Derby thriller ends in heartbreak

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Report taken from the Lancaster Guardian

Morecambe claimed the Bank Holiday derby bragging rights on Monday in a thrilling victory over Lancaster at Woodhill Lane.

In a game that ebbed and flowed to the final ball, Morecambe took the points but local league cricket was undoubtedly the winner.

Eddy Read’s unbeaten 67 made all the difference in the end. The Yorkshireman’s fine knock at number seven took Morecambe out of the mire and gave them a position of strength.

Josh Dixon had earlier decided to bat first on a very white surface that looked to suit batting on first impressions.

So often those impressions prove to be deceptive and so they did. Iain Perrieman set the ball rolling for the visitors as Adam Derham was surprised by a full toss to depart for a first ball duck.

Perrieman struck gold again soon after as pro Suraj Randiv flashed at a wide delivery trying to release the pressure only to edge behind to a gleeful Lee Sparks leaving Morecambe 6 for 2.

Dixon and Ryan Pearson were Morecambe’s in-form men with 70s apiece on Saturday. They set about steadying proceedings with Dixon trying to pierce the off-side field.

But sustained pressure from Moffat and Perrieman induced errors. Dixon missed a full one from Perrieman to give the big left-arm quick his third before Moffat chalked his first down in the wickets column tempting Pearson into a big drive away from his body leaving Sparks to do the rest – 31 for 4.

Lewis Edge and Gareth Pedder looked to finish the rebuilding job and were helped as a Pedder edge went to the turf in the slips.

But Moffat had his tail up and was still finding plenty of assistance from the pitch. Edge was dealt an unplayable delivery pitching leg and hitting the top of off stump leaving the Morecambe keeper stunned.

Read entered at 50 for 5 and was offered an early life as Moffat found extra bounce to find the shoulder of his bat only to see a second chance of the day spilled in the slip cordon – it was a miss Lancaster would come to rue.

As Perrieman tired Pedder and Read began to feel more comfortable as the score began to tick forwards.

Drinks came at an excellent time for the visitors though as the break allowed pressure to be rebuilt. Moffat’s perseverance paid off as Pedder chased a ball pushed wider and once again Sparks made no mistake – 65 for 6.

Hope remained for Morecambe with Read at the crease. Moffat cleaned up youngster Lewis Smith for 7 to pick up his fourth but his fifth proved elusive as skipper Ben Simm looked to his bowling options after a marathon spells from his pacemen.

Will Fraser-Gray provided able support to Read who looked to accelerate against Simm and fromer Morecambe man Callum East.
Morecambe pushed beyond three figures before East won the battle of the young guns with Fraser-Gray opened up by an East away-swinger leaving Sparks to take an excellent diving catch to his right.

Read was beginning to find his range. Supported by veteran Tommy Clough, Read milked the singles on offer to give Morecambe a platform to push from. Clough holed out to give Simm his only wicket but Morecambe had recovered to 134 for 9.

Read hit out in the final over. With the wind behind him and Simm turning the ball into his pads, Read brought up his fifty with a slog sweep over mid-wicket for six before depositing two more over the ropes to finish on a superb unbeaten 67 and take Morecambe to 160 for 9.

Given Saturday’s batting collapse, Lancaster faced a tricky chase. Their cause wasn’t helped early on as Jamie Heywood pushed at a wide Jamie Cassidy delivery to snick off for nought – 6 for 1.

Rameez Raja entered signalling his intentions early. Cassidy dropped fractionally short only to be deposited over the square leg boundary for six.

Read toiled with no luck against newly promoted Alex Metcalfe before Dixon turned to his professional for the breakthrough.

Raja’s tussle with Randiv was a fascinating one. The Pakistani international looked to hit out at the Sri Lankan first hitting him over long-on for six before making room for himself to pepper the cover boundary.

Metcalfe remained scratchy and was well short of his ground attempting an ill-advised second only for ‘keeper Lewis Edge to call the left-hander back after dislodging the bails with his pads.

Lancaster passed fifty with Raja looking dangerous. But with the score on 72 the game began to swing on Morecambe’s favour.
Metcalfe gave Randiv his first as Pedder took a stunning one-hander at second slip off a leading edge before the key wicket came.

Raja passed his fifty but once again couldn’t go on to bigger things. Read the beneficiary as Raja attempted one big shot too many finding Adam Derham at mid-off.

And three down became four down soon after as Perrieman was trapped in front of all three by Randiv to put Lancaster 93 for 4 at drinks.

Charlie Swarbrick and Iain Burstow tried to build a partnership – Swarbrick hitting an imperious straight maximum off Randiv with Burstow looking to sweep.

Lancaster moved beyond a hundred and looked to have weathered the storm but Randiv had other ideas. Dixon turned to Tommy Clough and he made the breakthrough. Swarbrick looked to lift the off-spinners’ arm ball into the leg-side only for Randiv to take a stunning catch at the second attempt to leave the visitors five down.

Further trouble was brewing for Lancaster when Burstow top-edged a sweep to a sliding Fraser-Gray at deep-backward square – 111 for 6.

The visitors’ lower-order was now exposed. Sparks lasted two balls – bowled trying to launch Clough into the stratosphere.

And it looked job done for the hosts as Clough picked up his third castling Simm for nought before Randiv trapped Liam Moffat for 1 to leave the Lune Road men at the precipice at 122 for 9.

Kieran Moffat and Callum East kept the hosts sweating. The junior Moffat showed his counterparts how to do it – lifting Randiv over the leg-side to give Lancaster a sniff of victory.

East played his part too as the runs needed slowly ticked down. And when the pair took Lancaster into single figures of runs required it looked as though the visitors might pull off a shock win.

A sharp piece of work from Lewis Edge saw that it wasn’t to be. With two overs left, Moffat missed a drive off Read dragging his back foot out leaving Edge to whip off the bails. Morecambe had got over the line and Moffat’s fine efforts were in vain as Lancaster fell just 8 short of the winning post.