Kendal fail to see out win over Preston as Blackpool dump them out the cup (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Kendal fail to see out win over Preston as Blackpool dump them out the cup

3:20pm Tuesday 29th May 2012 in Cricket By Scott Kirk, Reporter

IT WAS a case of close but no cigar for Kendal as they couldn’t close out a win on Saturday and were knocked out of the ECB Kingfisher Cup on Sunday.

They took full advantage of a batting-friendly pitch at Shap Road on Saturday against Preston with a massive score of 248-4, pro Jamie How getting his third ton of the season as he struck 112 off 104 balls.

He had a collossal stand of 176 with the supreme Terry Hunte, who didn’t slouch around as he reached an unbeaten 88 off 74 balls, to give Kendal a huge advantage at tea.

But Preston pro Luckman Vahaluwala, who bowled Graeme Baker out LBW for a two-ball duck in the first innings, returned a fine riposte with the bat on his way to 145 off 143 balls before he was caught by How off Chris Miller.

Kendal had started well, Stu Parkin claiming the wicket of Modi for a duck when How caught him in the third over.

And Patel hit his own wicket in the ninth over to leave Preston on 28-2.

But Dukunwala began to hit back with Vahaluwala, and the pair put on a partnership of 96 before Dodds caught Dukunwala off Miller for 31.

Patel was quickly dismissed, and Miller and Parkin combined to reduce the away side to 144-6, chasing Kendal’s 248 with 20 overs left.

Williams came in at number eight and put on a 75-run partnership with Vahaluwala before the pro’s crucial wicket was taken with a catch by How off Miller, who claimed 5-69.

Boda was dismissed for a duck, and Kendal needed just one more wicket to claim a maximum-point success, but the bottom pair of the order Javaid Hussein and Andrew Starkie stuck through four maiden overs to claim four points for Preston.

Kendal gained 10 points, four for the draw, three for hitting more than 180 runs and three for claiming nine wickets, and they drop down a place to ninth in the table.

In the cup on Sunday at Stanley Park, Kendal could only reach 160 all out, Nick Lewthwaite top-scoring with 40 not out.

Kendal got off to a good start in the second innings, reducing Blackpool to 39-2, but a partnership of 99 between John Mounsey and Stephen Twist got the home side within 23 runs of victory before Jack White caught Mounsey (48) off Miller.

In came Andy Furniss and he completed a seven-wicket victory for Blackpool with seven wickets to spare.