After the disappointment of the weather last week, it was expected that Furness would take the win to give them the title and they did so in style, writes Ashley Tiffen.
Travelling to lowly Cleator, the usual names were to feature in the Furness victory.
Put into bat, Lewis Gribbin led the way with 41 aided and abetted by Dominic Hendricks (37) as the visitors posted 190 for 9 in their 50 overs.
For Cleator, Steven Lee took a season’s best of 4 for 12 with Ben Wishart and Ethan Messenger taking two apiece.
In reply, there was no doubt this was Furness’ day as the opening bowlers, Peter Lawson with 4 for 33, his third 4 wicket haul this season, and Josh Shaw with 3 for 22, pulverised the Cleator batting as they struggled to 70 all out in 28.5 overs.
In the battle for the runners up spot, Keswick maintained their late season form by despatching visitors Cockermouth challenge with a 106-run victory.
For the home side, Glen Weightman hit a season’s best 83 as they hit 188 all out in their 50 overs.
For Cockermouth, skipper Matthew Sempill led the way with 4 for 35 with Ethan Hardie-Knight and Gabriel Drimmie bagging 2 wickets each.
While this was a gettable total, Cockermouth prefer to bat first and up against a determined Keswick side, they were to come unstuck in this final weekend ending on 82 all out.
Glen Weightman made it a day to remember taking 4 for 27 to add to his batting, with Skipper Paul Hindmarch also bagging 4 for 22.
Whitehaven wrapped up 4th place with a comprehensive win at home to bottom team, Egremont.
Batting first, the home side hit a commendable 250 for 9 in their 50 overs with Terance Warde hitting 93 and Stephen Holliday with 74 entertained the crowd with 23 4’s and a couple of 6s between them.
For Egremont, Dixon (4) and Hunter (3) were the pick of the bowlers.
In reply, Egremont were all out for 119 with only professional Taran Marwah troubling the bowling attack with 33.
For the home side, all 10 outfielders were given a bowl with part-timer Nathan Carmichael getting 3 wickets for 2 runs in his 2 overs.
In what might be the closest contest of the day, Millom travelled to Wigton and returned with the 10 points but not without a scare.
Batting first, the visitors made 190 thanks to Nathan Waterson taking his season’s total past the 1,000-run mark (948 in the league) with 67, aided by 36 from Zak Mawdsley, and 39 from skipper Graham Dawson.
The Wigton wicket takers were Cameron McGuiness with 3, with 2 apiece for Matthew Hodgson, John Reid and skipper Christopher Hodgson.
The Wigton skipper was determined to go out on a high. Coming to the crease with his team at 2 for 2, he struck 81 runs in 75 balls, taking the score to 133. However, once his wicket fell, only 16 runs were added as the challenge petered out at 149in 34.2 overs.
In the final match, Workington travelled to Dalton with both sides having an up and down season.
Put into bat, the visitors hit a creditable 232 for 7 in their 50 overs with skipper Jake Daniel having a fine day hitting a season’s best 110.
For Dalton, 8 bowlers were used with Lahiru Dilshan and Lewis Bayman took 2 wickets each.
In reply, only Dilshan, with 59 not out, and Rob Jones with 25 made double figures as the home side’s season petered out with 118 all out.
While the plaudits rightly go to Furness, Keswick will look back on the previous weekend when they were thwarted by the weather in what was billed as a potential title decider while Cockermouth will rue the 4 abandoned matches compared to 2 a piece for the leading teams.
While there will be no immediate changes for the premier league teams next season with any move to the Lancashire Pyramid postponed until 2027 at the earliest, cricket in Cumbria celebrates another successful year with some fine performances throughout the summer.
Millom’s Waterson takes the batting crown with a high score of 134 not out, followed by Whitehaven’s Terance Warde with 790 league runs and a high score of 14, and Cockermouth skipper Matthew Sempill with 777 runs and a high score of 117.
The season’s high score goes to Cleator’s Dilan Jayalath with 130 not out.
On the bowling front, Egremont’s Coady Scott led the way with 32 wickets at an average of 14.84.
He is followed by Cockermouth’s Ethan Hardie-Knight who took 30 wickets, including 3 five wicket hauls, at an average of 11.67.
Keswick’s Paul Hindmarch takes the final podium position taking 28 wickets at an average 0f 13.07.
Fielding honours go to Millom’s Waterson with 19 wicketkeeping and 3 outfield catches and one stumping.
Furness’ Dominic Hendricks takes the plaudits for outfield catches with 18 to add to his 2 run outs.
So, another summer of premier league cricket comes to an end and while the players are in the spotlight, without the volunteers preparing the grounds, making the teas, scoring the matches, managing the league, and all the other things that go on in the background, there would be no cricket for the spectators to enjoy.
Also, thanks to those merry men who stand in the middle for the unenviable task of adjudging the no balls, LBWs, catches behind, and all the other laws of the game. Without them, there is no cricket and we wouldn’t be, already looking forward to next April when the sun will shine every Saturday.
- Cumbria Crack would also like to thank Ashley for submitting his reports every week and Ben Challis for supplying photos from games.
