The cricketing Gods continue to shine down as Cumbria basks in warm sunshine. Surely it cannot be much longer before the knotted hankie’s make an appearance on the boundary seats.
League favourites, Furness, were made to work for their win as they visited Wigton. The home side won the toss and elected to bat reaching 188 for 8 off their 50 overs.
Mathew Hodgson with 40 and Christopher Hodgson (45) led the innings with Garry Thompson bagging 3 wickets for a very frugal 27 from his 10 overs.
In the field Dominic Hendricks took 3 catches to add to his run out and 1 wicket for 24 from 9, while Josh Shaw with 2 and Peter Lawson were the other wicket takers.
The visitors had little trouble in knocking off the runs with Lewis Gribbin (24) sharing an opening partnership of 68 with Garry Thompson (29) before both were back in the pavilion with 72 on the board.
This brought Thomas Smith and Dominic Hendricks to the crease with them sharing a 98-run partnership before Smith fell for 41. Hendricks held on to be 67 not out in just 56 balls to secure the victory in 32.3 overs.
At Fitz Park, Keswick continued their great start to the season with a 7-wicket victory at home to Cleator who were without last week centurion, Clarke.
Winning the toss, the visitors elected to have first use of the wicket but apart from Steven Lee with 26, Jamie Martin with 28 and Ben Wishart (10), no other batsman reached double figures as they were all out for 132 in 36.2 overs, while in the field, Paul Hindmarch led the line with 4 for 31 off 7.
In reply, Keswick cruised to the 10 points losing 3 wickets to reach 136 in 33 overs. Opener, Stephen Hindmarch led with 43 not out while Sri Lankan professional, Raveen Yasas chipped in with 32 before Glen Weightman saw out the win with 28 not out.
Meanwhile, in Workington, the home side have stuttered after their opening day win, today losing out to Millom.
The visitors batted after winning the toss and were led by the in-form Nathan Waterson who followed up his 83 last week with another quick fire 85 in 101 balls before being bowled by Ben Scott.
Declan Tyson, a bit more sedate after his rip roaring exploits last week, reached 27 off 69 balls before being bowled by Regan Jackson for his only wicket.
Skipper Graham Dawson chipped in with 38 off 34 balls, losing his wicket in the 46th over which heralded the fall of 3 wickets as the innings petered out with the visitors reaching 218 for 9 in their allotted overs.
The reply will be one the home side will hope to forget quickly as only skipper Jake Daniel (25) reached double figures as they stuttered to 81 all out in 25.3 overs.
Pick of the Millom bowlers, again, was Zak Mawdsley who followed his ‘sixfor’ last week with a very commendable 5 for 8 in only 6 overs. Once again, Tyson provided the support act with 3 for 13 in 6 overs.
At Cockermouth’s Raymond Denham Cricket Oval, the home side got back into winning ways with a comprehensive 8 wicket win over winless Egremont.
The visitors elected to bat but while the scoring was sprightly, they lost wickets with regularity reaching 114 all out in 29.1 overs. Only skipper Coady Scott (21) and Ellis Gribbin with a swift 29NO in 27 balls, reached the twenties.
Key for the bowling side was Ethan Hardie-Knight who returned excellent career high figures of 6 for 21 in 9 overs with 4 maidens with some very tight spin bowling. This included 3 LBW’s, 2 bowled with him relying on Skipper Matthew Sempill assisting with a catch for the other.
In reply, the home side were in no mood to hang around as the polished off the required runs in barely 13 overs. Opening skipper Gareth White bagged 26 off 26 balls before trying to pull Coady Scott through midwicket and leaving his stumps exposed.
Fellow opener, Alex Grainger followed up his opening weekend 74 with 53NO in only 40 balls and despite losing Joshua Brown second ball for a duck, the imperious Sempill, continued his rich vein of form for club and county with 16 not out including 3 fours.
For the visitors, only skipper Scott had any success returning 2 for 16 off 5 overs.
Finally, Dalton, at the foot of the table before play began, hit form at home to Whitehaven who are having a bit of an up and down season.
The home side were put into bat and took advantage of the conditions reaching 234 for 6 in their 50 overs.
Despite losing opener Joss Edwards without scoring with the total on 13, this brought wicketkeeper Liam Curwen to the crease. In 114 balls, including 13 fours and 2 sixes, he put the visiting bowlers to the sword reaching 116 before falling to professional Terance Warde.
Curwen enjoyed a 120 fifth wicket partnership before stalwart Daniel Sharpe was run out for 68 off 77 balls.
For the bowlers, Warde took 4 of the five wickets to fall (4 for 36) with opening bowler, Stephen Holliday bagging the other.
In reply, Whitehaven’s top order chipped in with Holliday (13), Nathan Carmichael (24), Warde (54) and Josh Foster (36) but the innings ran out of steam when Warde’s wicket fell eventually reaching 162 for 7.
So unbeaten Furness and Keswick head the pack with Millom and Cockermouth on 2 wins apiece, the chasers. Dalton, with their fine win, jumped to mid table, with winless Egremont at the foot of the table.
Next week sees the first mega clash of the season with Cockermouth visiting leaders Furness while Keswick make a trip to The Playground to take on Whitehaven. Meanwhile, Millom, on the back of 2 wins, have today’s pick, Dalton as visitors, and Cleator entertain Wigton and Workington travel to Egremont.
