Outlook brighter for Barnoldswick despite the rain (From Craven Herald)

Outlook brighter for Barnoldswick despite the rain

12:05pm Thursday 9th August 2012 in Sport

Barnoldswick extended their lead at the top of the Houldsworth Solicitors Ribblesdale League to 31 points – despite suffering the disappointment of seeing a fifth game of the season lost to the weather on Saturday.

Barlick were well set against Edenfield when the rain came down at Victory Park but their disappointment was tempered by the news from Back Lane as Read were beaten by Baxenden by three wickets in the league’s game of the day.

Barlick looked set for their 14th win when their match against Edenfield was rained off.

They piled up 234-6 and then reduced the Gincroft Lane outfit to 41-3 when the heavens opened.

Opener Liam Bedford set the tone for the Barlick innings with a fine 52.

Overseas player Imran Khalid, who has made such a good impression since his move from Manningham Mills in the Bradford League, kept up the tempo with a knock of 60.

The icing was put on the cake by Umar Saddique. The consistent run-getter made top score of 81.

Just 16 overs were possible in the Edenfield innings but in that time Khalid picked up two wicket and Faisal Hussain one.

Improving Great Harwood beat Settle at The Cliffe.

It proved to be one of those afternoons for Settle whose batting looked brittle as they tumbled to 38-4.

However they staged something of a recovery to be finally bowled out for 134.

Rain saw the Harwood target reduced to 125 and they got home with four wickets in hand as Syed Shahab uddin made a half century.

Earby were also defeated on a rain-reduced target.

Ribblesdale Wanderers chased 149 to win by six wickets at The Applegarth.

Overseas player Ali Azmat (64) had dominated the Earby innings of 158 when they batted first.

David Howard took 5-33 and Michael Erlank (4-98) as Earby failed to build on Azmat’s knock.

Howard led the way with the bat too. His unbeaten 43 took Ribblesdale to their revised target.

It was back to normal service for Settle seconds with a six-wicket home win over Oswaldtwistle and a clear sight of promotion.

At one point the visitors were five down with two runs on the board, but they recovered to 41 all out.

John Tarbox (4-6), Damon Barrett (3-2) and Will Metcalfe (2-14) did the damage before Settle knocked off the runs in ten overs, losing quick wickets themselves in a rush to beat the rain.