Morecambe beaten with final ball of final over

Morecambe suffered a dramatic three wicket defeat at Stanley Park on Saturday as Blackpool wrapped the game up with the last ball of the final over.
Tommy Clough finished with figures of 4 for 31 against Blackpool. Picture: Tony North.Tommy Clough finished with figures of 4 for 31 against Blackpool. Picture: Tony North.
Tommy Clough finished with figures of 4 for 31 against Blackpool. Picture: Tony North.

Blackpool captain Paul Danson won the toss and decided to put Morecambe into bat first, and it appeared to be a good decision when Lewis Smith departed without scoring a single run to leave the visitors on 0-1, Ben Howarth took the catch off Jovaun Van Wyngaardt (5-50).

Things got worse for Morecambe when professional Luke Jongwe (5) was removed by the same pair to leave the Woodhill Lane side in trouble on 9-2.

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Luke Pearson (18) came in and along with Sam Cooper (20) they managed to steady the ship, taking the score to 39 before Pearson was bowled by Matthew Grindley (2-45).

Cooper was next to go, bowled by Van Wyngaardt with the score now on 53-4, and it was soon 56-5 as captain Ryan Pearson fell after a knock of just nine, he was bowled by Grindley.

That brought Daniel Edwards to the crease, but he failed to make double figures, he managed just nine runs before Van Wyngaardt struck again with the help of Howarth once more as Morecambe were reduced to 69-6.

Tommy Clough (12) was undone by the same pair, Van Wyngaardt claiming his fifth wicket of the day, as Morecambe fell to 83-7, although Briggs (14n0) and Jamie Cassidy (6) did help them move the score on to 98-7 from their 27 overs.

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In reply, Blackpool lost two early wickets, Ciaran Johnson (0) was caught by Reuben Orr off Cassidy (1-18) while Joshua Boyne (2) was caught by Zac Buchanan off Jongew (1-13) as the hosts were reduced to 8-2.

Van Wyngaardt managed a knock of 18 before being bowled by Tommy Clough (4-31) with the score on 57, and Clough struck again to remove Howarth (1), Jongwe taking catch with Blackpool on 67-4.

Blackpool were still in a good position, but when Clough claimed his third wicket, removing Andy Furniss (7) LBW they were on 75-5 and Morecambe had a lifeline.

The score was soon 82-6, opener Matthew Houston (37) was finally removed by Clough with the help of Buchanan as Blackpool were just 16 runs short of their target.

Paul Danson (4) was run out with the score on 96-7, but Blackpool got the winning runs with the final ball of the match, Jake Muncaster (15no) and Grindley (2no) just getting them over the line.