Fylde coast cricket: Fleetwood flying with four wins in a row

Their latest was a nailbiting one-wicket success away to winless bottom club Eccleston, who chose to bat and set a target of 217-7.

The Chorley side's number three Thomas Foster scored exactly 100 not out from 97 balls (15 boundaries) following half-century stands with openers Adam Norris and Martyn Brierley (58, 10 fours).

Fleetwood secured victory at the death on 221-9 thanks to a captain's knock of 53 not out (65 balls, seven fours) by Adam Sharrocks, who came in at 118 for four. The skipper's first half-century of the season followed professional Tiaan van Vuuren's 34.

Blackpool climbed into the top half of the table with a welcome second win of the campaign by a 100-run margin at Penrith, who were dismissed for 51.

The visitors chose to bat and were restricted to 151 from 47.2 overs, their top score of 31 shared by opener Jake Muncaster and number five Dylan Henshall.

Samuel Hall and Harsha Vithana took three wickets, though it was Jake White who shocked Blackpool's previously prolific pro Shivam Chaudhary, who fell for two.

However, second-bottom Penrith were all out in 24.5 overs, only Vithana (19) reaching double figures as the final seven wickets went down for 11 runs. Matthew Grindley enjoyed his third five-for of the season (5-19 from 12.5) and 4-16 from six overs cheered Chaudhary up.

St Annes gave high-flying Chorley a run for their money but lost by 16 runs despite a second century of the season for professional Yohan de Silva.

The hosts were put in and reached 220-8 after stumbling from 26-0 to 37-3, also seeing opener Alfie Dobson retire on 28 not out.

Zayn Wadiwala (33) and Edwin Moulton (41) put on 79 for the fourth wicket before wicketkeeper Harry Barclay top-scored with 47 and shared 72 for the sixth wicket with captain Andrew Holdsworth (39).

Lukman Vahaluwala took 5-60 from his 15 overs after Alec McGloughlin had removed three of the top four (3-41 from seven).

De Silva then gave St Annes hope of an upset with 111 from 141 balls (16 fours) before he was last out with eight deliveries left and the total on 204. McGloughlin was the Sri Lankan's most effective partner (32).

Chorley share second spot with Kendal, 10 points behind leaders Longridge, while St Annes are ninth.

Lytham halted their three-match losing run in the Liverpool Competition with a 69-run victory at Bootle.

Having declared at 245-7 from 54.4 overs, Lytham dismissed their Merseyside hosts for 176 in 39.1.

Lytham didn't regret choosing to bat as Richard Staines 74 (10 boundaries) put on 92 for the second wicket with Guy Roberts (35). Captain Matthew Taaffe then took over with 55 from 54 balls (seven fours) despite Daniyal Shakeel's 4-38 from 7.4 overs.

Bootle were soon in trouble as professional Avinash Yadav dismissed their top three on his way to 5-77, bowling unchanged for 19.1 overs, and were 61-6 before Danny Hart (50 from 45 balls) and Shakeel (44 from 34 with nine boundaries) delayed the inevitable Lytham win, which lifts them to fourth in the first division.

The three Fylde coast clubs all find themselves in the bottom half of the Moore and Smalley Palace Shield premier division after defeats on Saturday.

Great Eccleston are just a point clear of the bottom two after an 11-run loss at Morecambe, who chose to bat and were all out for 181 after exactly 45 overs.

Captain Alex Briggs was their top scorer with 35 as Jon Jeffries took 5-41 from his 11 overs.

Ecc could only reach 170 with eight deliveries remaining despite Will Thistlethwaite's 45 and 35 from Mohammed Fazil as Morecambe rise to fifth (Shane Burton 5-35 from 13.4).

Kirkham and Wesham lost by 122 runs at second-bottom Preston, who piled on 290-8 after Navazish Ali (103) and Sajid Patel (55) had shared an opening stand of 141.

Andrew Hogarth's 5-81 from 13 overs counted for little as K&W were all out for 168 in 33.5 overs, number10 Ben Rawcliffe their top scorer with 26 as the visitors fought back from 77-7, though Imran Patel's 6-54 from 15 overs was decisive.

Thornton Cleveleys were at home but were also beaten, by 20 runs against Torrisholme.

The Lancaster side struggled to 85-8 after being put in but survived to the penultimate ball for a total of 133 thanks to an unbeaten 42 from wicketkeeper Adam Parkinson. Oliver Kyle took 4-33 from 15 overs and Anthony Ellison 3-21 off 12.

TC were always facing an uphill struggle from 8-4 and were all out for 113 with 10 balls remaining, captain Richard Jenkinson having fought back with 29 as Matthew Cline took 4-22 from 8.2 overs.

Thornton Cleveleys and Great Eccleston bounced back the following day with eight-wicket away wins in round two of the Meyler Cup.

TC dismissed Morecambe for 160 in 34.3 over despite opener Andrew Creech's 57. The hosts would have hoped for better from 116-3 but Kyle claimed 3-43 from eight overs.

Victory was then sealed at 162-2 in 36.1 overs as Kai Collinge carried his bat for 57, putting on 80 for the opening wicket with Joshua Sackfield (26) and then sharing an unbroken stand of 74 with skipper Jenkinson (34no).

Ecc polished off 96-2 in 15.5 overs pursuing Heysham's modest 92 (33.2) after Alexander Rhodes took 5-16 from 6.2 overs. Mohammad Fazil (41no) and Richard Booth (38no) then saw the visitors home from 10-2 with an unbroken stand of 86.

Great Eccleston will visit Euxton in the quarter-finals and Thornton Cleveleys head to Vernon Carus.

Fylde are out, though, beaten by five wickets at home by Torrisholme, who needed 38.3 overs to reach 175-5 in reply to 174 all out.

Ben Anderson (62) and captain Dan Smith (39) put on 55 for Fylde's third wicket as Saeed Bariwala took 4-28 from eight overs.

Torrisholme won with nine balls remaining as Josh Wills (43no) dominated an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 58.

Other Palace Shield results

Division 1B: Fleetwood 2 239-6 beat Preston 2 236-9 by four wickets, Grimsargh 196 lost to Fylde 202-3 by seven wickets, New Longton 111-4 beat Wrea Green 107 by six wickets.

Division 2: St Annes 2 108 lost to Penwortham 3 209-9 by 101 runs, Torrisholme 2 247-5 beat Norcross 162 by 85 runs.

Loxham Cup round two: St Annes 2 283-7 lost to Longridge 2 284-8 by two wickets, Chorley 2 131 lost to Great Eccleston 2 132-1 by nine wickets