Morecambe 206 all out

Blackpool 105-5 THE Bay 96.9 Northern Premier League game between Blackpool and Morecambe at Stanley Park last Saturday was probably one of the most boring draws ever seen on the ground.

Morecambe won the toss, batted and made 206 all out in the last of their allotted 60 overs. In reply Blackpool laboured to a most disappointing 105-5 in 51 overs.

Morecambe's innings revolved around a 111-run partnership between professional Amol Muzumdar and Tommy Clough.

They came together when Morecambe had lost their first three batsmen -- Woodhead, nought, Gudgeon, eight, and Milner, nought -- to Marcus Sharp and Darren Walton. Clough was dropped by Bartholomew at mid-off and went on to make 39 from 90 balls, with four fours, before he was stumped by Martin Hackett off left arm spinner Chris Barrow.

Muzumdar, with a century there for the asking, lost his leg stump to Barrow when he had made 85 from 153 balls with five fours. Thereafter Phil Thornton hit a quick 27 and John Eccles made 16 as Morecambe closed on 206. Sharp took 4-55, Walton 3-42 and Barrow 2-59.

Blackpool's reply got off to a bad start when Peter Stephens produced the perfect first-ball yorker to bowl in-form Martin Pickles, and with Richard Lamb caught behind by Gudgeon off Stephens for two, Blackpool were struggling at 5-2. But two batsmen with runs behind them were at the crease, Paul Danson and skipper Mark Lomas.

And then the unthinkable happened. Lomas, on four, lost his middle stump to non-bowler Mark Woodhead and Blackpool were 18-3. Woodhead's celebratory antics were more akin to the football field than the cricket field as he ran to the outfield to raise his shirt above his head and reveal his midriff to the assembled spectators. After this little aside cricket continued, and Danson had made 25 before he was run out going for a third run that Stephen Croft -- at first hesitant and then slipping -- was not sure about. Out-of-form Gavin Armstrong made five before he was caught by Muzumdar off Eccles and after 31 overs, and the last 20 looming, Blackpool had made a paltry 54-5.

The fact that the total advanced to 105-5 was due more to a succession of mediocre bowling than to any strenuous efforts on the part of the Blackpool batsmen. One Morecambe bowler even found time to raise his shirt up above his midriff as he ran in to bowl, and a succession of what could best be described as "donkey-drops" were served up as Croft finished on 49 not out and Bartholomew on 18.

It was all in vain as Blackpool earned themselves no batting bonus points and only four points from the game to Morecambe's six. An advertisement for Premier League cricket it most certainly was not.