SETTLE'S hopes of glory in the Jennings Ribblesdale League's Ramsbottom Cup against Cherry Tree at Read on Sunday were eventually washed away by a downpour that made the game a two-part affair.

In the final analysis, Settle went down by 49 runs, reaching 142 all out in response to Cherry Tree's 191-8, but the early part of the game in warm sunshine saw Settle very nicely placed. John Hughes turned in a very tidy opening spell, Paul Ridgway and Stuart Hornby followed suit and in quick time Cherry Tree were four wickets down with only 31 runs scored.

At that point Settle were tightening a stranglehold on the opposition and looked well capable of the sort of containment effort that skipper Andy Davidson had in mind when he won the toss and invited his opponents to bat.

Key to Cherry Tree's escape came in the shape of a stand between Gary Bolton and Nigel Robbins, who put on 45 runs for the fifth wicket to rescue the situation. That rearguard might have been ended twice before it had really started to blossom.

A sharp, but takeable, chance escaped Tom Canaway's clutches after he had reacted well to get down to the ball, but an even more serious umpiring lapse gave Robbins 'a life'.

He slashed powerfully at a widish delivery outside the off-stump, but succeeded only in edging a sharp chance to wicket-keeper David Worthington. Despite a loud and confident appeal following what seemed an obvious catch, there was no upraised finger and the batsman survived to celebrate with a straight six off the next delivery.

Cherry Tree eventually closed at 191-8, a target which was always going to test Settle in the light of their batting displays this season, but not one, in the eyes of Davidson, that was beyond them.

"On a smallish, quick ground with fielding restrictions in place, I always felt that we could reach that target," he said. "When we managed to reach 50 without loss, I was feeling pretty confident, but then me and Tom (Canaway) both went in successive balls and we were three down when bad light brought a conclusion, David Jolleys going in early because he could not play on Monday night because of work.

"Even then, I thought we still had a good chance, with most of our recognised batsmen and match-winners still to come, but it didn't happen. We had a stand of 34 between Tim Green and Paul Ridgway that threatened to get us back into the game, but Green fell to an unplayable ball from Ashraf and Ridgway fell trying to pull a ball that didn't lift as it should have done.

"In the end, we weren't that many runs short given the circumstances, but overall it was disappointing not to get the game completed on the day."