SHIRESHEAD replaced Arnside at the top of the Readers Westmorland Cricket League when Arnside hung onto a draw against them on Saturday.

In-form Arnside began well with their bowlers exercising good control, making it difficult for the Shireshead batsmen to score fluently on a low two-paced wicket. Rob Shepherd bowled well by claiming four wickets and when he removed Tom Jacques the score was just 10 in the ninth over.

Paul Yates (38) and Peter Wilson (31) gradually built a platform for the innings as they added 66 for the second wicket in the face of some excellent fielding and astute captaincy.

When both batsmen fell in quick succession along with Simon Gould there was plenty of work to be done, but Phil Oliver’s 42 and an equally clean striking effort from the in-form Steven Yates (29 not out) left Shireshead 169-7.

Arnside’s reply began badly as Wilson and Gareth Jennings removed both openers with only nine on the board, but danger man Richardson rebuilt steadily with the dogged Wolfenden for company.

The game was delicately poised as 66 were added to take the score to 75 in the 25th over before a stumping from veteran keeper David Murphy ended Wolfenden’s stay.

Better was to follow as Jacques took a stunning caught and bowled to dismiss Richardson (38).

Oliver (4-14) then ran through the middle order in an excellent spell of bowling and when the returning Wilson bowled Hodges, 22 balls were left to claim the final wicket.

But Arnside held on very well to restrict Shireshead’s points haul to 10.

Milnthorpe picked up their first win of the season as Bob Baldwin’s hat-trick helped get Windermere all out for 141.

The visitors had a good start as they were 98-2 off 30 overs, with Fletcher picking up 55 runs, but Baldwin’s six-wicket haul put paid to Windermere.

In reply Phil Bovis struck five fours and a six on his way to 44, and he was provided with the perfect back-up thanks to Steve Bowman’s 32 and Lee Illingworth’s unbeaten 29.

They needed three runs an over to win and they settled for that run rate, winning with just nine balls to spare.

Silverdale moved up to fifth with maximum points over Trimpell.

Paul Moffat bowled right through the first innings as he recorded six wickets to dismiss Trimpell for 147.

Plenty pitched in for Silverdale, with Jack Hargreaves’ 41, 17-year-old Jarred Collis’s 47 not out and 47 from Sam Letcher giving Silverdale a six-wicket victory with 15 overs to spare.

Bare’s early season struggles continued when Warton’s Jack Brown and Graeme Crowther claimed four wickets apiece as the visitors bowled them out for 66.

Before that, Warton had set a target of 194-5 after winning the toss thanks to 64 from number three batter Dan Dixon.

Tony Barrow’s 30 and 23 from Gareth Finney meant that Warton declared after 43 overs to ease to success.

Rob Shepherd’s 60 helped Burneside post a total of 189-7, but they were unable to claim a maximum 15 points from the game as Westgate clung on at 123-9 in the second innings.

Six wickets from Dixon were not enough to pick up the 10 wickets necessary for victory, but the winning draw nevertheless helped move Burneside up to third in the table.

A hat-trick from Calverley, who recorded marvellous figures of 6-9, helped Heysham consign Bolton-le-Sands to 49 all out.

Heysham knocked off that total for the loss of two wickets to notch up a comfortable success.