Whitehaven’s returning professional Terence Warde hit a century in his first game back, but couldn’t quite steer his side through in the ECB National Cup competition.
In the end an understrength Whitehaven side went down by 24 runs to a strong Ribblesdale Wanderers side.
Batting first at the Playground the visitors made 210 led by Andrew Needham (101) and professional Anuj Jotin (35).
Fifteen-year-old Billy Thompson took 2-37 for Whitehaven while fellow Under-15s player Kian Larmour made an impressive debut behind the stumps. But the Cumbrians weren’t helped by an injury to Andrew Cameron.
Whitehaven reached 186-8 in reply led by Warde’s ton and a solid 31 from 17-year-old Josh Foster.
This was the home side’s first game of the season whilst the visitors had already played three games.
Despite the defeat Whitehaven skipper Steve Holliday is optimistic about his side’s chances for the coming Cumbria League season.
