Morecambe beaten at home to St Annes

Morecambe hosted St Annes in their Northern Premier League clash on Saturday, but it was the visitors who came away with a four wicket victory at Woodhill Lane.
Opener Mark Woodhead hit 25.Opener Mark Woodhead hit 25.
Opener Mark Woodhead hit 25.

St Annes captain, Nathan Armstrong, won the toss and elected to field first, and his team made light work of the Morecambe order, bowling them out for just 109.

Mark Woodhead (25) was first to fall, Matthew Grindley (5-28) taking his first wicket of the day with the help of Agha Mustafa Durrani, who took the catch.

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Grindley struck again to remove Lewis Smith (6), Richard Staines taking the catch, to leave Morecambe on 39-2 and sub professional Daryn Smit (7) went soon after when he was bowled by the impressive Grindley with the score on 40-3.

Luke Pearson managed just five runs before Grindley and Staines combined once more to leave the hosts in trouble on 59-4, and when Eddy Read (0) was given out LBW at the hands of Grindley, Morecambe looked in real danger.

Steven Fisher (4) and Ryan Pearson (45) did manage to steady things and took the score to 86 but Fisher was then given out LBW to Tom Higson (3-29) which brought Andy Bird to the crease, but he too fell, bowled by Higson without scoring a single run.

At 88-7 the end seemed nigh for Morecambe but Pearson combined well with Izhar Ullah (9) to take the score over 100 but when Higson took the wicket of Pearson LBW, Morecambe’s resistance was all but over.

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The hosts managed just two more runs before being dismissed for 109, Ullha (9) was caught by Matthew Breetzke off the bowling of Matthew Yeadon (1-16) while Joel Derham (0) was run out as Morecambe posted a below-par target.

However, in reply Morecambe did make an early breakthrough, Ullah (3-28) dismissing Agha Mustafa Durrani (0) and Atiq Uz-Zaman (6) both LBW as the visitors appeared to be wobbling at 7-2.

Matthew Breetzke (7) also failed to make double figures, he was caught by Ryan Pearson off the bowling of Eddy Read (1-40), while Nathan Armstrong managed a knock of 13 before falling to Ullah, Pearson once again catching with the score on 33-4.

However, Higson (32) and Richard Staines (34no) stopped the rot and put on an impressive partnership that really took the game away from Morecambe.

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Higson eventually fell to Derham (2-24), Smit taking the catch, and Matthew Derham (1) was bowled by Joel Derham, but St Annes managed to get over the line fairly comfortably in the end, Staines and Henry Higson (18no) providing the required runs.

St Annes finished on 111-6 from 28.5 overs and claimed 15 points, Morecambe finishing pointless in what proved to be another tough game for the Woodhill Lane club.