Carlisle struck a psychological blow over title rivals Cockermouth in the final of the Higson Cup.
The two sides square-up on Bank Holiday Monday in a vital League match but Carlisle triumphed convincingly in Sunday’s Higson Cup final at Dalton.
It was the first time that Carlisle had won the trophy since 1988, and they did it with six wickets and 16.3 overs to spare.
Cockermouth, holders of the trophy, were put-in to bat and would have wanted more than the 155-9 they scored in 45 overs.
Alex Grainger (37), Greg Platten (32) and skipper Matty Sempill (20) scored runs at the top of the order but they needed someone to go on and make a big score.
Nico Watt (3-17) and Fraser Conn (3-32) were the main wicket-takers for Carlisle.
The city side didn’t hang-about in their reply as they raced to a comfortable win.
Zephania Arinaitwe (18 off 16), Marc Brown (36 off 37), sub pro Thimira Malshan (36 off 39), Alex Raybould (10 off 10) and Matthew Raybould (27 off 28) made sure Carlisle were always forcing the pace,
Ben Davidson made a more circumspect 20no off 44 but was there with Matthew Brown at the end as mission was accomplished on 158-4 in 28.3 overs.
Josh Brown took 2-42 for Cockermouth, who had also seen their title hopes dip with defeat at Keswick on Saturday.
