As feared in some quarters the weather interfered with the latest round of matches in the Cumbria League’s Premier Division.
As a result there’s a change in leadership with Carlisle now taking over from Cockermouth who were frustrated by the rain.
The Sandair side could not get in any play at Millom while rivals Carlisle had enough time at Edenside to see off struggling Whitehaven.
It means Carlisle now have a five-point lead over Cockermouth with eight games to play.
Keswick, also able to get a result, are still in the contest in what looks a three-way battle for the title.
Reigning champions Furness are fourth but 25 points off the top. However they are a side capable of having a say in who wins it.
Carlisle had been put in to bat by Whitehaven and got on with from the start.
In view of the weather conditions they declared after 32 overs on 179-1.
Ben Davidson (84no) and Marc Brown (78no) figured in an unbroken partnership of 179 which was only ended by the declaration.
Whitehaven, bottom of the table, and getting further detached needed the rain quickly but it never arrived and they were bowled-out for 95.
Professional Timycen Maruma (20) top-scored for Whitehaven who were dismissed in 30.5 overs.
Mike Slack was the most successful Carlisle bowler taking 3-15.
Whitehaven’s position at the bottom was made even more precarious after Egremont scored a tense five wicket win at Dalton in a rain affected game.
It was 30 overs a side, and put into bat, Dalton managed 127-7 in an innings built around opener Joe Braund-Smith (34) and skipper Daniel Sharpe (32).
They put on 51 for the fourth wicket, a crucial stand before tail-ender Callum Leach chipped in with 22.
Coady Scott (2-29) and Dave Raynor (2-31) were the most successful bowlers for Egremont.
It didn’t start well for Egremont as they were 3-2 but a patient knock from opener Ollie Wilford (24no), backed by a typically aggressive knock from Javon Grosvenor (38 – three sixes and two fours) got them home.
Their revised target, because of more weather interruptions, became 118 from 26 overs and they reached 120-5 in 23.3 overs.
That puts them 20 points above Whitehaven and they now also have Dalton below them, six points worse off.
The other game which brought a positive result was at Keswick where, with a revised target, the home side were able to beat Workington by nine wickets.
The visitors elected to bat first and after slipping to 68-5 were rescued by Luke Cartwright who was left unbeaten at the end on 54.
Cartwright hails from Macclesfield and is only in west Cumbria for six months working at Sellafield.
He’s been able to fit in the odd game or two but this was his best contribution , and one that was thoroughly appreciated by his team-mates.
“My best score was for East Cheshire Schools, can’t remember exactly but was in the 80’s so I was really chuffed to get a decent knock at Keswick,” he says.
“We played for a long time in the rain so it was disappointing that we stopped and lost it because of the revised target,” he added.
In the end Workington were all out for 192 off the fourth ball of the final over. Keswick pro Risith Upamal took 3-26.
Although skipper Will Atkinson (22) went at 44, Stephen Hindmarch (45no) and Ben Sharp (38no) pushed Keswick to five an over so when the rain brought proceedings to an end 112-1 off 22 overs was good enough to take the spoils.
A start was made at Cleator but the game was called-off when the hosts had reached 41-1 in 7.4 overs.
It was a similar tale at Haverigg where Wigton were 36-1 after seven before the abandonment.
Millom and Cockermouth was the only game where they didn’t even start.
