Fleetwood 270-8dec

Kendal 172-6

Winning draw to Fleetwood

Chorley Building Society Northern Premier League

KENDAL came away from Fleetwood with a losing draw on Saturday after Fleetwood’s Adam Parker and Ian Holland scored a century apiece.

The day started with a bit of a blow for the Shap Road side when sub-pro and Todmorden's Sri Lankan Geeth Alwis phoned at 10.45am to say he was stranded at Halifax train station. He was unable to play but the club were very grateful to the league for the leniancy and consideration shown by not docking them any points.

Kendal won the toss and elected to bowl. Two quick Fleetwood wickets fell when Adam Cowperthwaite followed on from his nine wickets last week by taking Mike Clinning’s for eight.

Dean Bell was caught by wicketkeeper Gary Baker off Jack White to leave the home side 13-2 but then Queenslander pro Holland and the imperious left-hander Parker put the Kendal bowlers to the sword and plundered a 222-run third wicket partnership.

Both players struck 16 fours, with Parker picking up a six, as Holland scored 108 off 96 deliveries while Parker recorded 113 runs out of 146 balls.

From there Fleetwood batted on with no sign of a declaration until the 49th over when the captain called his players in at 270-8. Many observers thought he had batted between five and 10 overs to long, and the extra wickets towards the end meant that Kendal gained two bowling bonus points.

White was the man to break the Holland-Parker partnership when Chris Miller caught him, and Miller got the ball in his hands again when he took the catch off Cowperthwaite to leave Fleetwood 238-4.

Parker went on 257 runs when Baker took his wicket off Cowperthwaite (4-83).

Chris Stanhope was unbeaten on 19 off 15 deliveries but the support he was given wasn’t the best as Fleetwood finished 270-8.

After losing opener Ryan Nelson in the first over of their reply when he was caught by Naveed Yousef off pro Holland, Darren Moore and White put on a 42-run partnership as they looked to salvage the losing draw.

Moore (21) was caught by Joe Bell off Sam Bell, and White followed shortly after for 33 off 36 balls to leave Kendal 55-3.

But as he has been on many occasions before, Terry Hunte was the man to save Kendal with 63 off 97 balls, including nine fours and a six.

Shane Hyland lasted 28 balls, adding eight runs, but Hunte put on a partnership of 72 with wicketkeeper Baker to make the game just about safe for the Cumbrians.

Hunte was caught by Dean Bell off Holland to leave Kendal 153-5, and Richard Herron was the only other victim to fall when he was trapped LBW by Holland for four.

But Baker’s unbeaten 31 from 90 balls was enough for Kendal to salvage five points from the game after 51 overs, with Fleetwood picking up eight.