Match Report
A GOOD BOWLING PERFORMANCE WASTED
Darwen 151-8, St Annes 123-7
Gerry Wolstenholme
On a sunny afternoon and on a pitch that never looked easy for runs scoring but that did not offer all that much help to the bowler, St Annes threw away an excellent position to end up with a most unlikely draw. The bowlers did a fine job in restricting Darwen to only 151-8 from their 57 overs, and it could have been better as the visitors lost their first five wickets for only 46, but then the batsmen, with 57 overs in reply, failed to fire and the game petered out into a draw with St Annes lamely reaching 123-7.
And it had all started so well for St Annes as Joe Davies and Richard Thomas opened well with the new ball. Davies had Stuart Grant leg before wicket for seven and Steve Twist held onto a slip catch off Thomas from the bat of Gary Jackson who had made two and the first two Darwen wickets fell with just 10 runs on the board.
The dangerous Keith Semple was next to go when Davies produced a beauty to bowl him for seven and when Russ Bradley caught Gareth Cordingley at slip for 13, including two delightful trademark cover drives, Darwen were reeling at 32-4. And it was 46-5 when Jimmy Adams produced a fine piece of cricket to dismiss John Cordingley, three, who had been sent back by his brother who had struck the ball to extra cover. Adams swooped and threw down the bowler's end stumps with John Cordingley's bat poised in midair about the popping crease and it was 46-5.
Chris Lowe and Neil Cordingley made something of a recovery as they took the total to 76 before Michael Baer bowled Lowe for nine. Then the crucial wicket of Neil Cordingley was captured as he flicked rather than forced Baer to square leg where Charlie Boucher comfortably took the catch. Neil Cordingley had gone for 41 and Darwen were 96-7.
The most productive partnership of the day followed between Jeff Hacking and Andrew Mercer. Hacking mixed watchful resistance with some powerful shots while Mercer delighted the crowd with a couple of classical off drives. They took the total to 131 before Adams bowled Mercer for 17 and that left Hacking to plunder most of the runs that came thereafter. With a mighty six off the final ball he reached 36 not out with two sixes and one four and with Graham Parkinson five not out, Darwen closed on a very modest 151-8. Davies had 2-26. Thomas 2-32 from 17 immaculate overs, Baer 2-42 and Adams 1-34.
The St Annes reply was quickly in tatters as Semple bowled Boucher for two at 6-1 and Hacking juggled a slip catch to dismiss Twist off Mercer for six at 12-2. Adams and Davies then put together a partnership of 31 with Davies looking the more dangerous and the more likely to move the scoreboard along at the required rate. But when he had made 15 John Cordingley caught him at square leg by off Hacking and St Annes were 43-3.
The partnership of Adams and Adam Cotton looked likely to put St Annes well on the way to victory but once again it was the amateur who outscored the professional as he made 22 of the 33 runs that they put on. He then edged Gareth Cordingley through to Parkinson and was gone with the scoreboard reading 76-4. But with Adams still at the crease, St Annes had no reason to think that victory was not to be theirs. It was 79-4 at the drinks break so with 20 overs remaining they needed a mere 73 runs to win with six wickets left and the professional still at the crease.
The total had advanced to 96 when a misunderstanding between new batsman Russ Bradley and Adams resulted in the former being run out for seven. It did take a fine piece of fielding by Neil Cordingley to achieve the run out as he picked the ball up square on to the stumps at mid-on and his direct hit had Bradley well short of his ground. But the professional was still at the crease and there were plenty of overs to go with St Annes within 56 runs of their target.
The game probably swung on the next wicket that fell for it was Adams who was out. After batting for two hours 31 minutes and facing 122 balls from which he struck four fours he cut the returning Semple to point where Grant gleefully picked up the catch and that was 105-6. Had Adams remained at the crease there was every possibility that St Annes would have won but having batted so long and then getting out he put the pressure very much on those that followed, particularly with Darwen tails in the air.
Duncan Whalley and Aidan Cotton had an unenviable task and with Darwen pressuring the batsmen with a posse of close fielders, it was difficult to get the ball away. Whalley made nine before Semple bowled him at 116-7 and there was nothing else for Aidan Cotton, 11 not out, and Richard Thomas, nought not out, to do but block out for what is probably going to be the most unlikely draw of the season. The early St Annes batting, and Adams must shoulder some of the responsibility, allowed the Darwen bowlers to get on top as Semple bowled 18 overs to take 3-42, Mercer 19 overs to take 1-36 and Hacking returned figures of 10-5-5-1, all of which led to St Annes picking up five points to Darwen's eight. And in addition it brought home forcibly the chairman's comments in the matchday programme.
