There is a saying that a week is a long time in politics and, if you are a Cockermouth supporter, that is certainly true in Cumbrian cricket, writes Ashley Tiffen.
Indeed, the weekend matches were showered, just, by more rain than tired cliches as the fickle weather, again, produced a sticky wicket.
Title-chasing Keswick made the journey to Egremont where the home side, without a win this season, were put into bat and were soon in trouble against the experienced, in form, Keswick attack.
The home professional, Taran Marwah led the scoring with 46 but Egremont struggled to 98 from 30.5 overs with visiting skipper Paul Hindmarsh taking 5 wickets for 24 off 10 overs and Dan Gaskell chipping in with 3 wickets for a miserly 8 from 5.5 overs.
Keswick were in no mood to hang around delivering a comprehensive 10 wicket victory in only 16 overs with openers Glen Weightman (52) and Stephen Hindmarch (29) carrying their bats to take the 10 points to keep their lead in the table although, surely, while celebrating, they will take one game at a time with rivals Furness next up at Fitz Park next week.
Sitting behind Keswick in the table, Furness, entertained near neighbours, Dalton winning the toss and electing to bat.
With only 45 overs possible, there was a solid batting performance with opener Samson Storey leading the way with 62 before falling as one of two wickets for Stanway.
Lewis Gribbin (25), Thomas Smith (25) and Dominic Hendricks with 29 pushed the score with the innings coming to an end with 188 for 5 on the board with Stanway the leading wicket taker with 2 for 52 from his 9 overs.
Dalton lost both their openers for only 5 before Rob Jones (40) and Lahiru Dilshan (34) settled in for a 79 run partnership to give the visitors some hope. However, once they left, only Joss Edwards with 25 troubled the Furness bowling as the visitors were all out for 138 from 43 overs.
Samson Storey crowned a fine day with 4 wickets for 29 from 9 overs, assisted by Joash shaw with 2 for 43 with all the other bowlers chipping in with one apiece which leaves Furness still 3 points adrift of Keswick.
A week ago, at the Raymond Denham Cricket Oval, Cockermouth entertained Workington in the Higson Cup semi-finals and the home side romped to a 103 run victory.
Seven days on, same teams, same venue, but what a reversal.
Put into bat, which is always preferred, the home side lost opener Gareth White first ball golden duck and skipper Mattherw Sempill 3 balls later with only a wide on the scorecard.
Worse was to come when in form Alex Grainger struck a 6 and a 4 but had to leave the field injured performing the latter.
With the heart of the top order batsmen lost, only wicketkeeper Sam Skully could come to terms with the accurate Workington bowling as he ground out 31 not out before running out of partners.
For the fielding side, Ben Scott took 2 wickets for only a parsimonious 6 off 7 overs while Matthew Lowden took 3 for 18 from his 7 as the home side made on 77 from 32 overs.
While this was unlikely to be a winning score even if the target was reduced to 75 from 30 overs, cricket is a game of two halves, and the home supporters were cheered when Workington lost opener Kristian Moffatt 3rd ball without any runs on the board.
Wicketkeeper, Sam bates was to follow him back to the pavilion with on 17 on the board, before the rains came to save the home side’s blushes, with the chasers on 21 for 2 from 6 overs.
As the second innings did not reach the minimum 20 overs, this leaves both teams collecting 4 points for an abandoned fixture, leaving Cockermouth 10 points behind leaders Keswick.
At the Playground, home side Whitehaven put in the visitors Wigton and while there was a solid 49 run opening partnership with George Johnston making 23 and Kieran Little with 14, before both went within 2 overs with no runs added.
This left skipper Chris Hodgson to take on the attack as he made 55 only to fall in the last over trying to push the score forward with the innings coming to an end with them on 174 for 9 from their 50 overs.
In reply, Whitehaven opener, Chase Young lived up to his name as he hit 64 from only 27 balls including 12 fours and 2 sixes before becoming skipper Hodgson’s first victim. From then on, scoring became a struggle with wickets lost regularly.
Stephen Holliday made 26 before falling to Cameron McGuiness, Josh Foster made 17 before being bowled by skipper Hodgson, and Jonathan Stewart struck a later 10 including a six but it was left to Lewis Keeler with 25 not out to see the home side home, reaching 175 for the loss of 8 wickets in 31 overs.
In the final fixture, Millom vs Cleator, the home side batted first and reached 121 all out in 40.4 overs. In reply, Cleator reached their target of 122 for the loss of 3 wickets for a 7 wicket win.
Next week sees a mouthwatering match up as Furness, hoping to revenge their Higson Cup defeat, travelling to Keswick.
Cockermouth make the long trek to Dalton hoping to get their title challenge back on track while Cleator and Egremont cross swords again at the JD Campbell Memorial Ground.
The final fixtures see Whitehaven at home to Millom while Workington travel to Wigton.
All matches are due to start at 1pm.
