Carlisle were clear-cut winners at Millom to maintain their impressive start to the season.
Millom chose to bat and pretty soon wished they hadn’t as they teetered on a disaster at 7-5 with professional Primosh Perera one of the victims.
It was a painful recovery for the hosts and only Graham Dawson (20) reached double figures as they were dismissed for 64 after 27 overs. Most of the early damage was caused by professional Michael Slack (4-18) and Chris Blythe (3-28).
Carlisle were themselves 12-2 but were carried through to victory after just 13-4 overs despite losing two more wickets. James Dawson (23no) guided them over the line.
At the bottom of the table the most significant result was at Haverigg where struggling Dalton earned a precious five wicket win to move out of the bottom two.
Haverigg were probably feeling confident, especially opening batsman and skipper Drew Postlethwaite who made 122 out of a home total of 232-7. He only faced 120 deliveries and struck 15 fours after figuring in an opening stand of 109 with Gavyn Chesher (29).
Dale Graham (35) and pro Sachin Jayawardena (23no) also provided useful contributions while Rangika Pinnala Don (4-32) was the most successful Dalton bowler.
If Dalton were overawed by the target they didn’t show it and got through to victory at 233-5 at the start of the 48th over.
There was no centurion but just solid contributions at the top of the order from Joe Braund Smith (51), Daniel Sharpe (50), Amari Goodridge (45) and Rob Jones (43).
Whitehaven are in danger of being isolated at the bottom now as they went down to a heavy defeat by ten wickets at home to Keswick.
Choosing to bat first Whitehaven were soon in trouble and at 12-5 respectability seemed a long way away.
The fact that they got to three figures was down to Chase Young, who isn’t able to play anywhere near as much as Whitehaven would like and benefit from. He made a fine 51 from 62 deliveries, hitting six fours and two sixes in a typically aggressive contribution.
When he went at 91-9 Whitehaven had reached a total which hadn’t looked possible earlier in the afternoon and were finally bowled-out for 110.
Cumbria’s two county bowlers James McGown (4-18) and Paul Hindmarch (3-22) had the best returns for Keswick.
Openers Steve Hindmarch (51no) and Will Atkinson (49no) steered Keswick to victory in only 15.3 overs.
Wigton have been involved in a few tight games this season and they experienced another at Cleator where they lost by 12 runs after asking the home side to bat first.
Cleator’s total of 154-9 owed much to a second wicket partnership between Darren Clark (47) and skipper Tom Sharpe (38) with John Reed proving to be Wigton’s most successful bowler, taking 5-36 from his ten overs.
Wigton struggled in reply with four of the first seven batsmen failing to score and their response really centred around a battling 54 from opener Mikey Hill. Lewis Little (19) and Matthew Hodgson (19) provided some support down the order but they were bowled-out for 142 in the 48th over.
David Blackwell (4-20) and pro Kasun Madushanka (3-31) were the leading wicket-takers for Cleator.
In the other game Workington won by 120 runs at Egremont as the home side slipped to next-to-bottom with only Copeland neighbours Whitehaven below them.
Put in to bat Workington made 233-5, their best score of the season and then bowled-out their hosts for 113 in 36.5 overs.
Professional Lahiru Dilshan hit a season’s best 98 .with good support from skipper Matthew Lowden (38) and David Pearce (33no). Coady Scott (3-29) from his ten overs did best with the ball for Egremont.
Overseas amateur Javon Grosvenor (27) top-scored for Egremont but opener Matthew Hunter (18) was the only other batsman to reach double figures. Lowden took 3-16 and Pearce had 3-15.
