It's the crunch weekend both clubs have been waiting for – but Carlisle and Furness might be frustrated by the weather.

The forecast for tomorrow is not good at all when the two top sides in the Cumbria Cricket League Premier Division line-up at Edenside for what, hopefully, will be the match of the day.

Furness, in fact, are staying overnight in the city because they are also due at Edenside on Sunday in the quarter-finals of the County Cup.

Let’s hope the two don’t have to resort to dominoes and poker in the Carlisle pavilion to get some competition going as Furness will definitely be travelling.

Carlisle skipper Marc Brown says: “It seems as though we have been checking forecasts for the last two or three weeks and, really, we were close to walking away at Whitehaven on Saturday.

“It drizzled for two hours, the outfield was very wet but when it faired up both teams were ready to give it a go and, under the circumstances, I thought it was a good victory. It’s one that so nearly fell to the weather.

“We’ve won five of our seven games in the league, with two abandoned because of rain. We had Keswick 36-5 so were in a strong position when that game was called off and although Wigton had made a good start, 90-1 we were confident of being able to chase down what they came up with.

“Our second-team are unbeaten and top of the Eden Valley League so there really is strong competition for places. In the 10 years I’ve been at the club, the strength of the first and seconds has never been a good.”

Carlisle will make changes for Saturday from the side that won at Whitehaven. James Lythgoe is away so Alex Raybould is back from holiday and takes his place. Jonathan Davidson, who was revising for A-Level exams, returns with Lewis Plackett playing for the second team.

For the County Cup game, Plackett comes in to take over from Raybould.

“I just hope the weather doesn’t spoil things because they should be two cracking games between two sides who are both in confident mood,” says Brown.

The game at Whitehaven had been reduced to 30 overs a side and batting first Carlisle made 170-5 built around a second-wicket stand between pro Mike Slack (79) and skipper Brown (57).

Whitehaven were bowled out for 79 in 21 over with Slack taking 5-12, Henry Walker 3-27 and 15-year-old Stan McAlindon, on league debut, picking up 2-11.

It’s not just the game with Furness that should have spectator interest tomorrow because there’s a bumper day of activities for all members and supporters.

The club has organised a special World Cup Family Fun Day - along with the return of their popular GinFest.

From 9am, right through the afternoon and into the evening, there will be a series of events to enjoy and get involved with.

The All Stars programme (9am), will be followed by a Kwik Cricket competition for children and their parents at 10.30.

The BBQ will be fired up by lunchtime and there’s the chance to sample the GinFest offer of just £20 for four gins, a mixer of choice and a hot snack from the BBQ.

Like last year, there will be more than 40 gins, from the traditional to craft, small batch and fruit flavoured to choose from.

The World Cup clash between England and Bangladesh will be shown on a big screen.

Meanwhile, back to last week’s cricket where Keswick’s revival continued at Wigton when they bowled out their hosts for 115 before eking out a six-wicket win.

Pro Geeth Kumara, and Glen Weightman who will be playing at Twickenham for Cumbria tomorrow, were the mainstays for Keswick. Kumara took 3-34 and was unbeaten on 53 while Weightman had 5-33 and was 22 not in Keswick’s winning response of 117-4 in 27 overs.

Tomorrow, Wigton travel to Egremont while Keswick entertain Whitehaven. The other games are: Cleator v Lindal; Dalton v Cockermouth; Millom v Workington.