Keswick have opened up a nine-point lead at the top of the Cumbria League’s Premier Division after beating close rivals Cockermouth by five wickets.
In a changing of the guard it’s champions Furness who have moved into second place with Cockermouth now two points further back.
At Sandair the home side were asked to bat first and made a disastrous start, limping to 31-4 and it needed Ryan Carruthers to get them up towards a competitive score.
He top-scored with 35, made fairly quickly, and when he went Cockermouth had reached 82-6.
The tail did well under the circumstances through Jacob Madigan (16), Josh Brown (14), Gabe Drimmie (14) and Ethan Hardie Knight (13no) so that 140 all out was much better than looked likely with the big guns back in the pavilion.
Maion wicket-takers for Keswick were Meljo Jose (3-21) and professional Nisala Tharaka (3-30).
The winning Keswick reply was nicely anchored by James McGown, batting at three, and after both openers went with the score on 28, he wasn’t for moving.
He made 52no from 100 balls and with assistance from Tharaka (23), Will Atkinson (21) and earlier, opener Glen Weightman (21), Keswick got to 143-5 of 42.3 overs.
Furness have got into their stride and scored another important win, beating Whitehaven by 25 runs.
For the West Cumbrians it was a third successive defeat – all against the current top three.
Furness were put into bat and reached 214-4 with contributions throughout the order.
Professional Pramod Maduwantha (56no), Tom Heywood (47), Lewis Gribbin (34), Samson Storey (33) and Mark Daly (22no) helped them build a solid total.
Whitehaven professional Kevin Perera was key to their response and he certainly kept them in the contest.
Kian Larmoir (26) and Steven Holliday (21) were both out soon after each other at the top of the order.
Perera (72) then held the innings together, but they slipped to 99-5.
The pro found a willing ally in skipper Leo Sanczuk (28) and they put on 53 for the sixth wicket.
But when Perera was caught off Maduwantha at 170-8 the game had swung firmly in Furness’ favour.
Maduwantha removed the last two batsmen and Furness had won by 25 runs.
The pro finished with 4-24 while Luke Shaw took 3-39.
Workington have been quietly moving up the table, largely through the exploits of their new professional Vishva Chathuranga.
Even after a rare failure by Chathuranga (22) they still managed to pick up the points at Cleator from a four wicket win.
They chose to field and had Cleator in early trouble as the first three batsmen failed to score.
They rallied though David Blackwell (31) and Tim Whitfield-Bott (23) and were eventually bowled-out in 48.4 overs for 117.
Matty Lowden (3-10), Simon Beare (3-19) and Kristian Moffat (3-36) shared the bowling honours for Workington.
When Blackwell had Chathuranga caught by Doug Hughes for 22 and then bowled Beare for a duck, Workington were looking shaky at 42-4.
They still weren’t comfortable at 91-6 but old heads Moffat (21no) and Lowden (7no) saw them over the line with four wickets and 20 overs to spare.
Blackwell finished with 3-31 from his ten overs.
Dalton secured their first win of the season when they beat Wigton by 67 runs.
They were invited to bat first by visiting Wigton and reached a satisfactory 194-9 in their 50 overs.
Professional Vaibhav Bhatt (51), Joe Braund-Smith (46) and Joss Edwards (33no) did most of the scoring, along with 42 extras!
Wigton professional Chris Hodgson took 3-20.
Always struggling, losing half the side for 48, Wigton needed an unbeaten 40 from Jonathan Pearson to get them into three figures but they were eventually bowled out for 127.
Barrow goalkeeper Wyll Stanway took 4-13 from 4.1 overs for Dalton.
Millom beat the bottom side Carlisle seconds by 93 runs despite a rare failure by pro Nathan Waterston.
He was out second ball but Millom came back strongly to reach 186 in 45.5 overs.
There were solid contributions from Graham Dawson (38), Callum High (37), Lachlan Wilson (23) and Cody Williamson (20).
Four Carlisle bowlers took two wickets apiece with Phil Frazer (2-22) doing best.
Carlisle were bowled out for 93 with the top-score of 32 by James Bell.
Oliver Mackie (3-15) and High (3-16) were the leading Millom bowlers.
