Morecambe back to winning ways as Penrith are punished

Eddy Read continued to shine in his debut season in the Northern Premier League taking his fourth five-wicket haul and his 50th wicket of the season thus far.

After a couple of indifferent weeks, Josh Dixon’s men where pleased to get the curse of not having won batting second off their backs.

Bowling first having lost the toss Morecambe started strongly as the ever-improving Jamie Cassidy trapped the dangerous Michael Slack plum in front without scoring.

Ryan Carruthers was soon to follow despite being given a life looking to be ultra-aggressive against the pace and accuracy of Read.

The former Settle man looked as imposing as ever and then removed Nicky Burns (22) caught smartly by the returning Mark Woodhead at first slip.

Professional Suraj Randiv, Morecambe’s other star with the ball this season, then got in on the act as he removed the dangerous Cumberland batsman Alex Atkinson (6).

The Sri Lankan bowled with excellent control applying constant pressure upon the Penrith side and with Read continuing to tear in the pair have quickly become the perfect foil for each other.

With Atkinson gone Read went on to rip the heart out of the Penrith line up as professional Paul Handmarch was well caught behind by Lewis Edge.

At this stage the visitors were reeling at 39-5 however Greg Hall (20) looked to counter attack alongside Asher Hart (12) and Jonathan Osbourne (13), edging Penrith forward.

All three however were to fall to the Read and Randiv combination as Morecambe continued to pile on the pressure.

Alex Raybould looked to occupy the crease making 18 however he was to fall to the impressive Randiv as he mopped up the tail restricting Penrith to just 119.

With Woodhead back with skipper Dixon at the top of the order Morecambe looked a complete batting unit and the pair sought to start strongly,

Woodhead in particular was aggressive attacking Penrith professional Hindmarch and his opening partner Slack.

The pair added 22 before skipper Dixon was to fall caught behind off the bowling of Hindmarch.

The in-form Randiv however was to join Woodhead and they continued to take Morecambe towards the modest total.

The pair looked strong in the face of some short hostile bowling from Hindmarch and continued to rotate the strike.

Woodhead made his way to 45 striking six fours in the process before he was to fall to Hindmarch smartly caught Carruthers at backward square leg.

Morecambe however were to have no further alarms as Ryan Pearson (28 not out) and Suraj Randiv (45 not out) ensured they reached their target of 119 with ease thanks to a towering Randiv six.

The result means Dixon’s men now sit second in the Northern Premier League table, one point behind leaders Fleetwood with a game in hand on their main rivals.

Morecambe travel to St Annes this Saturday, July 18.

*Morecambe’s second team, second bottom of Division Two, suffered further disappointment as they crashed to defeat at Penrith on Saturday.

The Woodhill Lane men posted an imposing 216-6, Matt Derham hitting his third consecutive half century with 69 with Michael Fisher’s 75 not out providing the momentum at the end of the innings.

The visitors had high hopes of defending the total but Joe Stamper was let off the hook on two occasions early in his innings before going onto make to make 102 as Penrith got over the line with 15 balls to spare.

Eddie Robson (41) hit some lusty blows late in the innings.