IT was an afternoon of high drama at Sandy Lane on Saturday (July 3) when Blackpool visited Leyland Daf for their Vaux Northern League division one match.

Only 131 runs were scored all afternoon but an incredible 17 wickets fell.

Leyland Daf were blasted out for 65 thanks to eight wickets from skipper Rudra Singh and some immaculate fast bowling from professional Marcus Sharp who conceded only 12 runs from 16 overs with only six scoring strokes coming from his 96 balls.

In reply, Blackpool initially fared even worse than Daf when they found themselves seven wickets down with only 33 runs on the board.

A real shock looked on the cards but Singh and Paul Danson came to the rescue and eased Blackpool to 66-7 and a nerve-tingling three wicket victory.

At the start the green and damp pitch looked as though it was tailor-made for the bowlers.

And so it proved as Sharp bowled 37 balls before the first runs came from him and during that time Singh had taken advantage of the batsmen's uncertainty at the other end.

He had Atkins at slip by Bracewell before he had scored but the two runs accumulated from the miss were all that Atkins was to manage as Singh trapped him back on his stumps with the total on two.

Bracewell quickly made amends for his miss by taking a smart catch to dismiss Catterall, four, from Singh's bowling and it was 15-2.

Professional Stephen John hit one boundary before Singh had him caught at slip by Sharp and when, in the same over Leyland Daf skipper David Makinson lofted a return catch to the bowler it was 21-4.

The procession back to the pavilion continued when Ben Henderson, two, got a steepling ball from Singh which he could not avoid and wicketkeeper Pat Newell took the resultant edge. A stand of 27 followed from James Aspinall, who had battled admirably to reach 18 from 83 balls and Alan Richardson before the former was picked up by Pickles in the gully once again off Singh.

At the same total Sharp, who had consistently beaten the bat three and four times an over with no luck, at last got into the action.

Bartholomew had just dropped an absolute dolly catch at point when two balls later Danson at short leg dived forward to catch Richardson for 13.

Asfar struck out boldly for 12 before Sharp had him caught at slip by Bracewell and then Singh wrapped up the innings in the 32nd over.

He bowled Braithwaite for three and then had Hogan caught by Danson to close the Leyland Daf innings at 65 and complete figures of 8-50, while Sharp had 2-12.

Blackpool's reply began sensationally.

Bracewell, two, managed to find the only man in front of the wicket in a catching position when lifting Hogan to Atkins at cover.

Pickles, already having been superbly yorked from a no-ball by John and having been dropped off a very sharp chance to Catterall at cover, was caught behind by Iddon for seven and Cornall held his bat out to dry when giving a simple slip catch to Richardson off Hogan.

That was 16-3 and it very soon became 21-5 as Armstrong was comprehensively bowled by John for five and Bartholomew suffered the same fate when trying to hit a low full toss out of the parish.

Pat Newell offered some resistance and quickly scored seven before John moved one away from him to find the edge and wicketkeeper Iddon's gloves and when Moore was bowled by John for a duck Blackpool were 33-7 and looking like they might become sensational losers.

But then Singh and Danson applied themselves and with a mixture of caution and the occasional dashing shot turned the game round.

The only alarm was when, with six needed for victory, Singh edged John to Makinson at slip only for the Daf skipper to spill the chance.

Singh needed no second invitation and with 27 not out he took Blackpool to the win in 29 overs.

Danson ended 10 not out and Stephen John returned 5-33.

Blackpool's win moved them up to seventh place in the table and the early finish allowed the rate experience of witnessing two Blackpool wins in one day.

In the second division match at Stanley Park, Blackpool had scored 147-8 and in reply Leyland Daf were cruising at 112-4.

Then Steve Mercer 5-35 and David Brookes with three wickets turned the game around and bowled their opponents out for 135 to give Blackpool victory by 12 runs.

A rare day indeed!

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