Clearly second placed Keswick were keen to return from Cleator to a sultry Lake District summer’s day on the shores of Derwentwater as they won the toss, put the home team into bat and had them all out for 41 in 21.2 overs, writes Ashley Tiffen.
Glen Weightman led the charge with 6 wickets for 11 runs in his 10 overs with fellow opening bowler Scott McGown chipping in with 2 for 19 from 6.
The reply took 8.3 overs as Keswick completed the task with Ben Sharp ending on 23 not out to take the full 10 points and send a signal to the other front runners that, for them, it is all to play for.
Meanwhile, leaders Furness were on a different rampage as they took on Wigton at the Cornerstone Ground.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, the home side built up a substantial lead with opener Samson Storey making a season high 94 before being adjudged LBW off the bowling of Jonathan Pearson who went on to take 4 for 55.
Storey was assisted by Jordan Buchanan (38), professional Dominic Hendricks with 32, a handy 37 from 44 balls for Thomas Smith and a swashbuckling late bash by Garry Thompson with 35 from 29 balls as the home side made 271 for 5 wickets in their 50 overs.
Facing a daunting target beyond any score accumulated this season, Wigton… lost two early wickets for 13 before professional and skipper Christopher Hodgson (21) and Nathan Pearson (18) steadied the ship.
However, apart from Jonathan Pearson (16) and Tom Fleming with 19 not out, the Wigton batsmen were never in the running, and they were all out for 104 in 31.3 overs leaving with nothing to show for their travels.
Taking the wickets were Garry Thompson with 3 for 18, Tom Lamb with 3 for 27 and Peter Lawson with 2 for 29, as the league leaders took another tentative step towards the title.
Bottom club, Egremont, might have felt they could get something against a Cockermouth side who fell to a comprehensive defeat last week and while they did make inroads into the Cockermouth batting after the visitors were put into bat, with Ellis Gribbin being particularly effective, taking 4 for 51 in his 10 overs, the visiting skipper had other ideas as he forged another century (109) in 135 balls, including 6 sixes and 7 fours, to take the visitors to 235 all out in 48.5 overs.
Gribbin’s tally included the fourth ball scalp of Cockermouth’s stand in professional, West Indian Test player, Jermaine Blackwood for a duck.
Egremont skipper Coady Scott was the other pick of the bowlers as he took 4 wickets for a creditable 27 runs in 8.5 overs.
Reegan Scott continued his good form chipping in with 36 from 33 balls and the crowd saw a late flourish from Joshua Brown who hit 29 in 39 balls.
Egremont, another side facing a daunting total beyond their highest score this season – 187 in their solitary win in July – got off to the worst of starts when opener Lee Cruden fell to the bowling of Joshua Brown after 3 balls for a duck followed by fellow opener Owen Thompson (11) with the score on 13.
Taran Marwah with a steady 36 and skipper Coady Scott with 35 gave the home team some hope but with relatively slow scoring they were always behind the curve and with these two departed, Egremont ended all out for 160 with 7 further balls available albeit taking 2 bonus points for their efforts.
Reegan Scott made it a good day for him by taking 3 wickets for 11 in 3.5 overs, with vice captain Alex Grainger adding his 3 wickets for 24.
In the battle for mid-table supremacy, home side Whitehaven won the toss and elected to bat against visiting Dalton making early progress through Kian Larmour who made 24 taking the score to 60 before professional Terance Warde, with a fine century, and Josh Foster (68) took charge with a 142 run partnership for the 3rd wicket.
The home side ended their 50 overs with 256 for 9 after a late flourish by skipper Leo Sanczuk with 23 off 14 balls before falling with 2 balls to go bowled by professional Lahiru Dilshan.
For Dalton, Dilshan and Joss Edwards took 4 wickets each.
Dalton have shown some good form this season but even they would feel daunted by such a target and perhaps this showed in their response.
Opener Daniel Sharpe did set them off on the right foot with a solid knock of 44 from 69 balls but there was little resistance from the rest of the batting as they stumbled to 134 all out in 36.1 overs.
For Whitehaven, Andrew Cameron led the way with 3 for 23 in only 5.1 overs, with Lewis Keeler also taking 3 wickets for 39 in 9 overs and Josh Foster took 2 for 32.
In the final fixture, Workington travelled to Millom who have shown flashes of form in recent week. The visitors elected to bat but were restricted to 137 on 42 overs with Adam Chambers making 37 and Matthew Lowden striking 31.
For the home side, the evergreen Declan Tyson took 3 for 14, Phil Wilson took 4 for 18 while Graham Dawson took 2 for 21.
Facing a gettable target, Millom lost opener Joshua Mackie for a duck before and with Workington’s opening bowlers, Matthew Lowden and Hamish James, applying pressure only professional Nathan Waterson (36), Skipper Graham Dawson (22) and Lachlan Wilson (15) made double figures.
Lowden ended with figures of 3 for 23 and James with 2 for 32. They were well supported by Regan Jackson with 3 for 24 and Adam Chambers with 2 for 24, which does beg the question why Workington have shown such inconsistency this season.
After this round of fixtures, the top three positions remain the same, Whitehaven lead the four-team chasing pack.
- Furness 126
- Keswick 118
- Cockermouth 114
- Whitehaven 96
- Workington 91
- Millom 86
- Dalton 85
- Cleator 64
- Wigton 64
- Egremont 44
Next week sees Furness making the short hop to Dalton, Keswick entertaining bottom side Egremont, and Cockermouth travelling down the A66 to take on Workington. Cleator host Millom while Whitehaven travel to Wigton with all matches due to start at 1pm.
