WORKINGTON beat Lindal Moor by 29 runs on Saturday to take over at the top of the Thwaites North Lancashire and Cumbria League Premier Division and on Monday strengthened their grip by beating Whitehaven by four wickets.

At Lindal, Workington batted first and scored 167, Kristian Moffatt making 40 and Shaun Woolf 31 while Esuan Crandon returned 5-44. Lindal were dismissed for 138 with Jeff Smith making 35 and opener Gary Gibson, 25. Four bowlers shared eight wickets.

Cleator are second in the table thanks to an 85-run victory over Cockermouth on Monday.

Haverigg had a mixed weekend, dropping from third to fifth after being beaten by Wigton by two wickets on Saturday, but bouncing back to third on Monday to beat Millom by 90 runs.

Against Wigton their score of 269-4 looked formidable, openers Junior Mitcham hitting 115 and Robert Bell 107 not out. The visitors replied with a battling 270-8, however as Springbock professional Geoffrey Toyana blasted 157 and Steve Murdock 43. Steven Evans returned 2-54 and Giles Mawdsley 2-88.

Millom, now fourth in the table, had a losing draw on Saturday after Furness batted first and reached 192-7, G.L. Capstick made 52, Stuart Knox 50 and Alan Sippy 30. Travis Dowling took 5-47.

The visitors made 126-7 in reply, skipper Dominic Connor making 54 while Sippy took 2-54 and Giles Mawdsley 2-88.

Bottom club Vickerstown notched their first win with a seven-wicket victory over Cockermouth. Cockermouth were dismissed for 106, the prolific Riffat Ullah going for a duck to Kenroy Peters while seamer Colin Lucas claimed 4-49 and Peters 3-11.

Vickerstown openers Geoff Luxton (23) and Peter Lee (19 not out) were backed by 44 from Anthony Holmes in a winning 109-3.

Keswick visited Whitehaven on Saturday and came away with a comfortable five-wicket victory.

Whitehaven scored 133, Dominic Chambers making 59 and Majid Jahangir returning 6-62.

The visitors replied with 137-5, including 36 from 14-year-old opener Stephen Hindmarsh and 25 from John Mason.

Monday results: Cleator 225-9 (18 points), Cockermouth 140 (5); Keswick 152-5 (18), Furness 148-9 (3); Millom 98 (3), Haverigg 188 (18); Vickerstown 128-4 (4), Lindal Moor 129-6 (18); Whitehaven 170 (5), Workington 174-6 (18); Wigton 150-2 (18), Carlisle 148-6 (2).

Dalton lead Division One thanks to a 126-run win over Ulverston. Batting first they made 202-5, Justin Quint 64 not out, Ian Gibson 45 and Sam Costa 33 while Marcus Brown took 2-33. Ulverston were then dismissed for 76, Justin Quint 3-16 and John Bell 3-30 the main wicket takers.

Other results: Carnforth 178-8 (Darren Moore 43, Atiq Zaman 30; Peter Wall 3-51, Pushpakumara 3-50), BAE Systems SC 168 (Pushpalumara 44, Paul Boast 37; Robert Parker 3-28, Darren Nelson 2-50); Penrith 185-8 (Mark Osborne 68no, Andy Hall 42; Keith Hibbert 4-45, Gary Stevenson 2-32), Duddon SC 187-2 (Hibbert 80, Liam Crubbib 77); Egremont A 163-7 (Steve Hodgson 48, Ian Littleton 44;Mark Etchells took 3-58), Kirkby 154-9 (Paul Fugler 35, Paul New 28; Steve Stamper 4-55, Pat Stamper 3-45); Cleator A 157-7 (Tony Stones 33; Colin Gunning 3-24, Andy Little 3-28), Appleby Eden 89-7 (Terry Askew 31 not out).