Netherfield 126, Fleetwood 130-0
Netherfield 123, Blackpool 125-2
IT WAS a disastrous weekend on the Fylde Coast for Northern Premier League leaders Netherfield as they lost comprehensively by 10 wickets to Fleetwood after being bowled out for just 126, they saw their opponents knock off the runs at 130-0.
They then went to Stanley Park on Sunday in the Thwaites Smooth Bitter Cup competition and lost again, this time by eight wickets as their 123 all out was passed by Blackpool at 125-2.
On Saturday they did well to reach 126 for they lost half their side for 19 with Steve Hill and Tom Blundell the architects of their downfall. Marillier caught Chris Parry for a duck off Hill at 1-1, Blundell bowled Craig Walmsley for one at 3-2 before three wickets went down at the same total. Marillier took another catch off Blundell to dismiss Dale Benkenstein for six, Hill removed Gareth White's leg stump when he had made 12 and finally Andrew Clough ran out Tommy Prime before he had received a ball.
Although Ben Haddrick failed to score he did keep big-hitting Grahame Clarke company while the total was raised to 32 before Adam Sharrocks held onto an edge from Hill. Graeme Dodds mad eight before Clough caught him at mid-wicket off Dave Fish and that was 74-7.
Clough removed Clarke for a hard-hit 55 made from 88 balls with 10 fours before Scott Clement, 19 not out from 60 balls, and Marc Hadwin, 14 from 46 balls with one four, showed more application than most of the top order. Fish then caught and bowled Hadwin and when John Whalley ran out Stuart Nixon for nought, Netherfield had capitulated virtually without a fight for just 126. Hill had 3-18, Blundell 2-15, Fish 2-36 and Clough 1-15.
Fleetwood's reply began explosively as Whalley drove three sweetly timed boundaries in Clement's first over and that set the tone for the innings.
One hundred runs came in boundaries as the Netherfield bowlers were put to the sword and only 21.4 overs had been used when Whalley's 13th four to add to his two sixes in 76 made from only 49 balls won the game by 10 wickets at 130-0. Wright had made 54 not out from 81 balls with nine fours as Fleetwood narrowed the gap on the leaders to seven points with a game in hand.
Netherfield fared no better on Sunday as, from a high point of 97-1 in the 13th over, they collapsed and lost their remaining nine wickets for just 26 runs in 11.1 overs to be all out for 123.
They started well enough and Walmsley, 19, and Parry, a superb 51 from 41 balls with one huge six into the adjacent Stanley Park and five fours, put on 44 in only five overs. But once Tim Barry had removed them both by the 13th over at 97-2, it was all downhill for Netherfield.
Only Gareth White, 20, of the rest reached double figures as Steven Croft mopped up the middle order and tail to finish with an excellent 5-8 in Netherfield's 123 all out made from 23.5 of their rain-reduced 25 overs.
Steve Mercer and Justin Kreusch gave Blackpool a good start and put on 69 in 17 overs before the former was caught by Prime off Clement for 33 and although Clement bowled Croft for 18 in the final over, there was no respite for Netherfield. Tim Barry strode to the wicket, hit two runs down to long-on where in the gathering gloom Prime missed a difficult catch, and then struck a six over long-off to win the game by eight wickets at 125-2 with one ball remaining. Man-of-the match was Kreusch, 2-22 and 64 not out made from 73 balls with eight fours.
On Saturday Blackpool came a cropper at Leyland Motors where the home side totalled 161with David Makinson making a top score of 38 and Kreusch taking 4-46 and Paul Danson 3-10. But this proved 46 runs too many for Blackpool who were bowled out for 115, Makinson 6-34. Mercer, 31, Steve Metcalf, 23, and Danson, 21, were the main contributors. Meanwhile at Vernon Road St Annes suffered humiliating defeat by 102 runs for, having bowled Chorley out for 137, Stephen Twist 4-34 and Haroon Patel 4-47, they were bowled out in turn for just 35, the lowest Premier League total of the season, and the lowest since 2002. Adam Cotton's nine was the top score while Chorley professional Stephen John returned figures of 11-7-8-7.
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