MILLOM CC skipper Ian Swarbrick sees no reason why the club can’t challenge for a league and cup double this season.

Swarbrick’s side sit in third place in the North Lancs and Cumbria League Division One table heading into this weekend’s home match against Workington seconds.

And the St George’s Road club also have a mouth-watering Sowerby Cup final to look forward to in August when they will lock horns with Haverigg, their old rivals from just down the road.

Considering they have struggled to get a settled team on the field at times due to holidays and injuries, Swarbrick is pleased with the progress his team have made, and he feels that if they can have a big second half of the season, they will be right up there battling for silverware.

An under-strength Millom missing Swarbrick and a few other regulars lost at title rivals Lindal Moor last weekend, the result allowing Moor to open up a nine-point lead over them. But with four of Millom’s next five league games at home, and with Moor visiting town in August, he knows there is plenty of time to catch up in the promotion battle.

“Availability has been a bit of a problem,” said Swarbrick. “We had quite a few missing last week and five or six are missing this week because of summer holidays.

“We have been doing all right, but we just struggle a bit when we have one or two missing. It’s not like the standard we used to play years ago, when you had some really good A-teamers who could step-up if needed, but that’s just the way it is, and we are doing all right on the whole.

“We messed up at Lindal but we have still got to play them again and every week is a big game now.

“The top four of Lindal, us, Haverigg and Whitehaven all have a good chance and you’ve still got Seascale and Workington who can turn teams over, so there’s a lot that can happen between now and the end of the season.”

Swarbrick has been pleased with how Sri Lankan Sameera Sadamal has adapted to his first taste of English cricket, and with star all-rounder Graham Dawson having another good season, and the likes of Danny Fallows and 16-year-old leg-spinner Billy Thompson performing well, Millom have the armoury to go all the way.

They also have a Sowerby Cup final against Haverigg to look forward to – although Swarbrick could miss out as he is due to be on holiday in Las Vegas. The showpiece is set to take place on Sunday August 20, and it is a special competition for everyone at the club, being named in memory of former Millom batsman Gareth Sowerby.

Swarbrick – who was skipper when Millom won the competition for the one and only time in 2014 – hinted that he wouldn’t be too disappointed if the unpredictable Cumbrian weather saw the game washed out and rescheduled for a later date.

He is one of three experienced Millom players set to miss out, along with Daniel Mackie and Michael Gill.

“I’m praying it’s going to be rained off because I’m in Vegas!” he joked. “All the lads are playing hell with us about it, but hopefully they can still do it with a bit of luck.”

With the final venue yet to be decided, Millom are one of several clubs to have shown interest in hosting the match, although Swarbrick is not optimistic about their chances.

“I think lots of clubs have applied because they know with it being Millom and Haverigg there will be a big following,” he said.

“I think Millom have put in for it, but I think it’s a league rule that you can’t have it at one of the finalists’ grounds so we will probably get knocked back. But you can only ask can’t you?

“We would get a lot more people coming to watch if it was at Millom or Haverigg, than if it was down in Barrow or up at Whitehaven.”

Millom have another big cup game to look forward to later this month when they head to Premier Division big guns Furness in the County Cup

“That should be an interesting game,” said Swarbrick. “We are quite looking forward to testing ourselves out against Furness who are the best team round here now. It should a good day, and we’ll see how we go.”