WITH both Blackpool and St Annes rained off on Saturday it was left to Fleetwood to fly the Fylde Coast flag in the Northern Premier League, writes Gerry Wolstenholme.

They visited Netherfield and, with professional Doug Marillier scoring a magnificent 105 from 92 balls with four sixes and seven fours, for 182 all out.

Dave Fish then whittled his way through the Netherfield batting order so that they were nine wickets down with plenty of overs to go. However rain interrupted play and the teams returned with only five overs left and Netherfield held on for the draw at 108-9 with Fish taking 7-42.

On Sunday Blackpool's defeat at Lancaster prevented a clean sweep of victories by the three local sides. They held Lancaster to 159-9, Steven Croft 3-23, but then only Steve Mercer, 36, and last man Chris Taylor, 23, made any impact and Blackpool were bowled out for 132 to lose by 27 runs. St Annes meanwhile made easy meat of Fleetwood Hesketh by restricting them to 132-8 and after the loss of two early wickets Joe Davies and Steve Twist both scored half-centuries as St Annes won by eight wickets.

And at Fleetwood the home side bowled Kendal out for just 88, Tom Blundell 4-17 and Ryan Riches 4-20, and then a classy 36 not out by Michael Clinning and some strong hitting by Riches, whose 12 came in four balls with a finishing six onto the roof of the pavilion, saw Fleetwood home by five wickets at 94-5.

NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE

Division One -- *Barrow 214/3, Lancaster 148/7 10-3 pts; Blackpool v Leyland Motors - no play 4-4 pts; Chorley v St Annes - no play 4-4 pts; Darwen 138/1, *Preston 137 12-0 pts; Morecambe 124/7, *Leyland 123 12-3 pts; Netherfield 108/9, *Fleetwood 182 5-11 pts.

Division Two -- *Fleetwood 159/5, Netherfield 145/6 7-4 pts; Lancaster 129/6, *Barrow 129/7 4-6 pts; Leyland 35/8, *Morecambe 79 5-7 pts; Leyland Motors 59/3, *Blackpool 142/8 4-6 pts; Preston 156/6, Darwen 68/8 8-3 pts; *St Annes 175/1, Chorley 178/3 3-12 pts.

*Batted first.