Carlisle have regained the Cumbria League Championship after a last day victory over Keswick at Fitz Park.
Rivals Cockermouth also won – comfortably at home to Wigton – but had to be content with runners-up, five points behind the champions.
Each side had lost only one League game all season – to their rivals – and the difference was Carlisle’s 19 wins to Cockermouth’s 18 and an abandoned game.
Keswick had won the toss and elected to bat first but had lost half their side for 59 with Nico Watt, the League’s leading wicket-taker taking two important wickets when the batsmen looked well set.
He clean bowled professional Risith Upamal (29) and had captain Will Atkinson (21) stumped by Tom Benn. When he trapped Scott McGown leg before for 15 Keswick were teetering at 87-6.
Largely through the efforts of Ruairdh Barker (30) the Keswick tail rallied to reach 137 in 46 overs.
Watt took 3-26 and Chris Blythe had 3-15 but both were up-staged by Fraser Conn in the end after he claimed 4-24.
Carlisle suffered a jolt when Benn was run out for five but Marc Brown (68) and professional Michael Slack (35) put on 86 for the second wicket. Although both perished soon after each other Carlisle were virtually home and completed a seven wicket win in the 34th over.
That wrapped up their second title in four years, only the third in 40 years and the fifth in all since the first North Lancs title in 1970.
Thirteen miles away Cockermouth had already wrapped up their win which wasn’t to prove good enough.
They beat Wigton by 155 runs after dismissing their visitors for only 30 in 35 overs.
Put in to bat Cockermouth made 185-7 in their 50 overs led by Alex Grainger (68) and Gareth White (33) who put on 70 for the first wicket. Mikyle Louis chipped in with 21, his final knock before flying home to St. Kitt’s.
John Reed was the most successful Wigton bowler taking 3-43 while Glen Liddle took 2-24 in his ten overs.
When Wigton batted without professional Chris Hodgson there was a remarkable effort from Matthew Hodgson. He opened the batting and was last man out at the end of the 35th over for six.
Sam Sharp had seven maidens in his 10 overs and finished with 7-10 which included two streaky fours through the slips.
Six Wigton batsmen failed to score and nobody reached double figures.
Furness, the reigning champions, finished with a win beating Millom by 21 runs after they chose to bat first and make 176-9. Millom were bowled-out in the 48th over for 155.
Liam Curwen (54) top scored for Furness with Gary Thompson (49). Professional Primosh Perara hit a half century for Millom.
Egremont and Whitehaven have fought successful battles to avoid relegation and local bragging rights were up for grabs when they met in the final game of the season at Gillfoot.
Put in to bat Whitehaven made 185-9 from their 50 overs with steady contributions throughout the order from Leo Sanczuk (33), Stephen Holliday (24), Josh Foster (24), Matthew Harrison (24), Jonathan Stewart (20) and Andrew Cameron (20).
Six of the eight Egremont bowlers used took wickets with Matthew Lancaster (2-34) and Jon-Paul Dixon (2-35) the most successful.
It proved to be a tense finish as Egremont reached their target with one wicket to spare, but plenty of overs.
West Indian amateur Javon Grosvenor provided the crucial innings batting at five. He made 54 off only 45 balls and when he was out Egremont needed only two runs for victory.
But Ellis Gribbin went without scoring and the hosts were still short of their target with the last pair at the wicket.
It was left to Vickram Balakrishnan (26no) to hit the winning boundary to claim the points. Earlier Lewis Gribbin (47) and Owen Thompson (24) had helped lay a solid base.
Jonathan Stewart put in a particularly good 10 over spell for Whitehaven, taking 6-43.
Dalton will be playing First Division cricket next season and they finished in the top flight with defeat by 114 runs at Cleator.
Professional Kasun Madushanka hit a season’s best 77 while Owen Bell made 72 and Ben Wishart added 31 to the total of 254-7 after choosing to bat. Rob Jones took 3-14 from five overs as all eleven players had a bowl.
Jones (30) was also among the runs, along with Joe Braund-Smith (42) but Dalton were bowled-out for 140 in the 32nd over. Bell completed a good match by taking 4-17 from eight overs.
At the Valentine Ground Workington ended the season with a win as they beat Haverigg by four wickets.
The visitors, who have been on a long losing sequence but had been safe from the drop, elected to bat and were eventually dismissed for 206 after 47.1 overs.
The Postlethwaite brothers dominated the innings with skipper Drew and Jordan both making 73. Drew’s knock came off 80 deliveries and included ten fours and a six while Jordan hit four fours and five sixes from just 77 deliveries.
Adam Chambers (3-31) was the most successful bowler for Workington whose pro Lahiru Dilshan had flown home on Tuesday.
Steady batting through the order saw Workington to 207-6 off 43 overs led by opener Jake Daniel (59), Chambers (39no), skipper Matthew Lowden (36) and Thomas Fox (29).
