If there is one thing about playing cricket in Cumbria, the weather is never a given. Saturday saw breezy conditions with rain in the air but it didn’t detract from some fascinating cricket, writes Ashley Tiffen.
Leaving the league aside for a week, the highlight fixture saw Higson Cup title contenders Keswick travelling to for a face-off with league leaders Furness and the early jousting was certainly in favour of the visitors.
Put in by Keswick, the home side made an uncertain start with opener Lewis Gribbin back in the pavilion with the score on 5 having been run out, before they lost two further wickets with only 23 on the board.
Opener Samson Storey stood firm and with Ryan Griffiths put on 60 for the 4th wicket before the former fell to a smart stumping by Oscar Link for 47 and Griffiths (34) falling shortly afterwards with the score on 100.
The home side continued to lose wickets regularly with Sri Lankan professional, Raveen Yasas taking 4 wickets for 21 in his allotted 9 overs, although there was some resistance from Garry Thompson who carried his bat for 34 as the innings drifted to a close at 144 from the 45 overs.
In reply, the visitors must have started with some confidence but opening bowlers, Josh Shaw and Peter Lawson were soon in their stride and the visitors found themselves at 15 for 4 including a golden duck for Yasas, before the old head of Glen Weightman stopped the rot stemming the Furness tide with a measured 60 from 87 balls before he to fell to Garry Thompson.
It was then left to Scott McGown (15), and James McGown (18) to settle Keswick nerves with Oscar Link (14NO) and Finn Turnbull 12NO) seeing them over the line and into the semi-final reaching their target with 3 overs and 2 wickets to spare.
Meanwhile, at The Raymond Denham Cricket Oval, Cockermouth, who are told, like to bat first, lost the toss but were put in by visitors Workington.
Openers – stalwart Gareth White on a decent run of form, and Alex Grainger, back after a week away – continued his sparkling season sharing an opening partnership of 188 before White fell to the bowling of Regan Jackson for 68.
This left Grainger partnered by the swashbuckling home skipper, Matthew Sempill to push the scoreboard on at over a run a ball before the skipper departed trying to lift the ball, reverse style, over wicketkeeper Sam Bates only to waft it into his gloves for 33 off 28 balls.
He was followed shortly afterwards by Grainger who bagged yet another career century before falling for 124 run out in a close call having hammered the ball into the covers to see it returned by Hamish James with Bates breaking the stumps.
This left the innings to be finalised with professional Khurana hitting 19 from 17 balls before skying one to Gorley off McDermott, and Joshua Brown run out while attempting a second on the last ball of the over, leaving Reegan Scott unbeaten on 2 as the overs ran out.
With tails up, the home side were keen for a solid start but they were thwarted by the weather that closed in and brought proceedings to a temporary close.
When play resumed, Workington were set a revised target of 190 from 25 overs and the openers set a solid foundation, seeing off the opening bowlers, skipper Sempill and professional Khurana, with Kristian Moffatt making 19 before being bowled by Joshua Brown and skipper, Jake Daniel making 33 before being the second of Brown’s wickets with the score on 61.
With the innings drifting it was left to Gabriel Drimmie to enter the fray with the performance of the day, taking a wicket with his first ball, the first of two in that over for only one run, before he struck gold by bagging a hattrick from the first 3 balls of his second over, ending with figures of 5 for 9 off 3.
Workington’s 25 overs came with them over 100 from their target, handing Cockermouth another semi-final berth.
At Cleator who were facing close neighbours Egremont, the home side were put in and regularly lost wickets as they reached 182 all out in 43.5 overs.
Notable with the bat were opener Wishart (38), professional Jayalath (41) and Douglas Hughes with 29 not out. From then on only Messenger getting into double figures as the innings closed on 182 from 43.5 overs with the bowling honours shared between Coady Scott (3 for 35 from 9), professional Taran Marwah (2 for 47 from 9) with M. Lancaster returning exactly the same figures.
Once again, the threatened rain made an appearance and play was suspended. When the Egremont innings resumed, they had a revised target of 161 from 37 overs but it was soon clear that this would be a target too far for the league’s bottom club as, after a solid start, they lost three wickets with the score static on 44.
Tom Sharpe struck first, dismissing opener Lee Cruden (13) before David Blackwell dismissed the visiting skipper, Coady Scott, for 23, and Sharpe struck again dismissing Owen Thompson for no run. Matthew Hunter tried valiantly to stem the tide with 39 not out before running out of partners with the total at 182 from their 25 overs.
The bowling honours were shared with Blackwell, Sharpe, Jayalath and Martin taking 2 a piece.
In the final quarter final, Millom burst Dalton’s recent form bubble with a comprehensive victory on the road.
Millom won the toss and asked their hosts to bat with early success. The home side were reduced to 1 for 2 as the innings stuttered to a paltry 97 from 45 overs. Professional Lahiru Dilshan led the scoring with 26 while Robbie Wilson took 4 for 26 from his 9 overs.
In response, despite losing opener Mackie for 1, Nathan Waterson scored an unbeaten 60 aided and abetted by Zac Mawdsly with 20 as they reached their target for the loss of 2 wickets in 24 overs.
So, while the long-term forecast remains unsettled through next week, we hope to return to Premier League cricket with Cockermouth, for the second Saturday in a row, again hosting
Workington, Egremont seeking their first win take on the in-form Keswick at Gilfoot Park, while league leaders Furness are at home to Dalton in an intriguing south Cumbrian clash.
Millom are at home to Cleator while Whitehaven taken on Wigton who are without a win since the first week of the season.
All matches start at 1pm.
