Fylde coast cricket review: Timely wins at both ends of the table in NPCL divisions one and two
Four Fylde coast clubs collected wins from their NPCL matches on Saturday.
Fleetwood CC’s hope of Vitality Club T20 success ended with defeat to Northern in Sunday’s area final at Mochdre CC.
They lost by 48 runs, dismissed for 145 chasing their opponents’ 193-7.
Fleetwood had reached the final after beating Edgworth by seven wickets in the semi-final earlier that day.
Edgworth had reached 161-7, only for Fleetwood to post 166-3 inside 18 overs with Muhammad Hurraira 99 not out from 51 balls.
The day before saw Fleetwood move nearer promotion from division two of the NPCL in beating Great Eccleston by 85 runs at Broadwater.
Jeremy Davies (43), Charlie Clark (39) and Harry McAleer (31) got starts before Fleetwood skipper Declan Clerkin smashed 84 not out from 72 balls in their 267-7.
Great Ecc’s response saw them dismissed for 182 with Matt Siddall again among the wickets, claiming 5-27.
Fleetwood are 34 points clear of third-placed Euxton after they lost by two wickets at Thornton Cleveleys.
Ben Houghton (78) and Josh Tolley (71) helped Euxton post 296-9 at Illawalla, only for TC to reply with 297-8.
Josh Borrell had made 66 and Richard Jenkinson 60 before Ethan Elphick hit 55 not out from only 22 deliveries in guiding TC to victory with five balls left.
Lytham are only seven points clear of the drop zone after a 65-run loss to Whalley.
The visitors batted first and made 178-7, led by Levi Wolfenden’s 58.
Lytham then collapsed from 43-1 to 113 all out, Monty Cort the Whalley matchwinner with 7-27.
Blackpool climbed back into the top four after a nine-wicket hammering of Carlisle.
The hosts had chosen to bat first, a decision that backfired as Khalil Patel (5-20) and Matt Grindley (4-24) saw them bowled out for 55.
Dylan Henshall then hit 46 not out from 25 balls as Blackpool motored to 59-1 in nine overs.
St Annes are two points from safety after beating bottom club Settle by four wickets at Vernon Road.
Settle batted first and compiled 241-8, led by Zane Nirodi (70) and Gautam Waghela (46).
However, St Annes collected a fourth win of the season by reaching 242-6 with seven balls left.
Having been 20-2, they saw Zain Abbas and Evan Dobson rebuild with a stand of 97 before the former fell for 45.
Then, with St Annes 145-5, Dobson was joined by Harry Birkman with the two adding 93 for the sixth wicket.
Dobson was eventually out for 91 but Birkman was there at the close as he finished 54 not out from 42 balls.
Elsewhere, the Palace Shield Championship saw Fylde lose by 14 runs at Netherfield’s seconds.
Darcy Whitten took 3-44 as Netherfield were restricted to 160-9, only for Fylde to be bowled out for 146 despite Dan Smith’s 61.
In division one, Kirkham and Wesham went down by 21 runs at Tarleton.
Rana Javeed (75 not out) and James Billings (66 not out) put on 133 in the hosts’ 246-2 before K&W were all out for 225, Sean Bovington with 56.
Sunday also saw K&W lose their T20 Plate match at Woodhouse Grange’s seconds by three wickets.
Jack Mansfield hit 43 in K&W’s 148-6 before the hosts reached 152-7 with one over left.