ONLY the persistent exhortations from the 'tavern side' for Read's tail-enders to "Have a go" prevented Marshfield from turning into Sleepy Hollow as the game between the top two teams in the Veka Ribblesdale League crawled to a soporific conclusion on Sunday, (writes Tony Simpson).

Thanks to the regular admonitions from the tavern side, the sound of snoring never quite drowned out the birdsong, but without the interjections from the sidelines, it would have been a close-run thing.

It was a testament to Settle's performance on the day that defending champions and league leaders Read were reduced to batting out time at 92-7 to deny Settle maximum points after Robin Morris (89) had led the North Craven side to an impressive 208-6 total