Champions Carlisle are back on top of the Cumbria League Premier Division after an emphatic win over their closest rivals Cockermouth.
Carlisle had started the day six points behind but they ended it four points ahead after beating their Sandair hosts by 100 runs.
It was probably the first time this season that Cockermouth would say they could have done with all four of their seasoned players who were no longer in the team.
Carlisle were actually put in to bat and they recovered from 43-4 to accumulate 226-8 in their 50 overs.
Substitute pro Promod Madunwantha, with a patient 60; Alex Raybould with a bright 55 and opener Zephania Arinaitwe with 30 off 22 deliveries, were largely responsible for Carlisle reaching their good total. Josh Brown was the most successful Cockermouth bowler with 4-51.
Although rain interfered, and the Cockermouth target was reduced to 197 from 36 overs, the home side never looked capable of getting that far.
They were bowled out in 31.3 overs for 96 with Nico Watt (4-27) and Arinaitwe (3-17) doing most of the damage. Eight Cockermouth batsmen couldn’t get out of single figures and top scorer was Greg Platten (23).
The most remarkable innings of the day came from Paul Hindmarch which helped Keswick to a big win at Dalton.
Hindmarch hit 177 off just 100 deliveries and actually scored a century in sixes – 17 of them, along with 11 fours – a quite superb exhibition of big hitting to help Keswick reach 312-6 in their 50 overs.
Professional Risith Upamal (54) played mainly a watching brief in a third wicket partnership of 226 with Hindmarch.
Dalton gave it a go but it was a massive task and they had only 206-9 on the board at the end of their 50 overs.
Rob Jones (50), skipper Joe Braund-Smith (48) and Adam Hunter (36) were the main batsmen for the home side while Finn Turnbull took 3-46 in ten overs for Keswick.
The win wasn’t enough to push Keswick back into third place even though Whitehaven were beaten at home by Cleator, an encouraging victory for the villagers.
Whitehaven opted to put-in their visitors who responded well. Indian professional Rishabh Tiwari opened and hit 96 off 102 while Darren Clark, who can’t play every week, showed his class with 76 off 86 deliveries.
This pair put on 92 for the second wicket and further down the order James Rogers chipped-in with 34. It was a satisfying 269-6 from their 50 overs.
That was a big target but with Chase Young in the line-up Whitehaven were going to give it a good go and he made a flying start with 79 off 61 deliveries. But Tom Sharpe bowled pro Terance Warde for just 18 and the home side lost half their side for 128.
Young Kian Larmour (48) gave Whitehaven some hope but he couldn’t find the support he needed and they were bowled-out for 217 in 47.3 overs. Sharpe finished with 3-69 for Cleator.
It was a special day, too, for Millom professional Nathan Waterston who had his best knock, a maiden century for the club as a pro.
They were at Egremont and chose to bat first with Waterston hitting 131 and with support from skipper Graham Dawson (49no) Millom finished on 262-4. Alex Hodgson had a good ten over spell for Egremont and finished with 2-31.
Egremont couldn’t really attack that Millom total. Professional Raghav Kupar (68no) anchored the innings but there had only been opener Matthew Hunter (26) and a late effort from Lewis Hunter (21no) but they were only 187-8 at the close. Dec Tyson bowled ten overs for Millom and took 4-38.
Workington were beaten again, this time at Wigton where they just failed to reach a revised target.
The visitors looked to be on top when they reduced Wigton to 83-7 after Kieran Little (30) had started well enough.
It took an eighth wicket partnership of 81 between professional Chris Hodgson (53) and Jonathan Pearson (27no) which got Wigton back on track and they reached 166 before being bowled out after 45.3 overs.
David Pearce (4-28) and Regan Jackson (3-39) were the most successful Workington bowlers.
Workington weren’t much better-off than Wigton at 93-7 but couldn’t rally like their hosts. They were still in the contest after rain reduced their revised target to 137 in 32 overs but despite a battling 44 from Thomas Fox they finished short – bowled out for 128 off the last ball of the 32nd over.
George Spark (4-40) and Pearson (3-9) were the leading Wigton bowlers.
Matthew Kleinveldt is proving a top pro for Furness and he was to the fore in their win by 39 runs at Haverigg.
He scored 92 after Furness slipped to 31-3 and when he went the visitors had rallied to 202-7 and eventually finished their 50 overs two runs later on 204-7. Garry Thompson was 36no at the end. Bradley Lumby had 3-60 for Haverigg.
The Haverigg response centred exclusively around Robbie Evans (77) and wicket-keeper Liam Ford (61) but they were short at the end, 165 all out in 43.4 overs. Thompson took 3-30 and Josh Shaw had 3-31.
