Fylde coast cricket: Trio remain top of their tables

Blackpool, the defending champions, made it five wins from six with victory against Penrith, giving them a six-point buffer to second-placed Garstang.

Paul Danson’s players ran out seven-wicket winners at Stanley Park on a day their batters flourished.

Penrith had opted to bat first and completed their 50 overs on 171-6.

Matt Grindley struck early, removing Greg Cameron (2), before Alister Craig (23) was run out and James Bowman (12) fell to Alex Ryder.

Mohit Kale and Jack White led a Penrith fightback, scoring 73 and 33 respectively before being dismissed by Josh Boyne.

He also picked up the wicket of Ollie Greenwood (13), ending with 3-38 as Grindley picked up 1-24 and Ryder 1-27.

Blackpool also lost a couple of cheap wickets in reply as White accounted for Tomas King (0) and Dylan Henshall (12).

That was as good as it got for Penrith as Boyne and Kasim Munir took the game away from them.

Munir had made it to 62, hitting half-a-dozen boundaries before he fell to Kale.

Boyne, however, was there at the close, finishing 99 not out as Blackpool posted 175-3 with a little more than six-and-a-half overs left.

St Annes collected a fourth victory of the campaign so far, beating Leyland as they sit in fourth place, 11 points off the summit.

They were five-wicket winners at the Stanning Memorial Ground, where the hosts had batted first and reached 211-6.

That was a good recovery after Nasir Nawaz (2) and James Rounding (3) were out to Lukman Vahaluwala, leaving them 32-2.

Jacob Wright and Kurtis Watson then added 95 before the former fell to Harry Birkman for 74.

Watson (67) became Vahaluwala’s third wicket after adding 69 with Karl Cross, who made 41 before being dismissed by Tom Higson.

Vahaluwala claimed 3-43, Birkman 1-32 and Higson 1-39 for a St Annes team who responded with 212-5.

Luke Jardine (11) and Higson (25) were out as they fell to 67-2 but Yohan De Silva and Vahaluwala broke the back of the chase.

They added 85 before De Silva was out for 55, followed by Nathan Bolus (9) and Nathan Bend (26).

Vahaluwala could not be shifted, however, striking 10 boundaries in his 73 not out.

Lytham stayed top of the Liverpool Competition after preserving their 100 per cent record with a five-wicket victory at Highfield.

Professional Akash Vashisht and former Lancashire man Toby Lester were to the fore as Highfield batted first and were all out for 155.

Vashisht ended with 5-44 and Lester 4-44 to limit their hosts’ total, in which Madduma Lakmal led the way with 30.

Lytham’s reply began in difficult fashion as they were reduced to 26-3 and then 62-5.

Lester then joined skipper Matt Taaffe as they added an unbroken 94 in taking them to victory.

Lester finished undefeated on 42 with Taaffe hitting a run-a-ball 49 not out.

Fleetwood also maintained their perfect start to the Moore and Smalley Palace Shield Premier Division with a sixth win from six.

They were six-wicket winners against Croston on a day when their bowlers took centre stage.

Croston had opted to bat first, only to be rolled over for 73 inside 25 overs as the opening bowlers, Zac Corcoran and Jeremy Davies, took control.

Corcoran dismissed Hakeem Perryman (5), Ian Dickinson (9) and Joseph Barker (0) to leave Croston 23-3.

Davies then took over, accounting for Adam Sexton (1), Jake Parsons (0), Miller Childs (0) and Liam Gaskell (0) with the score now reading 42-7.

Matthew Bromley (4) and Emlyn King-Everton (1) both fell to Declan Clerkin with Croston now reduced to 59-9.

Another 14 runs were added before the final wicket fell, opener Max Harper out to Corcoran for 39.

That gave Corcoran figures of 4-19, while Davies took 4-31 and Clerkin 2-18.

In reply, Fleetwood reached 77-4 midway through the 14th over, Atiq Uz-Zaman top-scoring with a quickfire 38.

It sees them 22 points clear of second-placed Morecambe, who suffered a 31-run defeat at Kirkham and Wesham.

K&W made it back-to-back league wins despite being dismissed for 138 at the Woodlands.

They were 120-5 at one stage before losing their final five wickets in brisk fashion, Jamie Hogarth top-scoring with 42.

Overseas amateur Shane Burton had claimed 6-40 for Morecambe, who were all out for 107 in reply.

Skipper Alex Briggs led their response with 31 but Hogarth followed up his batting efforts with 5-32.

Great Eccleston and Thornton Cleveleys sit third and fourth respectively after suffering defeats.

Great Ecc went down by 69 runs at Euxton, where Phil Booth took 3-44 in the home team’s 185-6.

In reply, Will Thistlethwaite made 50 and Booth 23 as Great Ecc were all out for 116, Ulricht Van Duyker taking 4-32.

Thornton lost by 66 runs at Torrisholme as they were dismissed for 57 after bowling out their hosts for 123.

In Division 1A, Fylde moved into sixth place after a 92-run defeat of Grimsargh.

Craig Allison top-scored with 67 after Fylde chose to bat first and made 282-6.

Usama Abrar then took 5-47 as Grimsargh were all out for 190 in reply.

As for division two, Ed Nickson’s 5-36 helped Wrea Green dismiss Ingol with Freckleton for 150 before Tom Small’s 90 not out saw them to victory on 151-3.

However, Norcross lost by 41 runs to Torrisholme as they were 78-9 chasing their visitors’ 119-9.