As we move into the second half of the season, things are far from settled in the Premier Division, as the Met Office predicted some disruption with their yellow warning of thunderstorms, while Cumbrian cricket followers predicted yet another weekend where nothing can be predicted, writes Ashley Tiffen.
There was to be a nail-biting finish as league leaders Furness made the journey up the coast to Millom where they elected to put the home side in with the overs reduced to 45.
Millom lost opener Lachlan Wilson with only 9 on the board, bringing the swashbuckling Declan Tyson to the centre to join the dependable Nathan Waterson and the pair put on 35 before Tyson fell for 22, caught George Smith off the bowling of Dominic Hendricks.
Waterson was to hang around to frustrate the Furness attack, reaching 35 from 90 balls before he went caught and bowled Peter Lawson which brought skipper Graham Dawson to the crease determined to add the frustration of the bowlers, as he carried his bat for 39 as the home side ended on 151 with Callum High and Paul O’Callaghan both chipping in 17 each.
Furness bowler Samson Storey led the line with 3 for 35 in his 9 overs, with Dominic Hendricks taking 2 for 37 as the visitors must have had tea with some confidence.
However, that confidence was dented first ball as Lewis Gribbin fell first ball LBW to Paul O’Callaghan, with Samson Storey following shortly afterwards caught Callum High for O’Callaghan’s 2nd wicket.
This brought Thomas Smith and the redoubtable Dominic Hendricks together to steady the title chasing ship.
While the home bowlers were kept the run scoring down, these two built a partnership that threatened to take the game away from the Millom attack.
Smith eventually fell for a steady 59 from 112 deliveries, caught by Waterson, bowled Graham Dawson followed 6 runs later by Ryan Griffiths for Dawson’s 2nd.
Dominic Hendricks kept the scoreboard ticking over until he fell run out as non-striker 3 short of a 50 leaving the visitors on 133 for 6 with 29 balls remaining and still 17 runs to find.
The task was made more difficult as they lost another wicket, Garry Thompson, with him only adding 1 to the total before Dawson plundered 2 wickets in 2 balls to leave the league leaders struggling on 134 for 7 needing 16 runs from 21 balls.
Dawson was then to strike again bowling skipper Peter Lawson for 3 before Callum High bowled George Smith for 9 with 3 balls remaining and 9 needed.
Despite a 4 from last man, Josh Shaw, the league leaders ran out of overs and handed the home side a win by 5 runs but with their 5 bonus points keeping them at the top of the table.
O’Callaghan led the way on the economical bowling front taking his 2 wickets for a paltry 10 runs in his 9 overs, but it was Grahan Dawson who was the toast of the wicket takers with 5 for 19 from 7 overs.
While the Galeón Andalucía might have left Whitehaven harbour, a determined Cockermouth sailed into town with the wind in their sails from a comprehensive 250 run victory last week, as they won the toss and as expected, elected to bat as they searched for another win to keep them in the title race.
While much is expected of their top order batsmen, openers Gareth White (23) and Alex Grainger (18) were unable to build on a solid foundation, and skipper Matthew Sempill (11) had a rare off day with bat as he was bowled by Josh Foster in the 14th over with the score on 58.
This brought professional Shrikant Mundhe to the crease who showed early patience as he steadily built the score aided and abetted by a solid performance from Reegan Scott as they put on 118 for the 4th wicket.
Scott fell LBW to Terence Warde for a valuable 40 from a patient 98 balls with Mundhe powering on to 88 including four 6s, before falling to a catch by Warde off the bowling of Josh Foster in the 48th over with the score on 198.
In the remaining 11 balls, the visitors plundered 18 runs to take their final total to 216 in their 50 overs.
For the home side, Foster took 2 for 29 in 9 overs, with Warde also bagging a brace for 45 in his 10 overs.
In reply, the home side started brightly adding 37 for the 1st wicket before Stephen Holliday fell for 10 caught behind by Chadd Pearson off the bowling of Joshua Brown with Chase Young following with the score on 45, LBW Mundhe, after rattling the scoreboard on at almost 6 an over.
With the scoring slowed, Mundhe struck again, with another LBW appeal upheld as Josh Foster was out for 4 and the introduction of Gabriel Drimmie to the attack saw him take 2 wickets in his first 15 balls which included a wide and a no ball with only 2 runs conceded from the bat.
Terence Warde was in a defiant mood as he struck 55 in 80 balls before he was caught by skipper Sempill off the bowling of Ethan Hardie-Knight with the score on 141.
Mundhe then struck again to remove skipper Lewis Keeler for 9 before Drimmie returned to the fray to take the last 2 wickets as the home side were all out for 159 in 41.2 overs.
Gabriel Drimmie was to return figures of 5 for 14 runs, his second ‘fifer’ this season, in only 7.2 overs, with Shrikant Mundhe taking 3 for 25, as Cockermouth took the 10 points with the home side taking 3 bonus points.
Meanwhile title chasing Keswick were put into bat at home to Dalton, were to suffer from the Met Office’s predicted rain, losing 13 overs, as they made 166 thanks in part to the generosity of the visiting attack with Mr Extras leading the scoring with 40.
Opener Oscar Link made the next highest score of 31, with Glen Weightman (24), Ben Sharp (28) and professional Raveen Yasas (25) entertaining the crowd with a run rate approaching 4.5 an over as they sought to build a match winning total.
For Dalton, Josh Edwards took 4 for 35, with professional Lahiru Dilshan and Lewis Woodend taking one a piece.
With further rain, the Dalton target was reduced to 159 from 29 overs, 5.5 runs per over, but with the Keswick bowlers not in a generous mood, they never reached the required run rate with James McGown conceding 5 from his first 3 overs and Glen Weightman being even more frugal conceding only 1 run from his first 3.
Dalton were all out for 100 handing a 58 run victory to a Keswick closing the gap to the league leaders with only skipper Joe Braund Smith (14), Daniel Sharpe (20), Rob Jones with 18 from 18 balls and Adam Hunter (12) making double figures.
Skipper Paul Hindmarch returned bowling figures of 3 for 17 off 6, with Glen Weightman eclipsing him with his 3 for 10 in 6 overs. James McGown, Raveen Yasas and Lewis Edwards took 1 a piece.
Egremont’s Gilfoot Park was to see a vital meeting between the teams at the foot of the table at the start of the day with visitors Wigton winning the toss and electing to bat.
Egremont were to lose wickets with regularity with only professional Tarwan Marwah (37) and Luke Williams, with a late flourish for 24, making inroads to the visiting attack.
For Wigton, Glen Liddle took the plaudits with 4 for 26 from 8 overs, with Kieran Little and Christopher Hodgson taking 2 wickets each for 19 and 34 runs respectively.
While 150 might be a defendable score, Wigton were to cruise to the further reduced target of 141 with opener Kieran Little hitting an unbeaten 56 aided by skipper Christopher Hodgson (35) as they reached the 141 in 37 overs to take the 10 points. This created a 9 point buffer ahead of Egremont who had to be content with 3 bonus points.
In the final fixture, Cleator, in danger of falling into the wooden spoon battle, took on Workington with the visitors winning the toss and electing to field.
And it was the visitors who were to be on top dismissing the home side for 109 in 44.1 overs. Skipper Douglas Hughes top scored with 32, followed by Steven Lee (23) and Raghavendra Kurkal making 18.
Hamish James took 3 for 23 in 7.1 overs, Adam Chambers took 2 for a very frugal 9, with Grant Reid and Matthew Reed both taking 2 for 19.
However, having had a poor day with the bat, the home side needed their bowlers to perform, and they were not to be disappointed taking opener, Kieran Hull LBW David Blackwell 2nd ball.
He was followed by skipper Jake Danie with the score on 19 and Sam Bates without any further scoring. Hamis James followed with only 7 runs added and Adam Chamers was sent back to the pavilion after a further 10 added.
The day was to go from bad to worse for the visitors as they stumbled to 83 all out in 40 overs with only Mathew Lowden with 28 showing any form. For the home side, the wickets were shared equally with 2 a piece for David Blackwell, Tom Sharpe, James Rogers and Dilan Jayalath with Douglas Hughes conceding only 3 runs from his 3 overs including a double wicket maiden.
So, Cleator bagged the 10 points to ease their wooden spoon fears and Workington’s up and down season continued as they collected 3 bonus points.
With league leaders Furness falling to their 3rd loss of the season it will be the inform Cockermouth who will be rueing the three matches they lost to the weather as they keep up their title chase with some scintillating cricket.
The table shows Furness on 86 points, Keswick one point behind on 85 and Cockermouth keeping up with 83 points.
Then comes the mid table of Whitehaven on 68, Dalton on 61, 2 points ahead of Workington and Millom on 59 each, and Cleator easing their fears on 54.
With their victory at Egremont, Wigton end the day on 48, 9 ahead of the team they defeated today on 39 points.
This week’s heroes were Gabriel Drimmie with his ‘fifer’ and Shrikant Mundhe’s 88 for Cockermouth, and Wigton’s Glen Liddle with his 4 wicket haul, and opener Kieran Little carrying his bat for unbeaten 56 .
Next week sees inform Cockermouth take on the team who narrowly defeated the league leaders Millom at The Raymond Denham Cricket Oval, Sandair, with narrow league leaders Furness entertain bottom club, Egremont,
Keswick travel to Wigton who will be buoyed by their victory today, while Dalton are at home to Cleator.
Finally, Workington entertain Whitehaven in the West Cumbrian coast derby with all matches starting at 1pm.
