Only two games were possible in the Cumbria League’s Premier Division yesterday – and it brought progress for Carlisle and Keswick.
Carlisle won at Whitehaven by 59 runs and are now joint top with Cockermouth whose home game with Furness was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Keswick moved up to third in the table when they beat bottom side Egremont by 39 runs at Gillfoot.
At the Playground the overs were reduced to 36, and then Whitehaven were set a revised target in 31 overs but they fell well short.
Put in to bat Carlisle lost opener Oliver Spedding (6) very early but their innings was given momentum by opener Zephania Arinaitwe (52) and sub professional Pancha Maduwantha (74). Nico Watt (21) chipped in lower down the order and after their 36 overs they had made a very satisfactory 211-7.
Whitehaven’s professional Terance Warde was their only bowler who really kept a grip on the Carlisle batsmen as he finished his eight overs with 2-8.
In such a run chase Whitehaven could have done with the aptly named Chase Young but he was unavailable and they never built-up the momentum they needed, especially when their revised target was 173 in 31 overs.
Josh Foster (25no), Nathan Carmichael (24) and Matthew Harrison (21no) did their bit but Whitehaven closed well short on 113-5. Nico Watt had 2-11 and Arinaitwe took 2-21.
Despite the poor conditions there were plenty of runs at Gillfoot where Keswick re-ignited their title hopes with a hard-fought victory against a battling bottom-of-the-table side.
Keswick were asked to bat first and three good partnerships – 77 for the 2nd wicket; 67 for the 4th and 70 for the fifth propelled them to 229-6 at which they declared following the 48th over.
Glenn Weightman led the way with 86 off 59 deliveries and that power-packed innings included seven sixes and five fours. Professional Risith Upamal (51) and opener Stephen Hindmarch (47) were more circumspect in their approach, but effective.
Overseas amateur Raghav Kupar (2-27) and Ellis Gribbin (2-31) were the most successful bowlers for Egremont.
Egremont have often relied too much on Kupar so far this season and he top-scored again with 88 but this time there was good support from Jack Hodgson (43) and a patient 19 from skipper Coady Scott.
However they were 190-8 at the completion of their 50 overs with Greg Cameron the most successful Keswick bowler (4-30).
They did make a start at Lowmoor Road where hosts Wigton were put in to bat and were struggling on 12-3 after six overs when the players came off – and never went back.
