Under 11 v Egremont 4th May
Under 13 v Egremont 10th May
Under 11 v Workington 11th May
Under 11 v Whitehaven 18th May
Under 13 v Carlisle 31st May
Under 13 v Whitehaven 7th June
Under 11 v Cleator 8th June
Under 13 v Seascale 14th June
Under 11 v Egremont 15th June
Under 13 v Cleator 21st June
Under 11 v Workington 22nd June
Under 11 v Stainton 29th June
Under 13 v Workington 5th July
Under 13 v Whitehaven 12th July
Under 13 v Seascale 19th July
Under 11 v Caldbeck 24th August

Under 11 v Egremont 4/5

The under 11s played their first game of the season against Egremont on Monday after their rain off against Cleator the week before.

Egremont had won the league in the 2013 and 2014 seasons and had beaten the Under 11s in 4 league games and one cup game during those 2 seasons, so the team knew they would have to play well.

Captain Drimmie lost the toss and Egremont decided to field, Gabriel was just like a pro captain, he wanted to field first because the " weather would be colder to field later ". Quickly forgetting the loss of the toss, Gabriel and Harry King got the innings off to a great start with a partnership of 33. The running between the wickets was very good and with Gabriel hitting three boundaries in his 24 the team were off and running. Joe Milledge and Paddy Bennett added a further 15 to the score, with Joe also reaching double figures. The final total of 282 was very good, with only one wicket lost. 8 of the batters scored runs and Daniel Barry and Aiden Jones ( making his debut ) had very little to hit but kept their wickets in tact. Daniel looks like a born test match batter who will be difficult to get out this year.

After a mid session break of hot dogs and cake, the Cockermouth team burst on to the pitch with new found energy and set about restricting Egremont to less than 281. The fielding was very good for the first game, all players showing enthusiasm and wanted to get the ball. 4 catches were taken, 2 by Gabriel, 1 by Tom Allport ( a sharp chance in the gully ) and one by keeper Joe. Along with 3 other wickets, the team took 35 off the potential Egremont score and they finished well behind on 204.

Tom Allport took 2 wickets for no runs off his over, Keira Askew took 2 wickets for 1 run off her three overs and Gabriel, Daniel and Fraser Sealby all took one wicket each. Worthy of mention was the team only bowled 11 wides which for the first game was excellent, Gabriel, Keira and Paddy all bowled their three overs with no wides.Fraser no wides in two overs and Tom no wides in his one over, so an excellent bowling start.

The team played with smiles on their faces, which might have been the half time hot dogs and looked like they enjoyed fielding and as Dylan Flower said enjoyed winning!

Well played Cockermouth and the good news is they can only get better so should be an enjoyable season for them.

Under 13 v Egremont 10/5

Bowling first Cockermouth restricted Egremont to 87/6
Some excellent bowling from all 5 bowlers used backed up with some good fielding and catching (with further improvement to be made in the catching department as we also dropped 3). The bowling was shared as follows: Sam Taylor 4,0,14,1 Ewan Styles 4,1,19,0 Gabrielle Drimmie 4,2,2,1 Cameron Sealby 4,0,18,3 and thankfully for his dad missed a hat trick by 2cms. Tom Mcfadyen 4,0,23,1

When batting a sensible solid start by the openers led to a comfortable victory finished in style by Sam Taylor hitting a huge straight six to win the game with almost 5 overs to spare. Cockermouth 91/3. Tom Mcfadyen 12,Ewan Styles 14,Sam Taylor 32 retired, Adam Watson 2, Cameron Sealby 9 not out

Cockermouth 14 pts        Egremont 3pts

Many thanks to all who played on a damp morning and especially those who didn't get a bat or bowl. Next fixture Lower Eden Girls in the cup 17th May.

Under 11 v Workington 11/5

If any of the Under 11s have heard the song Sats Entertainment ( ? ) by the Jam they will know why I have given this title to last nights game against Workington.

Gabriel  took his lucky coin out of his pocket, declining the offer of 2p from the coach and won the toss for Cockermouth. He decided to field first and the home team went on to the pitch confident after last weeks win. The first four overs looked like the players had left their bodies in the classroom and was way below the standard of the previous game. The coach was a little confused by this, but then an in depth chat with two players about the reading SAT from that day made it all a bit clearer. A team pow wow at the end of the fourth over made all the difference and the team were back on track again.

Workington were restricted to 205, this week 5 catches were taken,two of them very good. Gabriel took 2, Tom took 2 and Fraser 1. So after two games the team have taken 9 catches and only one drop. which also wasn't easy . Best bowling figures this week go to Keira who took 3 wickets and Daniel who took 2. To make up the 8 in total, there were wickets for Fraser, Tom and a first wicket for James Hutton.Paddy Bennett again bowled his three overs without a wide, so that is now 6 overs this year without a wide. The team in total bowled 11 wides which was the same number as last week, so a good start to the season on this one. The other good news was that we came to an agreement about the name of the main man in the Sats test, we think he is called Charlie!...I bet England don't have as interesting chats as this when they are playing.

In to bat to try and beat 205 and Gabriel and Harry gave us another positive start with a partnership of 20. Harry was bowled but the ball hit both legs and his bat before it trickled on to the stumps, so very unlucky, Gabriel hit some excellent boundaries in his 28.Harry and Gabriel even ran a three which is rare in Under 11 cricket The good work was carried on by Paddy and Joe who made 19 in their partnership. Two really good boundaries from Paddy in his score of 11 and good calling from Joe. Tom and Fraser also had a partnership of 20 with Tom scoring 5 and Fraser 8, a good score for a fourth pair. Keira and Daniel also moved the score up and it was great to see William making his debut and scoring a run in the last pair with James.Cockermouth finished on a very good 273 and won by 68 runs

The team are playing well and enjoying themselves, on to a couple of away games to finish the first half of the season and then we can see how good we  are compared to all the other  teams.

Parents  again were excellent, with help on scoring, food , drink and putting the covers on the senior pitch at the end all much appreciated, whether their minds were on SATS ... only they can tell " days of speed and slow time Mondays " thats entertainment!

Under 11 v Whitehaven 18/5

The Under 11s narrowly lost to Whitehaven in a thrilling game for everyone to watch on Monday night in the cold. Armed with his magic coin debutant captain Jo returned to the team to tell them they were batting first. Up against a county bowler the opening pair of Harry and Paddy tried to keep Ewan Campbell out. With some good boundaries from Paddy the three dismissals meant that Cockermouth kept the score to 198 which could have been worse as Whitehaven bowled very straight. Joe and Dylan got the score back to a positive with another good boundary from Dylan , two good wickets for Whitehaven kept the score down. Keira and Daniel then added 10 to give the team a total to bowl at,importantly no minus fives for this pair, which was just what the team needed. Fraser and Tom kept the scoreboard going in the right direction and added another 8 to the total making Cockermouth 219 at this stage. Every run would prove important at the end of the game. Our new pair of William and Aiden both scored runs off the bat which is great for a fifth pair and with the help of some wides got the final score up to 234.

Whilst a little down that the they had lost 8 wickets and a possible score of 274 the team were determined that they would go out after hot dogs and win the game. The opening pair for Whitehaven made that look unlikely as they passed the Cockermouth total off the first 4 overs with a score of 238. When the second pair sneaked the total to 243 after eight overs it looked like game over. Paddy took one wicket to keep the score down and has now bowled 9 overs ( 54 balls ) without bowling a wide this year.. really good. Captain Joe by now sensed that all was not lost and kept making sure the fielders were in the right place which helped. With keen fielding and good bowling the score never got above 244 and at one stage dipped below Cockermouth's total after Daniel bowled really straight and took three wickets and only bowled one wide, the only runs he gave away in three overs. Fraser and Tom only let 7 runs go off their 6 overs and keira took another wicket in her good season.

The two catches by Paddy and Harry kept the game really close and Cockermouth knew they still had a chance to win. When Whitehaven's last pair came to the wicket they were two behind. Tom and Daniel bowled maidens, so Whitehaven were still behind after 18 overs. Dylan and Aiden only let one run off the bat be scored and that was off the last ball, the only runs scored were from wides which was shame but a great effort to defend a low total especially after that was beaten in four overs. Whitehaven ended up on 240,so won by 6 runs.

Because Cockermouth were beaten by less then 20 runs they scored a bonus point, which is a good reward for a very good bowling and fielding display. With some work on keeping the straight ball out at practice on Wednesday they will keep moving their skills in the right direction. Whitehaven are the best team we have played this year and we will know what to expect when we play them at Cockermouth later in the season.

Under 13 v Carlisle 31/5

Cockermouth U13s finally managed to play their 2nd game of the season against Carlisle in the semi final of the county cup. To date the season has been frustrated by the weather and poor availability of the opposing teams. Being desperately short of match practice the team were outstanding in the field having won the toss. Take into account the strength of the opposition where their to 4 batters really knew how to strike the ball and 'on the up'. So much so that the Carlisle coach said it was the strongest bowling performance he has seen at that age group against Carlisle in the last 4 years. Well done to all bowlers but in particular Ewan and Gabriel who got the ball to move both ways with Adam bowling really fast challenging Aiden behind the wickets. Everyone has worked hard on fielding at practice over the last few weeks and it really showed in a game situation. Great ground fielding by everyone , in particular Frazer (who helped out at very short notice) at fine leg who stopped at least 4 boundaries. A great catch was taken by Gabriel in the deep to stop a six and Aiden snapped up 2 catches behind the stumps. All this effort restricted a very powerful batting team to only 93 giving the batters a real chance in the second innings.

On restarting it was clear the 2 opening bowlers could really bowl - pace, seam and swing usually in the same ball. They were too hot for our top order with the exception of Tom who batted very responsibly as skipper keeping out the many good balls and timing the bad ones to the boundary in particular through the offside. After the first 4 overs we were 6 for 4 wickets and some nervous discussions taking place. However, some sensible and at times courageous batting from Gabriel and Tom steadied the ship putting on 46 for the next wicket with Tom retiring on 30. We finally fell short at 71 for 8 in the last over despite Mathew striking the ball well including a great six over mid wicket.

Real learning for us to take into our next game - see off the opening few overs  and with our team spirit we will always have a chance to win.

Well done to Carlisle on their win who are a very strong all round side.

Scores
Carlisle 93/4
S Taylor 4 0 21 1
E Styles 4 0 11 1
C Sealby 3 0 23 0
G Drimmie 4 0 19 0
A Watson 3 1 7 1
T Mcfadyen 2 0 6 1

Cockermouth
71/8
T Mcfadyen 30 retired
G Drimmie 12
M Graham 10

Carlisle won by 22 runs.

Under 13 v Whitehaven 7/6

A quick shower at the start of the game threatened to hamper Cockermouth's progress in this important league game. Currently leading the league, despite playing only one game it was vital to build on a good performance against Carlisle in the County Cup. The team did this by a solid and sensible batting performance allowing a number of bowling options to be used later in the game.
Ewan batted sensibly defending the good ball and punishing the bad ball each over. Sam struck the ball well to get within one shot of retirement. Then with 2 new batters at the wicket Cam and Will paced their innings well taking apart the bowling in the last 3 overs of the innings to get over the targeted score of 100. Will showing he could strike the ball cleanly and consistently on the leg side - reminiscent of his dad 20 years ago !!

At the interval the discussion centred around no hot dogs being available which was totally different from the nervousness at Carlisle in the cup.

On restart Ewan swung the ball well making it difficult for the openers to score. Tom came on and overcame initial nerves on his debut to produce  2 wickets in his last over. Due to his pace we need to make sure in the future  Aiden is protected better at fine leg and third man.Will came on and continued his successful day with 2 wickets for 1 run with Cam and Leo wrapping up their innings.
On the whole it was a really good batting performance which was pleasing after suffering the first 4 overs against Carlisle. It was good to see strength in depth in the bowling department with ground fielding being strong again.

Again one learning point from this game to take forward - there are more singles and twos out there than we managed to get - training to rectify  on Wednesday.

Cockermouth 114/5
Ewan Styles  19
Sam Taylor 26
Adam Watson 14
Cam Sealby 12
Will Allport 25 not out

Whitehaven 44 /8
Sam Taylor 2 0 10 1
Ewan Styles 2 0 3 1
Tom Wilson 3 0 10 2
Adam Watson 2 0 9 0
Will Allport 2 1 1 2
Cam Sealby 2 1 3 1
Leo Morgan 0.2 0 1 1

Cockermouth win by 70 runs and remain top of the league.

Under 11 v Cleator 8/6

At last a fine night for the Under 11 game against Cleator played at Sandair on Monday night. Gabriel is really working on his tactics and explained to the coach that if he won the toss he wanted to field first because it meant the players could have more for their tea in the interval. I was so impressed with this that I passed it on to Euan Morgan the England captain. Sadly for Gabriel , Morgan ignored him, batted first against New Zealand and scored 409!. Obviously how many hot dogs he can have for his tea wasn't on his radar. The good news for Gabriel was that he lost the toss but Cleator wanted to bat first anyway.

Cleator were restricted to 205 off their 20 overs. 6 wickets were taken , another 2 for Daniel who is now bowling very straight and he did a Paddy and didn't bowl a wide as well as not giving any runs away . Neither did Gabriel . Paddy didn't do a Paddy and bowled his first wide of the season, he has now bowled 72 balls with only one wide.. so well done.  The team continue to catch well with a sharp catch for Fraser this game, this has been a highlight of the season. Cleator only scored 10 runs off the bat whereas Cockermouth scored 57 off the bat in their total of 291. The fielding is getting better and James in particular had his best game as a fielder especially it was pointed out that his fireman's relay throw early on would be better going straight to Joe.His next throw went to Joe fast and straight.

Gabriel and Paddy scored a good 25 to get the team off to a good start, this was bettered by Joe and Daniel who scored 28 as second pair. Joe making a double figure score of 13. Despite being out three times Tom and Fraser added 8 with Fraser top scoring with 15. Dylan and James kept up the good work with an improvement of 15. Dylan hitting a good boundary and James hitting the ball better to get himself and the team a couple of runs. Aiden and William finished things off at the end by not giving any minus fives away. The bowling was very wragged at this stage and there was very little that William and Aiden could do to score many runs.

A good team effort, there were only the three wickets in the innings and 6 boundary 4s from 4 different players. Gabriel and Paddy ran two twos and Joe and Daniel scored one two, much to Daniel;s surprise when Joe nearly passed him running the second!

There are 4 more league games to go and then the cup starts which is "proper" cricket. 11 in each team and there are no minus fives, when you are out you are out!! We have a home draw against Stainton for that one.

The quality of the chocolate brownies at tea time were remarkably good considering Bradley Wiggins cycling round a track for an hour at the optimum baking hour and a comment for Jonny Allport as our scorer and lover of record titles, at one stage he recorded that Cleator were "down to zero"... name of the artist on a paper at next weeks game.

Well done Under 11s, still second behind Whitehaven and the Egremont away game next.

Under 13 v Seascale 14/6

Cockermouth reached the half way point of their league campaign by entertaining Seascale on a cool but dry Sunday morning at Sandair.

Batting first Cockermouth set their stall out to get a high score with solid and sensible batting from all their top order. All batters demonstrated they had been listening at practice by building an innings before accelerating to good individual scores. Tom played some great back foot shots through the covers and Ewan keeping his head down (except for one!) punishing the bad ball consistently. Sam scored quickly as usual before being unlucky with one that nipped back. Adam    got into his stride running well between the wickets with Cameron to keep the score moving. Cameron accelerated his innings well towards the end having worked the ball into the gaps early on. Tom then came in and struck the ball very cleanly endangering one of the parked cars at long on. Cockermouth finished on 156/2 off their 20 overs.

There was much banter in the changing room at half time with everyone declaring they suddenly were bowlers - confidence was high and quite rightly so.

Everyone bowled two overs with some exceptional performances from players who don't normally get chance to bowl. Mathew bowled really straight to take 3 wickets, Leo bowled a good length to get 2 wickets and Cameron managed a double wicket maiden. Peter bowled his 2overs taking a wicket without conceding a run. Ewan and Adam both completed the picture by getting a wicket each. With no dropped catches and 4 taken by Adam (2) , Tom W and Peter it proved to be a successful morning by getting the opposition out for only 34.
It was a really impressive all round team performance - well done everyone.

Cockermouth 156/2
T Mcfadyen 30 retired
E Styles 30 retired
C Sealby 25 not out
S Taylor 19
A Watson 19
T Wilson 15 not out

Seascale 34 all out
E Styles 2,0,8,1
T Wilson 2,1,1,0
S Taylor 2,1,2,0
C Sealby 2,1,5,2
L Morgan 2,0,4,2
S Dawson 2,1,6,0
M Graham 2,0,7,3
P Rawlinson 2,2,0,1
T Mcfadyen 1,1,0,0
A Watson 1,1,0,1

Many thanks to Mrs Styles who did fantastically well scoring keeping up with the batters in the first innings and then the bowling changes in the second innings.

Cockermouth 10pts   Seascale 0pts
Cockermouth remain top of the league.

Under 11 v Egremont 15/6

Two out of three aint bad.

Cockermouth Under 11s acted out the song title perfectly last night in their win against last years champions away at Egremont. Losing the toss and being asked to bat the team really struggled with their batting this week. The Egremont bowling was very straight and boundaries and runs generally were difficult to hit. Only two boundaries in the whole 20 overs and only a total of 31 runs off the bat was way down on previous weeks totals. Also a higher amount of wickets ( 8 ) meant that the total of 239 was a lot lower than we would have liked.  Gabriel managed 10 runs, who along with Harry got the team off to a solid start of 21 and after Joe and Fraser had run particularly well to get Cockermouth to 238 a good score look possible. The remaining bowlers tied the next 6 batters down and a total of 239 was finally achieved. Worthy of mention was a girl called Olivia from Egremont who took a hat trick, which apparently added to a hat trick that Alice had taken the week before..,.as their coach said " girl power".

After a half time team talk from the coach the team were determined to get the other two parts of the game right and indeed they did. Egremont were restricted to 212 which meant Cockermouth won by 27 runs. The team bowled less wides than in any other game this year with only 6 being bowled in the 20 overs. Gabriel, Keira , Dylan and James all bowled their overs without a wide . Gabriel  got the team off to a great start with 2 wickets and only giving away 2 runs against Egremont's two best batters.Harry bowled the best he has bowled in a game this year to do his bit. Keira and Daniel continued their good work this year with a wicket each . Fraser chipped in with two wickets , but the best bowling this week came from Dylan who not only bowled no wides but took three wickets. One of the wickets was a good catch by Harry King. Aiden and James finished the innings off but still had to bowl well so that Egremont didn't get too close, so well done to those two. Dylan also kept to his target of not letting boundaries past him on the boundary and in fact saved nine runs to help the team. James had his best game as a fielder and the game before was also an improvement, so every week is going in the right direction. Aiden and Gabriel got good throws in to Joe to get two run outs, this is Aiden's first so well done, he got the ball really quickly and got rid of the ball really quickly and accurately. Captain Gabriel was very quick to congratulate both Joe for the good take and Aiden for the excellent fielding. He then followed it with a run out of his own from a strong hard throw which Joe took well to get the run out.

William was unlucky that he did not get a chance to bowl this week, with the game being so close and the bowlers who were already on doing such a good job there were not enough overs left, but his time will come.

For the second time this season the team bowled and fielded well to defend a small total, against Whitehaven it nearly worked , but on Monday against Egremont it did work really well. The team know they could have batted better and told the coach that they expected Wednesday practice to be about batting...and they are right.

Cockermouth remain second in the league with three league games to go and then thoughts turn to the cup which is "proper" 11 - a - side cricket.

Under 13 v Cleator 21/6

Cockermouth entertained Cleator at Sandair on a cloudy summers morning. Tom won the toss and elected to bat with batters confidence high after last weeks performance despite the overcast conditions.

A steady start from openers Tom and Ewan took the score to 37 off the first 7 overs before Ewan got one which stopped on him to be caught comfortably by the bowler.
Sam supported Tom who hit some really strong offside shots off the back foot before retiring which allowed Sam to then accelerate with Adam supporting. Once Sam retired after hitting 2 consecutive boundaries Adam took control, striking the ball cleanly to the boundary and running very well with Cameron. This pair kept the score moving off virtually every ball, which in the last few overs is exactly what was needed. Adam retired and Cameron finished 16 not out to leave the home team well placed at 135/2.

Cleator got off to a good start 17 off the first 2 overs before Ewan concentrated on the task in hand to remove both openers in his second over. Cleator then fell behind the clock steadily and losing wickets frequently to reach 36/6 at the half way stage of their innings despite some very average bowling from Cockermouths top bowlers. Every bowler bowled far too short for the conditions and there appeared to be a lack of concentration having already done the job with the bat. Tom Mcfadyen then came on to lead by example and pitched to ball up, bowling well to hit the stumps twice in his 2 overs. All the team managed to get an opportunity to bowl but disappointingly not as good as last week allowing Cleator to finish on 78/7. Some mixed fielding contributed to this score - some good catching by Tom Wilson (3) but uncharacteristic ground fielding by others allowing some cheap runs. Cleators second top scorer was extras (22) of which there were 19 wides !!!
Some harsh words were needed at the end to reflect on what needs to be done better on Wednesday evening (bowl straight and on a good length) before the crucial match against Egremont next week. However, the discussion ended on a real positive - consistently good batting in the last 3 weeks with over 400 runs scored and only 9 wickets lost. This powerful consistent batting sets the tone for the second half of any game and allows all team players to contribute by bowling their overs.

Cockermouth 135/2
Tom Mcfadyen 31 retired
Sam Taylor 33 retired
Adam Watson 30 retired
Cam Sealby 16 not out

Cleator 78/7
Ewan Styles 2,0,11,2
Tom Wilson 2,0,9,1
Sam Taylor 2,0,7,1
Cam Sealby 2,0,5,0
Adam Watson 2,0,2,1
Tom Mcfadyen 3,0,10,2
Will Allport 2,1,6,0
Sam Dawson 2,0,7,0
Peter Rawlinson 2,0,11,0
Oliver Davidson 1,0,5,0

Cockermouth won by 57 runs and secure 10 points, to remain top of the league, being unbeaten in the league.

Under 11 v Workington 22/6

Monday saw the latest round of Under 11 league games with an away fixture at Workington. All day the chance of the weather stepping in was there but fortunately I didn't need to stop at the "red frame with the white light" to call everybody about the game being off.

Before the game Gabriel was not sure whether to bat or bowl and he changed his mind a couple of times. Coach couldn't work this out at first but then realised that Gabriel didn't know whether there would be half time hot dogs or not. Malcolm the Workington coach was being tactical and keeping a "secret". Gabriel kept the magic 2p piece and won the toss this week ,deciding to field first.

The normal trend of a slow start from the fielding side happened again and a couple of sloppy runs were given away, but after 8overs Workington had been restricted to 209 and no wides were bowled by Harry, Gabriel,Paddy and Daniel. There was a great piece of fielding from Paddy who hit the stumps direct from a distance out to run out the opening batter. Paddy also took a wicket with his bowling and after 12 overs Workington were still only 215.

One more wicket was taken by William who bowled out one of the Workington players to take his first wicket of the season, which was great. Workington finished on 246 and were helped by 16 wides, which is the highest we have bowled this year and three dropped catches which is more than we have dropped all year, so things to work on there with the Cup match coming up  next week.

With new found energy from the surprise half time hot dogs, Gabriel and Harry set about reducing the victory target of 247. They got the total to 236 with the help of good running from the two of them, 21 runs for Gabriel and a generous wicket-keeper who helped us to get 10 byes, which Gabriel and Harry ran well too. Paddy and Joe increased the score to 249 with more good running. They were able to take a "souvenir" Mars Bar away from the game because they ran a three and Coach had been at a game with Gabriel and had promised the players a Mars Bar if they ran a three. Nobody did but Gabriel had remembered this and gave his " message" by "talking loud and clear" from the pavilion steps to everybody so they knew the coach would have to get a Mars Bar if this happened. Well done to Paddy and Joe who got the last  Mars Bar behind the bar before Malcolm went to Cash and Carry to stock up for next time.

Kiera and Tom kept the total going in the right direction by another 4 to get the total to 257. Dylan then hit 11 runs in his pairing with James and helped his partner increase the total by 4, James had a couple of bowled out dismissals off good balls, so well done to Dylan by supporting his partner, 8 of these runs came from boundaries, so he hit the bad balls well. The final pair William and Aiden were 12 runs in front when they went out to bat so the game was close. Neither of them were out and with a great shot from Aiden going for a well run 2 they came in 10 runs higher than when they went in. A total of 271 meant that Cockermouth won by 25 runs.

Attention turns to the cup next week which is 11 - a - side cricket played to proper rules, " when your out your out" is the biggest difference and if the team bats well not everybody gets to bat, so this will be a learning curve for the year 6s who are going to Under 13 next year.The game finished quite late at 8.40 but with  it nearly being the longest day the parents didn't have to do any manoeuvring in the dark on the drive home.

Still second in the league behind Whitehaven , which is the next league game at home in a fortnights time.

Under 11 v Stainton (League Cup) 29/6

Stainton were welcomed to Cockermouth on Monday night for the first round of the league cup. This is the first time in the season that 11 a side rules are played, which makes it very different from the normal pairs cricket played in the league.

The visitors batted first and made 51 off their 20 overs. Wickets were taken by Gabriel, Daniel and Sam Wright who was making his debut for the club. Joe took a high catch to give Daniel his first wicket and there were two runs outs as well, one from Fraser and one from Keira.The number of extras were higher than the number of runs scored which will be worked on at the next practice. Stainton scored 25 runs and there were 26 extras made up of wides, no balls and byes.

Daniel finished with 2 wickets for 7 runs off his 3 overs, Gabriel 1 -5 and Sam 1-6.

The last ball of the innings saw a tumbling catch by Gabriel to give Fraser a wicket. Only 8 wides in the innings was good and no dropped catches again.

The normal first pair of Gabriel and Harry opened the batting and scored a quick 24 before Gabriel edged one up in the air to the keeper to be out for 19. Fraser and Harry kept up the good work with some quick singles and added another 9 before Fraser was run out going for one over ambitious single .. Harry did say he was sorry, which goes with yes, no , wait as the four basic running calls.

Joe and Harry finished the innings off by being not out at the end. Harry was 10 not out and Joe was 8 not out, Cockermouth finishing on 52 -2 and only using 9.3 overs of the 20 they had.

A big thank you to James who was the one player who did not bat or ball, as we said at the start there will always be games in the future as they become adults when this happens, so in the next round James will get his chance and maybe someone else nay miss out, it shows how important it is to enjoying fielding and to see how important fielding. We took 4 wickets with good fielding, 2 catches and 2 run outs.

We will know who we are playing in the next round by the end of the week and when the game will be played.

Under 13 v Workington 05/7

Cockermouth travelled to Workington in pursuit of another victory. Losing the toss Cockermouth were asked to field, unfortunately it was not their best display in the field. At times it looked a different set of players to those who work so hard at practice on ground fielding and catching - maybe the thought of a school trip overseas was on a number of players minds. 6 dropped catches and a number of misfields allowed the opposition to get off to a good start 50/3 after 10 overs. Gabriel bowled well and was unlucky only to get one wicket. Tom worked up some genuine pace and sent the openers stumps flying in his 3rd over. Sam and Adam only conceded 10 runs each from their 4 overs. It was Cameron who stole the show with 3 wickets for 11 from his 4 overs putting the brakes on the opposition. This good bowling and two good catches by Tom and Mathew with a run out by Mathew/Adam restricted the opposition to only 26 in their last10 overs leaving Workington on 76/6 at half time.

A discussion with the batters in the dressing room centred around seeing off the two county bowlers and then accelerate to a comfortable victory. It proved to be a little too tight for comfort at some stages. Tom got a nick behind to his first ball, with Sam misjudging at straight ball. After the 1st 8 overs Cockermouth had managed 15/2 - plenty of work to be done. Wickets steadily fell at one end with no-one managing to get into double figures. As Ewan was unavailable, a new opener was needed, Cameron was selected and did he take his chance. He paced his innings to perfection, batting really straight, keeping the score moving under difficult circumstances and then hitting the winning runs to take him to 32 retired with 9 balls left. Some great running between Aiden and Cameron accelerated the scoring just at the right time to see Cockermouth to 77/6.

As usual some lessons to be learnt - need to field better especially when we haven't any runs on the board. Still too many wides and extras (23). We need to play the right shot when the ball is on the wickets.

Workington 76/6
T Wilson 4,1,14,1
G Drimmie 4,0,23,1
S Taylor 4,1,11,0
C Sealby 4,0,11,3
A Watson 4,0,10,0

Cockermouth 77/6
C Sealby 32 retired
T Wilson 9
A Howarth 7 no

Cockermouth won by 4 wickets and remain top of the league.

Under 13 v Whitehaven 12/7

Cockermouth skipper won the toss, reviewed the conditions and decided to bowl first, knowing another win was vital in their quest for championship glory.

Some good bowling and fielding in difficult under foot conditions early on was pleasing after last weeks poor display in the field. Gabriel and Sam bowled tightly and at times were unlucky not to get more wickets. Cameron was accurate getting the ball to swing and the skipper was economical in his first 3 overs making a rare guest appearance with the ball due to a couple of absentees. A great catch by Tom and some good ground fielding by Leo,Peter, Mathew and Sam D kept Whitehaven to 74/3 with a lot less extras (8 wides and only 1 bye - well done to Aiden) than recent weeks.

All that was needed was a solid start and a platform to build on. Unfortunately at 21/4 this was not the case with the top order struggling to get to grips with the slow and low bounce. Cameron continued where he left off last week pushing the ball around and built a match winning partnership with Gabriel taking the score to 69 before Gabriel got a peach of a ball to end his innings. With the recovery undertaken it was left to Aiden and Cameron like last week to secure the victory with 2 overs to spare.

With a little more application in the batting department the victory would have been more comfortable. Nevertheless another 10 points and still leading the league with only one game left- well done everyone!

Whitehaven 74/3
Ewan Styles 4,0,26,0
Gabriel Drimmie 4,1,10,1
Sam Taylor 4,0,11,1
Cam Sealby 4,2,9,1
Tom Mcfadyen 4,0,17,0

Cockermouth 75/5
Cam Sealby 26 no
Gabriel Drimmie 24
Tom Mcfadyen 10

Cockermouth won by 5 wickets

Under 13 v Seascale 19/7

Cockermouth completed their 2015 league campaign at Seascale on a breezy but dry morning.

Cockermouth batted first and took the opportunity to mix the batting order up having secured the title the week before. Tom opened with Peter and got off to a flier with some great timed shots off both the front and back foot. Tom retired after only 14 balls, handing over to Ewan who continued to strike the ball well. Ewan retired after 17 balls and Peter nudged the ball around to make a good 25. Cam got a good ball which spun to be well caught behind. Sam Dawson and Oliver were promoted and accompanied Tom Wilson to take the team to 155/3 - the teams second highest score of the season.

There was obvious disappointment from the 4 who didn't get a bat so the plan was to give them a good bowl with others chipping in. Leo bowled accurately and quick off his new run up being unlucky not to get a wicket. Will was the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets and having a hat trick foiled by a dropped catch - his dad was pleased as it would have been an expensive morning due to the large crowd who were gathering. Sam Taylor bowled quick taking 1 wicket from his 4 overs. Everyone else then got the opportunity to bowl at least one over with Tom W, Cam and the skipper sharing the remaining wickets. Tom Wilson is on a hat trick next match having finished his one over with two in two.The ground fielding was tidy, with some safe catching and good keeping by Mathew which meant the home side were restricted to only 64/9.

With Cockermouth winning the match by 91 runs and their first U13 league title for a number of years it was time to crack open the refreshments with the skipper getting a little wet!

Cockermouth 155/3
T Mcfadyen  33 ret
E Styles  32 ret
P Rawlinson 25
T Wilson 27 no
C Sealby 13
S Dawson 4
O Davidson 4 no

Seascale 64/9
L Morgan 4,1,7,0
W Allport 4,0,11,3
S Taylor 4,0,13,1
S Dawson 2,1,5,0
T Wilson 1,0,8,2
E Styles 1,0,5,0
C Sealby 1,0,2,1
T Mcfadyen 1,1,0,1
P Rawlinson 1,1,0,0
O Davidson 1,0,1,0

The team has had an excellent season with four batsmen scoring over 100 runs and six bowlers taking more than 5 wickets. Every player has improved throughout the season, enjoying their cricket but importantly learning how to win cricket games. Hopefully they can all build on this next year in either U13/ U15 or even adult sides.

Under 11 v Caldbeck 24/8

Monday saw the last Under 11 game of the season in a friendly at home against Caldbeck. The Under 11 pitch had been covered before the game and was in excellent condition for the end of the season. It was the first time for many years that we had welcomed a junior Caldbeck team to our ground and they thoroughly enjoyed their day and played a really good game.

Joe Milledge lost the toss having rushed to the ground having decorated a bedroom and baked a lemon drizzle cake ( without any lemon ! )so bound to call wrong after this. Caldbeck decided they would like to have a bowl first and so captain Joe and Paddy went out to open the innings. All five pairs increased the score with Paddy and Jo scoring 17 for the first pair. Keira and Tom carried on the good work with a partnership of 12 and then our newer players came in and really played well, which is great for next year’s team. Josh and Reegan ran superbly and put on 19 with a number of very sharp singles. Then the best partnership was Harry Smyth and Archie who added 33 runs, Archie scoring 13 including two great boundaries in consecutive balls. To finish off Ruby and William also put 10 runs on to the total with another couple of good singles.

A total of 291 was one of our highest of the year and with several players only playing their second or third game of the season and Archie his second, this was really positive.

Everybody bowled two over’s for Cockermouth in the Caldbeck reply and William and Keira bowled the extra third overs that Ruby couldn’t bowl because she was keeping wicket. There were wickets for Tom and also for Joe , who took his first wicket of the year, having kept wicket in all the other games. His deputy Ruby was keeping wicket for the first time and was superb, with great footwork and only letting through 6 byes. Josh pulled off a  great  stop to save a boundary and Keira nearly pulled off a caught and bowled.. Caldbeck ended up on 234 to give Cockermouth a win by 57 runs.

The season ended with a record of played 14 won 10 lost 2 rained off 2. So an excellent result. The loss to Whitehaven ( by 5 runs ) meant we came second in the league and the loss to Carlisle was in the semi final of the cup, so a good season , which involved 18 players has come to an end. All will be reviewed and celebrated at the awards evening on Friday 18^th September.