FURNESS retained second place in the Premier Division with a comfortable victory over Cleator on a rain-affected day in the North Lancs and Cumbria League.

Cleator had first knock at Furness Park, and after losing an early wicket, Rob Mason, with 32 and Darren Clark, 26, made a good recovery.

But after being 91 for 5 at one stage, the side were all out for 122 in the 37th over.

Peter Lawson returned 5 for 58 in his 15 overs and Kiw pro Seth Rance 3 for 44, also in 15 overs.

Due to overs lost to rain Furness had a revised target of 88 and made a steady start. Opener Mike Gadsden made 25, and Lewis Gribbin was unbeaten on 26, as Furness went to the win at 89 for 3.

Leaders Workington produced a powerful batting display against the Keswick attack, losing only four wickets in making 335 in their 50 overs.

Kristian Moffat made 174 not out and Kaushalya Gajasinghe 116. Overs were then lost to rain giving Keswick 36 overs to make 265.

Glenn Weightman batted well for 63, but Keswick were all out in the last over for 230. Gajasinghe completed a fine day by taking 6 for 58 in 13 overs.

Winning the toss against Cockermouth, Whitehaven went in first but their bad run continued. Opener Dave Watson top scored with 25 and number nine Callum Lofthouse made an unbeaten 20 as Whitehaven were all out in the 40th over for 98. Cockermouth’s Alex Grainger took 3 for 13 in 9.5 overs and Theo Valeri, 3 for 19 in 10 overs.

After tea Cockermouth raced to the win making 101 for 1 in only 10 overs, skipper Gareth White smashing 52 not out off 35 deliveries, hitting nine 4s and a six.

The Dalton versus Wigton game was called off due to the ground being unfit because of the heavy rainfall, with the same being the case in the Division One matches between Ulverston and Millom and Haverigg versus Lindal Moor, and the second division match between Lindal A and Cockermouth A.

Put into bat in their Division One match at Carlisle Kirkby soon lost three wickets, but James Thornton continued in his excellent batting form, making 74, which included ten 4s.

Paul Tyson gave good support with 31, but Kirkby were all out in the 48th over for 161.

Best with the ball for Carlisle were James Bell with 3 for 28 and Alex Calmy 3 for 30.

A second-wicket stand between skipper Marc Brown, with 55 not out, and Daniel Gomersall, with 54, saw their side to a comfortable win at 162 for 4 in the 29th over.

There were lots of runs at Seascale where the home side put 249 for 9 on the board in their 50 overs against Workington A.

In an excellent run chase, Workington’s top order, Andrew Reed, 73, Jordan Whinn, 56, Dave Pearce, 53, and Liam Hazzard 38, saw their side to 250 for 7 in 46.5 overs. Andrew Knott took 3 for 21 and Steve Brown snr, 3 for 69.

Put into bat a weakened Egremont side had no answer to the Vickerstown attack and were all out in the 26th over for 49 in their Division Two match. Gareth Benson took 5 for 15, George Scott 3 for 25, and Daniel Williams 2 for 4.

In reply, Vickerstown made 50 for 2 in 21 overs to keep their 100 per cent record intact, opener Andy Janes making 24 not out and Matt Roskell, 21 not out. Egremont’s Coady Scott took 2 for 5 in 7 overs.

Put into bat, Hawcoat Park were deeply indebted to Callum Lucas who made 66, out of an all-out total of 138 in 37 overs against Dalton A.

But Mike Walker’s 53 saw Dalton take the winning 10 points at 139 for 5 in 38 overs.

Furness A put Cleator A into bat, and Stephen Lee, 111, and Rhees Hughes, 43, helped Cleator put 236 all out on the board. Cameron Baker returned 5 for 48.

In reply, despite 60 from S Agrawal and 39 from Sam Hilton, Furness were all out for 149. Cleator’s Tom Green took 5 for 63.

l Barrow were forced to settle for a losing draw at home to Chorley in a Northern Premier League Division One match reduced to 37 overs a per side due to the wet weather.

Batting first the visitors made 170 for 8, Gary Collins being the pick of the Barrow attack taking 3 for 45 and Javed Khan claimed 2 for 53.

Barrow suffered the massive blow of losing in-form professional Kaustubh Pawar for a duck, and despite 31 from skipper Toby Mowat and 30 from Sam Dutton they were restricted to 121 for 7 in reply. Barrow A-team’s game at Chorley was abandoned.