

Preston visited Lancaster's Lune Road and with Raouf Akbar firing a fine 94 they totalled 226-9 despite Graham Barnes' best efforts with 4-76. Lancaster's reply stumbled and Akbar was in fine all-round form as his 8-23 saw the home side dismissed for 130 to suffer defeat by 96 runs.

The only game not to end in a victory for one side or the other was at Windsor Park where Chorley held on to earn a draw against Kendal. The 236-4 declared that Kendal made was always going to be too many for Chorley and it was only Neil Senior's 56 not out that kept his side from defeat as they closed at 172-7. For Kendal, Terry Hunte made 83, Steve Cooper had a season's best so far of 82 and Kevin Howarth took 4-40.

So with only four games left it could well be Darwen, Morecambe and Netherfield in that order - but there are still a maximum 60 points on offer so things could yet change!

Results in brief (home side in bold):

Blackpool 53 (37.4 overs), Netherfield 55-4 (15.3 overs)

Blackpool 0 points, Netherfield 12 points

Kendal 236-4 dec (52 overs) (Hunte 83, Cooper 82), Chorley 172-7 (50 overs) (Senior 56*, Howarth 4-40)

Kendal 8 points, Chorley 3 points

Leyland Motors 203-4 (57 overs) (Ashraf 100, Mercer 4-68), Darwen 207-3 (46.2 overs) (Semple 100*, Cordingley, G 50)

Leyland Motors 2 points, Darwen 12 points

Fleetwood 137 (56.4 overs) (Taylor 47, Love 7-40), St Annes 138-4 (48.2 overs) (Love 71*, Kelliher 50)

Fleetwood 0 points, St Annes 12 points

Preston 226-9 dec (56.3 overs) (Akbar 94, Barnes 4-76), Lancaster 130 (47.2 overs) (Akbar 8-23)

Preston 15 points, Lancaster 2 points

Leyland 202 (56.2 overs) (Pallett, M 48, Powar 4-53), Morecambe 203-7 (54.3 overs) (Thornton 51*, Powar 43)

Leyland 2 points Morecambe 12 points

BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

DIVISION ONE

Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts
Darwen 18 5 6 4 0 0 3 13 188
Morecambe 18 2 10 0 1 3 2 8 167
Netherfield 18 3 5 4 1 2 3 19 153
Kendal 18 5 1 3 1 3 5 18 138
Blackpool 18 3 3 2 2 6 2 16 115
Chorley 18 2 4 1 4 4 3 14 107*
Fleetwood 18 2 2 2 2 7 3 23 99
Preston 18 4 0 1 0 9 4 13 93
St Annes 18 1 2 1 6 5 3 27 88
Lancaster 18 1 0 4 4 6 3 33 80
Leyland 18 1 2 0 1 11 3 24 76
Leyland Motors 18 2 0 2 2 10 2 24 72

* 5 Points deducted

ACTION REPLAY

IT'S SO EASY FOR NETHERFIELD

By Gerry Wolstenholme

The Netherfield bowlers had a field day at Blackpool's Stanley Park on Saturday. Blackpool won the toss and on a gloriously sunny day the visitor's players could have been forgiven for thinking that they would be in for an afternoon of chasing the leather! But it was not to be for the bowlers all performed magnificently and this, coupled with Blackpool's inept and spineless batting, resulted in a meagre total of 53 all out. Admittedly Netherfield lost four wickets in attained their target, but the result was never in doubt.

Scott Clement started the demise of the home side by dismissing one of the best batsmen in the side Martin Pickles for just two and that was 7-1. The slide was on! Chris Barrow, a hard-hitting batsman who is a makeshift opening batsman and useful in the role in a limited overs contest, made 11 before flat-footedly swinging at Stuart Nixon only to play the ball down onto his stumps. And that was 14-2.

It was soon 24-3 as the agile Tommy Prime superbly caught Mark Lomas low down at point and he was gone for five. Stephen Croft quickly followed at 36-4 when he tried to sweep John Eccles only to find the safe hands of Clement at backward square leg. Steve Mercer had failed to score when he prodded Eccles to Clarke at silly mid-off and that was 39-5.

Richard Lamb made eight but did not look a permanent fixture and so it proved when the returning Nixon bowled him at 46-6. One run later and a mix-up between Oliver Newby and Paul Danson resulted in Craig Walmsley throwing down the stumps while the batsmen were still in consultation and Newby was gone without scoring. Marcus Sharp showed some defensive application but, having made one, he edged Nixon through to Simon Dutton and it was almost all over at 52-8.

Martin Hackett made one before he too prodded a ball to Clarke at silly mid-off this time off Pieter Strydom and the same bowler wrapped up the innings later in the over when he had last man David Brookes leg before wicket for nought. That was 53 all out with the wickets shared by the four bowlers, Nixon 3-14, Clement 2-20, Eccles 2-8 and Strydom 2-4.

Netherfield's reply did not get off to the best of starts and at 19-3 they were worse off than Blackpool had been. Prime was bowled by Newby for two, 4-1, Strydom seemed a trifle unlucky to be given out leg before wicket to the same bowler for six, 14-2, and John Mason was leg before wicket to Sharp without scoring. A fourth wicket was lost when Paul Stewart, having suffered what appeared to be a groin strain, was bowled by Newby for four.

But Simon Dutton came to the wicket, made a sedate eight not out, and Craig Walmsley smashed the winning runs over mid-on for his third boundary in a sensible 32 not out that took his side to 55-4 and victory by six wickets. Newby took 3-30 from seven overs, three of which were maidens, but when defending such a small total, he did bowl too many loose balls, all of which were punished.

The early, 4-45pm, finish allowed a trip up the coast to see the end of the Fleetwood versus St Annes game where Fleetwood had batted first and made 137. The majority of the runs had come from the tail with Zac Taylor top-scoring with 47 and Geoff Love continuing his good form with the ball by taking 7-40.

Gareth Evans had already gone for nought in the St Annes reply but Kelliher and Love made steady progress against a Fleetwood attack that was persevering rather than penetrating. Kelliher did survive one vehement appeal for a catch at the wicket but he had made 50 before he was finally dismissed. Stephen Twist and Adrian Darlington made fleeting visits to the crease and it was left to Love to make the winning runs. He blossomed late in his innings and struck lusty boundaries in his 71 not out that took his side to victory by six wickets.

Second Division results in brief (home team in bold):

Chorley 59 (Brown 6-24), Kendal 60-3 - no overs given

Chorley 0 points, Kendal 12 points

Darwen 226-8 (50 overs) (Chatterton 58, Crane 56, Davies 48), Leyland Motors 142-8 (52 overs) (Totham 43)

Darwen 9 points, Leyland Motors 3 points

Leyland 149-8 (Tennant 66, Lee 5-57), Morecambe 150-5 (Edge 67, Tennant 5-62) - no overs given

Leyland 0 points, Morecambe 12 points

Netherfield 211-8 (50 overs) (Hartley 67*, Jones 64), Blackpool 111 (40.2 overs) (Thompson 40, Clinton 4-15)

Netherfield 15 points, Blackpool 2 points

Preston 133-8, Lancaster 134-3 (Masterman 48, Dennison 40) - no overs given

Preston 0 points, Lancaster 12 points

Fleetwood 193-8 (50 overs) (Clark 117), St Annes 122 (39.1 overs) (Sherlock 6-54)

Fleetwood 15 points, St Annes 2 points

BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

DIVISION TWO

Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts
Lancaster 18 3 7 3 0 3 2 17 166
Morecambe 18 3 6 2 2 2 3 16 155
Fleetwood 18 3 5 5 0 4 1 22 151
Netherfield 18 5 2 0 4 2 5 17 140
St Annes 18 2 5 1 1 6 3 10 117
Chorley 18 2 4 1 2 8 1 12 100
Darwen 18 0 5 1 3 5 4 16 99
Leyland 19 2 2 3 2 7 3 17 97
Leyland Motors 18 1 4 1 1 8 3 10 90
Preston 18 3 0 2 2 8 3 18 85
Blackpool 19 2 1 2 3 9 2 23 84
Kendal 18 0 4 1 2 9 2 18 80

   Click Here to send your comments.

ADVERTISE DISCLAIMER HELP CONTACT US