OSWALDTWISTLE Immanuel moved a step closer to their maiden Ribblesdale League title after professional Shubham Khajuria inspired a victory over title rivals Settle.

Khajuria hit a magnificent double century, eventually being dismissed for 201 off 113 balls in an innings that included 22 fours and 12 sixes.

He put on 268 for the third wicket with Daniel Metcalf who also impressed, finishing unbeaten on 96 from 121 balls with 14 fours and one six.

The pair helped Ossie recover from 12-2 to post a mammoth 327-3.

Settle, who had won the toss and asked the home side to bat, made inroads into the chase but never threatened a remarkable victory and were bowled out for 228. Matthew Simpson top scored with 49 while Khajuria completed a phenomenal performance with 4-76.

But Ossie couldn’t repeat that performance on Sunday when they lost to Cherry Tree.

The league leaders made 129-8 from 25 overs and the visitors chased it down for the loss of just two wickets.

Cherry Tree had lost to Section B leaders Salesbury on Saturday as the victors enhanced their promotion chances with a narrow win, getting home by nine runs while Earby won the battle of the bottom two, defeating Feniscowles by 116-runs.

Earby’s game with Baxenden on Sunday was abandoned.

At the bottom of Section A, Padiham took a big step towards safety with two wins.

They overcame Baxenden on Saturday. The visitors posted 153-9 with Thomas Ryland top scoring with 35 as Gary Sudworth and Matt Griffin took three wickets apiece.

Baxenden suffered a terrible start and were 65-8 before Sam Lord (21 not out) and Gary Sudworth (21) provided some late runs but it was too little too late and they were bowled out for 93. Toby Burrows took three wickets for Padiham.

He then took six on Sunday to help bowl Brinscall out for 108 in reply to Padiham’s 179-5 in a 31-over match.

Barnoldswick are another side who are fighting for survival and they gave their chances a boost with an impressive win over Whalley on Saturday before repeating the trick against Ribblesdale Wanderers on Sunday.

Sam Sweeney and Declan Bailey both made half centuries for Whalley who posted 173-7.

Jonathan Beech and Chalana De Silva both took three wickets and the latter than starred with the bat as he raced to 85 off just 49 balls in an innings that included eight fours and seven sixes.

He was supported by Majid Inayat’s unbeaten 43 and Barnoldswick got home with six wickets and 20 overs to spare.

Barlick then beat Wanderers on Sunday after restricting the visitors to 98-9 in reply to 134-6 in a 21-over contest.

On Saturday the bowlers were on top at Read where Section B promotion contenders Brinscall earned an impressive victory.

The visitors put on 61 for the first wicket with Liam Winstanley making 54 and Josh Andrew 20 but Andrew Rushton took 5-19 and Jamie Woodall 4-53 as Salesbury collapsed to 137 all out.

But Read then struggled with the bat and were floundering at 27-7 before Rushton (19) and Andrew Laycock (13) helped them to 64 all out. SamMacLachlan with 5-19 and Lee Burgess’ 3-29 did most of the damage.

Read responded with a home win over Euxton on Sunday.

The hosts posted 127-6 and Euxton fell short, ending on 125-8.

It was the second consecutive narrow defeat for Euxton after they lost a thrilling home clash with Ribblesdale Wanderers.

The visitors were 124-3 after Primosh Perera made 44 and Mack Spencer added 34 but they slumped to 158 all out with Louis Sweeney’s 4-41 and Chris Pearson’s 3-33 pegging them back.

Euxton also got off to a good start thanks to Waqar Rafique (43) and Aneeq Hassan (64) and at 114-3 looked to be in a winning position. But in a hectic finish, which included two run outs in the last over, Ribblesdale got home by four runs despite three wickets each for Jordan Britcliffe and Primosh Perera.