Fylde coast cricket: St Annes success but Blackpool and Fleetwood still wait for first win

St Annes made it two wins out of three in cricket's Northern Premier League but Blackpool and Fleetwood are still awaiting their first success after back-to-back defeats.

St Annes paved the way for a 104-run home victory over Penrith by setting a target of 227-8.

They reached 218-2 before a late flurry of wickets, professional Yohan De Silva leading the way with 10 boundaries in his 94.

The Sri Lankan put on 106 for the opening wicket with Tom Higson (59 from 55 balls) and 71 for the second with Lukman Vahaluwala (31), James Ellis taking 3-56 off 10.

Four down before reaching 50, the chase was never on for Penrith, who were dismissed for 123 in 42.1 overs.

Dylan Simpson put up some late resistance with 29 and Higson completed his fine day with 4-41 from 14.1 overs.

Blackpool went down by 78 runs at home to leaders Kendal, having been dismissed for 74 inside 29 overs.

The decision to put the visitors in looked the right one as Kendal struggled to 65-5, Matt Grindley removing all of the top four, but they rallied to 152 before the innings closed with 13 balls remaining.

Sam Fletcher top-scored with 38, while Grindley finished with 4-26 from 15 overs and William Vause 3-35 off 12.

The reply began positively enough, Tomas King scoring 25. But after the opening pair put on 37, nobody else scored more than seven. From 59-3, Blackpool could add only 15.

Bowling unchanged, Toby Tyson took 6-29 from 14 overs and Kuldeep Singh 4-34 from 14.5 as Kendal cruised to a third straight win.

Fleetwood lost a nailbiter by three runs at home to Longridge, whose target of 150-9 was just about enough.

The visitors were grateful for opener Joshua Mullin's 40 and his second-wicket stand of 57 with Zac Christie (22).

Professional Tiaan Van Vuuren did his utmost to inspire a Fleetwood victory, following his 5-48 from 14 overs with 68 (11 fours).

But Fleetwood were still 13 behind when the South African was eighth out.

He was caught and bowled by Jake Durnell, who then tidied up the tail to finish with 4-30 from 12 overs, leaving Fleetwood on 147 from 42. Matt Greenall also claimed four victims (for 49 off 11) for third-placed Longridge.

Seven wickets from professional Avinash Yadav could not spare Lytham from a first defeat of the Liverpool Competition First Division season by 44 runs at Spring View.

Having reached 50-1 after being put in, the hosts were all out for 146 in 47.3 overs as captain Lewis Matthews scored eight boundaries in an unbeaten 43.

Avinash removed all the top four, including top scorer Nathan Ashford for 52, on his way to 7-32 from 20.3 overs.

After Lytham's top three and all fallen for three, Avinash led the reply with 56, putting on 81 for the fourth wicket with captain Matt Taaffe (34).

However, the final six men in could score only seven between them and Lytham were all out for 102 in 41.1 overs, Muhammad Ashraf taking 4-33 from 13.1 overs and Suleman Khan 3-42 from 14 in the Wigan club's first victory of the campaign.

Great Eccleston won by eight wickets in a rain-hit Palace Shield premier division match at Torrisholme.

Having put their Lancaster hosts in and restricted them to 129-8 (Alexander Rhodes 3-36; Saeed Bariwala 43), Ecc were set a revised target of 105 from 37 overs.

They needed only 32.2 overs as opener Joe Davies carried his bat for 52 and saw the visitors home with third-wicket partner Mohamed Nadeem (24no).

The win moved Great Eccleston level with fourth-placed Kirkham and Wesham, who suffered their first defeat by four wickets at home to Lancaster.

Two down without scoring, K&W, eventually reached 103 from 36 overs, Justin Banks the main man with 40 (Ben Simm 4-28, Kieran Moffat 3-34).

Number one Harvey Fitton's 54 then set second-placed Lancaster on course for victory in 27.1 overs with six wickets down (Antony Wilson 3-33).

Defeat too for Thornton Cleveleys by four wickets at Mawdesley.

The visitors could only reach 108 in 38.5 overs despite opener Josh Sackfield's 50. Nobody else could reach double figures against the unplayable Lee Berrie (6-14 from 9.5 overs).

TC gave themselves a chance by reducing Mawdesley to 64-5 but they lost only one more wicket in wrapping up victory inside 43 overs.

Division 1B: Fylde 203-6 (Ben Anderson 49, Will Smith 48, Dan Smith 46; Luke Wilkinson 3-44) beat Fleetwood 2 149 (Fraser Parr 42; Toby Cunningham 4-39, Richard Thomas 4-39) by 54 runs; Great Eccleston 2 120 (Chris Hadfield 3-23, Joe Harrison 3-49) lost to New Longton 123-8 (Jeremy Whittle 3-30) by two wickets, Thornton Cleveleys 2 132 (Marc Hanson 39; Sam Laycock 5-13, Luke Wahlstedt 4-23) beat Wrea Green 53 (Christopher Hedges 5-13) by 79 runs.

Division Two: Norcross 66 (Nathan Walmsley 4-16) lost to Penwortham 3 70-4 by six wickets, Whittingham & Goosnargh 173-9 beat St Annes 2 71 (Ilyas Moosa 5-22, Munaf Gurji 4-36) by 102 runs.