Top match in the Cumbria Cricket League’s Premier Division tomorrow could be classed as the battle of the pretenders!
Certainly Millom and their visitors Workington will consider themselves still in with a shout for the title with seven matches left to play.
Millom, led by experienced in-form captain Graham Dawson and professional Nathan Waterston and seeing their emerging young talent starting to shine, will consider themselves in with a shout, only ten points behind new leaders Cockermouth.
So, too, will Workington who are fifth in the table, a place and a point behind Millom at the start of play tomorrow.
They decided to go for a professional this season after a few years of overseas amateurs and Vishva Chathuranga has rewarded them handsomely so far.
They also have some good young talent coming through as well as the more experienced campaigners like Matthew Lowdon, Adam Chambers and Kristian Moffat to back them up.
It’s a key game in the programme as two of the teams above them, Furness and Keswick, will expect to win their games.
Furness, beaten at Whitehaven last week, will expect to get back to winning form when they entertain the winless, bottom side Carlisle 2nds.
Keswick will also expect to be in business again after last week’s defeat against Cockermouth, when they travel to next-to-bottom Dalton.
The toughest game for the big three could be Cockermouth’s clash at Sandair against Whitehaven – six days after the home side beat the Playground team in the Higson Cup semi-final.
Whitehaven ended a five-game losing run with that fine win over Furness and that will surely have restored some confidence in a side that soared to the top of the table early in the campaign and were the last team to lose.
The other Premier Division game might even be the closest as Cleator host Wigton at the JD Campbell Memorial Ground.
Wigton have the edge – won four, lost seven – and no abandoned games, while Cleator’s record is won three, lost seven and one abandoned fixture.
The Premier Division League has been fortunate in that only four games, on one wet weekend, have been lost to the weather – although there is rain forecast for tomorrow.
It’s a topic covered by league secretary Peter Gardiner when he talks to Cumbria Crack’s John Walsh in our weekly feature on the Cumbria league, but they cover a wide range of subjects and you can listen below:
