Earby carry Craven hopes

Pro Jonathan Harvey led the way with an unbeaten 75 not out as they passed the target of 179 with plenty of wickets and overs to spare.

After winning the toss, the visitors were put in to bat and a good Earby display of bowling and fielding meant runs were hard to find. The top five Northern batsmen all made starts but only N Weaver pushed on and was finally caught by Proud two short of his half century.

From a position of 152 for four, Earby turned the screw and Harvey was to finish with four wickets as Northern ended up on 179. There were three wickets apiece for A Rushton and A Booth.

The loss of opener N Hodge for 13 did not cause any grave concerns - in fact it brought Harvey to the crease. With Steve Pickles he put on 91 for the second wicket. Pickles eventually fell for 55, his 50 coming off 96 balls. Mick Plant hit 21 before being caught on the threshold of victory.

FROM the deep despair of a dismal display against Cherry Tree, Barnoldswick can look forward to this weekend's fixture with more confidence after a morale-boosting win in the National Cup over a strong Fleetwood side.

But first they had to endure the embarassment of a heavy defeat at home to Cherry Tree in the Ramsbottom Cup.

With the ball in their hand, Barlick were happy as they restricted their opponents to 149.

Mike Scothern took four wickets, including the Cherry Tree pro who was beaten all ends up by the first ball he faced, an inswinger which took the off stump. Andrew Brown's spell of nine runs off eight overs and one wicket was an example of the solid bowling attack.

But 47 extras on the Cherry Tree card tells its own story. Wicketkeeper Ian Scothern held his hand up and admitted he had a torrid time behind the stumps, accepting the blame for many of them - although both sides were unhappy at some inconsistent umpiring on wides and leg bye decisions.

When it came to bat, Barnoldswick started disastrously with two run outs in the first two overs. Ian Scothern survived an lbw appeal but did not hear Mick Lord calling for a quick run and when he looked up Lord was beside him in the crease with no chance of scampering back. Farrar was next to go when a non-existent run to midwicket failed to come off.

With Nigel Robinson swinging the ball both ways to take five wickets, Barlick were all out for a paltry 53.

Facing the strength of Northern League Fleetwood, the omens did not look good for Barnoldswick. A team talk beforehand centred upon application and self belief and it was a revitalised side which came out.

Fleetwood's tight bowling met nothing was given away and after 10 over Barnoldswick had only scored 10. But crease occupation was vital. Paul Beech hit three boundaries before he was dismissed and Sid Sheraz showed his growing stature in the side with a steady 16. At 63 for three Barlick were putting together a reasonable total but a collapse saw them at 82 for seven. Cue Barry Charnley, batting down the order, for one of his special innings, as he took the attack to the bowlers and hit 37 not out which allowed Barnoldswick to post a defendable total of 144.

The game had been held up by an injury to Fleetwood's wicket keeper who suffered a depressed cheekbone when he was struck by the ball.

Michael Scothern took four wickets as Barnoldswick tore into the top order and had Fleetwood at 39 for six. The seventh wicket caused a few alarms as it reached 89 but James Stead took three wickets in an over to complete a fine victory for Barnoldswick, who need to carry that determination through to the rest of the campaign.

SETTLE had a disappointing defeat at home at the hands of Baxenden.

It didn't help when their run-getting professional Bhave was caught at the wicket off the bowling of Davies with the score on four. And when he was swiftly followed by Mark Verden with the score on just 10, they were in deep trouble.

But Settle knuckled down and were grateful to good performances from Robbie Procter (28) and Richard Hill (36) to take the score to 103 for six.

Alas, Procter retired hurt and when Preston went the tail could not add too many valuable runs as Settle reached a total of 119.

On a fine day this was never likely to be enough, although two early wickets for 11 runs provided a glimmer of hope.

But Baxenden started scoring prolifically, despite some tight bowling from David Jollies, whose 10 overs cost just 13 runs.

However, Baxenden had knocked off the required runs for just four wickets.

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