WE WON THE SOWERBY CUP!

1ST XI DEFEAT LANERCOST TO END 21 YEAR WAIT!

So Carlisle 1st XI have won their first cup trophy for 21 years! Despite the rain delays at Penrith on Sunday, on the strike of 8pm. We took the tenth Lanercost wicket to win by 94 runs. Batting first, Carlisle scored 263 for 5 wickets off 40 overs, thanks largely to quick fire half centuries from S.Saman and J.Musgrave, and a typically belligent 47 from Alex Raybould. At this point although we were entilteld to bat for another 5 overs, skipper Glenn Clark decided to declare. Everybody was keen that the match should have a conclusion before further rain or bad light could finish things off. Lanercost gave us a very spiated reply, until C.foxcroft came on to bowl. He took 5 wickets quite quickly, and lanercost were bowled out for 169. Matters were actually finished off by Richard Raybould, who managed to take 2 for 6 off 4 balls! Mr Colin Parker of Penrith gave an excellent speech, and gave the man of the match award to J.Musgrave. The whole occasion took place in an extremely pleasant atmosphere. I must say that all of the 11 players were heros and represented the club in the best way possible. So there we go, first division champions and Sowerby cup winners. 2009 has been a great season, now lets finish it off with 3 more victories!

PREMATURE PROMOTION

CARLISLE SECURE PROMOTION AFTER BEATING LOCAL VIVALS!

It took us 37.4 overs to bowl out Wigton for 97, of this total 56 not out were scored by Bobby Sherlock. Saman took 5 for 24 and J. Musgrave 4 for 36. Saman has now taken over 50 league wickets this season-and his bowling average is insingle figures. Mention should be made to another brilliant run out achieved by a direct throw from C.Foxcroft. Did he spend all winter practising? The best thing about Carlisle's reply was a really excellent innings from A.Blaylock-39 not out off 69 balls, with 5 fours and 2 six's. He began by playing himself in with 18 dot balls and then produced a series of beautiful attacking shots. It was a very encouraging performance from a player whom I now regard as a vetran, but who is in fact a few months shy of this eighteenth birthday. Dont forget our big day next sunday. Our sowerby cup final match against Lanercost @ Penrith starting at 1.30pm. Heres a good question; how many of the present team were alive in 1988? Answers on a post card please?

TRIPLE-WICKET MAIDEN!
FOXY BAGS CAREER BEST 7 FOR 21
11/7/09

How often does this happen? No doubt the late Bill Frindall could have provided full details for every occurence since the middle ages-but I don't think I have ever seen it before. Well done to C. Foxcroft- and 7 for 21 is not a bad afternoon's work, is it?

The tragedy for Hawcoat Park at Edenside on Saturday is that they did reach 81 for 3- but then lost their last 7 wickets for only 13 runs. Apols to the splendid tea ladies- under pressure again!

As well as being 'foxy's match it was to some extent also Marc Brown's match-he was on the field for the whole time as we won by 9 wickets, taking 3 good catches and contributing 33 not out to our winning total.
Our  apologies  to the lady spectator who arrived at 6:00 . " I was hoping to see the second innings" she remarked. I would however point out that next saturday Ulverston at home should provide strong opposition. While on Sunday 19th we play our sowerby cup semi-final against Vickerstown [H], starting at 2pm.

MASTER CLASS-MAIDEN CENTURY!
A.RAYBOULD SMASHES MAIDEN TON
4/7/09

On saturday, in our match away against Workington seconds, skipper G. Clark decided to send in Alex Raybould at number 3. The result? An innings of 106 in 124 balls which contained seventeen 4's and a 6!  This amazing knock took the game away for Workington and enabled us to declare after 48 overs at 192 for 8 wickets. Following 4 overs lost to rain, this meant that Workington had 48 overs for their innings.

In the end Glenn used seven bowlers, but the home side managed to hold on for the draw, ending at 150 for 8 wickets. Top scorers were I. Batty [40 off 63 balls] Saman took 3 for 36, and Adam Williamson was on good form, dismissing the top 3 batsmen for only 21 runs off 10 overs.

If only we had not dropped two catches, we might have won the match-but I must say that the fielding generally was back to the usual high standard after several lapses against Duddon the week before. Our 16 points from the match leave us still with a big lead at the top of the first division table with only 9 matches left!

DEFIANT DUDDON DECISIVELY DEFEATED
CARLISLE MARCH ON AT THE TOP
27/6/09

On saturday at edenside Duddon batted first and were bowled out for 166 in 44.4 overs. Teenage opener Lewis Gribbin batted a long time for his 28, but the high point for the visitors was a whirlwind innings of 50 in 46 balls from J.Alexander. Fortunately for us, just when things were beginning to look out of hand, captain G.Clark brought our Sri Lankan pro S.Saman back for a second spell and in his first over he bowled Alexander. After that the innings subsided quite quickly, Saman taking 5 for 20 and spinner J. Musgrave 4 for 59.

In reply Carlisle were doing fine at 43 without loss, but I nearly suffered a severe bout of indigestion as this soon became 61 for 4. Saman out for 4?? I am afraid so. At this point Musgrave and Alex Raybould came together and rescued the situation. Alex made a good 27 off 41 balls, while 'Mussy' was simply superb in hitting 64 off 77 balls, with a wonderful combination of defensive and attacking strokes. We won in the end by 4 wickets.

Gary Stephenson is this really his last season? he took 2 for 13 off his 15 overs; the figures speak for themselves. I must also mention teenage spinner J. Woods who took 3 for 65, including the prize wicket of skipper G.Clark.

This match could also be the sowerby cup final in August! First we have to overcome Vickerstown at Edenside on sunday 19th of July. Put the date in your diary now!

LOWLY LANERCOST SUBMIT TO SAMAN
SAMAN RUNS RIOT WITH 7-52
20/6/09

Seven for 52-from Saman. Again? Yes-again. Despite the resistance offered by the three batsman to reach double figures- K. Foster [17] M. Sykes [14] and S.Sykes [not out 10]. Lanercost subsided to 99 all out off less than 30 overs. The other event of note was the remarkable run out of non striker M.Armstrong by bowler Adam Williamson. Adam [as he often does] did very well to get down quickly to stop the fiercely-struck shot, and deserved his good fortune when the ball reflected onto the stumps with Armstrong backing up a little, too far.

Once again Marc Brown's 33 not out provided the backbone of Carlisle's reply after the loss of an early wicket. He was well supported by M.Trickett [23] and J.Musgrave [20 off 26 balls]. It took us less than 30 overs to win the match by 6 wickets, with K.Foster's spinners taking 3 for 21.

So, with half way through the league season gone [i.e we have played everybody once], We already have 189 points, which is pretty amazing. The other teams becoming a bit frightened of playing us? Perhaps. There is a healthy rivalry among ourselves-who will top the Batting and Bowling averages at the end of the season?

CLEATOR.........CONQUERED!
BROWN LEADS CARLISLE TO VICTORY AS CLEATOR ARE CONQURED!
13/6/09

This is the best headline I can think of for this week-can anyone do better?

Actually Cleator II gave us a bit of a fright. Batting first on their own ground, they slumped to 50 for 5, but were then rescued by some good batting from teenage opener J.Hocking [55 off 106 balls], A.Hodgson [38 off 58 balls] and 'at the death' T.Geen [25 not out off 23 balls]. They ended up with 165 for 9 off their 50 overs
Well done again to Saliya Saman who took 4 for 39-his first four overs were all maidens!- and C.Foxcroft [3 for 48]. Spinner J.Musgrave took 2 for 25.
Shall I tell you about the two dropped catches? Ill just say that the older element and the younger element were represented. Well done also to Phil Wittred our Alec Stewart-one catch, one stumping and only 1 bye!

M. Ponticelli soon had skipper G.Clark and A.Blaylock back in the hutch-18 for 2. Was this to be our waterloo? NO! Marc Brown played excellently for his 74 not out [off 127 balls], including twelve 4's. In fact, he hit the winning runs! He was very well supported by S.Saman, who struck 42 off 52 balls, with eight 4's.
We won by 6 wickets with more than 8 overs to spare. Ponticelli finished with decent figures of 3 for 51 off 14 overs. Who has been our inspiration this season? Perhaps Jenson Button would be the best answer!

MUZZY THE MARVEL
MAN OF THE MATCH MUSGRAVE MAKES VICKERSTOWN PAY!
6/6/09

Heard the one about the leg spinner who grabs the ball off his captain, bowls the first over of the innings and before you can say 'googly' has taken 3 for 5 to send the opposition into freefall [yet again] ? no? Then you should have been at Edenside on Saturday for this is just what J. Musgrave did.
But this is no were 'leggie'. Prior to this 'Mussy' had hit a wonderful 61 off 44 balls with [11 4's] to take the game completely away from Vickerstown and help set up what was eventually a 166-run victory for Carlisle.

I should say that there were other notable contributions as well-opener Marc Brown made a patient 34 off 67 balls, while Sri Lankan Pro Saliya Saman hit a typically belligerent 45 off 39 balls. Apart from 'Mussy's' effort, C.Foxcroft took 2 for 10 and Alex Raybould 3 for 5. Not a bad days work!

The next day we traveled to Ulverston for the Sowerby cup Quarter-final. Glen Clark played a typical captains innings-43 off 86 balls-and it was a good thing that he did, since after he was out the innings subsided to 130 all out. G. Yates is to be congratulated on taking 8 for 24 off 8 overs; it is hard to achieve this and end up on the losing side!
Our bowlers and fielders then put in a superb effort to bowl Ulverston out for 106 and to win the match by 24 runs. Our principal hero's were Alex Raybould [4 for 35] and Craig Foxcroft [4 for 18].

I am fairly sure that this team is the strongest Carlisle 1st XI have been for several years now-since the floods, in fact. When you consider that the average age is 24, there is great hope for the future!

APPLES GALORE!
GREEDY CARLISLE SCRUMP EIGHTEEN POINTS IN GARDEN OF EDEN!
30/5/09

You don't like this headline then blame our former captain and opening batsman! Now then don't say your browned off with this report already!
Now for the serious business. We bowled out Appleby for 87 in 2 hours, 4 minutes. Why so long did I hear someone ask? All but five balls were sent down by Adam Williamson [4 for 43] and Pro Saliya Saman [5 for 40]. Mind you we are expecting a complaint from Appleby That Saliya's orange-dyed hair put their batsmen off.
Im afraid that Saliya continued to torment our hosts when he batted, hitting a crunching 36 not out off 36 balls; we ended up winning by 8 wickets.

1ST XI VS WORKINGTON II [H] 25.4.09

Another very competent performance from Carlisle failed to achieve the win we deserved. Workington II scored 91 for 9 off their 50 overs, Adam Williamson taking 3 for 19 and sub pro S. Raza claiming 4 for 18.
Really the total should have been lower-30 of the runs were EXTRAS!

So Carlisle needed 92 to win. Seeing the storm clouds gathering. Raza and Marc Brown wasted no time and scored 47 runs in 8 overs. Then agonizingly for us, it started to rain heavily [at 4.50 pm].
The position points wise was this is no further play was possible, it would be 9 points to each side. The reason for this was that fewer than 60 overs had been bowled in the match [58 in fact], and no bonus points could be awarded. Plus for every 7 minutes lost to the weather, 2 overs were deducted from Carlisle's innings.
Eventually, the match did resume at 7:08, the umpires discovering that 4 overs remained [current calculation] so we had to score 45 runs in the last 4 overs. Difficult of course, but no means impossible!

After 1 over we had scored 14 of those runs for the loss of Raza's wicket. 31 needed off 3 overs. There then followed the most bizarre incident I have witnessed in 60 years of playing and watching cricket. Although not a drop of rain had fallen 7:08pm, the umpires re-examined the outfield, and now said that it was to wet for play to continue! They had gone back on their previous decision!
If we had played those last 3 overs, we might have scored those 31 runs-we shall never know. Even if we had not managed this however it would have been 10 points to Carlisle and 6 to Workington. In the end it was in fact 9 points each side, because the number of overs was 59 [below 60].

 Confused? I'm not surprised! Very respectfully I would suggest that maybe the league committee should review the matter and see whether justice was really done to Carlisle in this match.
Unfortunately the day ended with ill feeling and is something I don't like to see between the sides. Match officials should owe it to the players to be clear and decisive-and I have to say that on this occasion they fell short!

1ST XI VS DUDDON [A] 18.4.09

The last time we made the journey down to Askam to play Duddon s.c it was to be frank, a rather depressing affair. It was the end end of August; both teams had had disapointing seasons and knew they were doomed to relegation. Add to that-Carlisle 34 for 7!! Even my Birthday four days later didnt cheer me up too much!
This time, I am pleased to say, it was so different-was it the warm sunshine? Glen Clark's new dynamic captaincy? The promise of having S.Saman, the brilliant young Sri Lankan all-rounder, as our new pro for the season? Or just 'Foxys' hope of taking a wicket with his first ball to complete his hat-trick over duddon? [would lord's have accepted this anyway?]
In fact, 'Foxy's' bowling was not needed, because we bowled out Duddon for 78. Adam Williamson had 2 wickets under his belt in his first two overs, and ended with 4 for 33. S. Raza, our 'sub pro' for the day, took 5 for 25. A tea interval starting at 2.33pm? This was like the old days.
Unfortunately the start of Carlisle's innings was a bit like the old days too. 1 for 3 wickets-can you believe it? Were we going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? No! Glen Clark coming in at number 4, played a wonderful captains innings of 49 not out, well supported by J.Musgrave, who stayed with Glen for an hour and scored 17 precious runs, and at the end by Richard Raybould, who scored 7 not out, but more importantly-kept his wicket intact while his captain was completing the business at the other end. So we won by 4 wickets.

One further point. Gary Stevenson [4 for 13] and J.Alexander both bowled very well, but after that the duddon bowling was honestly pretty ropy. Also I am told that they will not be using a 'pro' this season. It will be interesting to see whether they recover from this poor start [2 points].

Thanks Again..

Geoffrey