Week 3 Preview and a round -up of last week

Saturday sees a mouth-watering encounter between two of the Championship favourites at Heysham’s Carr Lane ground. For the home side, former Rishton player Shaun Wyse replaces Jamie Antcliffe, whilst with captain Ben Leacock unavailable, Stephen Cooper will captain Burnside. Jack Thwaites comes in for Dan Greenwood and Mark Kelsall for Leacock. Burneside do not have a good recent record at Heysham and will feel that they need to make a good start against the reunited pairing of Sam Calverley and Jamie Cassidy. With Riley Wilson impressing at Warton and Graeme Cassidy at his wily best, Burneside will need their formidable batting line up of David Batty, Ethan Ellwood, Ben Phillips, Ryan Shepherd, and Conor Nicholson to fire. Whilst Burneside and Heysham slug it out, Sedgwick and Shireshead will be looking to win against Carnforth 2nds and Kendal 2nds.

Shireshead will be wary about Kendal having provided the home side’s only win in the second half of last season. In Division 2 Westgate 2nds will hope to build on their early leadership with a win at Sedgwick. On Sunday, the Division 4 season gets underway with games at Coniston and Kirkby Lonsdale.

Burneside and Sedgwick are the two teams with maximum points as their bowler steamrollered Morecambe and Kendal second teams last week. Oscar Coxon (3/7) led Burneside’s attack as they bowled out Morecambe for 50, number 10 Alex Hill top scoring with 14. Burneside needed only 8 overs to complete a 10-wicket win, Ethan Ellwood making 42 not out. Sedgwick were restricted to 129/7 by Kendal, with the returning Oli Killiner taking 3/40 as Lee Tattersall (250 and Carl Bevan (24) led the batting in soft conditions that were to favour the Sedgwick bowlers. Jason Dalzell took 4/1 as the visitors were all out for 36.

Just behind in third place are Heysham whose batsmen combined to score 144. Lewis Plackett (29), Jamie Antcliffe (27), Sam Calverley (26) and Riley Wilson (18) made the important contributions. Harry Tugman took 3/31 whilst Graham Kellett, on debut, took 3/36. Tom Barnfield made 19, but Warton collapsed from 47/3 to 63 all out. Australian Riley Wilson took 4/14, whilst there was 4/16 for Sam Calverley and 2/16 for Jamie Cassidy. Nestled in fourth place are Shireshead who scored 118/6 in a game like many others that had reduced overs due to the mornings rain. Joe Cunliffe made 41 whilst Adam Murphy weighed in with 26 not out. Joel Bibby (14) and Liam Teasdale (21) took Holme to 52/1 but Dave Jack (3/18), Ernie Collinson (2/10) and Jack Cunnington (2/18) forced them to settle on a losing draw on 73/8.

Adam Richardson scored 93 not out from just 80 balls as Arnside compiled 182/6 at Bare, receiving good support from Jason Bingley (25) whilst Robbie White took 4/17. White (33) was the only serious resistance as Rob Shepherd took a magnificent 5/9 from 11 overs as Bare were all out for 87. The final game between Kirkby Lonsdale and Carnforth 2nds was washed out, as were games at Sedbergh and Ambleside in Division 2.

Westgate 2nds are the only team with a perfect record in Division 2 after beating Morecambe 3rds by 13 runs. Phil Harvey (54) showed his class striking 6 fours and a six in his 69-ball innings as no other batsman scored more than 6 in 88 all out, Mark Armistead (4/25) and Connor Marsh (3/12) making full use of the conditions. Morecambe were all out for 75 in reply after Kevin Demain (23) and Oli Battersby (27) had put them in a good position at 45/2. It was the unlikely figure of Sam Frith (5/10) who was responsible for the Morecambe collapse. Shireshead 2nds beat Netherfield 3rds by 26 runs, Josh Smethurst finishing the game with a hat-trick.

It was Masonic dominance at Silverdale as Jon Mason made 59 and his nephew Harry Mason a career best 65 not out in the home sides 128/1. Jon Mason then proved unplayable taking 6/7 whilst his brother Phil Mason took 3/7 as Coniston crumbled for 26. Heysham 2nds bowled out Milnthorpe for 103 and reached their target without losing a wicket.

In Division 3 on Saturday the only game to escape the weather was at Holme where their second team beat Ingleton by 6 runs. On Sunday Marcus Oates made 60 not out for Burneside 2nds in their 124/9 at Carnforth, Connor Dyson taking 3/7. Carnforth 3rds young guns Lewis Spurr (36) and Louis Potter (46 not out) led the response after Phil Hartley (3/23) made early inroads as Carnforth gambolled to 5 wickets win that puts them top of the Division.

Fixtures

Saturday April 29th
Division 1
Arnside v Warton 2pm
Carnforth 2nds v Sedgwick 2pm
Heysham v Burneside
Holme v Bare
Kendal 2nds v Shireshead
Morecambe 2nds v Kirkby Lonsdale

Division 2
Ambleside v Milnthorpe 1.30pm
Sedgwick 2nds v Westgate 2nds 2pm
Coniston v Netherfield 3rds
Shireshead 2nds v Cartmel
Silverdale v Heysham 2nds

Division 3
Bare 2nds v Holme 2nds
Burneside 2nds v Windermere
Galgate v Silverdale 2nds
Leven Valley v Arnside 2nds 2pm
Trimpell v Ingleton

Sunday April 30th

Division 2
Morecambe 3rds v Sedbergh School 2nds

Division 3
Carnforth 3rds v Bolton le Sands 2pm
Division 4
Coniston 2nds v Sedbergh School 3rds
Kirkby Lonsdale 2nds v Milnthorpe 2nds