DARWEN WIN IN A CANTER
Fleetwood 128-8, Darwen 129-4
By Gerry Wolstenholme
It was a very one-sided game at Broadwater on Saturday as League leaders Darwen comfortably defeated hapless Fleetwood after putting them in to bat. Fleetwood never really got out of first gear and even when the wickets were not falling, the scoring rate was palpably slow and in the end they managed just 128-8 from the full quota of 57 overs. Darwen's reply was sedately paced, even so there were still 16 overs and three balls remaining when they reached their victory target of 129-4.
Fleetwood lost their customary early wicket when Keith Semple bowled John Hall for one in the second over. There followed a partnership of 55 by Michael Clinning and Lloyd Ferreira who never really took control of the bowling so it was hard work building the total. When Ferreira had made30 he was caught by Chris Lowe at mid-off from the bowling of Gareth Cordingley who then took the third wicket to fall when he had Clinning, 34 from 88 balls with three fours, caught behind by Graham Parkinson at 71-3.
The score limped along to 99 before four wickets fell for seven runs. John Wright was caught behind by Parkinson off Semple for 20, Zac Taylor, 14, fell leg before wicket to the same bowler, Andy Singleton, three, was run out by a throw from Stuart Grant and Semple caught and bowled James Ellis for nought. And that was 106-7. That the final total reached 128 was due to 14 from Wayne Clarke, who was then caught and bowled by Andrew Mercer, and eight not out from Tom Blundell.
Semple had 4-35 from 17 overs, Gareth Cordingley 2-31 and Mercer 1-41 and they had done the job for Darwen for 128 was never going to be enough to win the game.
And so it proved even though Gary Jackson was an early wicket to fall when Steve Hill bowled him for one at 12-1. Mark Hadfield hit 34 good runs and then went for one shot too many without getting into position and he was caught behind by Ellis off Blundell at 55-2.
Semple, 32, hit one huge six and was then superbly caught on the boundary by a diving Wright off Taylor and although John Cordingley fell leg before wicket to Hill for five, there was no danger. Gareth Cordingley made a cultured 32 not out and Jeff Hacking, who earlier had dropped a caught and bowled chance off Clinning, hit 18 runs from 10 balls to seal the Darwen victory at 129-4.
Second Division scores in brief (home team in bold):
Chorley 133 (Bullen 7-37), Blackpool 111 (Caunce 47, Dhar 4-37)
Chorley 15 points, Blackpool 4 points
Fleetwood 187 (Sharrock 53), Darwen 98 (Newman 4-17, Sherlock 4-42)
Fleetwood 15 points, Darwen 4 points
Kendal 63 (Cartwright 4-11, Cottam 4-15), Leyland Motors 64-3
Kendal 0 points, Leyland Motors 12 points
Netherfield 169-6 (Stewart 46, Rodham43, Hampshire 41, Speak 4-55),Lancaster 91 (Goldstein 4-15)
Netherfield 15 points, Lancaster 2 points
Leyland 154 (Tennant 64), Preston 136 (Tennant 5-57)
Leyland 15 points, Preston 4 points
Morecambe 165-7 (Maje 60, Baldwin 4-79), St Annes 166-3 (Taylor A 58, Ashworth 50*)
Morecambe 3 points, St Annes 12 points
NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
DIVISION TWO
| Club |
P |
W15 |
W12 |
D4 |
D1 |
L |
NR4 |
BP |
Pts |
| Leyland Motors |
16 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
158 |
| Darwen |
16 |
2 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
23 |
154 |
| St Annes |
15 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
26 |
145 |
| Fleetwood |
16 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
29 |
145 |
| Morecambe |
16 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
30 |
127 |
| Chorley |
16 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
25 |
126 |
| Netherfield |
16 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
30 |
108 |
| Preston |
16 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
47 |
102 |
| Lancaster |
16 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
2 |
37 |
91 |
| Blackpool |
15 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
34 |
84 |
| Kendal |
16 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
2 |
39 |
79 |
| Leyland |
16 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
1 |
23 |
67 |
