AN unbeaten half-century from man-of-the-match Sam Dutton helped Furness retain the Cumbria County Cup and make it a hat-trick of knock-out successes this year with victory over Workington in Sunday’s final.

Batting first at Haverigg’s Poolside ground, Workington made 165 for 8 from their overs with Kaushalya Gajasinghe top-scoring for them on 55. Pete Lawson was Furness’ best bowler with figures of 3 for 34, while Josh Daly and Umesh Karunaratne took two wickets apiece.

In reply, Furness lost their top order for low scores, but Karunaratne (32) and Dutton helped steady the ship.

And it was county batsman Dutton who helped see them over the line for a four-wicket triumph which saw Furness add the County Cup to their Higson Cup and South Lakes Twenty20 successes in 2018.

In the North Lancashire & Cumbria Cricket League Premier Division the day before, Furness closed the gap on second-placed Cleator to four points with a nine-wicket win away to Wigton.

Put into bat, Wigton openers Nico Watt and Mike Slack made 12 and 32 respectively, but the next seven batsmen only made 15 runs between them. The last pair, Jonny Honeyman, 27 not out and Glen Liddle, 28, got their side to 119 all out in the 42nd over.

For Furness, Lawson took 4 for 29 in 13 overs, and Shaw 4 for 28 in 10 overs.

Skipper Scott Pearcey led the way in reply, making 73 not out, and keeper Mike Gadsden added 37 not out as the visitors reached the target inside 25 overs.

Cleator’s cause was not helped by their game at home to Dalton being abandoned due to rain.

Dalton were in first and made 251, with professional Winston Masadza top-scoring with 78, but the home side batted for just one over when rain stopped play.

At the other end of the table, Haverigg remain bottom following a rain-affected defeat at fellow strugglers Whitehaven.

The home side had first knock and totalled 198 for 6 in their 50 overs, with opener Stephen Holliday making 51. Due to overs lost to rain, Haverigg’s target was 160 and they were 119 for 9 in the 30 overs left to them. Safyaan Sharif took 6 for 61 in his 15 overs for Whitehaven.

Lindal Moor were all out for 82 as they went down by 133 runs at home to Workington.

Workington were rocking at 64 for 4 after batting first, but Kris Moffat scored 83 not out to help the visitors to 215 for 8. Lindal Moor’s pro Keshan Wijerathne took 4 for 41 in his 15 overs.

In reply, only two Moor players got past 20 as Workington pro Gajasinghe returned 6 for 30 and Paul McKeown, 4 for 31.