Carlisle have suffered a double blow soon after going back to the top of the Cumbria League’s Premier Division.
Whilst the luck was with them on Saturday through the mixed weather in the county, it wasn’t on their side in deepest Buckinghamshire on Tuesday.
Carlisle professional and skipper Michael Slack, leading Cumbria in their NCCA Championship game at Chesham, suffered a broken toe.
It’s an injury which will keep him out of action for up to six weeks. As well as being side-lined for Carlisle he will miss Cumbria’s NCCA Trophy semi-final against Oxfordshire and the final Championship fixture.
In addition spinner Nico Watt suffered badly torn webbing on his hand while fielding against Bucks.
Carlisle secretary Mark Davidson said: “I’m now trying to bring in a sub pro for the game at Cleator on Saturday. Obviously losing two county players like Mike and Nico is a blow.”
The city side had gone top after they beat Whitehaven by 112 runs on Saturday while previous leaders Cockermouth were being frustrated at Millom by the weather and never even made a start.
They now lead by five points with eight games to play.
Slack is their leading run-maker with 641, third in the Premier Division, while Watt has taken 38 wickets, with Workington professional Lahiru Dilshan (39) the only one to take more.
Both will be missed, but also by Cumbria who play a Lancashire X1 at Sedbergh School on Sunday before travelling to play Oxfordshire on August 7 in the NCCA Trophy semi-final.
To add to the county problems former skipper Gary Pratt received an umpire caution against Bucks and will be suspended.
While Carlisle are out west playing Cleator, Cockermouth have a home game against Haverigg.
The big game will be at Furness where the reigning champions host Keswick, currently third in the table and still within striking distance of top spot.
Although Furness might have too much to do to retain their title they can still affect the outcome.
Egremont appear to have just about clawed their way to safety and have a home game with Millom.
The battle to avoid the drop seems to be between Dalton, who visit Workington and Whitehaven, who are at Wigton.
