EDENFIELD'S steady climb from bottom place in the Senior Division of the Jennings Ribblesdale League at the end of last season continued last weekend when the Ramsbottom side collected another seven points at the expense of Earby.

Their revenge win at The Applegarth inevitably owed much to the work of South African professional Ian Mitchell, who was top scorer with 81 and followed up with a 6-31 return with the ball - impressive figures for a specialist wicket-keeper with Boland in the republic.

When the sides met earlier in the season, Edenfield were tumbled out for 51 as Steve Crook turned in a match-winning 8-17 return, but at the second attempt the visitors amassed 188-8 as Mitchell provided the back-bone to the innings and when Earby lost their first three wickets to Mitchell with only 18 runs on the board, the signs were none too encouraging.

Nigel Hodge (33) and Andrew Jaggers (40) offered some resistance, but Mitchell continued to add to his tally and the innings closed at 165.

Barnoldswick also went down against Great Harwood, although the margin of their defeat was rather closer, 0.28 of a run giving them the crucial edge.

Barnoldwick must have been feeling fairly confident when they posted their 195-7 total. Opener Ian Scothern produced one of more obdurate knocks when he patiently put together an anchoring innings of 74 in 161 minutes, while Jeevantha Kulatunga added another half-century to his growing list with a knock of 57.

The match-winning innings, however, came from Great Harwood opener Andrew Crook, who reached 100 before being caught off Michael Scothern's bowling.

Great Harwood were unable to overhaul the Barnoldswick total in the time allowed, but they edged ahead of the asking rate to claim five points.

Tomorrow's programme has Barnoldswick entertaining third-placed Clitheroe and Earby visiting next-to-bottom Whalley.

The one success story from the Craven trio came from Settle, who claimed five points from a 53-run win at Blackburn Northern to maintain their hopes of a top-four finish.

Openers Paul Stafford (67) and Keith Hornby (51) set the standard with a partnership of 89 and support was then consistent as the visitors reached 210-6 in their overs.

Key to success for the Marshfield men was a decisive return to action of skipper Andy Davidson and some good work in the field. Davidson was both economical and penetrative in a spell which yielded 5-45 from 17 overs, the home side being contained at 151-8 in their 45-over allocation.