A REMARKABLE set of results at the weekend has set up a thrilling end to the Veka Ribblesdale League season.

With five matches to go over the next three weekends, Settle lead Clitheroe by just a point while Barnoldswick are right back in the mix, just three points behind the leaders.

Like the climactic scene in Clint Eastwood's spaghetti western, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, no-one dare blink in the tense shootout. Time will tell who turns out to be Clint Eastwood.

Leaders Settle had their chances but ended up losing by one wicket at Cherry Tree on Saturday.

At Padiham, second place Clitheroe were involved in a dramatic tie allowing Barnoldswick to thrash Great Harwood and throw the championship wide open.

The performance of the day came from Barnoldswick, who effectively knocked fourth place Great Harwood out of the title race.

They had pro Jeeva Kulatunga to thank as they piled up 244 for nine. The Sri Lankan pro who had an indifferent start to the season is starting to give his club something to think about for next year as he smashed 111, with captain John Pickup chief support hitting an unbeaten 50.

Michael Scothern then turned in the best bowling performance of the season, taking nine wickets for 82 runs to complete a 112 run victory.

Things were not going so smoothly for Settle, whose total of 199 all out at Cherry Tree was not enough. But if they do fail to lift the league title, they will probably look back upon this match as the one which cost them it.

There was a virtuoso performance from Cherry Tree pro Zahoor Elahi, who scored 130 not out as Cherry Tree scraped home by one wicket. Only two others made it into double figures and as wickets steadily fell at the other end - Cherry Tree were 148 for seven and 165 for eight - it looked as though the Yorkshire team would get home.

But Elahi was dropped four times. The one catch which was held was off a no-ball.

All eyes then turned to Padiham, where a tight finish was always in prospect. Pro Shahid Nawaz scored exactly half his team's runs, 116, for Clitheroe as they reached 232-8 but Padiham's pro had more support to add to his 64 as their innnings closed on 232-5, the first tie in the league this season.

Earby are finding some consolation at the end of what has been a disappointing season.

They had Northern at 79-5 when Pete Woolridge took up the task of staying with Indian sub-professional Bhavin Thakkar, who reached his century on the last ball of the innings when a 'catch' was put down by Earby professional Mohammad Ayub.

The Applegarth club started the game with 10 men after David Watson, who is serving in the army, was delayed in traffic after making an 8.30am start from his base in Wiltshire. Skipper Chris Walton took on the wicket-keeper's role for the first 30 minutes of the match.

Earby lost Sam Munns and Stephen Pickles cheaply with Walton helping Ayub rebuild the innings. Watson then made his long journey worthwhile with a match-winning 64 not out backed up by 29 from Andrew Jaggers with Stephen Hipgrave (23no) bringing up the victory.

This weekend is a "double header" which includes the Yorkshire derby, Barnoldswick v Earby, at Victory Park. The remaining fixtures are:

Settle v Blackburn Northern (h); Whalley (a); Earby (a); Padiham (h); Read (a)

Clitheroe v Edenfield (h); Ribblesdale Wanderers (a); Read (h); Blackburn Northern (h); Oswaldtwistle (a)

Barnoldswick v Ribblesdale Wanderers (a); Earby (h); Baxenden (a); Whalley (a); Padiham (h)

o Records tumble at Settle, Page 34