Moore and Smalley Palace Shield cricket round-up

John Hardiker faces a delivery for Vernon Carus against New Longton

Penwortham lifted themsmelves off the bottom of the Moore and Smalley Palace Shield Premier Division table thanks to a terrific win over South Shore at Middleforth Green.

Their victory was built around a splendid bowling performance which saw the visitors bowled out for just 95.

Ashley Billington took 4-26 and Jon Roebuck chipped-in with 3-31.

Ian Walmsley’s quick-fire knock of 37, which included seven fours and one six, and Maji Rajdeep unbeaten 26 guided Penwortham home for the loss of seven wickets.

New Longton's Ethan Fairhurst bowls against Vernon Carus at Factory Lane

Lancaster strengthened their position at the top –the leaders enjoyed a thrilling high-scoring victory over third placed Preston at Lune Road.

After being asked to bat first, the visitors racked-up a sizeable score of 234-8. Opener Nawazish Ali set the tone with a superb 63 off 46 balls, his knock included 10 boundaries and two sixes.

There were many other useful contributions down the order as the home side were set a challenging target.

The fact that they successfully chased it down was due to an excellent 110-run partnership between stand-in skipper Charlie Swarbrick and Laurie Atkinson.

The former finished unbeaten but agonisingly one run short of a century, while Atkinson cracked his 49 runs off 39 balls. Morecambe remain in the automatic promotion spots despite suffering a surprise loss away to lowly Standish.

The home side batted first and posted 189-8, with Nick Smith (40), Usman Khushnood (55) and Shahrukh Khan (38) the main contributors.

Khushnoon then took 5-41 as the visitors fell seven runs short in reply. Sam Owen hit a half-century and Deno Baker scored 38.

Croston lost ground with the top teams as they succumbed to fine all-round display by Eccleston at Doctors Lane.

Jack Palmer’s half-century, Thomas Wilkinson’s 39 and 32 from Sam Bromley enabled the hosts to post a competitive score of 206 all out. Sam Marsh was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4-28.

Croston were always struggling to keep up with the run rate despite Marsh’s fine 61. Iain Bradley took 4-34 and Thomas Wilkinson chipped-in with 3-43 as the visitors were bowled out for 154.

A superb spell of bowling from Phil Booth (7-56) paved the way for Great Eccleston’s victory over Fylde, who were dismissed for 95. Usama Abrar top scored with 34.

In reply, Great Ecc cruised to victory for the loss for the loss of three wickets inside 15 overs. Will Thistlethwaite was unbeaten on 30.

In the final match of the weekend, Vernon Carus defeated New Longton at Factory Lane. The hosts totalled 191 all out and then bowled the visitors out for 120.