While the weather forecasters were waxing lyrical about the heatwave and wall to wall sunshine, once again, the Cumbria Cricket League was being impacted by rain, writes Ashley Tiffen.
But despite the weather, this week was to see some unexpected results and dramatic finishes as the Cumbrian cricket followers learn never to take anything for granted.
At Whitehaven, the home side were put into bat by Furness, the visiting league leaders, and had a mixed start to the day.
Opener Chase Young scored a swashbuckling 68 which included six 6s and four 4s in only 53 balls before he fell caught behind by keeper Lewis Gribbin off the bowling of Josh Shaw.
Unfortunately, except for Josh Foster (27) and Andrew Cameron with a late mini swashbuckle (27 not out from 22 balls) no other batsmen could get to grips with the Furness attack and the innings ended when the home side completed the reduced 45 overs with 180 on the board for the loss of 9 wickets.
Time was to tell if this would be enough against a team known for their rapid chases.
Josh Shaw went on to claim 3 wickets for 44 from his 9 overs, with the other wicket takers, Peter Lawson (2 for 38), Garry Thompson (2 for 32) with Samson Storey and Anshul Balaji 1 apiece.
In reply, for the league leaders and not for the first time this season, Dominic Hendricks was to set the foundation with a patient knock of 72 supported by a steady 21 from Ryan Griffiths before he fell, caught and bowled by Stephen Holliday.
And it was Holliday that looked to have turned the tide in favour of the home side as he went on to claim a further 2 wickets in consecutive balls leaving the league leaders teetering on 161 for 8 with only two overs to claim the 20 needed.
And it was Holliday that went on to claim the last two Furness wickets as they fell 17 runs short, as he collected his first ‘fifer’ of the season with 5 for 25 from 6.5 overs as the visitors ended on 163 leaving with no points.
At Millom, facing the league’s bottom club, Egremont, the home side won the toss and elected to bat.
For the second week running, despite their poor record this season, the visitors showed early fight with skipper Coady Scott taking the wicket of the recently in-form Nathan Waterson (caught Wilford) without scoring with only 1 on the board.
Wickets followed with some regularity with only fellow opener Joshua Mackie (25), and a late flourish from Zak Mawdsley (34) giving the home supporters something to cheer as they were all out for 127 in 38.4 overs.
Coady Scott went on to claim 3 for a miserly 15, with Hunter (3 for 41) Lancaster (3 for 20) sharing the spoils with Ellis Gribbin bagging the other.
In reply, Egremont built an early foundation, despite losing skipper Coady Scott falling for 10 after only 8 balls when he was trapped LBW by Oscar Mackie, Tarwan Marwah for 9, trapped LBW by Robbie Wilson and Matthew Hunter without scoring, also LBW, this time to Graham Dawson.
With the patience of a saint, Lee Cruden clearly decided he wasn’t in any hurry to get to any other engagements, as he decided to frustrate the Millom bowlers with a snail like 10 from 40 balls before succumbing to a Nathan Waterson catch off the bowling of Declan Tyson with the total on 47.
The home attack were rewarded as Egremont went from 47 for 1 to 77 for 6 with only Owen Thompson fending off the attack as he ground out 19 from 48 balls, however, the target was reduced by more inclement weather and the visitors were to claim their first win of the season reaching 81 for 6 from 25.4 overs by 4 wickets.
For the home attack, Graham Dawson claimed 2 for 14 and Oscar Mackie 2 for 28 with Declan Tyson showing plenty of guile as he held up the chase, albeit, ultimately, to no avail, with 1 for 10 off 7 overs with 3 maidens.
Perhaps the home side will rue the weather but there will be plenty around the league who will recognise the pluck of the visitors who have never let their heads fall.
At Keswick, play was delayed and when the players took to the field, it was visitors, Workington who won the toss and elected to bat first.
But were soon in trouble losing opener Hamish James bowled by Paul Hindmarch for 12, with the score on 18, going on to lose a further 3 wickets for 30 runs.
However, 27 from Matthew Lowden, Kieran Hull’s 17 and Ryan Clubley’s 21, took the visitor’s score to 127 for 7 when their 25 overs came to a close.
While this was a score well within the Keswick batsman, would the conditions and some nerves come into play as they had to chase at over 5 runs per over?
And the nerves did show with the first 5 Keswick wickets lost for 43 runs thanks to a fine 3 for 19 from the 5 overs of Ben Scott.
It was left to professional Raveen Yasas and last week’s bowling hero, James McGown, to take the fight back to the visitors and give the home supporters hope in a nail-biting finish.
But this hope was dashed as Yasas fell to a catch by Ryan Clubley off the bowling of Grant Reid for 60 from 75 balls with McGown falling to a catch by Sam Bates off the same bowler, as the home response fell tantalisingly 4 runs short.
Grant Reid ended with 3 for 20 and Ben Scott 3 for 19.
While there is no consolation for a loss, at least Keswick picked up the maximum 5 bonus points from this defeat and they do have an opportunity, later today, to shake off the disappointment as they face Cockermouth in the Higson Cup semi-finals.
At Lowmoor Road, home side Wigton won the toss after a delay in proceedings put visitors Dalton into bat gaining early success which saw both openers back in the pavilion with only 6 on the board. They were followed by Liam Curwen (16) with 33 on the board and Rob Jones (21) with only a further 18 added.
This brought Lahira Dilshan and Daniel Sharpe to the crease, both clearly having an eye on the over rate and clock, as they started a charge with only 20 overs available.
Making the most of it, Dilshan struck 30 from 20 balls and Sharpe 25 off 20 balls with both to be out to catches off the bowling of Lewis Little. The innings ended with the visitors on 111 for 7 with Little claiming 4 for a miserly 11.
In reply, chasing 114 from their 20 overs, the home side lost early wickets leaving them 57 for 5 before the home side’s player of the match, that man Little, hit 34 from 31 balls before yielding to a catch by Dilshan off the bowling of namesake, Lewis Bayman.
This left the home side falling 9 short of their target on 104 for 8 with another Lewis, this time Woodend delivering the killer bowling performance of 3 for 13 off his 4 over spell complimenting Dilshan’s fine 2 for only 9 in his 4 over spell.
At Cleator, Cockermouth’s title charge was thwarted by the weather and the match was abandoned (4 points each).
In a day of mixed fortunes and unpredictable weather, Cockermouth will be disappointed not to have taken the field as their match at Cleator was washed out albeit they have gained ground on those above them, with leaders Furness and second place Keswick both falling in nail biting defeats.
There will be celebrations in Egremont as they claim their first win of the season while Dalton will have enjoyed their longest trek of the season bagging 10 points at Wigton.
Whitehaven and Workington might share a jam sandwich as they look back on victories that few might have predicted.
After 9 matches, Furness still lead with 66 points, now only 1 ahead of Keswick with Cockermouth 3 adrift alongside Whitehaven who have benefitted from the travails of those above.
Dalton come next on 56 points, 4 ahead of Workington with Millom sitting with 46, two ahead of Cleator.
While Egremont remain bottom with 26, the points gap to Wigton has been cut to only 2.
Next week, league cricket takes a break as we see the regional T20 with Lowmoor Road the venue for the north group.
Wigton host Cockermouth at 11am, Cockermouth then face Keswick at 2pm with Wigton taking on Keswick at 5pm to round off the day.
In the West group, Egremont facing Cleator at 11am on their Gilford Park ground followed by Whitehaven v Workington at 2pm.
And in the south group, Dalton host, starting with their tie versus Furness at 11am, followed by Furness taking on Millom at 2pm before the hosts complete the day with a tie against Millom.
While I might say normal league cricket resumes on July 12, after today, perhaps there is no ‘normal’ in Cumbrian cricket.
