SETTLE were the only Craven side to progress in the Ribblesdale League's Ramsbottom Cup when they crushed Edenfield by 62 runs at Marshfield.

They were indebted to a superb innings of 112 by professional Surendra Bhave to secure a much-needed morale boosting win and book a trip to Padiham in the next round.

The stage was set for an interesting confrontation between the prolific Bhave and Edenfield's Mike Smethurst, who has made such an impressive start to his county career since his debut with Lancashire this season. However, it was the bat which came out on top with Bhave again looking in supreme form.

After the early loss of Hill, Mark Verden and Bhave batted sensibly to take the score to 74 before Verden was out for an extremely useful 32.

The other Settle batsmen made modest contributions while all around them Bhave was accelerating towards a magnificent 113 before being finally bowled by Storey, giving his side a total of 184 to defend, with eight wickets going down.

Having scored at just less than four per over, Settle needed to bowl and field tightly and make early inroads.

They started to achieve those targets when Eddie Day removed opener Hanson in his first over and Colin Johnson reeled off five overs for just three runs. Johnson then removed the dangerous Kershaw and Wright in the same over and the visitors were looking in poor straits at 26 for three off 11 overs.

Bhave showed his prowess as a bowler by removing Hawk and top scorer Taylor to leave Edenfield struggling on 59 for five.

Their pro Mike Smethurst tried to rally his side but when he was bowled by Anthony Bradley a Settle victory was virtually guaranteed. A ninth wicket stand of 32 caused minor nerves but Settle's bowlers were performing well, backed up by an improved performance in the field. Malcolm Dodgson had a good match behind the wickets, taking four catches.

Settle: R Hill b Smethurst 3, S Bhave b Storey 113, M Verden c Kershaw b Slinger 32, T Green c Slinger b J Hawk 5, M Morris lbw Taylor 10, A Fergie c M Hawk b Smethurst 2, D Worthington c Hanson b M Hawk 10, M Dodgson b Storey 0, E Day not out 2, C Johnson not out 4. Extras 3. Total (8 wkts) 184.

Bowling: M Smethurst 10-1-26-2, B Storey 10-2-37-2, A Wright 6-0-34-0, W Slinger 10-3-24-1, J Hawk 6-1-33-1, P Taylor 4-0-20-1, M Hawk 2-0-9-1.

Edenfield: J Kershaw b Johnson 9, C Hanson c Bhave b Day 0, P Taylor c Dodgson b Bhave 33, A Wright c Dodgson b Johnson 4, M Hawk c Dodgson b Bhave 7, M Smethurst b Bradley 18, G Smithson c Dodson b Fergie 5, P Holt not out 18, B Storey b Bradley 7, W Slinger not out 17. Extras 5. Total (8 wkts) 123.

Barnoldswick just fell five runs short against cup holders Cherry Tree in a tight match at Victory Park not without controversy.

The heavens opened on Friday night to leave a wet pitch which required stern efforts from the groundstaff to get ready in time. Another downpour early in Barnoldswick's innings caused the match to be held over until the Sunday, with even more rain overnight. None of it could have helped Barlick's cause.

Even so they were left wondering what might have been had the umpires not agreed to take the players off after about an hour on Sunday after complaints from the bowlers about conditions, which were certainly no worse than when play started. Barlick, having had their rhythm disturbed already by the overnight suspension, were keen to carry on but their views were overlooked and they were doomed to fall agonisingly short of their target as they started up for a third time .

Ironically, the Cherry Tree wicket keeper Lee Kennedy was taken to hospital when a slow ball reared unexpectedly catching him in the mouth and damaging his front teeth.

Having been put in to bat, Cherry Tree batted well to reach a total of 132 in difficult conditions. Barlick must have fancied their chances when Paul Ridgeway had the Cherry Tree pro Ashraf caught by Andrew Brown for just six runs. However, the rest of the batting dug in, eking out the runs to post a good total.

Barlick's tactics were to see off the threat of Ashraf and Hughes and for a while it looked as though they were going to pay off but disaster struck in the 11th over when Ian Scothern was caught off the bowling of Ashraf and then Justin Manville was run out.

From then on Barlick were struggling as Cherry Tree made inroads into their line-up with runs hard to come by with a wet ball and soggy outfield and slow, medium pace bowlers keeping things tight once Ashraf and Hughes were off the scene.

Stand-in professional Paul Ridgeway hit 39 and Barry Charnley raised hopes with 22 at the tail but Barlick just ran out of overs, finishing on 127 for nine.

Cherry Tree: E Davies lbw Beech 20, D Heys c Scothern b Stead 10, N Robbins c Stead b Ridgeway 29, Ashraf c Brown b Ridgway 6, M Butler c I Scothern b Beech 19, L Kennedy c I Scothern b Beech 24, J Hughes c Ridgeway b Stead 0, M Burrows c I Scothern b M Scothern 1, C Crawford not out 7, R Morley b Ridgeway 2, R Ince not out 2. Extras 11. Total (9 wkts) 132.

Bowling: M Scothern 9-5-9-1, J Stead 9-2-29-2, J Pickup 10-1-24-0, P Beech 10-2-46-3, P Ridgeway 10-4-17-3.

Barnoldswick: I Scothern c Kennedy b Ashraf 6, J Manville run out 6, P Beech c Davis b Ashraf 5, P Ridgeway (pro) c-b Heys 39, J Pickup run out 13, M Scothern c Kennedy b Hughes 2, M Lord c-b Heys 3, B Charnley not out 22, I Ahmed st Butler b Heys 3, A Brown st Butler b Heys 3, J Stead not out 3. Extras 22. Total (9 wkts) 127.

Bowling: Ashraf 10-6-7-2, J Hughes 10-1-32-1, R Davies 10-2-19-0, R Ince 2-0-9-0, N Robbins 8-1-25-0, D Heys 8-0-29-4.

EARBY crashed out of the Ramsbottom Cup when things went horribly wrong at league champions Padiham.

It all started so well for Earby as they raced through the Padiham front line batsmen and had the home side rocking at 75 for seven.

But then a series of dropped catches allowed the eighth and ninth batsmen to put on an unbeaten stand of 139 as the innings closed on 193 for seven. S Rashid and Andy Robinson finished on 57 not out.

Andrew Rushton was the most successful of the Earby bowlers, finishing with three for 26.

The disaster continued when it came to Earby's reply. Matthew Plant and professional Jonathan Harvey were both back in the pavilion for ducks with only one run on the board and the sixth wicket went down with a mere 17 on the board.

Fortunately total humiliation was avoided by the eighth wicket pair of Neil Hodge and Andrew Jaggers, who put on 76 runs but it was all over after 34.3 overs with Earby all out for 118. Padiham's pro Mark Harvey was their main tormentor, with five wickets for 75 runs.

Padiham: P Tripathi c-b Harvey 5, Harvey c S Rushton b A Rushton 14, J Hartley b A Rushton 8, D Hall c Hodge b Baistow 24, N Anderson c S Rushton b A Rushton 5, N Mehmood c Proud b Hipgrave 5, A McNicholas b Baistow 6, S Rashid not out 57, A Robinson not out 57. Extras 12. Total (7 wkts) 193.

Bowling: Harvey 10-0-38-1; A Rushton 10-1-26-3; P Baistow 10-2-29-2; S Hipgrave 10-1-39-1, A Jaggers 3-0-21-0, M Plant 4-0-21-0, C Walton 1-0-16-0.

Earby: M Plant c Robinson b Harvey 0, S Pickles c McNicholas b Harvey 7, Harvey b Harvey 0, S Rushton c McNicholas b Harvey 7, C Walton b Rashid 0, S Hipgrave c McNicholas b Harvey 2, N Hodge c Ali b McNicholas 45, A Rushton lbw Rashid 4, A Jaggers b Mehmood 31, P Baistow not out 2, D Proud b Mehmood 0. Extras 20. Total 118.

Bowling: Harvey 10-1-37-5, S Rashid 10-2-30-2, Q Ali 4-0-13-0, S Gee 5-0-16-0, N Mehmood 3.3-1-6-2, A McNicholas 2-0-11-1.

IT was a similar story in the Lawrenson Cup, with Settle Seconds going through to a second round match against Burnley Belvedere, while Earby and Barnoldswick both went out.

Chasing Burnley GSOB's total of 133, Settle came home with five wickets to spare.

Earby, chasing Great Harwood's total of 178 for eight, were all out for 166 while Barnoldswick were all out for 98 just short of the target set by Read of 101, achieved with the loss of three wickets.

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