There were raucous celebrations at Edenside on Sunday as Carlisle Cricket Club held off Cleator in a nerve-jangling County Cup semi-final to book a place in the final against Furness next month.

Defending 188 from their 40 overs, Carlisle were indebted to the all-round excellence of Barbadian Justin Greaves, who made decisive contributions throughout the game as the home side won by just five runs.

On a warm afternoon in front of a sizeable crowd, it was the visitors who won the toss and asked Carlisle to bat on a greenish pitch likely to offer some help to the bowlers after overnight rain.

But despite the early loss of openers Ben Davidson and Dan Gomersall, Carlisle began to wrestle some control back thanks to a partnership of 113 between skipper Marc Brown and professional Greaves.

Greaves’ classy and inventive 78 provided the backbone to the home side’s innings as Carlisle finished on 188-7, an adequate but far from daunting pro-rata score.

Cleator were slow out of the blocks in reply, due largely to the control offered by Greaves whose stingy eight overs bowled in two spells yielded only 19 runs, while dismissing the middle-order pair of Rogers and Hocking.

That intervention was crucial as Cleator had recovered from a sluggish start to edge themselves ahead in the run chase as the home side failed to make an early breakthrough.

James Dawson’s brilliant run out of opener David Watson though turned the tide, while Alex Raybould accounted for the dangerous pairing of Darren Clark and pro Kavindu Kulesekra.

Greaves then returned to play his part, including a stunning return catch to get rid of James Rogers.

But Cleator ensured the game would go to the wire, as they picked themselves up off the ropes several times to stay in contention.

Veteran watchers at Edenside describe the final 15 overs as amongst the finest passage of play seen in many years as a nerve-wracking finale approached.

But with ten needed from the last six balls, 16-year-old seamer Henry Walker held his nerve to deny Cleator and spark home celebrations ahead of a final at Cleator against Furness.