Fylde cricket: St Annes thrive on national stage, another ton for Blackpool pro Shivam Chaudhary

Nathan Armstrong's side are put their Northern Premier League toils behind them in the Sunday cup competitions and reached the national stages of ECB National Club Championship with a 90-run home win over Wallasey.

The hosts were put in by their Liverpool Competition Premier Division visitors and reached 176-8 from their 40 overs, a total boosted by number nine Mitch Bolus, who made an unbeaten 50 and shared an unbroken stand of 57 with Ryan Birkman (23 not out).

Tom Higson had earlier scored 36 from 31 balls as St Annes put on 57 for their first wicket before lurching from 61-1 to 75-7 as Andrew Beaver took 4-11 from eight overs.

Rain then saw the Wirral side's innings reduced to 35 overs and their target to 163, though this mattered little as they were restricted to 72-8 from 18.2 overs.

Wallasey too fell apart after a promising start at – 60-1 became 72-8 – but unlike St Annes they couldn't recover.

Number three Josh Rylance was their top scorer with 21, but those who came in after him could add only six more runs as Lukman Vahaluwala claimed five for seven from four overs.

St Annes are the only Fylde coast club to progress beyond the group stage after four straight victories and they will next face Liverpool Competition opposition again in Northern or Ormskirk.

How Nathan Armstrong's side would welcome some similar results in the NPCL. Saturday's 10-wicket loss at home to Fulwood and Broughton was their fourth defeat in a row and St Annes remain just one place above the bottom two.

Luke Jardine and wicketkeeper James Bradley shared St Annes' top score of 23 but the hosts collapsed from 33-1 to 44-7 before being dismissed for 99 in 42.1 overs. Khalil Patel took 5-29 from 12.1 overs and Simon Kerrigan 4-20 from 15.

Opener Matthew Smith then scored 71 from 57 balls (13 boundaries) as the Preston visitors eased to three figures and victory in 18.1 overs.

On a day of no Fylde winners in the NPCL, Blackpool went closest but couldn't force victory over Leyland despite a fifth century of the season from professional Shivam Chaudhary. The Indian's unbeaten 121 from 133 balls including 10 boundaries as the hosts were put in at Stanley Park and reached 207-9.

Chaudhary put on 70 for the third wicket with captain Josh Boyne, though the seven who came to the crease after the skipper could add only 27 as Kurtis Watson took 4-71 from 15 overs.

Blackpool looked on course for victory as the Leyland reply stumbled from 10-2 to 68-5 but they lost only one more wicket in adding a further 100.

Matt Grindley's 4-48 from 15 overs raised Blackpool hopes but Watson stood firm for 62 as Leyland closed on 168-6. Blackpool took 10 points to Leyland's five and remain in fourth spot but 25 points behind Longridge in third.

Only one point separates the top three, Chorley having joined Kendal at the top after winning a high-scoring game at home to Fleetwood.

Chorley justified their decision to bat with 270-3 as opener Alfie Dobson scored 97 (14 boundaries), Roshen Silva 64 and Joshua Pistorious 53 not out.

Mid-table Fleetwood made them work for a 25-run victory as Clarlie Clark (51) and wicketkeeper Harry McAleer (50) made half-centuries.

Nathan Bend and Declan Clerkin both added 31 but Joshua Pistorious took 4-59 from 12 overs as Fleetwood were dismissed for 245, meaning four successive wins have been followed by back-to-back defeats.

Lytham are red-hot in June and recorded their third straight Liverpool Competition win by a five-wicket margin at Old Xaverians.

The Liverpool club chose to bat and were dismissed for 219 in 55 overs as Ian Carroll led the way with 49 from 45 balls and put on 63 for the third wicket with Lewis Barnes (20).

Xaverians' next-best was wicketkeeping opener Shaun Haigh with 42 as Jack Saunders took a season's best 5-56 from 7.4 overs and professional Avinash Yadav 4-33 from 25.

Lytham then required 50 overs to reach 250-5 as Tom Jefferson came in at 77-3 and hit 13 boundaries in his unbeaten 82, putting on 106 for the fourth wicket with Edward Fiddler, who made 75 as the Church Road club climb to fourth in the First Division.

Kirkham and Wesham won by 43 runs at Carnforth in the Moore and Smalley Palace Shield, as Andrew Hogarth ripped through the hosts' reply for figures of 8-32 from 12.4 overs (not quite his all-time best: 8-18 in 2004).

Second-placed Carnforth lost five players for ducks, including both openers, and there was no way back from 36-8, though they at least reached 116 with a last-wicket stand of 63, number 10 Jack Thompson finishing unbeaten on 49 (10 fours).

Theo Cunliffe earlier approved of the visitors' decision to bat, scoring 12 boundaries in his 60 from 52 balls in Kirkham's 159 from 30.5 overs. Victory leaves K&W fifth in the premier division.

Bottom club Great Eccleston chased 250 at home to Preston but fell to defeat by 11 runs.

Sajid Patel got the visitors off to a flying start with 92 after being put in and Imran Mehmood added 55, while William Turnbull's five overs yielded 4-38.

The Ecc reply closed at 239-8 despite a late charge by Phil Booth, unbeaten on 56. Mohammed Fazil had earlier top-scored with 57 and Alexander Rhodes added 42.

Thornton Cleveleys didn't get enough runs on the board and paid the price with a three-wicket home defeat by Vernon Carus.

The hosts were put in and had to settle for 145-9, captain Joshua Sackfield leading the way at the top of the order with 38.

However, Brayden Clarke took 6-36 from 13 overs to ensure no major partnerships developed and Vernons reached their target with four overs remaining at 148-7.

Thornton had hope at 65-5 but Daniel Gray then took the game away from them with his 31, leaving both teams among three on 57 points and TC in ninth place.