Darwen 179-8

Lancaster 132

Lancaster lost their last match of the season when Darwen beat them by 47 runs at Birch Hall.

Neil Cordingley won the toss and elected to bat. Darwen lost their first wicket at eleven when John Cordingley was caught by David Heywood off Graham Barnes for seven.

Gareth Cordingley and Darwen professional Keith Semple took the score onto 27 before Semple was caught by fellow professional Gareth Breese off Barnes for six. Only one run later, Mark Emery was bowled by Breese without scoring.

The fourth wicket fell at 38 when Gary Parkinson was caught by Neil Jordan off Graham Barnes for eight. Then Gareth Cordingley and Simon Painter stopped the rot with a 42 runs partnership for the fifth wicket before Painter was caught behind by Brendan Hetherington off Barnes for fifteen. Breese bowled Gareth Cordingley for 37, which left Darwen 92-6 with Lancaster back in contention.

Nevertheless, a seventh wicket partnership of 69 between Chris Lowe and Neil Cordingley put Darwen back into control at 161-7.

Eighteen runs later the Darwen innings closed with Chris Lowe fifty not out. He batted 70 minutes, faced 70 balls and hit 4 fours.

Graham Barnes and Gareth Breese bowled unchanged for 30 overs each. Barnes took 5-87 and Breese 3-73.

Lancaster's reply began badly and they were reduced to 12-2. Then Paul Taylor and Gareth Breese added 63 runs before they were dismissed with the total on 75.

Half the Lancaster team were dismissed for 78 when David Derham was bowled by Jamie Nichol for one.

From then on, wickets fell at regular intervals with Darwen well on top and recording their 12th victory of the season.

Lancaster captain, David Heywood is not retaining the captaincy for next season. This onerous book falls to Phil Dennison.

Heywood says his batting has suffered through being captain, and he wants to concentrate on it next season.

Leyland DAF 84-9 dec

Morecambe 86-6

Morecambe ended their season with a 4 wickets victory over Leyland DAF at Sandy Lane, with Gulum Maje captaining the side in Phil Thornton's absence. He put DAF in to bat which proved a prudent decision when they were 12-2.

Then Ansar Afjar and Neil Daseupta added 33 for the third wicket before Ansar was run out for 26. He faced 54 balls and hit one boundary.

The next two wickets fell at 54 with Morecambe's deputy professional, South African Mark Conyers trapped both Neil Eddlestone and Alan Richardson LBW for 3 and 0 respectively. DAF's next 3 wickets fell for only 11 runs before there was a ninth wicket partnership of 19 between Mark Howarth and James Aspinwall was caught by Frank Patel off Peter Stephens for 17. This left Howarth stranded on 4 not out, the reason being that DAF captain David Makinson declared, refusing to bat on a dreadful outfield. According to Makinson South Ribble Borough Council had cut the outfield when it was wet and left the grass cuttings for the fourth time this season.

In reply, Morecambe were reeling at 21-4 with DAF professional Stephen John taking 3 of the wickets and his opening bowling partner Iqbal Liley the other one.

Then Mark Conyers and Gulum Maje restored the balance with a 31 runs partnership for the fifth wicket before Conyers was caught behind by Phil Iddon off off-spinner Stuart Catterall for 25. He faced 54 balls and hit 2 fours.

The sixth Morecambe wicket fell at 55 when Gulam Maje was caught by Neil Eddlestone for 9, to become Catterall's second victim.

Nevertheless, John Eccles and Mark Fisher saw Morecambe through to victory with an undefeated seventh wicket partnership of 31 runs. Eccles was undefeated with 15 and Fisher with 13.