In a frantic first day 20 wickets tumbled at Barrow as Cumbria struggled in their MCCA Championship clash with Cambridgeshire.
Although they bowled-out the visitors for 176, Cumbria were dismissed themselves for a disappointing 98 and by the close Cambridgeshire had reached 18-0 and a lead of 96.
Michael Slack won the toss and decided to ask the visiting county to bat first and it looked a good decision when they had them 12-2 inside six overs.
Slack and Brodie Glendinning had taken a wicket apiece and when opener Wayne White (29) was trapped leg before by debutant Ben Walkden, a Lancashire 2nds all-rounder, the visitors were 49-3.
Then a fourth wicket stand of 98 between Callum Guest (52) and Joe Tetley (54) gave the innings some substance and at 147-4 they looked well placed for a decent score.
Slack had Guest caught behind by Drew Postlethwaite and that sparked a collapse which saw the last six wickets go down for the addition of only 29 runs.
The man responsible – in-form left-arm spinner Matthew Siddall who took 5-35 off 14.1 overs to reduce Cambridgeshire to 176 all out in 47.1 overs. Slack took 3-61.
Cumbria got off to a poor start with Ben Davidson caught behind off Mark Smith without scoring, while Walkden only managed three before he was given out lbw to Smith.
Teenager Evan Williams battled hard with his skipper but Slack perished for 15, the first of five wickets for Zain Latiff. Former captain Gary Pratt (12) followed him back to the pavilion, a third successive leg before decision.
Young Williams (13) dug in for nine minutes under two hours before he went and at 64-5 Cumbria were in real trouble.
A determined 28 from Nico Watt, who batted for just under an hour, did edge Cumbria towards three figures but they were eventually bowled-out for 98. Left arm spinner Latif, who played for Notts 2nds last season, finished with 5-41 while Guest took 3-21.
Cambridgeshire had eight overs to face before the close, half of them bowled by Siddall, but openers White, the former Cheshire and Devon batsman (12no) and Alex Pierson (6no) were still there at stumps.
