SETTLE stormed through to a thrilling Twenty20 home win over Read to book themselves into a Ribblesdale League Cup final, after suffering their first league defeat of the season to the same team the day before.

John Davidson hit three sixes in his 51 from 42 balls in the cup semi-final, with brother Tom making 36 from 28. Eddy Read kept up the pace with a quick-fire 16 as Settle made 136-8 from 20 overs.

Read then lost early wickets thanks to a great return of 4-13 from 18-year-old paceman Harry Snowden who took three wickets in his first over.

Joshua Lavin’s battling innings of 44 in the run chase was cut short by Joseph Handy’s run out, leaving the visitors 18 runs short at the close. Handy previously took a great catch in the deep, diving horizontally to scoop the ball an inch from the ground to remove Read’s skipper William Wrathall for a duck.

The loss at Read in the league leaves Settle trailing Ribblesdale Wanderers by five points at the top of the table. Sound knocks by Simon Tarbox (23), John Davidson (22) and Eddy Read (21) took the Craven team to 129-9, but Eddy Read’s 2-30 was in vain as the hosts won by three wickets.

With two home games this weekend, Settle hope to take full points from seventh-placed Brinscall on Saturday, and are anticipating plenty of support next day in the cup final against Salesbury.

The omens are good for Settle as their former pro, Pakistan’s ex-captain Mohammad Hafeez, became the first player to score 2000 runs and take 50 wickets in international T20 cricket.

Barnoldswick are keeping on the tail of the reigning champions as they defeated Oswaldtwistle Immanuel by six wickets.

While, Earby gained only their second victory of the campaign after recording a 25-run win over Whalley.