There is no doubt about the Match of the Day in the Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League (incorporating Readers Cricket Balls) this coming Saturday.

Leaders St Annes (played 19-191pts) meet third-placed Netherfield (19-173) at Vernon Road.

Both sides are in prime form, St Annes and Netherfield each having won each of their last three games. Defending Champions Leyland (18-178), currently in second place meanwhile travel to Lune Road to take on Lancaster.

Chorley (18-160) won twice over last weekend and are in fourth place; Andy Holdsworth's side are away at Kendal. Fifth-placed Blackpool (18-147) visit Darwen. Carnforth entertain Fleetwood and Preston are at home to Morecambe while Barrow have a free date.

In Division Two defending Champions Leyland (17-205) lead Chorley (17-185) by 20pts with Blackpool (17-169) in third position.

Leyland Seconds are at home to Lancaster, Chorley Seconds host Kendal and Blackpool Seconds play Darwen at Stanley Park.

Barrow pro Pieter Malan became the first batsman to pass one thousand runs for the season last weekend. Malan has hit 1,013 runs in league games at an average of 84.42 including five centuries. He has already beaten Pasan Wanasinghe's club record of 930 runs and now has Callum Ferguson's all-time league record of 1,381 runs in his sights.
Australian Ferguson made his runs during his memorable season at Netherfield in 2008.

St Annes' Atiq Uz-Zaman has hit 872 league runs and is eyeing Rohan Kanhai's club record of 1,085 runs set in 1982.

Preston captain Lukman Vahaluwala is having a marvellous season and has already hit 628 league runs and taken 62 league wickets. He has his sights on the Preston amateur batting record of 754 runs set by Doug Green in 1986. Vahaluwala is also close to surpassing Geoff Hill's amateur club record of 65 wickets established in 1971.

The Leyland pair of Luis Reece and pro Brett Pelser are also in the runs. Reece has made 746 runs and has David Wareing's amateur club record of 953 runs (made in 973) as a target. Pelser has made 753 runs and is closing in on Gordon Greenidge's club record of 976 runs made in 1993.

Adam Parker (Fleetwood) and Lancaster captain Mike Stevens have already passed the 600-runs mark and Ryan Nelson (Carnforth), Alex Davies (Darwen) and Liam Livingstone (Barrow) are three young batsmen to pass the 500-runs barrier already.

St Annes pro Dinuka Hettiarachchi leads the way on the bowling front with 78 wickets at 10.87, including ten five-wicket hauls. Vahaluwala has 62 wickets and Morecambe pro Anwar Ali (55 wickets) and Chorley pro Gaurav Dhar (53 wickets) have also passed the 50-mark. Consistent amateur spinners Ben Simm (Lancaster) and Kendal captain Chris Miller have taken 45 and 42 wickets respectively.

In Division Two Adrian Darlington has hit 670 runs for Blackpool and is closing in on Dave Bartholomew's club record of 729 runs set in 1992.
The Morecambe pair of Ryan Pearson and Gulam Maje have both hit 492 runs and Chorley captain Ian Mawdesley is also nearing the 500-runs mark with 491. Blackpool captain Kevin Reid is top wicket-taker with 39.

On Sunday the semi-finals in the Readers Cup take place. In Division One Netherfield host Leyland and Kendal are at home to St Annes. The winners of the first game will host the final on Sunday 21 August.
In Division Two Leyland are at home to Barrow and Fleetwood at home to Chorley. The winners of the second semi-final host the final on Sunday 4 September.

Last Sunday four Allingtons were in the Barrow side for their Second division league game at St Annes. Second Eleven Captain Ian Allington was joined in the side by sons Joe, Josh and Patrick.

On Sunday Lancashire Over50s take on Warwickshire Over50s in the quarter-final of the County Championship at West Cliff, Preston.
Cumberland play Hertfordshire at Long Marston CC in a three-day game commencing on Sunday with Jonathan Miles (Kendal), Richard Gleeson (Blackpool), Alex Atkinson (Netherfield) and Ikram Ullah (Morecambe) in the County side.

Fixtures 6 August 2011- Round 20

Division One (1pm)

Carnforth v Fleetwood
Darwen v Blackpool
Kendal v Chorley
Lancaster v Leyland
Preston v Morecambe
St Annes v Netherfield
Barrow free date

Division Two (1pm)

Blackpool v Darwen
Chorley v Kendal
Fleetwood v Carnforth
Leyland v Lancaster
Morecambe v Preston
Netherfield v St Annes
Barrow free date

Sunday 7 August- Readers Cup Semi-Finals (1-30pm start)

Division One

Netherfield v Leyland
Kendal v St Annes

Division Two

Fleetwood v Chorley
Leyland v Barrow

http://npcl.play-cricket.com/content/view.asp?id=10348390&cid=200

Mike Latham