Fylde coast cricket review: Soggy Saturday ruins the league programme
Blackpool paid the price for a batting collapse as they were beaten in their LCF Knock Out round one tie at Leigh on Sunday.
They lost by eight wickets, having been dismissed for 111 in 39.1 overs after being asked to bat first.
Ben Howarth (12) and Dylan Henshall (11) put on 23 for the first wicket but the latter’s dismissal started a passage of play which saw Blackpool lose five wickets for 16 runs.
Howarth quickly followed, along with Omar Tauqir (five), Andrew Needham (eight) and Josh Boyne (no score), as Blackpool fell to 39-5.
Ali Usman and Matt Taaffe started to rebuild, adding 32 before the latter was out for 15 with the score 71-6.
Usman and Kasim Munir then put on 20, a partnership which ended when the former was out for a top score of 19.
Having progressed to 107-7, Blackpool’s last three wickets fell for only four runs with Matt Grindley (eight) and Alex Ryder (two) both out before Munir was dismissed for 14.
Adam Shallcross took 3-11 and Ben Smith 3-31 for a Leigh team which reached their target midway through the 32nd over, posting 115-2.
Openers Tom Grundy and Luke Prescott laid the foundation, putting on 71 for the first wicket.
That ended when Grundy (37) fell to Usman, who then accounted for Prescott (29) three runs later.
However, Matthew McKiernan (19 not out) and Karl Brown (23 not out) added 41 to steer Leigh home despite Usman’s 2-17.
It capped a disappointing weekend all round for Fylde coast clubs, who saw rain decimate the cricketing programme on Saturday.
Division one of the Northern Premier Cricket League saw two matches cancelled without a ball bowled, one of them Blackpool’s home game against Garstang.
St Annes got 12 overs in at Longridge, who batted first and were 97-0 as Rhys Morgan hit seven fours and three sixes in his 39-ball 59 not out.
It meant Blackpool and St Annes ended the day three points better off.
Three of the Fylde coast’s four division two teams managed some play, though no matches were completed.
Thornton Cleveleys earned four points after they reached 106-3 in 27 overs against Morecambe, Josh Borrell (44) and Sam Curwen (34 not out) having added 71 for the second wicket.
Great Eccleston were 151-3 after 33.4 overs when play ended at Lytham.
Tyler McGladdery was 75 not out after partnerships of 56 with Will Smith (15), 40 with Alexander Rhodes (20) and an unbroken 49 with Mohammed Fazil (23 not out).
Tom Hessey (1-16), Sahaan Sahaan (1-40) and Ben Saunders (1-49) were Lytham’s wicket takers as they claimed two points and Great Ecc five.
There was no play in Fleetwood’s match at Euxton, one featuring two teams with perfect records after the first three games, so they took three points each.
No matches were completed in the Palace Shield Championship, where Fylde gained two points from their trip to Mawdesley.
Phil Brown made 22 not out and Dan Smith 20 not out with Fylde 45-0 from 15.2 overs when play ended.
It was the same story in division one as Kirkham and Wesham’s match at Croston ended with the hosts 36-0 from 11 overs, both teams taking two points.