Kendal 204-7 Blackpool 185-7

THE GAME between Blackpool and Kendal at Stanley Park on Saturday ended in one of the most unlikely draws of the season.

On two occasions Kendal looked as though they would lose the game; early in their innings they were no runs for three wickets and later Blackpool were seemingly cruising towards their victory target at 159-3 with eight overs remaining but on both occasions Kendal pulled something out of the fire.

Firstly they recovered to 204-7 and then they restricted Blackpool to 185-7 which meant that they had the better of a drawn game, earning seven points to Blackpool's four. Kendal's innings was virtually a one-man show. Professional Ross Veenstra in his final game for the club made a magnificent 103 not out from 103 balls with six fours and two sixes and from a most unpromising 0-3 he took his side to a defendable 204-7. Dave Fallows with 40 and Stuart Parkin, 30 not out at the end, were the only Kendal batsmen to give him any support as the five Blackpool bowlers shared the wickets between them. Blackpool's reply got off to a good start with Chris Cornall, 29 and Martin Pickles putting on 40 for the first wicket. Thereafter the innings owed much to a half century, from 69 balls with three fours and one six, from captain Rudra Singh.

But once he was dismissed, the Kendal bowling was just too tight for the remaining Blackpool batsmen to extract the win that would have moved them up from fourth place.