Carlisle overcame a major hurdle in their quest to regain the Cumbria League’s Premier Division title.
The city side – who won the League in 2019 – maintained their five point advantage at the top with an impressive eight wicket win at champions Furness.
Chris Blythe was to emerge as one of the Carlisle heroes after dismissing the League’s top run-maker Nathan Waterston off the third ball of the innings.
Blythe went on to take 5-25 off nine overs as Furness were bowled out for 148 in the penultimate over.
They would have been in big trouble had it not been for professional Saad Khan who made 73 off 78 deliveries and out of a Furness score of 116-6.
Young off-spinner Josh Stirling took 3-39 for Carlisle.
Although they lost Tom Benn at 33, Marc Brown (65) and Ben Davidson (51no) put on 102 for the second wicket and they were virtually home.
They reached their target with no further loss at the start of the 39th over.
Cockermouth’s task on the day was not as formidable and they were emphatic ten wicket winners over struggling Dalton.
Electing to bat first Dalton had runs at the top of the order from Joe Braund-Smith (24) and Tony Butler (20) but they could only manage 101 as they were bowled-out in the 44th over.
All five Cockermouth bowlers took wickets with Alex Grainger (3-24) doing best.
Grainger (27no) played a support role in the opening partnership with Sam Sharp as Cockermouth raced to 104 in 14 overs.
Sharp was 62 not out off only 43 deliveries and hammered a half century in boundaries with 12 fours and a six.
Third-placed Keswick stayed in the title hunt with a seven wicket win at Egremont.
Electing to take first use of their own wicket Egremont made 174-9 off their 50 overs.
Skipper Coady Scott (53) provided middle order stability for Egremont after earlier Ollie Wilford and Javon Grosvenor had each contributed 21.
Scott was out off the last ball of the innings after an exciting ninth wicket stand of 57 with Olivia Brinsden who made an invaluable 26 not out.
Glen Weightman was the most successful Keswick bowler with 3-36 as five of the six used took wickets.
Two early partnerships for Keswick put them well on the way to victory which they achieved in the 32nd over.
Will Atkinson was run out for 52 after sharing in a first wicket stand of 96 with Stephen Hindmarch.
Then Hindmarch (78) and Ben Sharp (27) put on 64 for the second to take them to the brink of victory.
It’s a three horse race for the title, and at the moment it looks like a two-way battle to avoid the drop.
Whitehaven collected only their third win of the season when they beat Haverigg at the Playground.
In fact Whitehaven got off the floor to win this one by 60 runs.
They looked in deep trouble at 44-6 but were rescued by a vital seventh wicket stand of 111 between Jonathan Stewart (68) and Andrew Cameron (40).
Apart from opener, skipper Stephen Holliday (11) they were the only ones in double figures and through their efforts the hosts were able to post an all out total of 155.
Haverigg professional Sachin Jayawardena took 4-17 from his ten overs.
The visitors were as brittle as Whitehaven early on and were in a similar state at 48-6.
They found someone to stay there in Jordan Postlethwaite (47) but he could not find anyone to stay with him effectively.
In the end Haverigg were bowled-out for 95 in 34 overs with 15-year-old Billy Thompson bowling Jayawardena for a duck and finishing with 3-14.
Whitehaven professional Timycen Maruma took 3-34 from his ten overs.
Haverigg, now on 60 points are anxiously looking at the two below them – Dalton (45) and Whitehaven (43).
There was a special moment at Wigton for 19-year-old Matthew Reed as he hit his maiden century against Millom at Lowmoor Road.
Reed faced only 87 balls as he reached 101, with ten fours and two sixes.
He shared important partnerships with brothers Lewis Little (94) and Kieran Little (55) after Wigton had lost three early wickets.
Lewis, who has scored two centuries for the second team this season, was actually caught on the boundary going for the six which would have taken him to three figures.
In the end they made a season’s best 296-9 from their 50 overs with Millom professional Primosh Perara taking 4-48 from his ten overs.
Millom lost two early wickets, including Perara for one, and never looked like getting near such a challenging total.
They were eventually bowled-out for 129 in the 40th over with Anthony Foster (34), Michael Holmes (26) and Dec Tyson (24) doing their bit with the bat.
Matthew Reed went on to complete a memorable match by taking two catches and also a stumping in his role as wicket-keeper.
His elder brother John Reed took 3-44 and Cameron McGuinness took 2-6.
Cleator returned to winning ways at Workington where they were seven wicket winners with 7.5 overs to spare.
The home side could only manage a disappointing 123 with Josh Burns, batting at nine, top-scoring on 25.
Wicket-keeper Sam Bates was next best with 22 as Workington were dismissed for 123 in 38.3 overs.
Cleator stalwart Ian Clark took 3-28 from his 10 overs.
His son Darren (49) and James Rogers (34no) did the bulk of the scoring after they lost both openers for 33, and the visitors reached 124-3 in the 43rd over.
