WITH three draws on the opening day of the Westmorland Cricket League, Arnside, Shireshead and Windermere took full advantage as they recorded victories to get their respective seasons off to good starts.

Arnside were surprised when Milnthorpe won the toss and decided to bat, and the visitors got off to a slow start, scoring at a rate of two runs an over by the 20th over.

Arnside picked up the key wicket of Phil Bovis for just four, leaving Milnthorpe 12-1, and Robert Shepherd was the main man who caused the damage with the ball, picking up a five-wicket haul for the loss of 57 runs.

Chris Baldwin’s 37 and Colin Whitehouse’s 28 were the two biggest scorers for Milnthorpe as Chirs Howsley and Adrian Lee also chipped in with a couple of wickets apiece.

On a slow pitch, it was a case of batsmen getting themselves out for both teams, as the visitors were bowled all out for 115 in the 41st over.

Opener Lee went on to score 26 despite surviving an early scare as Arnside chased down Milnthorpe’s target with eight overs and two wickets to spare.

Seventeen-year-old Ben Till top-scored for Arnside with 29, and David Birch struck a six to win the game with a fluorish for the home team.

Shireshead began the 2013 season with a convincing win at Heysham.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first Shireshead made steady progress as openers Tom Jacques and Nick Rafferty added 58 for the first wicket in 19 overs.

Jacques (75) pressed the accelerator to put Shireshead firmly in control in the company of skipper Paul Yates (27).

When Jacques departed, Phil Oliver (35) took up where he left off, striking the ball fluently and Uzair Shah (25) provided a late flourish to set a very healthy total of 204-7.

J Cassidy (2-30) was the pick of the Heysham attack.

Gareth Jennings (4-34) and Uzair Shah (1-5) tore into the Heysham batting to reduce them quickly to 6-3.

Mike Park (3-4) added to the damage with an accurate spell of bowling and Robert Jacques produced a run out with a super piece of fielding that left Heysham reeling at 31-7.

A Foster (29) rallied the innings, accompanied by C Boak, who defended diligently, but Shireshead were not to be denied as Oliver and the returning Jennings finished the job off with three overs to spare.

Windermere made short shrift of Bare as they eased to a seven-wicket success.

Jono Cooper picked up a five-wicket haul, conceding 58 runs in the process, while Matt Park was 4-50 as Bare reached 117-9 at the end of their allotted overs.

It left Windermere with a straightforward task as they knocked that total off with half their innings to spare.

Cooper had a great all-round performance as he struck an unbeaten 46 to win the game for Windermere, with open Oliver Killiner recording 28.

Mike Lewthwaite also added 28 not out as he and Cooper had an unbroken partnership of 70 to win the game for the Queens Park outfit.

Draws were the order of the day for the rest of the league, with Warton getting the most bonus points out of their winning draw at home to Trimpell.

Burneside and Westgate picked up eight points apiece as they recorded winning draws at Silverdale and at home to Bolton-le-Sands respectively.

A knock of 55 for Andy Hill gave Westgate a respectable 161-5, but they were unable to complete the task of bowling Bolton-le-Sands out as they responded with 94-7.

Seven wickets were all that Burneside could muster against Silverdale, who scored 99-7.

In the first innings, Jon Mason picked up a five-wicket haul as Burneside reached 182-9.

Meanwhile in Division Four, Carnforth began their season by striking 368-6 in the first innings against Shireshead.

The former Northern Premier League boys claimed a seven-point winning draw as Shireshead scored 55-5 in reply.