CRAVEN'S Jennings Ribblesdale League trio suffered a white-wash on Saturday with all three losing away fixtures.

Settle were closest to pulling off a decent win when they went down by one wicket at Cherry Tree, their total of 149 being just short of what the bowlers needed in a delicately-poised contest.

The absence of Paul Ridgway from the bowling line-up was very effectively compensated for by a fine stint of line-and-length bowling from Andy Davidson, with Ridgway making his mark with the bat in an unbeaten innings of 44, after opener Paul Stafford had given some substance to the early work.

At 65-6, Settle looked to be heading for a paltry tally, but a 42-run stand with Adam Whaites brought a measure of respectability to proceedings. Ian Canaway then picked up the gauntlet of keeping Ridgway company and a 32-run partnership resulted.

With Mohammed finishing with 5-30 from 11 overs, Cherry Tree looked to be in the driving seat chasing 150 to win, but they also encountered problems.

Professional Stuart Hornby was their tormentor initially, dismissing both openers with only 15 runs on the board, but at that stage Cherry Tree produced their crucial partnership with the bat.

Professional Naeem Ashraf was the key to success with an innings of 71, a partnership of 103 with Burrows (35) putting the side back in control at 128-3.

At that stage the pendulum swung back in Settle's favour as Davidson's good work started to pay dividends.

From the prosperity of 128-2, Cherry Tree crashed to 146-8 as Davidson claimed 5-40 from 21 overs, but the last-wicket pair edged home.

The battle of the Walton Brothers at Read finished squarely in favour of Craig, who made a crucial 44 as Earby were beaten by 28 runs.

Professional Peter Sleep (30) and ex-Earby man Walton provided the support to a good innings from Terry Little, who was unbeaten on 66 when the home innings closed at 215-6.

The continued absence of Steve Crook through injury and county calls brought a guest appearance for Pakistan opener Umar and he did not disappoint with an innings of 47. Support, however, was patchy and at 95-6, a hefty defeat seemed likely.

Having produced a very useful display with the ball, however, stalwart Stephen Hipgrave then ensured that Earby finished with a very respectable score. Good work by Matt Nutter (25) and Andrew Jaggers (30) had kept Earby ticking over, but Hipgrave blasted 50 coming in at No 10 to add to his 3-48 return before Earby closed at 187.

Like Settle, Barnoldswick also came up a few runs short of victory when they went down by eight runs at Ribblesdale Wanderers.

A knock of 76 from professional and opener Shahid Nawaz held the Ribblesdale innings together and with good support from Rain (42) and Braithwaite (30) the home side closed at 199-9.

Opener Ian Scothern's 93 provided the foundation for Barnoldswick response, but after an opening stand of 45 with Jeevantha Kulatunga (20) the innings never developed at the required rate, leaving the visitors eight runs adrift at the close.