Carlisle professional and skipper Michael Slack is out for the rest of the season.
Slack, who is also the captain of Cumbria, damaged his knee while fielding during a county game last month and has been told to seek the advice of a knee surgeon.
“I’ve been told that I have a torn meniscus and sprained ligament so I’m going for a consultation next week but that will be me for the season,” he said.
The meniscus is a pad of cartilage in the knee that acts as a shock absorber and each knee has two of them. Tears are said to be common knee injuries.
It means that Slack will be replaced each week by a sub pro, as far as Carlisle are concerned, and so far covering his absence they have been well-served by their bookings.
Battle has been joined in the Premier Division of the Cumbria Cricket League with joint leaders now after over a third of the season has been completed.
Carlisle’s victory last week at Whitehaven, while Cockermouth were stymied by the weather, now sees the pair locked together on 74 points, 12 more than Keswick who were the only other side to win last Saturday, beating Egremont.
With a better forecast for Saturday, all the clubs are looking for games to be completed and while the majority of League enthusiasts will be focused on the matches featuring the top two, there’s a case to be made for the biggest game being a West Cumbrian derby.
Cleator and Egremont go head-to-head at the JD Campbell Memorial Ground where defeat really would be a body blow for the visitors.
The Gillfoot side are rock bottom nine points adrift – and Cleator are the team immediately above them – so clearly this is a game that both will have targeted for a victory.
Cleator will welcome back their Indian professional Rishabh Tiwari who has been back home playing over the last fortnight and will be welcomed back after his man of the match performance against Workington.
Egremont will be encouraged that finally they got some batting support for Raghav Kupar last week in defeat and hope it continues for the derby clash which is a key game for both clubs.
As far as the top two are concerned they each play sides in the bottom five – Carlisle are at home to fifth bottom Workington while Cockermouth travel to fourth bottom Millom.
Workington’s collapse has been startling with five successive defeats after two opening wins, followed by last Saturday’s postponement. Two T20 victories have improved spirits but the decline in League form has been both worrying and surprising.
Millom have also started slowly, although they too have a recent T20 win to raise spirits. Their last League game was actually at Workington but they were rained-off.
Keswick, in third place, beat Whitehaven and the weather to re-ignite their challenge and will expect to follow up at home to Haverigg, one of several clubs looking over their shoulder to see if Egremont close the gap.
Fourth-placed Whitehaven will have been disappointed to lose to Carlisle – especially as their improved showing this season hasn’t seen them capable of beating the top two Cockermouth and Carlisle. They travel to Dalton, an interesting test against a side who have shown themselves capable of more than just surviving following their promotion.
Finally it’s Furness v Wigton in a game which brings together two sides currently enjoying mid-table respectability.
There are some T20s as well this weekend: Friday night in the North – Cockermouth v Carlisle and Wigton v Keswick. In the South – Millom v Dalton and Furness v Haverigg.
