Westmorland Cricket League round-up: Match reports from July 17, 2021

Division One

Carnforth have not lost a league game since 2019. Until Saturday that is, when they were comprehensively beaten by Heysham by 101 runs. Lee Calverley (34), Sam Calverley (35) and Graeme Cassidy (39) helped the home team to 183/7.

Carnforth started soundly with a 41-run partnership for the first wicket, but after Chris Parry (26) fell to Jamie Cassidy (1/32), Sam Calverley (4/45) and Graeme Cassidy (5/4) ran through Carnforth as all ten wickets fell for 41 runs. The bottom two met at Bare and played out a dramatic tie.

Silverdale were indebted to Robert Reghelini (67) as they were all out for 190 in 40 overs, Robbie White claiming 4/36. Andy Butler (65) and Frank Smith (41) put Bare in the driving seat, but second spells from Phil Mason (2/37) and Sam Letcher (2/32) saw wickets tumble and with Rob Letcher (4/32) bowling well the game was in the balance. Mat Cook (13) struck two boundaries in the penultimate over and Bare only needed four, but Letcher held his nerve bowling Cook with his fourth ball and it needed Koby Cheeseman to scramble a leg bye from the final ball to level the scores.

There was another exciting game at Arnside. The home side were reliant on 56 from Ben Lenton to be able to post 183/9, Tom Ridley taking 3/50. Sedgwick’s opening pair Carl Bevan (34) and Aaron Lomas (66) put them in a strong position, but David Birch (3/42) and the rarely spotted medium pace of Richard Hodgson (3/17) caused a scramble for the pads.

Ridley (10 not out) got his team home with one wicket remaining. Burneside after occupying bottom spot for much of the first two months of the season are now virtually safe after their fifth successive win of the season and Carnforth may find them a handful next Saturday. A second defeat for Carnforth would still leave a gap of around 40 points from the second placed team, but cricket can be a funny game.

On Saturday they only totalled 130 thanks to Simon Huck (37) and Mark Kelsall (40) as Mike Wills (7/33) with his slow left arm variations tied them in knots.

Milnthorpe’s upper order can be fragile and it was on Saturday as while Steve Bowman made 28, no one stayed with him as they were dismissed for 76, Simon Daws taking 4/8. 6/28 from the mercurial Zak Buchanan bowled out Trimpell for 88, Paul Thompson top scoring with 25.

Phil Harvey (37 not out) and Chris Carter (54 not out) with his third fifty of the seasons saw Westgate to a 10-wicket win. Many clubs and none more than Warton this week have been affected by players testing positive for COVID or having too self-isolate.

Full credit is due to the club for mining its resources and getting out 11 men against Shireshead. With Ryan Needham taking 4/18 Shireshead were in big trouble early on and it took a career best 82 from Joe Oliver to recover the situation.

His father, Phil, weighed in with 46 not out and thanks to them Shireshead were able to finish on 193/8. Stuart Mayor (30) and Ali Matthews (21) batted well to take Warton to 40/1, but the introduction of Joe Oliver (5/30) to the attack together with 3/20 from Jack Cunnington saw Warton all out for 103. Joe Oliver now has 25 wickets at 9.72 and is one of the most improved players in the league.

HONOUR: The Westgate Honours Board now includes David Lord

Division Two

Division 2 has been affected by Sedbergh School 3rd team’s failure to fulfil its fixtures for the rest of the season. The League Management Committee will need to decide what to do with the results of the games they have already played. Kirkby Lonsdale remain top after a hard fought two wicket win against Holme. Shireshead second team are in third place after beating the inform Coniston side by 4 wickets. Coniston’s run machine Mike Burton made 35 supporting the patient George Wilkinson (42) but Shireshead’s young attack-maintained control and Jake Gould, who until recently was keeping wicket, took 4/5 as the last five wickets fell for seven runs.

Ernie Collinson (64 not out) batted assuredly to secure the win. Dan Sykes (4/33) was the spearhead of the Windermere attack as they bowled out Cartmel for 121. Stuart Bailey (5/19) bowled brilliantly for Cartmel and it required a four and a six from last man, Denzil Harrison to give Windermere a one wicket win. Charlie Nicholls made 92 from 120 balls and Neil McDonnell added 42 from 44 as Netherfield made 227/7 a total overhauled by hosts Carnforth seconds with three balls remaining thanks to the experienced pair of Lee Potter (52 not out) and Glenn Russell (54 not out).

Ben McGregor scored 128 not out for Ambleside in their 252/7 declared at Bolton le Sands. Sands were not to be beaten with Ben Anderton (65) passing the 500-run milestone and David Carter scoring 52 not out in his first appearance of the season enabling them to finish on 163/3. Sedgwick seconds overtook Ambleside at the top of Division 3 by beating Arnside seconds.

Will Richards (61) helped Sedgwick to 197 with Sam Till taking 4/27 and Michael Collins (3/28). Arnside could only muster 57 in reply with Adam Kershaw taking 3/18 and Dan Noar 4/7. The top two look nailed on for promotion following Leven Valley’s narrow win against Heysham seconds.

Only Luke Deveney (28) and tailender Chris Husband (20) got Leven Valley to 122 as Paul Antcliffe took 4/13 and Geoff Carter 3/20. Josh Smith made 48, but Freddie Burrow (5/19) and George Needham (3/23) delivered a 12-run win.

Carl Weiss (31) top scored for Holme seconds but they were all out for 125, David Lyde taking 3/28. Although there was a late stutter, the upper order of Charlie Gaw (47), David Hones (23) and Ben Fletcher had done enough for the lower order to get Silverdale seconds over the line.

MATCH: Action from Penrith v Shireshead (credit: Mike Latham)

Division Four

In Division 4, David Lord (124 not out) made a maiden hundred, passing his previous best of 73 scored against Heysham 20 years ago. After he had added 103 with Arjun Manjare no other batsman made double figures and Westgate thirds finished on 191, David Brackwell scoring 3/35. Peter Dodd (81 not out) carried his bat as Coniston seconds shared the points with 153/6. There were similar scores at Bare where the home team made 209/9 and Ingleton seconds replied with 153/3. Milnthorpe seconds also scored heavily making 241/5 with Sedgwick thirds making 104/3 in response. 4/24 from Mike Allen and 3/20 from Simon Daws helped Burneside seconds bowl out Shireshead thirds for 101, Burneside winning by 6 wickets. Phil Sinclair (33) top scored for Kirkby Lonsdale seconds but a career best 5/19 from the promising Ollie Wilson restricted them to 102/9. Wilson was at the crease as Trimpell seconds scraped home by one wicket.

In the Moon and Coxhill Cup, Burneside seconds, Kirkby Lonsdale seconds, Milnthorpe seconds and Shireshead thirds reached the semifinals. Outstanding performances included Jordan Wilkinson scoring 122 for Burneside, Ernie Collinson 50 and 3/11 for Shireshead and Toby Norton taking 4/15 for Milnthorpe.

Carnforth reached the final of the Meyler Cup beating Standish by 4 wickets where they will meet Penrith who beat Shireshead in the other match.

Carnforth were indebted to experienced pair Adam Hornby (45 not out) and Robert Horsfall (15 not out) who shared the crucial seventh wicket partnership as Carnforth passed the target of 162.