Fylde coast cricket round-up: Fleetwood CC have one foot back in the Northern League

Blackpool saw the chance of repeating last year’s Northern Premier Cricket League victory become ever more unlikely with an eight-wicket loss against Kendal on Saturday.

A day after Lancashire and Northamptonshire had scored 742 runs between them at Stanley Park, Blackpool and Kendal scored fewer than a third of that.

Blackpool had chosen to bat first but were all out for 121 midway through the 43rd over.

Dylan Henshall (27) was the only batter making more than 20 as Blackpool lost their last seven wickets for 55 runs.

Tom King, Naushad Shaikh and Ben Howarth all added 17 as Kuldeep Singh finished with 3-37.

In reply, Kendal had a revised target of 122 from 57 overs and needed only 24 in reaching 124-2.

Rongsen Jonathan did the damage, hitting 17 boundaries and two sixes in finishing 89 not out from only 66 deliveries.

However, Blackpool bounced back on Sunday with a seven-wicket victory from their game in hand against Vernon Carus.

Vernons chose to bat first but collapsed from 60-2 to 99 all out as Shaikh took 4-27 and Jamie Thomson 4-19.

Blackpool coasted to 102-3 in reply as King (34) and Shaikh (40) put on 73 for the first wicket.

Victory leaves Blackpool 41 points behind leaders Garstang but with only four games remaining.

St Annes are fourth, level on points with Fulwood and Broughton in third, after winning by 38 runs at Vernon Carus.

They had batted first but slipped from 86-4 to 131 all out as Ben Thomas took 4-19 and Jacob Holland 4-38.

Yohan De Silva (28) and Lukman Vahaluwala (27) top-scored for St Annes before the latter starred in removing the home team for 93.

Vahaluwala took 6-19 inside a dozen overs, including the wickets of Matthew Stevenson (23) and Holland (21).

Another team in action on Sunday afternoon was Fleetwood, who were contesting the final of the Meyler Cup against Morecambe as The Gazette went to print.

Adam Sharrocks’ men went into the match after effectively sealing promotion from the Moore and Smalley Palace Shield Premier Division back to the Northern League after a year’s absence.

They made it 16 wins from 18 on Saturday in seeing off nearest challengers Great Eccleston by five wickets.

After being asked to bat first, Great Ecc concluded their 45 overs on 158-8.

Of the top order, Joe Davies made 24 and Mohamed Nadeem 27 before Joe McMillan added 34 lower down.

They were kept in check by the Fleetwood attack, Zac Corcoran finishing with 3-49 and Jack Wilkinson 2-35.

Fleetwood reached their target with 11 overs in hand, posting 160-5.

It was an innings dominated by Harry McAleer, who finished 72 not out despite Jim Procter’s 3-31.

Victory meant Fleetwood opened up a 42-point gap on third-placed Great Ecc with only four matches and 48 points up for grabs.

Great Ecc were leapfrogged in the table by Eccleston, who saw off Thornton Cleveleys at Doctors Lane.

Eccleston compiled 154-8, David Hewson top-scoring with 32 before falling to Anthony Ellison, who claimed 5-40.

Daniel Howard was 31 not out in Thornton Cleveleys’ 144-8 as Stewart White took 3-19.

Elsewhere, there was defeat for Kirkham and Wesham as they went down by two wickets against Penwortham.

Batting first at the Woodlands, K&W recovered from 40-4 to 177 all out.

That was thanks to a stand of 77 for the fifth wicket between Liam Castellas (41) and Jamie Hogarth (34).

They both fell to James Walsh, who took 3-27, as Ben Rawcliffe added a valuable 29 not out late on.

However, Penwortham defied a late collapse which saw them fall from 162-3 to 173-8 to reach their target with two wickets in hand.

Kriston Yearwood had hit 13 fours and four sixes in making 84 from 60 balls but Antony Wilson’s 4-40 had set up a nervy finish.

In Division 1A, Will Smith (53) and Dan Smith (60) helped Fylde to 205-9 against Withnell Fold.

Their reply ended on 149-8 as Finlay Tupman took 4-17 and Usama Abrar 3-53.

Division 1B saw Fleetwood chase down Great Eccleston’s 239 all out with three wickets in hand, Blackpool bowled out Morecambe for 171 but were dismissed for 110 in reply, while Thornton Cleveleys’ 134 all out was surpassed for the loss of three wickets by Chorley.

As for division two, Norcross reached 133-7 before bowling out Fulwood and Broughton for 82, St Annes were all out for 146 but dismissed Vernon Carus for 77, while Wrea Green posted 94-7 after limiting Torrisholme to 93.

In the Liverpool Competition, First Division leaders Lytham were left frustrated after coming within one wicket of defeating Fleetwood Hesketh.

After being asked to bat first by their visitors, Lytham compiled 245-7 at the close of their 55 overs.

It was an innings which included a stand of 93 for the fourth wicket between skipper Matt Taaffe and Tom Jefferson.

Taaffe top-scored with 65 and Jefferson added 57, while Myles Child contributed 30 and Josh Holden 32.

All four, along with Toby Lester (13), were out to Sabbir Patel, who finished with 5-107.

Fleetwood Hesketh’s reply saw them fall from 107-2 to 151-9 but their last pair hung on to reach 160-9 at the close.

Rana Thakur Shiv had reached 32 and Derek Sykes 34 but Jefferson and Taaffe worked their way through the batting to give Lytham a chance of victory.

Jefferson ended with 5-37 and Taaffe 2-24 but they were unable to remove Daniel Murphy (eight not out) and Scott Rimmer (one not out).