Last updated 19:44, Thursday, 17 July 2008

DEFENDING champions Workington have extended their lead at the top of the North Lancashire & Cumbria cricket league’s premier division.

Leaders Workington asked home side Cockermouth to bat at Sandair and it wasn’t easy going for them.

Although four batsmen got to the 20s none were able to take it on and come up with the good score that Cockermouth needed.

First change Martyn Turner took two wickets in his first two overs without conceding a run and he finished as Workington’s most successful bowler with 3-23.

Cockermouth eventually closed on 152-7 after their 50 overs with professional Chamila Gamage (26), Ryan Carruthers (25), Greg Platten (20) and Gareth White (20) the leading run-makers.

Workington won with 8.5 overs and five wickets to spare but their innings followed a similar pattern.

The key partnership came from the fourth-wicket stand of 60 between Kristian Moffat (35) and Peter Chambers (24). Earlier Calum Moffat (33) and professional Simon Beare (22) had kept the champions ticking over.

Whitehaven were the only other side to win though at the start they weren’t particularly fancied to become the first team to turn-over Penrith in the league but they did so by five wickets in a low-scoring game at the Playground.

Penrith were put in to bat and it proved a good decision as they were always struggling on a pitch that had taken a lot of rain through the week.

Whitehaven professional Saliva Saman excelled, taking 5-30 from his 15 overs and he had excellent support from Tom Crowe who had 3-16 from 9.4 overs.

Tony Threlkeld, batting at eight top-scored with 19 and the only other batsman to reach double figures was young Ben Littleton as Penrith were shot out for 57.

Whitehaven didn’t exactly coast home and had their problems en-route, losing five wickets before reaching 61 to claim the full 18 points. Opener Eddie Birkett top-scored with 19 before he was run-out.

The other four games all ended as draws but in each case there was almost a positive result with three of the sides hanging on grimly for their points.

At Keswick the home side were 117-9 in pursuit of Cleator’s 160-8 when the game ended.

Paul Duffett, normally thought of as a free-scoring opening batsman, was proving the biggest threat to Keswick’s survival as he had taken 7-26. Keswick were indebted to a middle order stand between Neil Swainson (31) and John Mason (26) which helped keep them afloat long enough to eventually collect seven points from the draw.

Earlier Duffett had only made 13 for Cleator while his young opening partner Graham Clark top-scored with 42.

Struggling Duddon Sports earned themselves eight points from their draw at home to Millom. They were 101-9 after their visitors had been bowled-out for 142.

Elsroy Powell, Millom’s new professional for the second half of the season, had been instrumental in keeping his side going, scoring exactly half the total with 71. Powell then took 3-33 but Joe Alexander’s 57 was crucial for Duddon.

At Furness the home side were 114-9 after Dalton had posted 138-9 with the game’s best individual score coming from the Furness opener Stuart Horne who made 64.

The only two scores over 200 were both in the same premier division game at Haverigg.

The home side made 237-8 led by David Bell (52), Sridharan Sriram (45) and Stuart Chapman (32) with Usman Saeed (4-55) and Simon Plevin (3-47) doing best with the ball for Carlisle.

Saeed, who has been in good form, failed with the bat as he was out without scoring but his opening partner Marc Brown reached 69 and with good middle-order support from Alan Blaylock (48) it looked for a while as though Carlisle would go very close.

But they rather fell away in the closing stages and at 200-8 had to settle for 10 points from the draw.

In division one Egremont’s long-serving Richard Booth produced a career best as he took 9-31 in a remarkable victory against Appleby Eden.

Booth’s impressive spell skittled Appleby Eden for 67, of which professional Tillakaratne Sampath top-scored with 27.

Egremont had only managed 75 themselves when they batted first as Andrew Lightfoot (4-17), Mark Ousby (3-9) and Sampath (3-28) gave Booth a taste of what he could do later.

The big match in division one - Kirby v Lindal Moor - finished as a draw while Wigton stayed in title contention with win over Ulverston.

Lanercost were on the receiving end against their visitors Vickerstown and went down by 43 runs.

Ian Hogg hit 44 in the visitors’ 147 with Keith Foster and Adam Cairns each taking three wickets for Lanercost. Matty Brown held the Lanercost reply together with a battling 53 but they were eventually bowled out for 104 with Gareth Benson taking 6-24.

In the battle of the second teams Cleator got the better of their visitors from Keswick by five wickets.

Dave Gaskell (62) and Geoff Dixon (51) dominated the Keswick total of 172 but Dave Mossop (82) and Stephen Wishart (40) were big players when Cleator responded with 175-5.

Workington Seconds beat Hawcoat Park by four wickets. The Whinn family had key roles for Workington. Dad Andrew was 43 not out in the team’s winning reply of 135-6 after talking 3-32 as the visitors were bowled out for 133. Son Jordan took 3-21.

Tom McGeen (47) and Dan McDermott (3-12) were other key performers for Workington. Dave Muncaster scored 54 for Hawcoat Park.

Fixtures Premier: Cleator v Haverigg, Cockermouth v Duddon, Dalton v Keswick, Millom v Whitehaven, Penrith v Furness, Workington v Carlisle.

Division one: Appleby Eden v Ulverston, Keswick Seconds, Lanercost, Kirkby v Hawcoat Park, Lindal Moor v Cleator Seconds, Vickerstown v Egremont, Wigton v Workington Seconds.

Sunday - Higson Cup semi-finals: Carlisle v Millom, Whitehaven v Keswick.