Fylde coast weekend cricket review: Northern League, T20, Lytham, Palace Shield

This second defeat of the season saw the Stanley Park side slip to third in the first division, behind champions Leyland and new leaders Netherfield, who defeated St Annes by seven wickets.

The only Fylde coast winners on Saturday were Fleetwood, who shot up to share fifth spot with St Annes after their 35-run victory over Kendal.

Blackpool, who named South African Ockert Erasmus as guest professional, were asked to bat by Leyland and were soon in deep trouble at 38-6.

The top five managed just 27 between them before Josh Boyne top-scored at number six with 20, one of only two Blackpool players to reach duoble figures.

Karl Cross always had Blackpool on the back-foot on his way to 5-35 from 13.2 overs, while Ross Bretherton backed him up well with 3-22 from seven as Blackpool were all out in just 30.2 overs.

Leyland required just 23 overs to seal victory despite Chris Baines dismissing Cross for a duck. His fellow opener Pabasara Waduje then put on 67 for the second wicket with Henry Thompson before being run out, Thompson going on to complete the job at 84-2 with his 42 from 58 balls.

Fleetwood’s total of 152 proved ample for victory at Broadwater despite an outstanding bowling effort by Kendal’s Chris Miller.

Miller returned a remarkable 9-55 from 17 overs as Fleetwood were dismissed in 40.1 after choosing to bat.

Professional Neels Bergh was the only batsman Miller failed to remove and the South African’s 60 from 74 balls (eight fours) proved decisive.

Mat Clark’s 39 had got the hosts off to a solid start but the wickets soon began to fall. None of the seven who came in after Bergh reached double figures and they contributed just 24 between them as Fleetwood subsided from 140-5 to 152 all out.

But Fleetwood had a bowling hero of their own in Joe McCluskie, whose 6-17 from 9.5 overs was his best return in league cricket, with a run-out to boot.

The Kendal reply was soon in big trouble at 26-5, and although Lachlan Stewart and Jason Dawes engineered a middle-order revival, McCluskie polished off the tail to leave Dawes high and dry on 42 not out. The Cumbrians were all out for 117 with 13 deliveries left.

St Annes elected to bat in Cumbria but couldn’t set a target to challenge Netherfield, dismissed for 125 in 44 overs.

Opener AM Durrani held the innings together with 48 from 111 balls, but once he was eighth out with the score at 115 the game was up.

St Annes had reached that total with only five wickets down but managed to add only 10 more, Marc Hadwin ripping out the middle-order to take 5-28 from 13 overs.

Netherfield’s fourth-wicket pair of John Huck and John Dixon (29) then secured victory with an unbroken stand of 73.

Huck finished 50 not out from 46 balls, scoring 42 in boundaries, as the Cumbrians needed only 31.3 overs to seal the match and the league leadership at 128-3.

St Annes couldn’t make home advantage count in the league’s twenty20 competition as they lost to both of Sunday’s Fylde coast derby visitors and saw their hopes of qualification dashed.

Blackpool strengthened their grip on division one south with a third straight win, beating their hosts by 30 runs.

Tom Jefferson led the way with an unbeaten 57 and shared an unbroken stand of 92 with Josh Boyne (38) as Blackpool set a target of 162-3.

The St Annes reply started brightly enough as Matt Breetzke made 52 and put on 84 for the second wicket with Gurman Bains (44), but then Blackpool’s Pakistani guest pro Ali Azmat took control with 6-15 from four overs to limit the hosts to 132-8.

Fleetwood could only bat 17.1 overs in the second game but their 135 was enough for a 17-run win, their first of the competition.

Dean Bell (39) and Jarrod Coombe put on 63 for the opening wicket before Fleetwood pro Neels Burgh fired a rapid 44. However, the eight men in after him mustered just 23 between them (Tom Higson 3-25).

But St Annes were always off the pace and reached only 118-9, despite Richard Staines (38) providing some mid-innings momentum.

Taylor Cornall’s career-best innings helped Lytham cruise to a third successive win in the Liverpool Competition.

The opener scored an unbeaten 136 to ease the visitors to seven-wicket success away to winless bottom club Ainsdale. Cornall scored 96 in boundaries (21 fours and two sixes) during his 116-ball knock as his second century of the season helped Lytham to pass their hosts’ 220-8.

The Merseyside club chose to bat and also had a centurion at the top of their order as Faiz Fazal made 113 from 123 balls (13 fours, three sixes).

The opener shared in a third wicket stand of 57 with Mark Lucas before being fifth out with the score at 188, paving the way for the hosts to declare after 53.2 overs. Captain Danny Edwards was the pick of the Lytham bowlers with 3-59 from 13 overs.

But even Fazal was outshone by Cornall, who put on 70 for Lytham’s first wicket with Thomas Hessey and then shared in an unbroken stand of 131 for the third with overseas batsman Michael Guptill-Bunce (45 not out). The win lifts Lytham to seventh in the ECB premier league.

Lytham fell at the first hurdle in the Ray Digman Knockout, defeated by six wickets at Northern on Sunday.

The visitors chose to bat but their 45-over total of 185-7 wasn’t enough as the Crosby side reached 186-4 with almost five overs remaining.

Lytham had looked set for a more daunting target as they reached 131-1, New Zealander Guptill-Bunce firing 51 and sharing an opening stand of 75 with Matthew Taaffe before Ben Saunders struck a fiery 62. But then wickets began to fall cheaply, Tom Jones taking 3-33 from seven overs.

Michael Walling took a hat-trick in the top v bottom clash against Rufford which enabled Garstang to remain top of the Palace Shield.

Garstang’s 85-run victory preserved their one-point advantage over Longridge at the top of the premier division.

Great Eccleston remain fifth but are now only five points clear of near namesakes Eccleston after the Chorley side defeated them by six wickets.

Thornton Cleveleys slip two places to ninth, losing by 35 runs at Fulwood and Broughton despite amassing 249, while bottom club Freckleton couldn’t add to their solitary win this season as they were well beaten in Preston by Vernon Carus, for whom former Fleetwood opener Adam Parker scored a century.

South Shore and Norcross both won in the first division to keep the pressure on top two Longridge 2 and Vernon Carus 2.

Kirkham and Wesham won the south Fylde derby against Wrea Green to open up a 21-point gap between the clubs in division two and also move within a point of second-placed Mawdesley

Moore and SmallEy Palace Shield results

Premier division: Eccleston (168-4, MR Atkinson 58, T Wilkinson 44) beat Great Eccleston (166-8, M Imran-Sadiq 39, T Wilkinson 4-33) by six wickets, Fulwood and Broughton (285-6, Mark Smith 94, Mat Smith 91) beat Thornton Cleveleys (249-9, D Howard 62, J Eade 58, M Rossiter 5-55) by 36 runs, Garstang (174-6, C Oosthuizen 62no, D Hodges 4-65) beat Rufford (91, M Walling hat-trick) by 85 runs, Longridge (212-4) beat Croston (184) by 28 runs, Penwortham (115) lost to Torrisholme (236-9) by 121 runs, Vernon Carus (273-4, A Parker 105, J McDonagh 64, D Fisher 47) beat Freckleton (109,R Beesley 40, J Allan 5-14) by 164 runs.

Division One: Fylde (168-5, S Davies 56no, A Ellison 48, I Patel 3-20) beat Whittingham and Goosnargh (166-9, I Moosa 56,B Anderson 3-39 ) by five wickets, Hoghton (70) lost to Vernon Carus 2 (247-7) by 177 runs, Norcross (180-7, A Munir 4-53) beat Fulwood and Broughton 2 (176, D Harris 4-36, I Davies 4-39) by three wickets, South Shore (191-7, R Adderley 34no) beat Garstang 2 (185, A Kershaw 37, M Cowburn 4-42, H Pazeer 3-48) by six runs, White Coppice (97) lost to Longridge 2 (98-1) by nine wickets, Withnell Fold (107) lost to New Longton (109-8) by two wickets.

Division Two: Kirkham and Wesham (59-5, G Brooks 4-23) beat Wrea Green (58, D Reddy 3-8, J Hogarth 3-14) by five wickets.