Vaux League had a shake up when St Annes beat Preston, Leyland Daf beat Darwen, and Leyland beat Morecambe.

Preston had to settle for a losing draw at Vernon Road against St Annes when the final score was St Annes 222-5 dec

Preston 160-7

Skipper and pro Manoh Parekh's decision on winning the toss to put St Annes in to bat proved disastrous as Adrian Darlington and West Indian pro Eldine Baptiste plundered the Preston attack.

They put on 91 runs for the first wicket before Darlington was caught by Jon Fleetwood off Parekh for 55. Baptiste went on to make 79 before being stumped by Paul Mann off Parekh.

Bobby Denning made a quick 33 before being caught behind by Paul Mann off Parekh. And Parekh picked up his fourth wicket when Paul Mann caught Russ Bradley for 12, with the score on 189 for 5.

Nevertheless, Gareth Evans and Neil Bradley were both undefeated with 20 and 12 respectively when St Annes declared on 222 for 5 after 47 overs.

This gave Preston 53 overs to survive, which they did for the loss of seven wickets. However, they started badly when they lost opener Antony Mann without a run on the board.

Billy Druce and Asif Bukhari added 57 for the second wicket before Bruce was caught and bowled by Gareth Evans for 23. Preston then lost two wickets with the score on 71.

After losing more quick wickets, Jon Fleetwood and Paul Greenwood retrieved the situation with a 33-run partnership for the seventh wicket.

Greenwood and Paul Mann then got on top of the St Annes attack, in an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 51.

Meanwhile Leyland Daf went top of the league for the first time this season when they beat Darwen at Sandy Lane by two runs, winning off the last ball.

They were put in to bat and closed their innings on 170 for 9, courtesy of 80 from Duncan Catterall. Darwen's deputy pro, Corrie Jordaan, bowled half the overs to take four for 61.

In reply, Darwen lost their first wicket at 18 when Jordaan was caught by Steven John for 13. Chris Lowe and Gary Jackson departed with the score on 65 and the game went down to the last ball with Darwen wanting three runs for victory with their last pair at the wicket. Jeff Hacking was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by DAF's captain David Makinson, taking DAF to the top of the league.

Neighbours Leyland had a comfortable eight-wickets victory against Morecambe at Woodhill Lane.

Captain Mark Pallett won the toss and put Morecambe in to bat and his bowlers were magnificent.

None more so than his brother Steven who returned the superb figures of 5-13 off 13 overs.

Leyland knocked off the required runs for victory in the 41st over with Mark Swan and Craig Gardner being undefeated with 36 and 30 respectively.

Saturday brings a top versus bottom of the table clash at South Meadow Lane where Preston entertain Leyland DAF while Leyland entertain Chorley at Fox Lane.

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