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With plenty of hard graft under their belts from winter training & 2 good performances in the pre season warm up games, Blackpool must have been confident of a good showing in the 1st NL runout of the season. But the best laid plans etc. etc. & the home boys finished up on the losing side in a surprisingly very low-scoring game.

Put in to bat on what appeared to be a fairly docile track, Morecambe never got to grips with the accurate Blackpool attack. Opening bowlers Gleeson (1 for 19 in 10) & Andy Hogarth (12 o. 4m. 20r. 4 w ) both turned in fine spells. Hogey`s use of the new ball must have given Skipper Danno plenty of heart for the coming season.

Stand in pro South African Wayne Madsen (UnsworthCC), who is hoping to secure a contract with Derbyshire, turned in 9 excellent overs of off-spin, including 6 maidens and taking 3 for 3. Left arm spinner Ashit Jariwala was the other wicket taker with 1 for 13 off 7.3 very tight overs.

The only visiting batsman who looked anything like competent was opener Mark Woodhead who grafted his way to a 105 ball score of 31, as The Seasiders put in a thoroughly professional performance in the field. Craig Outram`s catch at gully to dismiss opener Goyal for 2 off the bowling of Ricky G was outstanding. New boy John Mounsey also took a fine catch at cover to remove the pro off Andy Hogarth for a solitary one run.

Danno must have felt that 74 all out was an easily achievable total , yet Morecambe`s pro Sharif had other ideas. His 11 over spell produced fine figures of 6 for 10 as all the Blackpool batsmen seemed like rabbits trapped in his headlights. It was indeed a wily spell of spin bowling,but the Stanley Park lads showed neither resistance nor application against him. Not one batsman seemed willing to take the responsibility of dealing with the threat he posed , so consequently, he bowled the home side out for a paltry 48 runs. A woeful performance by any standard& one that has to be rectified immediately if Danno`s boys are going to make anything of this season.

Early days....... Yes. But lots more hard work and APPLICATION are required from every single team member to put this problem right. See you ALL at nets on Tuesday, Fellers, NO excuses.

Mick

Blackpool traveled to Morecambe for the 1st game of the season looking to build on last seasons positive league position. We were met by what seemed a hard deck which was good to see in April. Mercer confident in the batting talents of his side won the toss and elected to Bat and get a score on the board. Newton and Mercer opened the batting and signaled a positive intent by taking 9 off the first over and 17 off the first 3. That's about as good as it got however as Mercer was bowled off his pads for 13 (32-1). Bracey strode to the crease and looked like a man who hadn't netted! With a combined age of 124 there were not many quick singles on offer with the veterans at the crease. In the 20th over with the score 57-1, Newton attempting to hit the skipper over the top was caught at Deep Mid Off for 39 and this started the slide. Next out was Caunce for 1 Bowled, Bracey soon followed caught in the deep for 6. Harrison hung around for a few overs with Prash but was then plumb LBW for 6. Spain with a B, Peno didn't last long, Parker came and was out to the worst shot of the day for a duck, and then Army for a golden leaving us 79-9. Prash put up some resistance and tried to keep the strike well but eventually fell for 18 in the 41st over. Nathan left 1 n.o. at the end. Blackpool bowled out for 93, poor.

Good spirit was shown in the 2nd inns, but the writing was on the wall when the normally reliable Army went for 26 off his first 4 overs with several no balls. Morecambe got off to a flyer and the game was effectively over. A good opening spell of military mediums from Ross was rewarded with a wicket, Mercer bowled his variety of military mediums and got a wicket. Most encouraging was the Leg spin of Nathan 5 tidy overs rewarded with 2 wickets. Harrison did himself no harm with 3 good overs taking a wicket also. Special mention to Peno on his debut who did well behind the stumps.

Alot to work on for next week but its a long old season.

So what has changed for 2009 for Blackpool’s third team? Well apart from playing in a higher league and being blessed by the best April weather since global warming kicked in (have you noticed how nobody has been harping on about that since the credit crunch started?), not much has changed really.

Skipper Sam “we’ll bowl” Owen, beefed up for 2009 won the toss and as usual inserted the opposition, and threw the new cherry to Kev “Soul Glow” Reid, who clearly spent the winter growing his locks. As normal Kev was his reliable, metronomic self and bowled a very long and effective spell, taking 3 wickets along the way.

At the other end Simmo reflected his change in motors on the pitch, replacing the economy and predictability of his 2008 Honda with the slightly more erratic, pace-orientated 2009 BMW. Sadly for him the pitch was still damp and provided all the menace of a sleeping teletubby, so poor Simmo lost a lot of his pace every time the ball bounced (which wasn’t that much in fact)!!!

Sam replaced Simmo and soon found his rhythm, again bowling a long spell that yielded 3 wickets, and there was time at the end for Wilson and Rattus to share 9 impressive overs, the former deservedly taking his first 3^rd team wicket along the way.

Overall it was a great effort in the field especially for the first game of the season. Some good bowling was backed up by some Jonty-esque moments in the field, with great catches by Joel Watson, Sam, Kev, Nanthesh and Ed backed up with 2 run outs, one belter from Simmo’s bullet arm and the other slightly farcical as a result of some bad running…so bad that Nanthesh had time to take his high-heels off, mince up to the ball and throw it past Ben Heath, who then still had time to collect the errant throw from the middle of the track and stump the stranded runner!

Apart from a patient opener, the hosts were certainly in a hurry and looked to attack where possible. They looked well placed at 100-2 before we managed to peg them back, taking the next 7 wickets for 25 runs, before being frustrated by a last wicket partnership that lingered like a fart in an elevator, before Simmo finally managed to open the doors and waft out the 10^th wicket with the very last ball of the innings, ensuring full bowling bonus points and a target of 140 to chase down.

Blackpool’s innings got off to a brisk start thanks to Matty Brown and Rattus, who had finally realised how hot it was and decided to take his jumper off! Maybe the apparel dilemma was still confusing the poor lad at the crease because his brain certainly wasn’t engaged when he lobbed up an easy catch to provide the breakthrough for the hosts.

Sam promoted himself to number 3 and made a slow start, stoic in the face of some ludicrously over-zealous appealing. Matty continued to flourish and was batting really well until falling victim to a questionable run-out decision.

Nanthesh joined the skipper and played some lovely shots, he’s got a bit bigger over the winter and looks like a good prospect for the future. However his running still needs to improve, after threatening to run himself, Sam and Kev out, he finally fell to a seemingly inevitable run out. By then Sam had been fired for a questionable LBW from the opposing umpire, who had given us nothing during our innings (apart from a couple of wides)!!

Luke Smith had fallen cheaply as we lost our 5^th wicket before we’d even reached 50. Kev was joined at the crease by Ed, complete with spazzy-knee arthritis for 2009 (well, and pretty much every year from now on really) but after a winter in the gym he can now run again, and a recovery partnership was forged with some attacking shots and positive running.

Kev was looking in good form and the run rate was under 4 an over, we were looking comfortably on course for a win, but then another decision went against us and Kev was adjudged to have edged one behind and was sent on his way. Clearly unimpressed, Kev directed some good old-fashioned Scottish verbal abuse at the umpire, leaving Ed at the crease praying that their umpire didn’t understand angry scotch (or if he did then the prayers were for not getting hit on the pads next ball)!!

Simmo was next in and didn’t hang around, with a few lusty blows including an almighty six, which I believe has just landed, and a great on-drive, dubbed “shot of the innings” by their umpire, who had clearly recovered from his coating. Sadly this rush of blood to the head left nothing in his hands and Simmo was bowled next ball, seventh out with around 60 still needed.

Ben was next in and followed up his tidy glovework with a composed innings, and the target still looked in range as Ed was now finding the middle of the bat with increasing regularity. The hosts were clearly feeling the pressure, as the 100 was passed, but 8 runs later a leading edge offered a return catch to a grateful bowler to dismiss the egg-butty king, and the hosts were now taking their turn to apply the pressure. Wilson followed next ball, leaving Joel to show some gutsy resistance alongside Ben. A valuable second batting point was gained, but shortly after the youngster was castled and we fell 27 runs short in the end.

While disappointed to lose a very winnable game, we can take some positives from the afternoon, not least the fact that the standard in this division doesn’t look beyond us, and the pitches, if not the umpires, will certainly be better. But we cannot blame this defeat on umpiring decisions, instead it was the one thing that definitely hasn’t changed since last season…the inability to back up good bowling with batting conviction.

Champagne moment: Has to be Joel’s catch to dismiss one of their better batsmen. Diving low to his right at mid-off he took a cracking 2-handed catch from a full-blooded drive.

Village moment: Goes to the collection of running nightmares involving Nanny, who must remember to bring his spikes next week and leave the high heels at home!