SETTLE enjoyed some much-needed late-season cheer on Bank Holiday Monday as they won the Watson Ramsbottom Twenty20 Cup at Great Harwood.

Having been beaten by Oswaldtwistle Immanuel in the Ramsbottom Cup final last month and having seen their title challenge fade in the Houldsworth Ribblesdale Senior League, their campaign appeared to be fizzling out.

But victory over Read in the Twenty20 semi-final and Cherry Tree in the final saw them salvage some silverware.

"We needed that. We have gone off the boil," admitted Settle's club captain Andrew Davidson.

"We are only picking from about 12 players, and to lose Tom Davidson after his knee operation was a big miss for us, while Imran Khalid had lost his form with the bat."

Batting first against Reed at 10am on a ground that had been slowed by rain and overnight dew, Settle had to run for almost everything, only hitting one six and four fours in their 143-8.

"We worked it out that Will Davidson had run 1,400 metres while he was batting – that's almost a mile," added Andrew, "but maybe all that running suited our youthful side."

Overseas player Khalid made 55 and Will Davidson 29, Read, who needed 15 off the last over, replying with 136-8 (Michael Whalley 49, Will Davidson 3-21).

In the final, Settle made 147-9, Robbie Davidson scoring 32, Khalid 25, Asif Fazal 22 and Will Davidson and Tom Strickland 17 each.

Cherry Tree made a whirlwind reply, being 34-0 after four overs, but they were dismissed for 106 after Khalid took 3-9 off 3.4 overs, Fazal 2-28, Will Davidson 2-37 and Saud Ahmed 0-7 off four miserly overs.