With morning rain, many might have expected this to be a day for the bowlers in the Cumbria Cricket League, but in bright afternoon sunlight the batting also shone, writes Ashley Tiffen.
After the all the top of the table hype, the clash of the top two failed to live up to expectations.
Cockermouth, without a professional with Shrikant Mundhe having returned early to India, and the recently inform Gareth White on holiday, gave opportunities to a couple of youngsters.
However, there can be no excuses as visiting league leaders, Furness took full advantage, first by winning the toss and putting Cockermouth in to bat on a green wicket and then exploiting a rare off day for the home batting.
Cockermouth opener, Alex Grainger was first to fall, caught behind off the bowling of Peter Lawson for a duck.
Lawson’s opening bowling partner, Josh Shaw, then led the way with 3 wickets for 17 in 10 overs including the key scalps of Matthew Sempill, who left one only to see it come back and remove his off stump for 9, and Greg Platten (7) who was reaching for one outside off stump only to see it drop tamely in to the hands of Samson Storey at point.
This was to be the beginning of a telling contribution by Storey, which would be supplemented by his later batting performance, as he came on to bowl to take 4 for 33 in 9 overs.
Furness professional Dominic Hendricks was to take 3 catches including a sharp chance in the slips to dismiss Joshua Brown (8) off Storey’s bowling to cap a great performance in the field by the visitors.
For Cockermouth, only young opener Reegan Scott, with a patient 23 off 76 balls, made any impression on the scoreboard as the home side were bowled out for 88 in 37.2 overs.
In reply, despite the hopes of the home optimists, this was never going to be one Furness would lose.
Lewis Gribbin was an early casualty, caught Scott off Brown for 4 with the score on 15 but Samson Storey and Thomas Smith showed great composure to take the scoreboard to 67 before Smith fell run out.
Storey (35no) continued to play intelligently as he and professional Dominic Hendricks (8no) saw out the game in barely half the available overs.
Meanwhile, chasers Keswick were at home to Whitehaven, and had to rely on their openers, with a partnership of 84, to set the foundations of a decent overall total.
Glen Weightman stuck a bright 47 from 54 balls while Oscar Link was in a more cautious mood as he hung around for 164 minutes, finally falling for 51 with the score on 153.
James McGown added 17 in 15 balls, including a towering 6, to take the final total to 176 all out in 48.4 overs.
For Whitehaven, Terence Warde took3 for 28, Stephen Holliday took 3 for 31 and Lewis Keeler took 2 for 25.
In reply, Whitehaven started brightly with Kian Larmour and Nathan Carmichael sharing a 41 run opening partnership before both fell without adding further runs, Lamour bowled Scott McGown for 23 followed next over by Carmichael, caught Meljo Jose off the bowling of Weightman for 15.
But it was professional Warde who was to set Keswick nerves on edge as he built a patient innings while he lost a succession of partners.
Skipper Leo Sanczuk kept with him for his 13 in 41 balls, but the professional was the 8th wicket to fall, as he went for 65, LBW by his opposite number, Raveen Yasas, still 20 runs shy of the target, and while Whitehaven showed much spirit, they fell short 9 runs short, all out for 167 after 47.2 overs.
Millom, fresh from the Higson Cup Final heartbreak, visited Dalton, won the toss and elected to bat.
And it was professional Nathan Waterson who would lead the charge with 113 not out in 146 balls aided by Lachlan Wilson with 24 and Graham Dawson with 25, as the visitors reached 196 for 4 in their 50 overs.
For Dalton Lahiru Dilshan took 2 for 27.
In reply, Dilshan looked to cement a man of the match performance by striking 79 before he fell to a catch by Paul O’Callaghan with the score on 103, but wickets then fell regularly, and the home side fell short with 172 for 9 in their 50 overs.
For Millom, Graham Dawson was in fine form returning 5 for 31 in 8 overs, his second 5-wicket haul this season, with Mackie, O’Callaghan, Wilson and Tyson taking 1 wicket each.
It was Workington’s Ernest Valentine ground that was to see the highest score of the day as the home side plundered 275 for 7 against bottom club Egremont.
Openers Hamish James (59) and skipper Jake Daniel (40) led the way with a 70 run partnership but it was Adam Chambers who stole the limelight with a season’s high of 112, his highest score for 8 years.
For Egremont Lewis Gribbin and Coady Scott, took 2 wickets apiece.
The visitors were never at the races in their reply, despite 33 each from Taran Marwah and Matthew Hunter, and they were all out for 134 in 38.1 overs.
In the final game of week 14, Wigton entertained Cleator with the home side putting the visitors in to bat.
And at tea this looked to be a good decision as the visitors were only able to post 105 all out in 38.1 overs.
Only Ben Lloyd (19), skipper Douglas Hughes (33), and Ethan Messenger (16) were the only Cleator batsmen to reach double figures.
For Wigton, Dean Tomlinson kept up his good form taking 4 wickets for 37, John Reed took 3 for a paltry 7 with skipper Christopher Hodgson taking 2 for 24.
Despite being 18 for 3 at one point, skipper Hodgson steadied the nerves with an unbeaten 48, aided and abetted by Dan Wilson with 21 with the target reached for the loss of 4 wickets in the 37th over.
For Cleator, 2 wickets for Tom Sharpe for 12 runs off 10 overs was their only highlight.
This leaves Furness 8 points clear of Keswick with Cockermouth now 12 points off the pace in third.
It remains tight in mid table, with Whitehaven lead the chasers with 86, 2 points ahead of Dalton in 5th place, who, in turn, are a solitary point ahead of Millom, themselves 2 points ahead of Workington.
Cleator and Wigton are then on 64 points each with Egremont seemingly destined to be awarded the wooden spoon as they trail by 22 points.
So, in a weekend that promised much, it is Furness who travelled home having seen off their rivals Cockermouth, and Keswick overcoming a spirited Whitehaven to keep up the chase.
Next week sees the league leaders at home to Wigton, Keswick away to Cleator, and Cockermouth, desperately trying to secure a professional, travelling down the A5086 to Egremont.
Millom are at home to this weekend’s high scorers, Workington and Whitehaven entertaining Dalton in a fascinating battle in mid table.
All matches start at 1pm.
