FURNESS missed out on becoming only the second side in history to win a hat-trick of successive Higson Cup finals as Workington triumphed at Haverigg.

A game which went down to the last over with all results possible went the way of the West Cumbrians, denying Furness the chance to emulate the Whitehaven team of 1968-70.

Workington won the toss and batted, making a steady start before rain stopped play after just over an hour, causing 27 minutes to be lost.

When the third wicket fell, the Moffat brothers, Callum and Kristian, came together and gave the West Cumbrians the initiative, but an excellent outfield catch by Scott Pearcey removed Kristian off the bowling of George Smith.

When Callum went lbw to 50 went lbw to Smith, it was left to Matt Gorley (17) and the lower-order to put a defendable total of 180 for 7 on the scoreboard when their 45 overs were up.

The pick of the Furness bowlers were Peter Lawson – whose nine overs saw him take one wicket for just 21 runs – and professional Calvin Savage, who had figures of nine overs for 16 runs.

Smith, Ryan Tyson and Garry Thompson all took two wickets from their nine-over spells.

In reply, Furness lost an early wicket as Pearcey was out for a duck, and with three wickets down it was left to Nathan Waterston, with 48 and Savage, 47, to put them in a strong position at 140 for 3.

With their dismissals, the Furness lower-order struggled, with only Thomspon (10) reaching double figures.

There were three runs needed going into the final over, but Tyson was run out going for one of them from the first ball, with the Furness total stranded on 178.

The pick of the Workington attack was Matthew Lowden, whose nine overs – though wicketless – cost only 15 runs.

The man-of-the-match award, chosen by Giles Mawdsley, went to Workington skipper Callum Moffat.