League leaders Netherfield too good for Morecambe

Bottom of the table Morecambe were beaten by Northern Premier League leaders Netherfield in a low-scoring game at Parkside Road on Saturday.
Kasun Madushanka bowling.Kasun Madushanka bowling.
Kasun Madushanka bowling.

Netherfield captain Ben Barrow won the toss and put Morecambe in to bat, and the visitors got off to a good start – they reached 48-0 before Lewis Smith (16) was bowled.

Morecambe lost the wicket of professional Ashan Priyanjan (14) with the final ball before drinks, and moved on to 98-2 when Viraj Bhatia (57) played a lazy and silly shot when he seemed set to guide Morecambe to a big total while batting with captain Ryan Pearson (19).

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Morecambe then lost three quick wickets, all without troubling the scorer – Laurence Read, Luke Pearson and Eddy Read leaving captain Pearson at the other end.

Skipper Pearson was next to go, strangled down the leg side by Williamson after a good catch by former Morecambe skipper Lewis Edge.

The remaining batsmen scraped together a total of 148, including scores of 16 by Tommy Clough and 15 by Adam Derham, as the visitors were bowled out with one over to go.

This meant Morecambe needed early wickets against the potent Netherfield batting line up.

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Even with the excellent bowling of Eddy Read (0-39), Jamie Cassidy (0-23) and restricting Netherfield to 30-0 off 16 overs, the luck wasn’t with Morecambe after some dogged batting from skipper Ben Barrow (34) and former captain Josh Dixon (31) put Netherfield into a strong position to win the game.

Morecambe’s bowlers probed away, with tight spells from professional Priyanjan (1-40) and Clough (2-37) but chances kept getting put down and this led to Netherfield never being in any trouble throughout the chase, even though professional Pienaar was out cheaply for four .

John Huck played a sublime innings, accelerating in the final three overs to put Morecambe to bed, hitting 30 of his 55 not out to wrap the game up quickly with Lewis Edge unbeaten on 14 at the other end.

Morecambe return to action on Saturday against Kendal at Woodhill Lane, and the following day they travel to Netherfield in the final T20 game of their season.