Fylde coast cricket round-up: First league wins for Blackpool and Lytham

After defeat on day one and back-to-back Bank Holiday abandonments, they won by seven wickets at champions Kendal on Saturday.

It was a victory set up by the bowlers, who justified Blackpool’s decision to bowl first as they dismissed the hosts for 111.

Harry Birkman made early inroads, removing Sam Dutton (3), Lewis Richardson (1) and Freddie Fallows (8) to leave Kendal 14-3.

Evan Williams (14) and Bradley Earl (13) sought to rebuild, adding 29 for the fourth wicket before both were out to Matt Grindley.

Finlay Richardson and Tim Boyd then moved the score on to 76-5 when the former became the first of three wickets for Josh Boyne, dismissed for 21.

Boyd (9) fell to returning professional Shivam Chaudhary four runs later before Boyne accounted for home skipper Chris Miller (2) and Louis Backhouse (0).

That meant Kendal’s 76-5 had become 89-9, only for the 10th-wicket pair of Sam Sharp and Kuldeep Singh to hold up Blackpool.

They had added 22 when Singh (7) was run out, leaving Sharp 22 not out as Harry Birkman took 3-7, Boyne 3-21, Grindley 2-23 and Chaudhary 1-10.

Blackpool’s reply saw them victorious inside 31 overs as they reached 113-3.

Dylan Henshall (0) fell early but Chaudhary and Kasim Munir set up the run chase with a stand of 96 for the second wicket.

Munir was very much the junior partner, making 21 before he was out, quickly followed by the dismissal of Andrew Needham (5).

It was Chaudhary who dominated the Blackpool reply, hitting seven fours and a six in finishing 70 not out from 88 deliveries.

Boyne was four not out at the close as Blackpool’s victory lifted them to sixth in the early table.

​​Fleetwood are still top despite Saturday’s first defeat of the season, losing by 42 runs to Chorley.

They were dismissed for 108, having been set a target of 151 after Jeremy Davies took 3-29 and Matthew Siddall 4-59.

The Fleetwood batters fell short as only Harry McAleer reached 20, falling for 29 to Matt Dawson (4-39).

Sunday saw Fleetwood’s ECB National Club Championship campaign end with a four-wicket defeat at Ormskirk.

Vathsal Govind’s 55 got Fleetwood out of a hole at 69-6, sharing a stand of 63 with Declan Clerkin (33) as they were all out for 137.

Ormskirk sealed victory at 138-6 despite Davies (3-32) removing their top three.

It was a similar weekend for St Annes, who had a third straight league loss on Saturday when they welcomed Fulwood and Broughton to Vernon Road.

The visitors made 267-9 in their 50 overs after Mitch Bolus had struck twice in reducing them to 22-2.

Brendan Morris and Simon Kerrigan added 119 for the third wicket before the former fell to Joe Davies for a 71-ball 75, featuring 12 fours and two sixes.

James McWilliam (53) then put on 85 with Kerrigan before he became Bolus’ third wicket with the score 226-4.

Wickets then fell regularly in the chase for runs, Bolus also dismissing Kerrigan for 79 on his way to 7-76.

The St Annes reply saw them all out for 258 with three balls remaining.

Having reached 75-3, they were given hope by a stand of 113 between Yohan De Silva and Nathan Armstrong.

That ended when Armstrong was run out for 46 before De Silva fell shortly afterwards for 103, having hit 11 fours and two maximums.

It began a collapse that saw St Annes slip from 188-3 to 206-8 before Ryan Birkman and Thomas Bradley rallied.

They added 40 before Bradley (11) was out, leaving 22 needed for victory.

Twelve of those were added when Ryan Birkman was the last man out, dismissed for a 37-ball 47.

The following day brought defeat against Prestwich in the ECB National Club Championship, again at Vernon Road.

Prestwich batted first and finished their 40 overs on 244-8 with solid contributions from their top order.

Tom Gibson (66) top-scored, supported by Sam Kershaw (52) and Lewis Smith (32).

In reply, De Silva was 59 not out when lightning and rain saw the match abandoned in the 22nd over with St Annes 108-3; six runs below the par score.

In the Liverpool Competition First Division, Lytham CC picked up their first win of the season with a 113-run defeat of Maghull.

After opting to bat first on Saturday, Lytham posted 214-9 from 55 overs with Steven Croft (51) top-scoring.

His departure, along with those of skipper Matt Taaffe and Tom Jefferson (both 29), saw Lytham slip from 114-3 to 175-7.

TJ Bailey offered some late impetus, hitting two sixes and a four in finishing 42 not out from only 46 balls.

Cam Lawrenson took 6-85 for Maghull, whose reply saw them all out for 101.

Richard Openshaw took 4-14, helping reduce the visitors to 64-7.

Lawrenson (25) offered some resistance before Zak Foulkes cleaned up the tail, finishing with 3-11.

As for the Moore and Smalley Palace Shield, Great Eccleston lost by five wickets to Lancaster in the Premier Division.

Nisanth Nithian’s 85 helped them to 231 all out, only for Lancaster to reply with 233-5 as Jim Procter claimed 3-59.

Thornton Cleveleys’ first completed game of the season brought an eight-wicket win at Penwortham.

Josh Sackfield carried his bat for 73 from 71 balls, hitting 12 boundaries as the visitors passed their target of 111 in 26.5 overs.

Penwortham did well to reach three figures from 12-4, Daniel Howard taking 3-16, but Sackfield’s second-wicket stand of 77 with Rian Barnard propelled TC to victory.

Division 1A saw Fylde beat Westgate by eight wickets after dismissing them for 94, Toby Cunningham with 4-12 and Dan Smith 4-22.

Antony Wilson’s 6-30 saw Kirkham and Wesham dismiss Leyland 2 for 119, chasing their 160-6 in which Jamie Hogarth was 54 not out.