Settle delighted with fourth-place finish (From Craven Herald)

Settle delighted with fourth-place finish

11:12pm Wednesday 12th September 2012 in Sport

Settle brought their season to a rousing finale by beating Ribblesdale Wanderers to finish in fourth place in the Senior Division.

It was their 14th victory of the campaign and this was a matter of great pride for captain John Seedle who has calmly overseen the team’s rise.

Once again at the forefront was Eddy Read, who picked up an amazing seventh five-wicket haul and put his final season’s tally at 70 wickets.

Wanderers got off to a sound start with an opening stand of 34, but were nine wickets down only 42 runs later.

A last-wicket revival brought the score to 105 all out .

Read took five for 43, while pro Mansoor Amjad (4-58) was outstanding at the other end.

Stand-in wicketkeeper William Davidson who took four catches.

The home side were in some trouble at 32-3, but Davidson added batting to his catching skills with a crucial 24 runs to support Amjad (19).

Then with wickets tumbling round him, Laurence Read took control of the innings with a sparkling unbeaten 34 from 28 deliveries to see Settle home in just 28 overs and with three men to spare.

Settle Seconds were well beaten at Burnley Belvedere, despite four wickets for 13 from Damon Barrett and a fighting 20 from Tom Shepherd.

The 110-run defeat did not detract from a highly-successful season under skipper Nick Cokell, who received the Division Two runners-up trophy.

Scottish Border club Gala travel to North Yorkshire on Sunday to take on Settle at 1pm in the memorial match for one of Settle’s best known and well-respected sportsmen, Malcolm Davidson.