Stage 2 Format
At each level, the top 2 in each group will go into a Gold play-off. The next 2 into a Silver Play-off and the others into a Bronze Play-off. Where there are 8 teams, this will entail 2 groups of 4 playing 3 matches. Then the top 2 in each will play semis, finals and ¾ play off. The others can also play further games in the same pattern. Smaller groups will have a different set -up.
Level 1 – Phase 1 Current Position
St Annes will win Group 1 and go into the gold group. Blackpool are second having completed their group games but could be caught by any of the other three teams.
Group 2 has Fulwood at the top but, if they lose to Longridge, any of the current top 4 could make up the Gold teams. Preston and Kirkham will be in the bronze group.
Group 3 has Leyland in the lead but could be caught by Chorley or Eccleston. Penwortham will be in the bronze group.
Morecambe and Netherfield will qualify for gold from Group 4 with their match next week deciding the group winners. Lancaster and Kendal will both be in the silver group.
Phase 2 will be 8 Gold and Silver with 5 in Bronze playing 4 games in the group.
Level 2 – Phase 1 Current Position
Group 1 is wide open with 4 potential group winners. Lytham II will be in the bronze group.
Leyland II and Hoghton will qualify for the gold group from group 2 with the remaining 4 teams vying for the remaining places in silver.
In group 3, it is very close for the top spots between New Longton, Rufford and Mawdesley. Tarleton will be in the bronze.
Longridge II have qualified for gold from group 4 with the next 3 teams contesting the other spot. Garstang II will be in the bronze.
Phase 2 will have 8 in each of the Gold, Silver and Bronze groupings.
Level 3 – Phase 1 Current Position
In group 1, Whittingham will win the group and go into the gold group. The next four teams could all come second and Ingol will be in the bronze.
In group 2, it is a 3-way fight at the top for the 2 gold places and a 3 way fight at the bottom to get the 4th spot for silver. Preston II will be in the bronze.
In group 3, Walton-le-Dale will qualify for the gold with up to 4 teams potentially second. White Coppice will finish in the bronze.
In group 4,four teams have the same points and could also be caught by 5th place. Bretherton will be in the bronze.
Phase 2 will have 8 in each of the Gold, Silver and Bronze groupings.
Level 4 – Phase 1 Current Position
In group 1, Wyre, Norcross and South Shore II are in contention for the top two places.
In group 2, Wrea Green II and Kirkham II will go into the gold with Ingol II and Wyre II going into the silver.
In group 3, Hoghton II, Whittle-le-Woods II and Walton-le-Dale II could all finish in the top 2. Longridge IV and BAC/EE II will be in the silver.
In group 4, Darwen III, Withnell Fold II and Tarleton III are level on points with Charnock St James in the silver.
Phase 2 will have 8 in the Gold group and 2 groups of 5 for silver playing 4 games and no play-off.
Read more...I have attached a couple of documents. The plan shows the progress on phase 1 and the phase2 document shows how it is panning out for phase 2. This will all be decided at the weekend and we can only really do any fixtures etc once all the results are in. Therefore, it is imperative that no results are late. If any are, we will need to look at fines because delays will affect everyone.Read more...
The plan is that the group winners will get 2 home games. This may alter lower down as if, say Leyland and Leyland II finish top of their groups, both teams cannot have 2 home games at the next stage. Hopefully, it will all be simple but it is likely to be Monday before we can confirm fixtures starting the following Saturday.
We have acquired 5 refurbished trophies and these will be given to the winners of the 4 gold finals and the 20/20 competition. Three of these trophies have been named after people who have contributed a great deal to cricket in the local area and who sadly passed away earlier this year. These will be given as follows:
Level 1 Charles W Walsh
Level 2 Len Hackett
Level 3 Graham Lee
The final two trophies have been named after people who have contributed a great deal to cricket in the area and are happily still with us. These are:
Level 4 Colin Dawber
20/20 Tommy Wilson
For the second phase of games, we will be looking more closely at player eligibility for the second, third and fourth teams and, in general, someone who had played more than 50% higher up, should only play in a lower team if permission is given. This enables us to cater for players being dropped, out of form or not being used but also to stop teams over strengthening the lower teams. If in doubt, please ask.
If you have any questions about the second phase of games, please let me know and we'll try to find you an answer. If we think it might apply across the board, we will let everyonr know.
Morecambe’s 100 per cent start to the cricket season ended on Saturday when they suffered a three-wicket loss against Lancaster.
Seven days after winning the reverse fixture, a disappointing display with the bat was to prove costly despite their bowlers’ best efforts.
Having chosen to bat first at Lune Road, Morecambe found themselves all out for 110 with four overs remaining.
Their openers provided a solid enough platform before Jamie Heywood was run out for 19 and Luke Pearson fell for an innings-high 32.
However, the remainder of the top order fell away with Charlie Swarbrick (4), Ryan Pearson (11) and Gareth Pedder (1) all dismissed by Abdul Rehman Shah.
For his part, Luke Pearson fell victim to Ben Simm who ran through the remainder of the Morecambe innings.
He got the better of Alex Briggs (10), Kieran Moffat (4), Andrew Creech (10), Graeme Cassidy (0) and Tommy Clough (1) to end the Morecambe innings.
That gave him bowling figures of 6-19 from eight overs, while Shah claimed 3-26.
In reply, Morecambe’s bowlers did their best to regain the initiative.
Clough got rid of Lewis McGinley (14) and Craig Heywood (7), Gareth Pedder accounted for Steven Fisher (6) and Danny Welbourne (0), while Kieran Moffat sent back Laurie Atkinson (13).
Though Lancaster benefited from 22 extras during their reply, the key innings came from Surath Bastola.
He made 29 from only 32 balls to take Lancaster nearer their target before being dismissed by Swarbrick.
There was still time for Shah (8) to be out, LBW to Liam Moffat, but Simm and Lee Marshall were both six not out as Lancaster took victory on 111-7 with three balls remaining.
Clough led the Morecambe bowling with 2-7, while Pedder chipped in with 2-26.
Swarbrick claimed 1-12, Liam Moffat 1-19 and Kieran Moffat 1-23.
It means Morecambe and Netherfield can’t be caught at the top of Group D in the round-robin stages of the competition replacing the Northern League and Palace Shield for this year.
Morecambe are top with 12 points from four games, ahead of Netherfield on runs/wickets differential.
Kendal are third on four points, ahead of bottom-placed Lancaster on the same method.
The final opening stage matches take place this Saturday with the top two meeting at Netherfield, while Lancaster take the trip to Kendal.
Garstang CC captain Mark Walling led by example as they took a six-wicket win at Preston on Saturday.
Chasing the home team’s 187-8, Garstang secured victory as they posted 191-4 and took the spoils.
Preston had chosen to bat first with openers Imran Jethva and Imran Patel giving them a solid platform.
Jethva top-scored with 49 before he was dismissed by Ian Walling (1-35), while Patel’s innings of 44 ended when he was bowled by Mohammed Yusuf (1-30).
In comparison to the opener pair’s performances, the rest of the Preston batting fell away rather.
Suhel Patel (20 not out), Suhel Patel Jnr (20) and Mohammed Harish (23) all made starts but Garstang took wickets at regular intervals.
Mark Walling and Toby Lush ran out Nizam Patel (0) and Husein Yusuf (3) respectively, while Ben Woodruff (1-37) picked up the wicket of Mohsin Patel (1).
It was Thomas Speake who checked Preston’s progress with three late wickets, sending back Patel Jnr, Harish and Amjad Malik (0) to take 3-27.
Garstang’s reply saw them lose both openers cheaply with Fayaz Ughradar (3) and Michael Wellings (7) falling victim to Imran Patel and Siva Sai respectively.
However, Mohammed Yusuf and Mark Walling took the impetus away from Preston before the former was out for 33, dismissed by Nizam Patel.
Dan Curwen (2) fell cheaply to Husein Yusuf but Mark Walling and Ian Walling teamed up to take Garstang home.
The skipper belied an indifferent run of scores this season to finish 85 not out while Ian Walling followed last week’s half-century with 45 not out.
Longridge CC's batsmen set up comfortable victory
Longridge CC bounced back from defeat to Garstang seven days earlier with a 42-run defeat of Great Eccleston.
Their batsmen laid the platform for a third victory in four games as they posted 228-5 after being asked to bat first at Newsham.
Despite losing opener John Simpson (4) early on in their innings, the rest of the Longridge top order made good contributions.
Fellow opener Luke Platt was joined by Josh Holden and both recorded half-centuries.
Platt made 52 and Holden top-scored with 54, while Daniel Wilkinson Jnr made 36 and James Whitehead was undefeated on 42 at the close.
In reply, Great Eccleston’s top order performed solidly but Longridge managed to keep them at arm’s length.
Will Thistlethwaite (22) and Matthew Moat (29) got starts before being dismissed by Dan Wilson and Rory McDowell respectively.
Joe Davies top-scored with 54 but he was one of two victims for Ian Simpson (2-43), who also dismissed Michael Rigby.
There was still time for Wilson (2-33) to send back Phil Booth as Great Eccleston ended on 186-7.
Fulwood and Broughton made it four wins out of four in the amalgamated Northern League and Palace Shield competition after beating Kirkham and Wesham.
Their 106-run victory at the Woodlands was not without incident, play held up at one point by a member of the public coming on to the field of play and sitting on the wicket.
It took the arrival of a police officer for the man to end his one-man protest.
F&B batted first and put a commanding 231-6 on the scoreboard.
Opening pair Mark Smith and Matthew Rosbottom laid the foundations with strong performances.
Rosbottom hit eight fours and a six on his way to a knock of 68, while Smith struck 41.
Simon Kerrigan added 42 and Matthew Smith an unbeaten 26.
Kirkham and Wesham were 125 all out in reply, their last wicket falling in the 36th over. Andrew Hogarth hit 27 and Sean Bovington 21.
There were three wickets for Matthew Smith, while Kerrigan, Dominic Jackson and Jon Fenton took two apiece.
Behind F&B in Group B are Longridge and Garstang who both recorded victories at the weekend.
Longridge were 42-run winners over Great Eccleston at the Newsham Memorial Ground.
After being asked to bat first, Longridge were 228-5 in their 40 overs.
There were half-centuries from Luke Platt (52) and Joshua Holden (54), with James Whitehead hitting 42.
Great Ecc fell short in their reply, closing on 186-7, Joe Davies top-scoring with 54.
Garstang’s visit to Preston saw them record a six-wicket victory.
It was an entertaining clash at West Cliff, the game going to the final three balls.
Preston went into bat first after winning the toss and put a decent 187-8 on the board.
Openers Imran Jethva and Imran Patel hit 49 and 44 respectively , with Mohammed Harish adding 23 lower down the order.
Garstang bowler Thomas Speake returned tidy figures of 3-27.
The visitors replied with 191-4 to claim victory in 39.3 overs.
They lost both openers quickly but Mohammed Yusuf scored 33 batting at three.
Mark Walling hit a game changing 85 not out, with him joined at the crease by his brother Ian Walling who scored an unbeaten 45
Elsewhere, Leyland are in pole position to progress from Group C in the Northern League/Palace Shield competition after a comprehensive victory over Penwortham.
Wins for Chorley and Eccleston kept them on the tails of Leyland though, ahead of the final round of this group’s games this weekend.
Following an opening-day wash-out, Leyland have won three games on the bounce.
They were far too strong for Penwortham – prevailing by 10 wickets in a one-sided contest at Middleforth Green.
A superb all-round bowling performance set Leyland – who were skippered by Andrew Makinson in the absence of his dad David – on their way as the hosts were skittled for just 67 inside 28 of the allotted 40 overs.
Iain Critchley was the pick of the bowlers taking 3-4, while there were two wickets apiece for Karl Cross, Nathan McDonnell and Joe Shackleton.
Only opening batsman Nipun Madaan got to grips with the conditions as he top scored with 21.
Martyn Brierley and Maji Rajdeep scored 10 and 13 respectively.
In reply, the visitors cruised to victory,with the openers Kurtis Watson and Jacob Wright taking just 12.4 overs to hit the winning runs.
Watson was the aggressor, smashing two sixes and eight boundaries in his 41-ball knock of 44.
Wright was slightly more circumspect, providing the support for his partner but still managed to hit three fours in his score of 17.
Chorley remain in the hunt to finish on top after a thrilling victory over valiant Euxton at Windsor Park.
Jack Shovelton (25) and James Bone (22) gave the visitors innings a solid foundation, but it was a superb 49 by Stuart Cooper which allowed Euxton to post a total of 139 all out.
In reply, the home side lost wickets at regular intervals but a fine unbeaten partnership from Harry Barclay steadied the nerves as Andrew Holdsworth’s men edged to victory with four balls and three wickets to spare.
Eccleston beat Vernon Carus by one wicket at Factory Lane, courtesy of a fine run chase.
Hosts Vernons elected to bat first after winning the toss and posted 197-8. Ian Dunn struck 79 at the top of the order, Matthew Stevenson hitting 45 and Wes Royle 29.
It was a challenging chase for Eccleston but they achieved victory with two balls to spare.
Jamie Maitland hit 48, with Matthew Ashcrodt and David Hewson both scoring 32.
In Group A, St Annes beat Lytham by three runs, with Thornton Cleveleys winning against Blackpool.
Further north, Lancaster beat Morecambe by three wickets in Group D, with Netherfield beating Kendal.
