KESWICK closed the gap on North Lancs Cumbria Premier Division champions Furness when they had the better of their clash in south Cumbria.

The Lakes team earned 17 points from the drawn game but had their opponents, who earned nine, hanging on at the end.

There are now only four points between the two sides now but hey are starting to put distance between themselves and the chasing pack who are still headed by Workington and Penrith.

Glen Weightman top-scored for Keswick with 65 as they made 193. Peter Lawson took 4-54 for the home side.

When they batted Furness were never going well as Keswick professional Paul Hindmarch took 4-50 but at the close they were still standing, if only just, on 138-9.

Cockermouth took on Carlisle at Keswick and the wicket proved conducive to good batting with 476 runs scored in the course of the day.

In-form Marc Brown (95no), Alex Raybould (81) and professional Saliya Saman (51no) all flourished for Carlisle as they hit a remarkable 240-1 to win by nine wickets.

Gareth White had laid the platform for Cockermouth’s 236-8 with a fine knock of 105. For Carlisle Craig Foxcroft took 4-63.

Workington returned to winning ways on Saturday with a hard-fought win in a low scoring game with Penrith.

Batting first Penrith lost wickets at regular intervals and struggled to 120 all out, with professional Upul Fernando scoring 44. Andrew Ireland was the most successful Workington bowler with 5-25.

Workington were cruising on 71-3 but Fernando then dismissed Kristian Moffat for 29 with his first ball and went on to take 4-8 to reduce them to 79-7.

But cometh the hour, cometh Martyn Turner, who came in at number nine to score 37 not out and win the game with three wickets to spare.

On Sunday Workington also won in a County Cup game at Carlisle after scoring 150-5 in their 20 overs. Andrew Reed (27) and Callum Moffat (38) put on 62 for the first wicket while Kristian Moffat (37) and Steve Benson (26 not out) added 53 for the fifth.

Carlisle fell 23 runs short at 127-8, with Saman scoring 33 and Dan McDermott taking 3-16 from his four overs.

Back to the League and Millom continued to make stealthy progress as thy beat Kirkby by eight wickets.

Majid Jahangir made 65 not out in a winning Millom response of 160-2 after Kirkby had been bowled-out for 159. Paul New scored 63 for Kirkby.

There was some joy for bottom side Vickerstown as they beat Whitehaven by 53 runs with Gareth Benson proving to be the match-winner with the day’s best bowling performance of 8-32. That dismissed Whitehaven for 100 after he west Cumbrians had bowled-out their hosts for 153. Geoff Luxon scored 51.

Cleator hung on or a draw in the other Premier Division game. Chasing Haverigg’s 196-6 they were 147-9 at stumps. Steve Evans took 6-49 for Haverigg with Bazid Khan top-scoring for the south Cumbrians with 89.

Duddon SC and Wigton are starting top pull clear at the top of the Division One table.

It was all too easy for Duddon as they thrashed Ulverston by 223 runs while Wigton had to work a bit hard to beat Cleator seconds by four wickets.

Duddon hammered 293-4 in their 50 overs led by Lewis Gribbin (85) and Kris McLean (62) before Joe Alexander took 6-35 to bowl-out the visitors for a mere 70.

Cleator seconds hit 227-4 at Wigton with young James Rodgers falling agonisingly one run short of a maiden League century. The home side responded with 228-6 and Gerrard Jackson top-scored with 69.

Appleby Eden professional Scott Clement produced the day’s best bowling performance in Division One with 7-21 as Millom seconds were rolled-over for just 50.

The home side didn’t find it easy in response but did enough on 52-6 to claim maximum points. Jake Pennington took 5-37.

Dave Muncaster (107) scored the day’s only century in Division One as Hawcoat Park got the better of a drawn game with Lanercost. They reached 318-5 with Steve Thorburn (50) giving solid support. Jon Robley was Lanercost’s most successful bowler with 4-43.

While never getting near the target Lanercost responded with 192 for 8 and Robley completed a personal good day by top-scoring with 41.

Workington seconds were in trouble at Egremont, slumping to 28-5 but were revived by Dave Pearce (43), Andrew Whinn (36) and Adam Chambers (23) so that they reached 148 all out. Richard Booth took 5-11 and Shaun Bostock had 3-49.

Egremont responded with 152-7 for their first win of the season, led by Ron Looney (40), Veteran Paul McKeown had another good bowling stint for Workington, finishing with 4-47.

In Division Two Seascale had an easy victory at home to Vickerstown Reserves.

The away team chose to bat first and were bowled out for just 75 in 21.4 overs as Jake Saunders (3-7), Tom Hogg (2-29) and skipper Steve Brown senior (2-8) were amongst the wickets.

In reply Seascale took just 11.3 overs to take the 18 points on 76-2, opener Mark Farries hitting 25 and Jack Graham unbeaten on 48.

With leaders Furness having no game, the result saw Seascale leap-frog them to take a 15 point lead into the second half of the season.

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