Feniscowles are now 17 points clear at the top of the Ribblesdale League after beating fellow high-flyers Ribblesdale Wanderers.

Both teams went in to the top-of-the-table clash with unbeaten records but Feniscowles’ seven wicket victory means they now have a healthy lead over defending champions Settle - the only other unbeaten side in the league.

Batting first Ribblesdale looked to have got off to a steady start when Mack Spencer hit two huge sixes but he was the first wicket to fall for 18.

Feniscowles maintained the pressure well marshalled by captain Mark McGovern who could do no wrong with his field placing and wickets continued to fall with the major collapse taking Ribblesdale from 41-3 to 44-7.

A mini recovery came with a partnership of 22 for the eighth wicket between Jordan Britcliffe(10) and Bilal Ahmed (13) who took the score to 66, but they then lost their last three wickets without further addition.

The damage was done by Nizam Vaid, who took 6-30 off his 13 overs well supported by Waqar Rafique who took 3-32 - both backed up by some excellent fielding and catching.

With such a small total to defend, Ribblesdale needed something special and everything to go to hand if they were to pull off an unlikely victory.

However, they struggled to control the ball and conceded 16 wides in the 10 overs bowled. Although they did take three wickets, two from Safyan Ahmed, Mini Bhada (31 not out )ensured that Feniscowles cruised to victory by seven wickets with 35 overs to spare.

Salesbury recovered from an early setback to secure victory at Oswaldtwistle.

The Reds Caps were reduced to 44-3, but runs from Callum Gallagher (36), Lewis Pearson (53) and Tom Stones (26) enabled them to make 198-7. Niall Heyes took 3-33.

In reply, Ramez Hussain made 40 but Oswaldtwistle lost wickets on a regular basis. Daniel Metcalf was joined by Andreas Sudnik for the sixth wicket and with the run rate climbing managed to add 50 in quick time before Sudnik was out for 29.

Metcalf ended on 63 not out as Oswaldtwistle ended on 185-6 to fall 13 runs short of the required total. Liam Bedford took 3-76.

Padiham batted first at Brinscall and got off to a good start with opener Jack Edgar making 59. He received good support from Toby Muldoon who made 58 not out in a total of 183-8. The bowling was dominated Jonathan McDonald who took 5-60.

In reply, Brinscall found runs hard to come by due to the accurate Padiham bowling, Toby Burrows taking 2-16 off his 12 overs. Liam Winstanley made 21 but Jack Edgar took 5-30 off his15 overs.

Brinscall’s score was given some respectability due to an unbeaten eighth wicket of partnership of 46 between Sam Maclachlan (20no) and Jonathan McDonald (15no) as they ended on 121-7, giving Padiham a win by 62 runs.

Barnoldswick were bowled out for just 67 but Read made hard work of victory - eventually reaching their target with four wickets to spare.

N Ahmed (23) was the only Barlick player to reach double figures as Joseph Halstead (3-23), Andrew Rushton (4-29) and Hammad Azam (3-13) did the damage.

Read also struggled to make runs and at one point were reduced to 39-4. However, they eventually made it across the line with 17 overs to spare. Joseph Halstead made 19 and Joshua Lavin 17. Jack Rietschel took 3-23 and Jonny Beech 2-27.

Settle maintained their unbeaten start to the season with victory at Earby.

Batting first, Settle scored an impressive 239, with Ashen Silva making 109, he received good support from Tom Davidson 42 and Robbie Davidson 34.

The Earby reply was dominated by Prasansana Jayamanne who made 124 who were eventually all out for 196, Ashen Silva took 4-42, giving Settle a 12-point win and keeping the pressure on leaders Feniscowles.

Cherry Tree batted first and made an impressive 229-8 against Baxenden. Jack Woolridge made 73, Jake Willacy 39 and some late runs from Owen Elwood 33. Aneeq Hussain took 3-49 and Ben Swindells 3-44.

In reply, Baxenden were bowled out for 139, Adam Masood top scored with 27. Ross Bretherton took 6-43.