Second-placed Read were sent crashing to defeat at the hands of simply brilliant Barnoldswick on a run-derful day.

That win for Barlick was largely down to the brilliance of class act opening bat Matthew Nutter.

Nutter, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Friday, carried his party on during Saturday’s game at Whalley Road as he hit a career best 137 to help Barlick to a daunting 230.

Chris Holt claimed five wickets for Read and the home side fancied their chances of knocking off the big target.

But their often prolific batting did not fire apart from Mohammed Jamal, who made 60.

And with Barlick skipper Richard Nichols claiming 5-53, Read fell 18 runs short.

Barnoldswick

M Nutter ct Jamal b Holt 137
R Nichols ct O’Connor b Lowes 9
L Bedford ct Halley b Eastham 9
J Nazir b Holt 29
K Nazir lbw b Holt 0
D Kegg b Harvey 21
P Beech ct Rushton b Holt 8
J Oldfield b Harvey 0
A Khan st O’Connor b Holt 5
J Hall ro Rostron 1
S Akhtar not out 0
Extras 0
Total (for ten) 230
Harvey 14.1 4 41 2, E Lowes 7 0 41 1, W Eastham 3 0 33 1, M Jamal 6 0 39 0, C Holt 10 1 66 5.

Read

B Law b Nazir 18
Harvey lbw b Nichols 14
M Whalley lbw b Nazir 0
G Halley ct Akhtar b Nichols 22
C Holt ct Bedford b Nichols 0
J Marshall ct Khan b Kegg 20
M Jamal ct Kegg b Nichols 60
K O’Connor ro Bedforc 17
A Rushton ct Hall b Nichols 12
E Lowes not out 11
W Eastham b Nazir 0
Extras 38
Total (for ten) 212
J Nazir 18.1 3 71 3, S Akhtar 3 0 19 0, R Nichols 15 2 53 5, K Nazir 4 0 23 0, D Kegg 4 0 21 1.

Barnoldswick won by 18 runs.