Champions claim yet another victory
Last updated 19:45, Thursday, 31 July 2008
TOP versus bottom in the North Lancs Cumbria League’s premier division went as expected with Workington moved relentlessly towards a second successive title.
Hosts Duddon were bowled out for just 104 as Simon James took 4-13 for the champions and professional Simon Beare held four catches.
Beare only scored four with the bat as Workington raced to a seven-wicket win in only 25.2 overs.
Openers Andrew Reed (36) and Calum Moffat (30) gave Workington a solid start and Matthew Gorley (28no) went in earlier than normal to see them home to victory.
Penrith haven’t given up the chase and they also collected 18 points from their win over Keswick in a low-scoring game at Fitz Park.
Keswick professional Dinuk Hettiarachchi took 5-39 as Penrith were bowled out for 122 with Andrew Hall top-scoring on 30.
But if Keswick thought they could cruise to victory they were in for a rude awakening as they were dismissed for just 85. John Iniff (4-26), Kriss McLean (2-9) and Upul Fernando (2-13) did most of the damage.
Imran Khan, with 15, was top-scorer in a disappointing Keswick response.
Every game in the premier produced a positive finish and the clearest winners of those other games were Whitehaven who beat visitors Cockermouth by eight wickets.
Simon Dawson took 5-40 for Whitehaven as Cockermouth were bowled out for 175.
The innings had been built on a second-wicket stand between Hugh Gimber (36) and Gareth White (52), and given late impetus by Chris Hodgson (34).
After losing Eddie Birkett (19) and Andrew Kelly (7), Whitehaven were carried to victory by professional Saliva Saman (83no) and Johnny Bruce (54no).
Veteran Ian Clark, batting down the order, produced a valuable 38no for Cleator which helped set up victory over Carlisle - by exactly that amount.
Only Robert Mason (23) topped 20 as Cleator looked to the head of the Clark family for late order stability. It got them to 182-8 with Carlisle professional Usman Saeed taking 3-42.
But the Carlisle response relied heavily on opener Glen Clark who made exactly half their total of 144.
Graham Clark (4-32) and David Rooney (3-18) shared the bowling honours for Cleator.
In the south Cumbrian derby games there were wins for Millom at Furness and Haverigg at home to Dalton.
Stand-in professional Kashif Shafi took 3-24 for Millom when they restricted Furness to 176-6 - an innings which revolved around professional Majid Jahangir.
Peter Lawson took 3-35 for Furness when Millom responded with 180-5 led by Stuart Swallow (78) and Peter Brockbank (39no).
Dalton elected to bat at Haverigg and must have been disappointed that they could manage only 102 which was built around a knock of 46 from Glen Caine.
Left-arm seamer Roy Carton took 5-22 and professional Sridharan Sriram had 3-27.
Haverigg had 19 overs and six wickets in hand as they reached 103-4 to collect only their second league win of the season. Sriram was unbeaten on 47.
Kirkby have a one-point lead at the top of division one with six games left to play.
They had a good eight-wicket win at Cleator Seconds after bowling out the home side for 122.
Mark Etchells (5-27) and Mike Etchells (4-27) did a family demolition job on the West Cumbrians who disappointed after 44 from opener Dave Mossop.
Peter Tyson was in no mood to hang about and hit 62no in Kirkby’s winning reply of 126-2.
There was a thriller at Egremont where the home side squeezed past visitors Keswick Seconds by just one wicket.
Richard Booth took 3-30 when Keswick were bowled out for 121 with Glen Thompson (30) the top scorer.
Thompson completed a good match by taking 6-17 but it wasn’t enough as Gavin Parkinson (24no) guided home the Egremont tail after openers Shaun Bostock (33) and Jason Norman (28) nearly saw their good early work undone.
Lindal Moor stayed in the title hunt with a three-wicket win at Lanercost after David Ferguson had played a major role in the home side reaching 161.
But Lindal responded well and solid knocks of 42 each by Andrew Parkinson and Paul Webster, who had both hit half centuries in the previous week’s Sowerby Cup semi-final, got them to 163-7.
Wigton’s attempt to bounce right back into the top flight appears to be stalling as they were beaten by four wickets at Hawcoat Park.
They batted first and made 198-8, which was built around a fine 101 from Tom Holliday. But it wasn’t enough as the home side reached 202-6 to win the game led by ex-Cumberland captain Simon Dutton (73) and David Muncaster (55).
Workington Seconds were seven-wicket winners over Appleby Eden after they had dismissed their visitors for 128.
Dan McDermott (3-18) and Jordan Whinn (3-26) were the main wicket takers and then Tom McGeen (70no) and David Pearce (34no) steered the home side to victory on 130-3.
Fixtures - Premier: Cockermouth v Furness, Dalton v Carlisle, Duddon v Whitehaven, Millom v Keswick, Penrith v Haverigg, Workington v Cleator.
Division one: Appleby Eden v Hawcoat Park, Cleator Seconds v Lanercost, Keswick Seconds v Ulverston, Kirkby v Wigton, Lindal Moor v Egremont, Vickerstown v Workington Seconds.
Sunday - Higson Cup final at Cleator CC: Keswick v Millom.
