Leyland in the driving seat

Leyland moved closer to the Furness Building Society Northern Premier Cricket League (incorporating Readers Cricket Balls) title despite being denied by Kendal's last pair in a drawn game.

Beginning the day 17 points ahead of Barrow, Leyland earned nine points from their drawn game against Kendal at Fox Lane in a rain reduced match.

But Barrow gained only three points after losing at home to Fleetwood. With three games to go Leyland lead Barrow by 23 points, with defending champions St Annes in third place 32 points adrift of the top.

Leyland collapsed from 116 for two to 165 all out at Fox Lane with Kendal's Cumberland county off-spinner Chris Miller taking 7-24 from 18.4 overs.

Miller achieved a new Kendal amateur bowling record surpassing the 52 wickets taken jointly by Jiva Malik and Brian Evans and now has 58 wickets for the season. Opener Luis Reece batted fluently to make 70 from 89 balls for Leyland including seven fours and three sixes.

Rain lopped off 12 overs from Kendal's reply and with Reece on his way to taking 4-41, they were in trouble at 55 for five. But Nick Lewthwaite hit 43 off 42 balls and Stu Parkin 21 off 24 balls to lead a revival.

Andrew Makinson bowled Lewthwaite and Reece trapped Miller leg before and ran out Parkin but the last par of Paul Dowker and Mark Phillips survived Reece's final over in a tense finish to salvage a draw at 134 for nine.

Fleetwood recovered from 40 for four to reach 198 for eight at Ernest Pass and then go on to earn a deserved victory by 44 runs.

Graham Dawson did the early damage with three wickets including that of Fleetwood pro Matthew Frith who had scored 91 for Derbyshire Second XI the day before.

Mark Wilkinson led the resistance with 35 off 51 balls before Adam Sharrocks (39) and Chris Stanhope (41 not out) steered the visitors to a challenging total on a green-looking pitch, Ryan Smith making a late-innings 30 off 24 balls. Dawson finished with 4-41 and spinner Gary Collins took 3-46.

Sam Bell was Fleetwood's hero with an inspired spell of 6-47 off 20 overs. The opening bowler claimed three victims bowled, another leg before, one caught behind and saw Jon Miles brilliantly caught by Smith.

Barrow recovered from 73 for seven thanks to late innings resistance from Rob Lightfoot (24 not out), skipper Daryl Wearing (19) and Collins (26) but Frith bowled Collins to clinch the win and finish with 3-46.

Leyland (played 22-243pts) lead Barrow (22-220) by 23 points with St Annes (22-211) in third, followed by Darwen (22-190) and Blackpool (22-173).

Morecambe, captained for the first time by Mark Woodhead, lost a thriller by one run at home to St Annes. Atiq Uz-Zaman hit 57 off 86 balls in the visitors' 163 with Tommy Clough, who stepped down as captain after the Readers Cup Final, returning outstanding figures of 7-29 from 13 overs of off-spin.

The home side were well placed at 130 for three, Ikram Ullah hitting 43 and Phil Dennison 35 but then lost five wickets for seven runs, pro Mandla Mashimbyi bowled by opposite number Dinuka Hettiarachchi for 35 in his farewell home appearance.

Ian Izzat then hit 20 off 23 balls before being caught behind off pace-man Ben Dowling (4-39). Hettiarachchi then trapped Graeme Cassidy leg before on his way to 5-71 from 24.3 overs.

Lancaster confirmed their huge improvement on last season's wooden spoon after beating the weather and Blackpool in the last over at Stanley Park.

The home side struggled to 120 from 49.1 overs with Michael Moore hitting 44 not out from 99 balls. Pro Roy Silva took 2-31, Tim Barry 3-17 from 13 overs and off-spinner Ben Simm claimed 3-63 after bowling unchanged to go past the half century of wickets for the season.

Rain delays left Lancaster eventually with 34 overs and Richard Gleeson, a recent selection for Cumberland, bowled unchanged to take 5-57 off 17 overs. But solid contributions from Barry (22), Kiran Uppour (26) and David Heywood (20 not out) saw Lancaster home with two balls remaining.

Ryan Nelson batted throughout Carnforth's innings of 233 for five at Windsor Park to hit an undefeated 105 off 155 balls. The talented left-hander, who played for Cumberland last season reached his second Northern League hundred.

Rehman Shah made 57 off 89 balls and posted 118 for the third wicket with Nelson with Chorley's sub-pro Atif Sheikh, the Derbyshire Second XI and England Under-19s left-arm opening bowler taking 2-60.

Carnforth pro Gareth Pedder then claimed his first Northern League hat-trick, accounting for Adam Peacock, Sheikh and Michael Critchley in successive balls as Chorley slumped to 26 for four.

Rain lopped 11 overs off Chorley's reply but with James Reynard making 52 off 47 balls and Will Moulton 62 off 68 balls they comfortably salvaged a draw at 168 for seven.

There was no play in the game at Parkside Road where Netherfield were due to play Darwen. Netherfield have now had the misfortune to have six games abandoned, one more than Lancaster.