ANOTHER frustrating and inconsistent performance by Leigh CC saw them miss out on a chance of victory at Trafalgar Road against Southport and Birkdale.

The players were probably looking forward to an early return to Leigh for the club's 150th anniversary celebrations after having had the home side in big trouble, but they lost control of the match and did well in the end to hang on for a draw.

Southport elected to bat first on a good wicket but lost opener Fletcher to the first ball of the game, caught off the bowling of Ronnie Davis, and were 4 for 2 when Greg Jennings had Coverley caught benind in the next over.

Jennings then removed Whelan for 1 with the score on 30. Although Prince (52) and Abid (19) staged a recovery, Chris Melia chipped in with two wickets and with score at 85 for 6 things were looking good for Leigh.

The home side's Indian Test star Nilesh Kulkarni, assisted by captain Ian Cropper (20) and former Lancashire player Mike Smethurst (23) then took control against a Leigh attack lacking the variety provided by injured left arm seamer Paul Vallance.

Although Craig Wilson, making his 1st XI debut in place of Vallance, bowled tidily, both he and Liam Zammit suffered badly against Kulkarni who finished undefeated on 88 as the last two overs cost 34 runs.

This enabled Southport to declare at 231 for 9 after 56 overs, a large total that had appeared unlikely earlier in the afternoon.

Leigh's best bowlers were Jennings with 2 for 21 off 9 overs and Melia with 2 for 23 off 11, but Zammit's three wickets cost him 84 runs off 18 expensive overs.

Not for the first time this season, Leigh made a disastrous start to their innings as Dave Dove and Andy Batterley were dismissed without scoring.

They were soon followed back to the pavillion by Steve Mullaney (12) and Neil Williams and at 28 for 4 thoughts of victory had virtually disappeared.

Gareth Cross's first boundary was a remarkable shot for six on to the railway lines alongside the ground which caused the game to be held up for several minutes while a replacement ball was found. He went on to score 50 off 55 balls and in partnership with Zammit (22) took the score to 85. He was out soon after, caught at mid wicket, and at 91 for 6, his side were still in a difficult position.

This presented no problem to the in form Davis who batted brilliantly in a stand of 65 with Steve Williams. Williams, making his debut as a replacement for Tim Rees who was on 12th man duty with Lancashire, showed great confidence and played some tremendous shots with his 24 including five boundaries.

Although Jennings was out almost immediately, Wilson defended well and was still there at the end with Davis whose virtually flawless 56 not out included eleven fours, the final score being 173 for 8. For the home side, Kulkarni took 3 for 37 off 19 overs and Smethurst 3 for 55 off 12.

There is another double header to look forward to at Beech Walk this weekend with Ormskirk the visitors on Saturday followed by a Littlewoods Gaming Trophy first round match against Formby on Sunday.

I was disappointed to let Southport off the hook on Saturday and, while I can always ask the bowlers and fielders to look at their performance, perhaps I too should have a look at the bowling changes I made, the field placements etc., which allowed Southport to reach 231 after being 6 down for under 100.

Having said that, I believe some of their batsmen in the lower middle order played well, particularly their Indian professional who finished unbeaten on 87.

What did please me was the resolve we showed after a very bad start. Losing four early wickets meant that we had little chance of reaching the target, particularly as we only had around 46 overs. It was mainly thanks to Ronnie Davis with an unbeaten half century, and good support from Steve Williams which saw us through to 173 for 8.

While we picked up a couple of batting points on the way, it was also the fact that we prevented Southport from collecting 20 which was very pleasing. In the league this time, with no obvious candidates for finishing in the top 3 or bottom 3, it is just not acceptable to have a cavalier approach to run chases and give points to the opposition, and I am delighted that this approach was recognised by the players and my instructions carried out.

lANOTHER six wicket win, this time against local rivals Newton, saw Leigh U15's take their winning run to six games.

The foundations for this win were laid by Ross Shepherd who, bowling with pace and accuracy, clean bowling two Newton batsmen with the second and fourth balls of the match for a double wicket maiden.

At 10 for 3 in the fourth, with Andrew Thomason removing another batsman cheaply, Newton were reeling. The recovery was led by the Patterson, who was to finish with 46 not out, in a total of 79 for 8. Ross Shepherd finished with superb figures of 3 wickets for 7 runs from his five overs, including 3 maidens, while the remaining wickets went Alex Roussak with 2, and Andrew Thomason and Tim Edwards (1 each), plus a late run out.

Alex Roussak once more led Leigh's well-judged run chase, aided by stands with Andrew Thomason and Tim Edwards, and though unfortunately running himself out for 29 due to a direct hit, the score was by this time within 12 runs of the target, and it was left to Bradley Houghton (8 no) and Ross Shepherd (7 no) to see Leigh home.