PROMOTED teams Ibis and Bare met on Saturday with Ibis gaining a comprehensive eight-wicket victory, their first in the top flight of the Cumberland View Westmorland League.

Bare, batting first, could not come to terms with the

accuracy of Ibis's most

senior player Dave Johnston, who bowled throughout for

5-21 and helped restrict them to 84-8.

Ibis made a shaky start in reply at 25 for 2 but a solid partnership of 60 by father and son Ken and John

Coulston saw Ibis to victory with no further loss of wickets.

Their cause was helped by the Bare wicketkeeper, who by standing up throughout the innings allowed 15 extras to be given away.Burneside were the fall guys as Silverdale recorded a 46-run over them on Saturday to register their first victory.

Silverdale were asked to bat on a sodden pitch and veteran seamer Steve Postlethwaite removed both openers with only 22 on the board. A misunderstanding led to Phil Bovis being run out bizarrely and after Jonnie Mason was dismissed for 32 with the score at 82-5, the innings fell away and they finished on 115-9.

Mike Curran was the pick of the Burneside bowlers with 3 for 42.

Silverdale's opening bowlers Phil Lowe, 3-28, and and skipper for the day, Paul Moffat,

3-26, did their job well when Burneside replied.

Replacement Richard Watts then continued the home team's torment with 3-9, taking wickets in each of his first two overs to dash Burneside's hopes of winning at

49-6.

Burneside's efforts to hang on failed when pace bowler Phil Mason was brought on and the re-introduction of Lowe sealed 10 crucial points for Silverdale when he bowled Postlethwaite.

Milnthorpe could not wheedle out the last two Sedgwick wickets to claim a victory and prevent Westgate, winners over Shireshead, from moving from joint third in the table to top spot.

Batting honours went toBrian Smith, who opened the Minthorpe innings in the absence of in-form Chris Baldwin and made an unbeaten 110.

With Mike Wills also in good form to the tune of 57, they were able to pile up 191-1 against a rather toothless atack.

Sedgwick could never get into the run chase but managed to avoid defeat and now join their opponents three points adrift of the new leaders Westgate.

Windermere were put into bat by Trimpell on a damp Queens Park wicket, but were given a steady start by openers John Baines and Chris West.

All the Windermere batsmen found it possible to score runs once they had got used to the pace of the wicket, with Jo Stephenson top-scoring with 57 and Nick Lewthwaite hitting a rapid-fire 43 for a final total of 218-7.

In reply Trimpell lost two early wickets before settling for a draw. Matt Hartnett took 2 for 6 off 10 overs and Lewthwaite 4 for 8 off 11.

Steve Pemberton hit 49 for Trimpell and Scott Cockburn 41 not out for a total of 112-7. The fall of the seventh wicket to a catch by James Crawford gave Windermere one bowling bonus point.

Batsmen were in charge at Westgate, who ran out five-wicket winners over Shireshead, who got off to a fine start with an opening stand of 91.

When M. Sutcliffe was run out for 63, Westgate managed to curb the visitors' strokeplay but solid work by P. Yates (29) and M. Armstrong (27) appeared to put them in a strong position with a total of 181-6.

A lively start from the Westgate openers kept them in with every chance of matching the effort, but it was Peter Wilson, making his seasonal bow, who played a crucial innings of 61 to keep them in the hunt.

He took up the scoring mantle from P. Lord who went for a well-earned 47 and although Shireshead broke through with P. Oliver returning to remove Wilson and another quick wicket, A. Wilson and D. Webster saw them safely home with five overs in hand.

Arnside's pitch had been under water 48 hours before they entertained Warton but their batsmen looked to be set fair as they dashed to 55-2 with Hogg and Lee setting about their work earnestly.

The scenario changed dramatically when Lenton was dismissed by Rafferty in the last of his six permitted overs.

Warton's bowlers took charge and Ideson (4-13) and Danwood (4-21) made it a procession afterwards as Arnside were all out for 92.

It was no cakewalk for Warton, however, as their openers faced early dismissals and Paul Weatherill went for 25 as accurate bowling from Baldwin and Bullough was repaid.

It was Crowther who saved the day, curbing his normally aggressive instincts to put together a vital 20 from 30 overs.

Several other patient knocks took Warton towards their goal before Denwood finished a tense encounter with a

flurry with three wickets standing.

TOP SPOT : Matthew Thomas, 14 this month, continued his fine start for Ambleside A with two excellent bowling spells over the weekend.

On Saturday he took 4-24 against Ibis A as Ambleside A won by five wickets and on Monday claimed 5-26 in a drawn game with Coniston A.

May 30, 2003 11:30