BLACKPOOL inflicted the first Northern Premier League defeat of the season on Morecambe by 148 runs with 13 balls to spare.

They elected to bat first at Woodhill Lane, and the foundations for a formidable total were laid by a second-wicket stand of 86 between Richard Lamb (36) and captain Mark Lomas, who hit a six and 11 fours in his score of 82.

An unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 38 in 17 minutes between pro Marcus Sharp (24 not out) and his bowling partner David Brooks (12 not out) took the visitors' total to 222-8.

After 6.1 overs of their innings, Morecambe had lost four wickets without scoring a run! In fact the first run did not arrive until the 42nd delivery.

Further wickets fell with the total at 13 and 25 before a seventh-wicket stand of 46 stopped the rot. Then three wickets fell in five balls to make Morecambe's score 71-9. The last pair batted for another nine overs before Sharp wrapped up the innings at 74 to finish with 5-16 from 15.5 overs.

SCORE: Morecambe 74 Blackpool 222-8

ST ANNES continued their slide down the Northern Premier League table with a humiliating 38-run defeat by next-to-bottom club Leyland Motors.

Motors batted first and at one stage had lost seven wickets with only 48 runs on the board. Then Asfar (33) and Iddon (45) pulled things round and the innings eventually closed on 142. Professional Dave Callaghan finished with 4-56 and Taylor had 3-19.

St Annes should have had no trouble overhauling such a modest target, but wickets fell at a steady rate and they were bowled out for 104 in 40.2 overs. Callaghan was the top scorer with l8, and only two other batsmen reached double figures.