Weekend Preview and report from last week

The day has dawned grey and wet. Cricketers across the region will hope that the forecast is accurate and the rain relents to allow some play in what should be a set of key games, particularly in the nether reaches of Division 1. Kirkby Lonsdale and Holme occupy the bottom two places, but Kirkby host Bare and Holme go to Carnforth and wins for the bottom two would mean that it will be all to play for in the last month of the season. At the other end of the table, Heysham play in form Kendal 2nds, Shireshead go to Warton and third place Sedgwick host fourth place Burneside.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow as well for the rearranged Hackney and Leigh, and British Rose Cricket Finals at Netherfield. Holders Burneside play Shireshead at 1pm while Shireshead 2nds will hope to defend their trophy against Netherfield 3rds.

Burneside’s defeat at Shireshead has strengthened Heysham’s prospects of a first league championship since 1961, even though they were held to a draw by Holme. Batting first Heysham declared on 177/5 from 35 overs with Lewis Plackett (47), Phil Bovis (53) and Sam Calverley (56), Bovis scoring hid fifth league and surprisingly Calverley’s first. A model of consistency he has made 409 runs at an average of 37, with a lowest score of 20. Given 39 overs to bat, Richard Herron (30), Joel Bibby (28) and Robin Adams (21) led the resistance that saw Holme finish on 116/8. Shireshead scored 172/9 at home to Burneside with their young opening pair of Stan Collinson (29) and Joe Cunliffe (32) adding 61 for the first wicket that was built on by a fine 45 from 58 balls by Rick Hamblett. Ben Leacock (3/14) and Nathan Chambers (4/28) removed the middle and later order to stop the home side progressing beyond 200. Ernie Collinson (4/13) removed the first four wickets. Chambers (29) battled hard, but Joe Oliver (2/19) and Jack Cunnington (4/17) completed the 91 wicket win that sees Shireshead move to second place, 21 points behind Heysham. A point behind in third are Sedgwick who beat a Bare side who appear to be in freefall by 9 wickets. Jason Dalzell took 4/0 as Bare were all out for 52.

Adam Richardson hit his third hundred of the season and has now scored 787 runs at a Bradmanesque 98.38. His 102 not out from 103 balls included a 131 run stand with Ben Lenton (59) as Arnside scored 195/4 from 40 overs. Carnforth 2nds finished only 3 runs short as Kieran Saunders (40), Graham Dodds (43 not out) and Zak Dodds (28 not out) nearly pulled off an outstanding win. Rob Shepherd took 3/41 for Arnside. Ben Dobson (61) showed his promise for Morecambe 2nds in an 83 ball innings that was the backbone of their 167/8 against Kendal 2nds. Andy Dugdale took 3/26, but Oli Tyson oozed class in making 107 not out from just 87 balls in reply, as he and Shane Hyland (57 not out) achieved the target without loss. Disappointingly wet conditions prevented the conclusion of the game at Kirkby Lonsdale where Alex Batson (31) had top scored for Warton as James Royce took 3/34 and Luke Troughton 3/14. Kirkby were 29/2 when the weather intervened.

Silverdale are the new leaders in Division 2 beating Shireshead 2nds by 43 runs on DLS. Harry Mason (63) hit his third fifty and Jack Belcher (39) took the home side to 165/8, Daniel Pye taking 3/33. Simon Gould (35) and Mike Mead (34) made the only serious contributions as Shireshead were all for 102 with 5 balls remaining. Jon Mason took 4/20 and Phil Mason 4/30. Milnthorpe failed to make ground on Shireshead as Liam Burrow (3/27) led the Morecambe 3rds attack that bowled them out for 92. At 67/7 with Matthew Studt taking 3/23, the game was in the balance but cool heads from Mark Routledge (21 not out) and Connor Marsh (12 not out) saw them home. Morecambe remain next to bottom but closed the gap on Sedgwick 2nds to 12 points, who lost by 3 wickets at Ambleside. Dave Hannigan (35) and Matthew Bradshaw (28) enabled Westgate 2nds to post 103 against Heysham 2nds for whom Oliver Toulmin took 5/16. Toulmin (32 not out) and David Whittaker (25) then extracted their side from difficulty with a 49 run stand after they slipped to 34/5 with Sunil Naikwadi taking 4/14. Rain prevented the completion of the game at Coniston after Cartmel had scored 101, Mike Burton taking 3/34 and Sam Eccles 4/35.

In Division 3 Trimpell are the new leaders, supplanting Ingleton who they beat by 7 wickets. After CJ Green (4/31) and Luke Sprules (3/21) reduced Ingleton to 39/6, Ben Melton (52) and Jack Chamberlain (50 not out) led a recovery to 151. Joe Sumsion (43) and Mark Baldwin (44 not out) took Trimpell to the win. Promotion hopefuls Leven Valley were bowled out for 63 by fellow aspirants Burneside 2nds. Only Tony Johnson (32) made double figures as Carlin Green took 3/24. Green made 17, but Burneside had no answer to Kyle Hinds who took 6/18 which takes him to the 30 wicket mark for the season at an average of 6.87. Burneside were all out for 43, but remain 6 points behind Ingleton who have a game in hand. Leven Valley are 4 points further back in fourth. Dan Sykes (4/12) and Lewis Rands-Trevor (3/31) bowled out Holme 2nds for 63 which Windermere passed for the loss of 6 wickets, Kieran Hunter taking 4/16. Jack Dougan (33) and Andy Thomas (57) added 83 for the first wicket for Silverdale 2nds. Dave Howard (3/28) and Luke Gorst (3/20) pegged them back to 155/8 which proved too many for Arnside 2nds who despite Eddie Hart (37) and Luke Ladell (33) were all out for 130 as Dougan took 5/14 and Harrison Belcher 3/23. The games at Bare and Bolton le Sands were rained off.

Ingleton are the Kendal Sports Trophies Champions beating Burneside 2nds by 9 runs in the final at Heysham CC. The losing captain Mark Ward won the man of the match for his 51 in chasing Ingleton’s 137 after taking 2/21. His opposite number, Luke Gorst took 4/16 and collected the trophy. Earlier Burneside had beaten Windermere and Ingleton had beaten Carnforth 3rds by 3 wickets with Josh Capstick scoring 38 and taking 2/27.

Morecambe 4ths retained the Moon & Coxhill Trophy beating Kendal 3rds in the final at Westgate CC with Joe Jackson winning the man of the match for scoring 86, whilst Ethan Packard took 4/27 and Jake Rigby 3/12 as they defended 173 to win by 51 runs. The main drama had come in the semi-final beaten Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale 2nds. Rupert Bunday’s 71 from 45 balls had powered Kirkby to 181/7. Few observers gave Kendal much chance, but Paul Hodgson made an incredible 112 from 74 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes meaning that the game was tied and that a superover would be determine the winner. Kendal won 16-10. Morecambe had earlier beaten Netherfield 4ths by 11 runs. Both the Heysham and Westgate clubs deserve praise for their efforts in putting on fantastic spectacles after weeks of wet weather.

In the National t20 Plate Burneside lost to Caldbeck and Furness in games that were reduced to 15 overs a side. Furness go through to the next round.