JENNINGS Ribblesdale Cricket League action produced a fruitful day for the Craven contingent last weekend, with Barnoldswick and Michael Scothern claiming pride of place.

Scothern has been plying his trade with the Victory Park men for a while now and he has posted a hat trick in each of his last three seasons to underline the fact that he bowls straight and attacks the stumps.

Neither of his previous three-in-three successes, however, were as dramatic as the one he claimed at champions Read last weekend.

Chasing a fairly modest 140 target, Read looked comfortable winners at 137-7 with Peter Sleep at the wicket and 70 runs under his belt.

A push for a single seemed straightforward enough for the Australian veteran, but it proved to be the stroke which was to turn the game.

For before he could recapture the strike, Scothern had delivered three deliveries which all brought a finger-up response to an lbw appeal and left Sleep stranded and impotent at the non-striker's end.

"It was game over really and I was going to give someone else a bowl, but we got a wicket in the previous over and I decided to have another go," said Scothern.

"I said to 'Sleepy' when he took the single that he was taking a risk, but he quickly pointed out that the men at the other end weren't rabbits and all had 50s to their credit. All I did then was to try to keep it straight and full and the rest is history."

The outcome was a five point win for the visitors and the first serious blow to Read's hopes of defending their title after a first-day win at Oswaldtwistle.

Sadly for Barnoldswick, they were unable to repeat the process the following day when they tackled Blackburn Northern at Great Harwood.

The Blackburn side had an unbeaten 96 from professional Gareth Flusk on their way to a 211-6 declared and although opener Ian Scothern reached the half-century mark in Barnoldswick's reply, the Victory Park men were never in the hunt and were 157-5 at the close.

Neighbours Earby were also involved in a tight affair when they got the better of Baxenden in a rain-affected match at The Applegarth.

Not for the first time, Earby found themselves on a wrong end of a clattering from their former professional Jonathan Harvey, who completely dominated proceedings with a fine knock of 126.

Only opener David Usher and Extras managed double figures other than Harvey as the visitors were contained at 180-6 in their overs.

At 21-3, the signs were not good for Earby, but the arrival at the crease of new professional Steve Crooks and captain Chris Walton brought a tremendous transformation.

The pair picked up all the quick singles available and punished the bad balls in a stand of 111, Crook finally perishing for 64. Walton reached his half-century before he was also caught by Payne off Usher, but by then the balance has swung significantly.

A brief stoppage for rain meant that the match would be decided on run rate, some timely aggression from Andrew Jaggers in an unbeaten 22 putting his side ahead of the asking rate and guaranteeing five points to the home side.

Settle, meanwhile, took the leadership with a seven-point, 22-ruin success at Great Harwood, where the wicket-keeping of David Worthington and the accuracy of the bowling combined to give the visitors a winning edge.

Tom Canaway (38) and Phil Taylor (34) gave the Marshfield men a solid start with an opening stand of 61, at which point professional Stuart Hornby took up the running with an innings of 42. Settle were eventually restricted to 179-9 in their allotted overs, 26 extras being a major contributor to that total.

Great Harwood's response never really flourished against some tight bowling from Hornby (7/84) and Paul Ridgway (3/67), who bowled through and had the home side back in the pavilion for 155, only seven extras being conceded keep Settle in the driving seat.