A COMFORTABLE 15 point win for Warton coupled with champions Shireshead's failure to dispose of a resilient Arnside saw the gap at the top of Division One narrow.

The leaders entertained Arnside on a rare sunny Saturday at Clifton Park and had to settle for a ten point winning draw after coming out on top in a hard fought game.

Shireshead elected to bat first and found it hard going as the Arnside bowlers bowled with great discipline.

On a wicket with a little more grass than usual Adam Cowperthwaite found extravagant movement and was unlucky to finish wicketless from a super 13 over spell.

Paul Yates (25) and Tom Jacques (23) added 41 for the first wicket, before Phil Bovis (30) continued the good work.

The fall of the third wicket brought Peter Wilson (49 not out) to the crease and he began to drive the innings forward as he struck eight sweetly timed boundaries in quick time.

He was joined by Izhar Ullah (38 not out) and between them the pair added 71 with Ullah striking six huge sixes as the innings reached its climax with the score at 189-5.

The Arnside top order found it just as difficult as the Shireshead batsmen had earlier, and they were soon reduced to 28-3 thanks to a superb run out from Jack Dodd and a fine spell from Dave Jack (2 for 36).

Adam Richardson (40) and M Shepherd (21) then added 44 to gain Arnside a foothold in the game, but the introduction of Tom Jacques (3 for 36) and Peter Wilson (3 for 13) precipitated a clatter of wickets as the batting side tried to keep track of the escalating run rate.

When the ninth wicket fell Shireshead had five overs left to clinch victory, however despite several close calls it wasn’t to be with Richard Hodgson and S Till bravely holding out for a losing draw.

That result left the door open for Warton to close the gap on Shireshead - and a convincing win over Westgate was just the ticket for the north Lancashire club.

Westgate struggled early on against the accuracy of Graeme Crowther and pace of Steven Beck and were indebted to a middle order partnership between Dylan Conroy (48) and C Buchannan (58) to lift their score to a respectable 149-8 - but on Warton's wicket this was never going to be enough.

In reply Warton got off to a brisk start with Stuart Mayor (24) but when Darren Moore and Jeff Winder departed early Westgate were definitely in the game.

However a match-winning partnership between Ryan Nelson (56no) and the impressive Tom Barnfield (49no) saw Warton home at a canter.

Elsewhere, a 77 from Heysham's S Dixon was not enough for Heysham who fell 14 runs short of victory at Ambleside while B Dixon's 58 proved the difference as Sedgwick chased down the 190 runs needed to edge past Silverdale.

S Coulton took a five-for for Milnthorpe as they skittled out bottom club Bare for just 85 runs before chasing down the target with only three wickets down and mid-table Burneside overtook Windermere after a 37 run win at Queen's Park.