Match Day 31st August 2002 IT'S DARWEN'S TITLE! By Gerry Wolstenholme The penultimate round of games in the Northern Premier League saw Darwen win the title for the second time in four years. Their win over Blackpool gave them 15 points and put them, at the end of the day, 24 points in front of nearest challengers Morecambe. This was enough to ensure that the title was theirs. There is only one issue to be resolved at the club now and this is whether or not Gareth Cordingley breaks the amateur batting run aggregate record set in 1960. He needed 57 on Saturday but Blackpool spoiled the party in that direction by dismissing him for only 52. Keith Semple made 54 and Darwen totalled 195-8. This was always going to be too many for Blackpool in these days of batting disasters for the club. And so it proved as they were bowled out for 125 with only four players reaching double figures, Mark Lomas 37 and Martin Pickles 32 being the best of them. Semple completed a good all-round day by taking 5-42 while Andrew Mercer add three more wickets to his impressive tally. For Blackpool Marcus Sharp took three wickets to equal his best ever season at the club with 61 wickets. Morecambe visited third-placed Netherfield and what a game it turned out to be. The visitors batted first and were bowled out for 105, a total that took them 55.1 overs to achieve as Pieter Strydom took 4-14 and Scott Clement also took four wickets but at much heavier cost, 87 to be precise. Netherfield then collapsed for the second game in successive to under 100. Peter Stephens proved to be the master as he ripped through the Netherfield batting with a magnificent 7-30 that left the home side a meagre 67 all out. Their mind was doubtless on the following day's thwaites Smooth Bitter Cup Final, a game that they won comfortably as Lancaster could make only 112-9 in their 45 overs. Netherfield's 113-2 saw them victors by eight wickets. Back in the League, Fleetwood rattled up a mammoth 250-1 against Leyland Motors as John Wright and Michael Dewhurst put on 225 for the first wicket. Wright made a magnificent 158 from only 141 balls with two sixes and 22 fours. Dewhurst kept him company and he finished with 69 not out, including hitting Sifton Prince for a much acclaimed six! Motors made a fist of it and with David Makinson scoring 53 they ended with 167 all out. Sadly for them it meant defeat by 83 runs as deputy professional Rob McQueen took 4-53. Brendan Hetherington was in the runs again for Lancaster as they posted 175-9 against Leyland at Lune Road. Luxman Vahawalla took 5-67 for the visitors who then won by four wickets, making 178-6. Neil Rimmer made 59 not out and Mark Pallett 57. Chorley also picked up 12 points as they won at Preston who could make only 119 with Raouf Akbar making 62 and Iqbal Patel taking 7-32. Chorley took 48.3 overs to reach their target of 122-6 and a four-wicket win. Finally St Annes triumphed over Kendal after making only 126, Gareth Evans 50, Kabir Khan 5-21 and Kevin Howarth 4-35. Kendal were then sensationally bowled out for just 78 with Geoff Love taking the bowling honours with 6-24. Results in brief (home side in bold): Darwen 185-8 (57 overs) (Semple 54, Cordingley G 52), Blackpool 125 (45.5 overs)(Semple 5-42) Darwen 15 points, Blackpool 2 points Fleetwood 250-1 dec (51 overs) (Wright 158, Dewhurst 69*), Leyland Motors 167 (49.1 overs) (Makinson 50, McQueen 4-53) Fleetwood 15 points, Leyland Motors 1 point Lancaster 175-9 (57 overs) (Hetherington 60, Vahawalla 5-67), Leyland 178-6 (Rimmer 59*, Pallett M 57) Lancaster 2 points, Leyland 12 points Morecambe 105 (55.1 overs) (Strydom 4-14, clement 4-87), Netherfield 67 (50.1 overs) (Stephens 7-30) Morecambe 15 points, Netherfield 3 points Preston 119 (45.3 overs) (Akbar 62, Patel 7-32), Chorley 122-6 (48.3 overs) Preston 1 point, Chorley 12 points St Annes 126 (41.5 overs) (Evans 50, Khan 5-21, Howarth 4-35), Kendal 78 (37.2 overs) (Love 6-24) St Annes 15 points, Kendal 3 points BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION ONE Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Darwen 21 6 8 4 0 0 3 13 227 Morecambe 21 3 11 1 1 3 2 13 203 Netherfield 21 3 6 4 1 4 3 25 171 Kendal 21 6 1 4 1 4 5 22 161 Blackpool 21 3 4 2 3 7 2 21 133 Fleetwood 21 3 2 3 2 8 3 27 122 Chorley 21 2 5 1 4 6 3 15 120* St Annes 21 2 3 1 6 6 3 29 117 Preston 21 4 1 1 0 11 4 18 110 Leyland 21 1 3 0 2 12 3 27 92 Lancaster 21 1 0 4 6 7 3 39 88 Leyland Motors 21 2 0 3 2 12 2 32 84 * 5 Points deducted ACTION REPLAY LOVE PULLS IT OFF St Annes 126, Kendal 78 By Gerry Wolstenholme Geoff Love's final game for St Annes this season was sensational as he inspired his side to an astonishing victory with a 6-24 spell of bowling. He only made four runs in St Annes modest 126 all out but then he led from the front as the home side bowled out Kendal for just 78 to win by 48 runs. St Annes won the toss and elected to bat and then saw Jack Kelliher lose his wicket for 10 when the total was 21. Kevin Howarth bowled him and then three further wickets were lost as the total crawled to 49. Geoff Love, four, edged Kabir Khan to Alan Fawcett behind the stumps and it was 29-2, Stephen Twist, also four, did likewise at 37-3 and then Adrian Darlington, seven, was caught by Craig Barrington when he tried a forcing shot off Khan. Duncan Whalley, in good batting form of late, was promoted and made nine before he was fifth out at 60 when he was caught by Howarth off Ellwood. Joe Davies and Gareth Evans who had been batting patiently through the collapse at the other end then added 59 for the sixth wicket but not without incident. Ellwood thought he had Davies caught behind early in his innings but substitute umpire Alan Stuart, temporarily on for the injured Mel Gaskell, ruled in the batsman's favour. Davies went on to make 35 before he was caught and bowled by Ellwood, much to the bowler's delight. Evans reached his half century but then after 93 balls and four fours he found the safe hands of Terry Hunte off Ellwood and he was gone without adding to his 50. Thereafter the innings declined as the final three wicket went down for just four runs. Adam Taylor was leg before wicket to Khan for four, Sean Bickerdike was caught in front off Ellwood and young Michael Baer was similarly trapped by Khan who finished with a fine 5-21. Neil Bradley faced just one ball as the wickets fell at the other end and Ellwood ended with 4-35. In reply, Kendal made 20 without any alarms but then Steve Cooper, 12, was run out by a direct throw from Kelliher at point. The next nine wicket were then lost for just 58 runs as Love and young 'Yogi' Baer put the pressure on the Kendal batsmen. Danger man Hunte was bowled off his elbow by Love for nought, Simon Little made nine before Love bowled him also and Kendal were 44-3. Howarth made five before Love dismantled the timber again and skipper Dave Fallows played the most horrendous shot to be caught in the deep by Kelliher off Baer and Kendal were on the back foot at 57-5. It was worse one ball later as Khan was immediately bowled by Baer who then had Fawcett caught by Davies also for a duck. Love then wrapped up the innings by taking the last three wickets one of which was that of opening batsman Martin South who had made a sterling 36 while all around him failed. But he was undone by Love and Evans snapped up the catch and with Barrington leg before wicket for four and Ellwood trapped in front of his stumps without scoring, it was suddenly all over. Kendal had capitulated for just 78 and lost a game that they had every chance of winning by 48 runs. Love's 6-24 gave him 63 wickets for the season, a magnificent return from a splendid professional, and young Michael Baer, who seems to improve with every game, had 3-26. While the First Division title is settled, that is far from the case in the Second Division where any one of three teams could still become champions. The intriguing fixture is at Broadwater next Saturday where leaders Morecambe meet third-placed Fleetwood and watching anxiously on that result will be second-placed Lancaster who could still steal the title. The Thwaites Smooth Bitter Cup for the Second Division was won by Lancaster as they comfortably defeated St Annes at Vernon Road 38 runs. Lancaster made 206 and St Annes replied with 168-8. Second Division results in brief (home team in bold): Darwen 201-6 dec (48 overs) (Emery 97), Blackpool 166-7 (58 overs) (Painter 4-23) Darwen 7 points, Blackpool 3 points Chorley 157-8 (50 overs) (Catterall J 44), Preston 97 (41.3 overs) (Holdsworth 5-23) Chorley 15 points, Preston 2 points St Annes 137-6 (50 overs) (Ellis 57*), Kendal 138-5 (43.2 overs) (Fernyhough 47) St Annes 0 points, Kendal 12 points Leyland 110 (43 overs) (Tennant 66, Dennison 7-47), Lancaster 111-2 (20.3 overs) (Dennison 61) Leyland 0 points, Lancaster 12 points Fleetwood 207-8 dec (47 overs) (Stanmore 43, Sibley 4-47), Leyland Motors 142 (40.5 overs) (Sherlock 4-54) Fleetwood 15 points, Leyland Motors 2 points Netherfield 171-9 (50 overs) (Winder 62*, Quinn 5-53, Lee 4-73),Morecambe 173-4 (Milner 79) Netherfield 1 point, Morecambe 12 points BAY 96.9 NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DIVISION TWO Club P W15 W12 D4 D1 L NR4 BP Pts Morecambe 21 4 8 2 2 2 3 16 194 Lancaster 21 3 8 4 0 4 2 23 188 Fleetwood 21 5 5 6 0 4 1 24 187 Netherfield 21 5 3 1 4 3 5 18 157 St Annes 21 2 6 1 1 8 3 11 130 Chorley 21 3 4 2 2 9 1 17 124 Darwen 21 0 6 2 4 5 4 19 119 Leyland Motors 21 1 5 1 2 9 3 12 105 Leyland 21 2 2 3 2 9 3 19 99 Kendal 21 0 5 1 3 10 2 19 94 Preston 21 3 0 2 2 11 3 23 90 Blackpool 21 2 1 2 5 9 2 28 90

Click Here to send your comments.