SECOND-PLACED St Annes kept up the pressure on Vaux Northern League leaders Darwen as they beat Kendal by 23 runs with only three balls remaining in the match at Vernon Road on Saturday (Aug 7).

Put in to bat, Adrian Darlington and Duncan Whalley gave them a solid foundation with a 43 runs partnership for the first wicket.

Darlington was caught by Terry Hunte off Ross Veenstra, the Kendal professional, for 23.

Two runs later Whalley was bowled by Adrian Potts for eleven. Professional Dave Callaghan and Steven Twist added 53 runs for the third wicket before the latter was stumped by Alan Fawcett off third change bowler Andrew Wilson for 16.

The fourth St Annes wicket fell at 125 when Callaghan was caught by Andrew Wilson off Kendal captain Richard Ellwood for 44.

He batted 87 minutes, faced 81 balls and hit two fours.

Half the St Annes side were dismissed for 143 when Sean Bickerdike was caught behind by Fawcett off Veenstra for ten.

With the score on 163, Russ Bradley was caught by Ellwood off Wilson for 38.

He batted 61 minutes, faced 46 balls and hit one six and two fours.

The next three wickets fell for three runs and the St Annes innings closed on 169-9. David Taylor was unbeaten on two and John Cotton on one.

Ross Veenstra was the pick of the Kendal bowling attack with 4-43 and Andrew Wilson took 3-30.

St Annes got a dream start when opener Andrew Mawson was caught by Sean Bickerdike off Dave Callaghan for one, which left Kendal 8 for one.

Steve Cooper and Terry Hunte took the score on to 35 before the former was bowled by Callaghan for twelve.

Terry Hunte and Ross Veenstra added 57 runs for the third wicket before the former was caught by Sean Bickerdike off second change bowler Adrian Darlington for 45.

He batted 77 minutes and hit 7 fours.

Kendal's fourth wicket fell one run later at 93 when Veenstra was bowled by Darlington for 27.

The loss of two wickets for one run changed the complexion of the game and half the Kendal side were dismissed for 102 when Paul Dodds was caught by Steven Twist off John Cotton for two.

John Cotton took his second wicket when he had Andrew Wilson stumped by Duncan Whalley for one, which left Kendal 113-6.

The visitors got more and more behind the clock and Dave Callaghan took the last two wickets to fall in the last over to give St Annes their ninth victory of the season, with Kendal on 146.

Dave Callaghan was the pick of the St Annes bowling attack, taking 5-48 from 13.3 overs.

St Annes should record their tenth victory of the season when they travel to Lune Road to play second from the bottom of the table Lancaster this Saturday (Aug 14).

Lancaster professional Raj Hans has had a quiet season but the danger man is Lancaster captain David Heywood who is a prolific scorer with the bat.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.