Upton bowls Shireshead to victory after century stand

Having been invited to bat first after losing the toss, Shireshead began steadily as Burneside opening bowlers Chris Dixon and Ben Leacock bowled tidy lines and lengths.

Gradually Shireshead wrested the initiative in the Westmorland Cricket League Division One clash as Paul Yates (66) and Nick Rafferty added 39 for the first wicket, before a further 22 were added by Yates and Phil Bovis to take the score to 61 for 2 when P Bigland (2 for 23) removed Bovis in the midst of a good spell of bowling.

This brought Danny Wilkinson (62 not out) to the wicket, and he and skipper Yates then added 101 in the partnership of the day.

Both batsmen gradually accelerated the innings with Wilkinson hitting four maximums to ensure a highly competitive 188 for 3 was posted.

Dave Jack (2 for 28) and Phil Oliver (2 for 16) then ripped into the Burneside top order to quickly reduce the reply to 30 for 5, aided by a superb Jack run out.

Young leg-spinner Rowan Upton (5 for 15) then took centre stage as he continued his superb recent form as he sliced through the lower order.

Using great skill and control Upton bowled Shireshead to victory with 14 overs to spare after he finally ended the stubborn resistance of C Green (43) thanks to a flying one-handed catch from Simon Gould as Burneside finished 97 all out.

Shireshead’s second team were two-wicket winners over Trimpell in Division Two of the Westmorland Cricket League.

Trimpell’s skipper, Mark Baldwin, won the toss and decided to bat first.

Baldwin (56) and A Churton (32) saw off the early threat of Peter Dodd (2-33) and Izhar Ullah (5-23) and took the score to 73 when Malcolm Taylor bowled Churton,

S Cockburn (33) added another 60 with Baldwin when Taylor (2-38) bowled Cockburn.

The return of Dodd and Izhar saw the innings transformed with the last eight wickets falling for just 25 runs as Trimpell were dismissed for 158.

Shireshead reply got off to a stuttering start with the score 46 for 4 as Steve Beniston (4-26) did some early damage.

Sam Hilton dispatched anything loose to the boundary but in the 15th over he was excellently caught by Baldwin for 55 after seven fours and three towering sixes.

Fine knocks by Izhar (48) and Jack Dodd (24) ensured Shireshead gained maximum points in the 32nd over as they finished on 162-8.

Shireshead’s 3rd XI claimed their third straight maximum points victory with their win against Coniston 2nd XI in Division Four of the Westmorland Cricket League on Saturday.

Having lost the toss, Shireshead were inserted on a grassy, damp and soft wicket.

After the dismissal of the openers, Glynn Houghton and Geoff Hornby, Jake Gould, later to become hero with the ball, hit two well-timed boundaries before being bowled by an in-swinging yorker by Rouse.

A partnership of significance then developed between John Coates (36) and Phil Houghton (26) who subsequently with Calum Danson and Will McGarragher brought the innings to a competitive total of 101-7.

In reply, Danson (0-14) and Moulsdale (4-13) both looked threatening against some ambitious Coniston batting.

Todd (23) and Wareing (27) then began to build a potentially match-winning partnership before Gould (4-22) bowled Todd with a cutter that grazed the off stump.

Fine bowling performances from Moulsdale and Gould saw Coniston bowled out for 81.