THE PROSPECT of a fascinating final day in the Northern Premier Cricket League ended in anti-climax when the weather wrecked Netherfield's chance of snatching the title away from leaders Fleetwood.

Heavy rain swept in across the North-West forcing all first division fixtures to be abandoned.

So the status quo remained and Fleetwood, who had gone into the weekend with a seven-point lead, took the championship, having last won the title in back in 1985.

After leading the table for much of the season, Netherfield had to settle for runners-up honours, albeit by a 20-point margin over third-placed Darwen.

When play was halted after 21 overs, Netherfield had their hosts Morecambe struggling at 64-5.

News of the abandonment confirmed Fleetwood as champions, and they completed their innings at Darwen, making 186-6 with their opponents 35-1 in reply in the 10th over when the rain ended play.

Netherfield professional Dale Benkenstein, who is to play with Durham in the First-Class Championship next year, finished with 855 league runs, averaging 80.13 and took 62 wickets at a cost of 6.35 runs apiece.

Kendal crowned 20-20 champions CRICKET continues for Kendal until late September when as winners of the Northern League's Thwaites 20-20 Trophy they go into a three-cornered final at Great Harwood.

Kendal beat Leyland Motors by 25 runs in the Northern League final at Motors' ground on Thursday night.

Dave Fallows' men were put in on a difficult wicket and only posted 118-8 - their lowest score in the competition - with Kevin Howarth top-scoring on 32 and professional Kabir Khan next best with 24.

That score was enough to see off Motors, who were dismissed for 93 in 18 overs. Australia-bound paceman James Rafferty signed off in style with 4-16. Howarth and Kabir also pitched in with two wickets apiece.

Kendal now meet the other league 20-20 winners Great Harwood (Ribblesdale) and Crompton (Central Lancashire League) for a day of round-robin battles at Great Harwood on Sunday, September 26.

The winner of the most matches takes the £1,500 first prize, with the runners-up receiving £1,000 and the third £750 (aggregate scoring-rate to decide the title in the event of a tie).

Kendal were back down the M6 on Saturday to play Leyland and Farington in the league on Saturday and were almost tempted to have a crack at Morecambe's league record score of 314 when piling up 256-5 declared off 41 overs with Kabir Khan still to bat!

Leading the way with the bat was opener Ikram Ullah with 70 with Terry Hunte hitting 57 to reach 1,000 league runs for the season, Kevin Howarth 46 and David Fallows an unbeaten 29.

In the end, they decided to try to bowl out L & F in the hope of a 15-point pick-up which might have snatched them a Lancashire Cup place next year.

They had L & F rocking at 18-4 but the rain came to the home team's rescue after eight overs when the umpires brought the players off and the match was abandoned.

n Kendal have announced that Kabir Khan will be the club's professional next year for a fifth successive season.