Carlisle roared into the semi-finals of the Higson Cup after beating Cleator by 93 runs in a high-scoring clash at the J D Campbell Memorial Ground.
Cleator won the toss and invited Carlisle to bat first, although they might have reflected on that after the visitors made a blistering start.
Zephania Arinaitwe hit 83 very quick runs, with some big-hitting along the way and then sub pro Daniel Salpietro took over with an unbeaten 88, helped by Alex Raybould (46no).
In the end Carlisle completed their 45 overs on 267-4 with Tom Sharpe coming through the carnage with respectable figures of 3-33 from his nine overs.
It was a tough ask for Cleator but pro Richabh Tiwari opened and did his bit with 80 but support was down the order from skipper Doug Hughes (20) at six and David Blackwell (23) who came in at number ten.
Three Carlisle bowlers finished with 2-29 – Nico Watt, Josh Stirling and Arinaitwe – as Cleator were bowled out for 174 in the last over.
Holders Cockermouth moved smoothly through to the semi-finals with a nine-wicket home win against Dalton.
The visitors had opted to bat first and their final total of 151 was very much reliant on Daniel Sharpe (57) and Adam Hunter (25) whose sixth wicket stand of 47 was the best of the innings.
Next best were 24 extras of which 13 were wides, as they were bowled-out still with three of their 45 overs left.
Alex Grainger took 4-10 off six for Cockermouth while young Ethan Hardie-Knight had 2-11 off nine.
Cockermouth needed only 22.2 overs (conveniently finishing five minutes ahead of the England Euros kick-off) to knock-off the required runs after an opening stand of 75.
They were moved quickly to victory by Reagan Scott (29), Grainger (64no) and skipper Matthew Sempill (52no). In fact Sempill only faced 28 deliveries and hit three fours and six sixes.
Keswick got through with a home win against Millom by 52 runs with Glen Weightman again playing a major role.
Weightman hit a superb 96 in Saturday’s League defeat at Whitehaven but this time his unbeaten 90 helped set-up the win. It was made at a run-a-ball and he hit 12 fours and a six after coming in at 48-3.
There was decent support, too, from Paul Hindmarch (34), Ben Sharp (27), James McGown (22) and Will Atkinson (21) as Keswick reached 221-6 in their 45 overs. Callum High (2-42) and Braith Connor (2-44) were best of the Millom bowlers.
High (28) and fellow teenager Mackie (26), along with skipper Graham Dawson (22) did best with the bat for Millom who badly needed someone to build a big innings
They were eventually bowled-out for 169 in 43.1 overs with pro Risith Upamal (4-35) the best of the Keswick bowlers.
Workington and Furness have fought out a few Cup finals in recent years – but not this time. Furness were seven wicket winners at the Valentine Ground to reach the semi-final as Workington’s season now rests on success in the T20 competition.
Matthew Lowden won the toss for Workington and elected to bat but once again it was a case of the home side not being able to find enough batsmen to get among the runs.
Lowden opened again and was top scorer with 32 with the best support coming from Thomas Fox (23) as they were 138-9 on completion of their 45 overs.
Furness pro Matthew Kleinveldt was their most successful bowler with 3-23 although there was a tight spell from Gary Thompson who took 2-15 in nine overs, six of which were maidens.
Furness were put well on their way by an opening stand of 106 between Lewis Gribbin (54) and Samson Storey (49) and although three wickets tumbled quickly in the space of 14 runs they were close enough to gain victory in the 30th over.
The semi-finals are both to be played on Sunday, August 4 and the ties are: Cockermouth v Furness and Keswick v Carlisle.
