Four-wicket win for champs
Last updated 19:39, Thursday, 12 June 2008
WORKINGTON beat their nearest rivals by four wickets as they strengthened their position at the top of the Marston’s North Lancashire and Cumbria League’s premier division.
Even though the defending champion’s professional Simon Beare failed with a duck, in pursuit of a Furness total of 200-7, Workington still had enough in the tank.
Looking rocky at 36-3, Workington were put back on course by a fourth-wicket stand of 126 between Kristian Moffat (64) and Andrew Reed (50).
Both went in consecutive overs and Simon James soon followed, leaving Workington at 179-6 and the possibility of a nervous finish.
But captain Stephen Benson (19no) and county bowler Matthew Gorley (13no) saw the champions through with more than seven overs to spare.
Earlier James (3-62) and Gorley (2-51) had been the most successful Workington bowlers when Furness took first use of a good wicket.
Although professional Majid Jahangir went for only 16, Furness were steadied by a second-wicket stand of 82 between Mike Gadsden (70) and Mark Daly (47) and some solid work late on from Martin Lewis (25no). Peter Lawson was the most successful Furness bowler, taking 3-57.
Cockermouth’s Greg Platten is on a remarkable run of form as the Sandair side racked up another excellent win.
The opener followed up last week’s unbeaten century with 77 not out as Cockermouth won by nine wickets at Carlisle. Hugh Gimber went for 27. But Platten and Gareth White (72no) saw Cockermouth through to victory on 183-1.
Earlier Carlisle had reached 180-8 in their 50 overs, a total which owed much to an opening stand between professional Usman Saeed (65) and Marc Brown (43).
It’s the second week in a row in which this pair has laid solid foundations but the side hasn’t been able to build on them.
White (2-12), Chris Hodgson (2-43) and professional Chamila Gamage (2-54) did best with the ball for Cockermouth.
Keswick are starting to pull themselves together after a disappointing start to the season and they were comfortable nine-wicket winners at Whitehaven.
Professional Dinuka Hettiarachchi had his second five-wicket haul in successive league games, and this one was even more devastating.
He removed Whitehaven’s top scorers Steve Holliday (30) and Nick Twinn (24) and finished with 5-6 as the home side collapsed to 106 all out.
Richard Webster was run out for 12 but Imran Khan (42no) and Darren Collin (31no) saw Keswick through to victory.
Cleator have gone off the ball recently and they had to settle for 10 points from their drawn game at Millom as the winless run continued.
County bowler Dave Rooney took 5-36 and professional Paul Duffett had 3-59 but Millom still managed to reach 193, largely due to the efforts of talented young opener Ryan Brown who was unbeaten on 116.
Cleator’s response also revolved around their young opener Graham Clark but when he was bowled for 68 the challenge faded and they were happy to settle for the draw at 159-9. Professional Nathan Murray had 4-47 for Millom.
Penrith were on the receiving end at home to Dalton but at the end of the day they salvaged a draw and eight points.
Dalton liked the Penrith track as they smashed 237-5 in their 50 overs led by Justin Quint (136) and Geoff Caine (52). Professional Upul Fernando (46) and Andrew Hall (39) played solidly early on but Penrith were only 165-6 at the close.
In a low-scoring game at Duddon the home side were celebrating after recording their first win of the season.
Haverigg were skittled for 68 in pursuit of Duddon’s 91 with Gary Stevenson taking 6-15.
Sridharan Sriram, the Haverigg professional had done even better though, with 7-17 off 8.3 overs of off-spin.
In division one Wigton had a big win at Keswick Seconds after cracking 268-7 on a perfect Fitz Park batting strip. Bobby Sherlock (86) and David Ray (50) were the leading run-makers for the visitors.
Keswick didn’t find runs as easy to come by against Daniel Braithwaite (5-26) and Steve Murdoch (5-28) and were bowled out for 115 but it was a special day for Graham Dixon who batted well to make 51, his maiden NLC half century.
Workington Seconds beat their Cleator counterparts by four wickets after bowling out the home side for 112. David Pearce took 3-22. Stephen Miller top-scored with 33 in a winning Workington response of 113-6.
Appleby Eden were comfortable eight-wicket winners at Vickerstown after bowling-out the home side for 45. Phil Cook (5-13) and Tillakaratne Sampath (3-11) did the damage and although there were a couple of early casualties Terry Askew (23no) and Sampath (11no) saw Appleby through to victory.
In a tight game at Gillfoot, Egremont just lost out to Kirkby by two wickets. The West Cumbrians had posted 178-8 led by Gavin Parkinson (63) and Lee O’Connor (33) but in a desperately close finish Kirkby reached 179-8 to record the win. Mike Etchells top-scored with 47 for Kirkby while Richard Booth had 4-26 for Egremont.
Lanercost reached 183-7 (Keith Foster 42) to beat visitors Ulverston (179-7), while Hawcoat Park won by three wickets at Lindal Moor.
Fixtures - Premier: Carlisle v Duddon SC, Cleator v Cockermouth, Dalton v Millom, Harerigg v Whitehaven, Keswick v Furness, Penrith v Workington.
Division one: Appleby Eden v Keswick Seconds, Hawcoat Park v Cleator Seconds, Ulverston v Egremont, Vickerstown v Kirkby, Wigton v Lindal Moor, Workington Seconds v Lanercost.
