Fylde coast cricket round-up: St Annes see off Blackpool as Fleetwood start with a win

The season might have had a seven-day delay because of the winter’s wet weather, but it was worth the wait for St Annes as they marked Nathan Bolus’ first game in charge with a 16-run success at Stanley Park.

​It was a day for the bowlers with neither side making 150 and only two batters managing to post a score of more than 30.

Having opted to bat first, St Annes were all out for 142 inside 46 overs.

They lost Yohan De Silva (8) and Nathan Bolus (0) in being reduced to 28-2, which then became 55-5.

Lukman Vahaluwala (6), Luke Jardine (27) and Joe Davies (1) all fell as Matt Grindley took four of the first five wickets in claiming 4-49.

Nathan Armstrong and Mitch Bolus rallied, adding 48 for the sixth wicket in moving them past three figures.

Armstrong (31) was out to Josh Boyne, who then removed Mitch Bolus (25) and James Bradley (0).

Ryan Birkman (10) fell next before Will Trohear and Thomas Bradley added 26 for the final wicket.

Thomas Bradley dominated, making 19 before becoming Boyne’s fourth wicket as he took 4-10.

Blackpool’s reply saw openers Kasim Munir (15) and Arran Lewin (10) put on 27 before both were out on the same score.

Jameel Stuart (5), standing in for professional Shivam Chaudhary, was next to go, followed by Boyne (4) and Jake Muncaster (2).

That meant 27-0 became 41-5 but, as with the St Annes innings, a recovery effort was launched.

Andrew Needham and Ben Howarth almost doubled the Blackpool score, adding 40 before the latter was out for 17.

Needham had reached the match’s highest score of 32 when he was out, followed by Will Vause (0), to leave Blackpool 97-8.

Steven Mercer (9) added 28 for the ninth wicket with Grindley (24) but they fell within a run of each other as Blackpool were all out for 126.

Vahaluwala led the bowling for St Annes, finishing with 5-30 from 16 overs, while Mitch Bolus claimed 3-42 in 16.1 as they started the season with 15 points.

Blackpool were also beaten on Sunday, when they lost by 38 runs at Formby in the ECB National Club Championship.​

The hosts opted to bat first and concluded their 40 overs on 259-6, as opener Ollie Sutton hit seven fours and seven sixes in his 106-ball knock of 108.

Josh Boyne again led Blackpool’s bowling with 2-33 from eight overs before their reply ended on 221-9.

They fell to 33-3 early on but Andrew Needham hit 12 fours and three sixes in making 99 from only 81 balls, while George Burrows took 4-39.

Fleetwood began their NPCL campaign in impressive style with a six-wicket victory at Netherfield.

The Cumbrian hosts were put into bat and reached 159-9, having fought back from 44-4.

Wicketkeeper Will Beeden contributed most with 55, captain Ben Barrow having made 45.

The skipper was among three victims (for 53 runs from 15 overs) for Cumbria county spinner Matt Siddall, while there were also three wickets for new captain Declan Clerkin (for 34 off 10).

The visitors then required 33.3 overs to reach their target of 160 for the loss of four wickets.

Tom King (33) and Andy Blake put on 42 for the first wicket before Harry McAleer fired Fleetwood to victory with an unbeaten 50 from 43 balls, featuring nine fours.

The wicketkeeper shared an unbroken stand of 72 with former skipper Adam Sharrocks (28 not out).

New Fleetwood professional Vathsal Govind was back in the county where he had starred for Egremont in the 2023 season.

The Indian then took 3-25 as Fleetwood made a winning start in the ECB National Club Championship on Sunday with a 20-run success at Cherry Tree.

Asked to bat in Blackburn, Fleetwood set a target of 137 from 33.3 overs (Nathan Bend 38) before restricting their North West League hosts to 117-9.

Last Saturday’s Moore and Smalley Palace Shield saw Great Eccleston win by 33 runs at Vernon Carus in the Premier Division.

Mohammed Fazil hit 77 in Great Ecc’s 192-6 before the hosts were all out for 159, Mohamed Nadeem taking 6-48.

Thornton Cleveleys’ pitch was unfit for their opener against Torrisholme.

In division 1A, Fylde beat Croston by 29 runs in dismissing them for 87 after being skittled for 116 when batting first.

Kirkham and Wesham lost by 20 runs in their game at Heysham, where they were 69 all out after having bowled out their hosts for 89.​