A WEEK after losing their first home league game in three years, a second followed for Shireshead as they lost by one wicket to Silverdale in Division One of the Westmorland Cricket League.

Paul Moffat (4 for 34) and Jon Mason (5 for 16) were in their element from the beginning. Tom Jacques, Simon Gould and Danny Wilkinson were all removed without scoring as Shireshead slipped from 15-1 to 19-6.

James Rafferty (42) and Jack Dodd (18 not out) built the only partnership of note in the whole innings as they added 62 for the ninth wicket. 110 all out represented a major recovery but still gave Shireshead very little margin for error with the ball.

Dave Jack (4 for 47) and James Rafferty both struck in their first overs as Mason went for nought and Silverdale were quickly reduced to 1 for 2. Jack Hargreaves (34) however then took 22 from the 6th over of the innings to put Silverdale quickly back on track.

The fall of Hargreaves to Jacques (3-31) followed by two more wickets in the next over left Silverdale reeling at 41-5, which became 76-8 shortly afterwards.

This left Silverdale skipper Philip Mason (44 not out) with 35 required for victory with just numbers 10 and 11 for company, but Mason coolly saw his side to victory with the last pair adding 21.

That result paved the way for Arnside to move to the top of the league as they comfortably dispatched of Warton.

They secured the 15 points by posting a very respectable 196/8 before bowling the opposition out for 87 to win by 111 runs.

Westgate are now only three points behind Shireshead after a convincing win of their own against Ambleside.

Although they struggled with the bat to post just 113 runs, they skittled out Ambleside for just 50 runs to claim the spoils.

Elsewhere, Windermere's low total of 86 was easily eclipsed by Heysham with four runs to spare, while Burneside got nowhere near Carnforth's 205-7 as they managed just 87 in reply.