Lindal Moor raised their survival hopes in the Cumbria League’s Premier Division with a fine bank holiday win at Millom.
For while they were beating their south Cumbrian rivals by eight wickets, fellow strugglers Whitehaven were crashing to defeat against champions-elect Furness.
It was a contrast to Saturday when Whitehaven produced a fine performance to win at Carlisle while Lindal had fought back well at Workington only to lose by three wickets.
Lindal currently lead Whitehaven by two points and they do have a game in hand – a trip to Cockermouth on Sunday – by which time both will have two games to play.
Millom vs Lindal
The bank holiday clash with Millom saw Lindal bowl out their hosts for just 96 in 30 overs. Opener Dominic Connor top scored with 20.
For Lindal, the main wicket-takers were Edward Waind (3-2 from five), Craig Crawford (2-22) and Brad Stephens (2-31).
The Lindal openers Ryan Gilmour (44no) and Callum McDougall (35) did the bulk of the scoring as Lindal reached 97-2 in 40.3 overs.
Whitehaven opted to insert Furness at the Playground and might just have regretted it as David Gilmour (112)and professional Promod Maduwantha (104no) put on 197 for the third wicket.
The visitors reached 249-6 from their 50 overs with home pro Terence Warde taking 3-48 from his ten overs.
Stephen Holliday (36) was Whitehaven’s mainstay but his opening partner Nathan Carmichael (13) was the only other batsman in double figures as they collapsed to 73 all out.
Wyll Stanway, after his five-wicket haul against Cockermouth on Saturday, took 5-10 from five overs.
Cockermouth stayed the leaders’ nearest pursuers but are some 26 points adrift, although they do have a game in hand, but clearly need their rivals to slip up in their last three games.
Cockermouth vs Wigton
It was hard going for Cockermouth at Wigton before they collected the points but just had 13 runs in hand at the end.
The Sandair side were thankful for a season’s best 62 from wicket-keeper Sam Scully after pro Paul Hindmarch (33) and Matthew Sempill (23) had got the innings going following the early loss of both openers.
Chris Hodgson (3-16) and Elliott Armstrong (3-50) were the main Wigton wicket-takers as they bowled out the visitors for 169.
Six Cockermouth bowlers took wickets, the best return coming from Alex Grainger (3-31) with Wigton disappointed that four of the top five batsmen got a good start but couldn’t see it through – Nico Watt (29), John Reed (27), Conor Mulholland (22)and Hodgson (19).
They were eventually bowled out for 156 in 47.3 overs with the last man Jonny Honeyman (16no) almost providing a late impetus.
Carlisle vs Keswick
Carlisle and Keswick have consistently been in the top four but both title challenges have petered out affected by losing sequences.
They met at Edenside and it was a big win for Carlisle, sealing the ten points with 123 runs to spare as Keswick went home with nothing to show for their disappointing performance.
Carlisle reached 208-6 with pro Mike Slack top-scoring with 98no, backed up by Ben Davidson (63).
Keswick were always struggling and skipper James McGown (17) and wicket-keeper Stephen Moss (16) were the only batsmen in double figures. Slack (3-32) and Jonny Westgarth (3-3) were the leading Carlisle bowlers as they bowled out the visitors for 85.
Workington vs Cleator
Workington put back-to-back bank holiday wins together when they beat Cleator by five wickets.
With skipper Matty Lowden unable to bowl through injury, Workington had a weakened attack and initially, the Cleator batsmen enjoyed themselves.
Darren Clark (60), skipper Tom Sharpe (47) and sub pro again Harsha Rajapaksha (42) got them to 215-8 off their 50 overs. Regan Jackson – who has followed granda Lawrence and dad Paul into the Cumbria League – was Workington’s most successful bowler with 3-28.
Despite what was described as a poor showing in the field, the Workington batting performance was as good as it’s been all season.
At 39-2 pro Lahiru Dilshan joined Kristian Moffat (40) for a partnership of 87. Young Thomas Fox came in at 132-4 to join Dilshan and they took the visitors to within 12 runs of victory.
Dilshan’s 89 contained 11 fours and four sixes while Fox (28no) saw his side over the line with five wickets and 4.4overs to spare.
Dalton vs Haverigg
In the other all-south Cumbrian game Dalton beat Haverigg by a convincing margin of 143 runs.
Deciding to bat first Dalton were rewarded with a score of 232-8 from their 50 overs with good knocks from Joe Braund-Smith (51), Amari Goodridge (44), Callum Leach (41)and Rangika Pinnala Don (30). Young Gavyn Chesher was Haverigg’s most successful bowler with 3-40.
Chesher opened the Haverigg innings and top-scored with 44 but there was little or no support as the visitors were bowled out for 89. Dan Sharpe took 4-40 and Lewis Woodend had 3-1 from 2.2 overs at the end.
