Peter Lawson, the Furness captain and veteran opening bowler, had a special reason to enjoy receiving the Cumbria League’s Premier Division championship trophy.
Lawson was celebrating his 40th birthday and the presentation after the win over Whitehaven put the icing on the cake.
With Furness having already made sure of the title, the result was statistically more important to Whitehaven as they are involved with Lindal Moor in a straight fight to avoid the drop.
In the end they picked-up three points from the defeat by 48 runs, which is what Lindal Moor earned in their defeat by Millom. It means Whitehaven will have a point lead on Lindal going into next Saturday’s final matches.
Furness professional Pramod Madawantha was 72not out while Garry Thompson hit a quick-fire 61no in a total of 214-6 before they reduced Whitehaven to 54-5. It took a remarkable effort from skipper Stephen Holliday, who was last out for a fine 120, when the innings closed on 166.
Lindal Moor went down in similar circumstances against Millom in a game slightly reduced to 48 overs-a-side because of rain.
Millom reached 210-6 with good contributions at the top of the order from opener Michael Wilson (67), professional Primosh Perera (44no) and Dec Tyson (28). Ryan Gilmour (3-34) was Lindal’s most successful bowler.
Paul O’Callaghan, who finished with 5-24 from his ten overs, had made life difficult for Lindal by removing four of the top five batsmen. But a middle order fight-back led by Brad Stephens (30), Lee Hogg (25),Paul Willcoock (24) and Edward Waind (21) revived the hosts, although they fell short on 151-8.
Carlisle and Cockermouth are in a straight fight to finish runners-up with the city side in front by six points ahead of the final game, which intriguingly is the clash between the two of them at Sandair.
In the penultimate games Carlisle were impressive winners over fourth-placed Keswick while Cockermouth slid to another disappointing home defeat against Wigton.
Keswick professional Geeth Kumara held Keswick together with 106 out of their total of 202-6. He scored exactly 50 in boundaries with 11 fours and a six.
Fourth change Johnny Westgarth was Carlisle’s most successful bowler with 3-49.
Carlisle made a great start with Marc Brown (72) and Tom Benn (65) putting on 126 for the first wicket. James Dawson (21) chipped-in as they went on to make 203-4 in only 21.1 overs.
Cockermouth, meanwhile, were well beaten at home by Wigton and would have been deeper in the mire but for a battling 55 from opener Alex Grainger and 22no from Sam Sharp.
They were bowled-out for 120 in 30.5 overs with former Cockermouth all-rounder Chris Hodgson taking 5-21 from nine overs.
Opener Kieran Little (59) anchored the Wigton response and Hodgson (13no) was there at the end to guide them over the line at 121-4 in 34.5 overs.
Workington have finished the season really strongly and another win over Cleator has lifted them to fifth in the table, and even the prospect of a top four finish.
Cleator travelled to the Valentine Ground with a severely under-strength side and they decided to bat after winning the toss. They were indebted to Ian Clark (37) and Ian Lilly (24) who helped them to 112 all out in the final over.
For Workington Adam Chambers took 4-32 and skipper Matt Lowden had 2-6.
Home opener Callum Moffat was in top form, hitting 55 off 49 balls and was first out at 73. Brother Kristian hit a quick 19 with Jake Daniel (16) and pro Larry Dilshan (14no) seeing them through to 113-4 in the 27th over.
The other game was a south Cumbrian thriller in which Haverigg beat Dalton by three runs.
Openers Drew Postlethwaite (66) and Gavyn Chesher (31) laid the base and were largely responsible for Haverigg making 162 in 47.2 overs. Rangika Pinnala Don (3-21) and Amari Goodridge (3-39) were the leading bowlers for Dalton.
Opener Rob Jones (44) gave Dalton a foundation and there was help from 23 extras but Goodridge (22) and Phil Humphries (21no) were just unable to get them across the line and they fell short on 159 in 47.5 overs. Sachin Jayawardina took 3-22.
