Cricket - Milnthorpe claw way back to top spot (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Cricket - Milnthorpe claw way back to top spot

12:11pm Thursday 9th September 2010 in Westmorland League

SHIRESHEAD fluffed a chance to blast Milnthorpe out of the title reckoning on the penultimate weekend.

Instead it was Mike Curran's men who came good to recapture tp spot with a seven-wicket victory that leaves a three-cornered fight for honours.

Shireshead dismissed their rivals for 110 with in-form spinner Tom Jacques returning 7-38 - making it 22 wickets for him in the last four games - while brother Rob took 2-25, but these were the scalps of danger men Mike Wills and Cooper.

After the procession, Curran's unbeaten 17 runswere to prove invaluable.

Shireshead looked to be struggling in reply at 26-3 but contributions from Rob Charles (26) and Josh Maguire (22) meant the hunt was still on at 70-4.

However, the bowlers did their job and Cooper's 3-32 supported by Wills’ 3-11 led to a flurry of five wickets for 26 runs as Milnthorpe outsted them for 103, eight short of victory,a nd gleefully picked up 15 points to their opponents' three.

Westgate kept their a live interest in the title outcome with a thumping 10-wicket win over Burneside.

As the Burneside batsmen went to play their shots from the outset, Peter Wilson took the first six wickets with only 36 on the board.

Only skipper Steve Cooper (30) made an impact in an all-out total of 78 as Wilson's 6-11 eventually ended as 6-41, with fine support from Saeed Patell's 4-16.

Westgate cruised to their target with loss as Wilson (52no) and skipper Andy Hill (25no) knocked off the runs in 17 overs.

Arnside enjoyed a run feast with Adam Richardson leading the way with a magnificent 114 out of a total of 282-9.

Richardson and Adrian Lee (65) put on 160 for the second wicket.

Lowly Trimpell made a fair stab at their reply, earnign the draw on 238-5 with Mayor (66) and Baldwin (63) showing the way.

Windermere were comfortable seven-wicket winners over Silverdale, who were restricted to 128 of which Graham Dodds made 55.

Matt Park (4-28) was the main destroyer while Steve Carruthers (4-52) shared the spoils.

The home side stuttered in reply at 39-3 but Mike Lewthwaite (36no) and James Crawford (53no) puashed on against the change bowlers to bring up victory with 18 overs to spare.