READ professional Peter Sleep led his side clear at the top of the Jennings Ribblesdale League with impressive performances on a double-header weekend.

On Saturday he picked up four wickets as they collected maximum points against Great Harwood and the following day he scored 66 not out as they beat Clitheroe by three wickets. Terry Little scored 46 as Great Harwood struggled to 117 on Saturday and Read cruised to a comfortable five-wicket win.

Clitheroe also collected maximum points with an eight-wicket win over Blackburn Northern with Mick Gillespie taking 6-47 and scoring 54 not out. Skipper Neil Bolton scored 83 not out as they secured victory.

Bacup's Australian professional Shaun Young was called into action as sub-pro for Settle and scored 116 as they set Ribblesdale Wanderers a target of 220-4. Wanderers opener Chris Hall scored 60, but they could only reach 147-7 in reply.

Oswaldtwistle Immanuel could only reach 101 and Whalley secured a comfortable five-wicket win.

Edenfield professional Ian Mitchell scored 121 not out and was backed up by Brett Storey on 66 not out as they raced to 255-3 against Barnoldswick. The Victory Park club reached 174 with Storey taking three wickets.

James Chiswick took five wickets for just 13 runs as Cherry Tree struggled to 116-9 against Baxenden who scraped home with eight wickets down as Cherry Tree professional Naeem Ashraf took 6-54.

Padiham reached 129-7 at Earby with Paul Metcalfe scoring 53, but the Applegarth club were shot out for 104.

Warren Eastham took 5-60 as Clitheroe were restricted to 157-8 on Sunday with Eastham following up with 34 not out to back up Sleep's undefeated 66 as they secured a three-wicket win to take Read clear at the top of the table.

Barnoldswick's Sri Lankan professional Jeevantha Kulatunga rode his luck to score 195 in just 125 balls against Whalley. His hard hitting innings included nine sixes and 26 fours as his side raced to 266-3. The shell-shocked Whalley side were dismissed for 126.

Cherry Tree beat Earby by 50 runs after scoring 186-6 with Ashraf top scorer on 68 before the visitors were dismissed for 136.

Great Harwood professional Andrew Crook took six wickets as Padiham were

dismissed for 152 and Russell Whalley scored 68 as Harwood reached victory with four wickets down.

Shahid Nawaz scored 111 as Ribblesdale Wanderers set a target of 234-8 for Edenfield to chase. Professional Ian Mitchell was again in the runs with 85 and David Howard took 5-69 for Wanderers, but they could not get the last wicket, which would have brought two bonus points as they won by 37 runs.

Sub-professional Ramesh Power from Morecambe scored 55 for Settle and Baxenden were dismissed for 91 after Pete Usher had to go to hospital with a broken finger.

Oswaldtwislte Immanuel secured a 36-run win over Blackburn Northern..

Results -- Saturday: Baxenden 120-8 (5), Cherry Tree 116-9 (0); Blackburn Northern 158 (0), Clitheroe 161-2 (7); Earby 104 (0), Padiham 129-7 (7); Edenfield 255-3 (7), Barnoldswick 174 (0); Gt Harwood 117 (0), Read 118-5 (7); Settle 220-4 (5), Ribblesdale Wanderers 147-7 (0); Whalley 104-5 (7), Oswaldtwistle Immanuel 101 (0).

Sunday: Barnoldswick 266-3 dec (7), Whalley 126 (-); Cherry Tree 186-6 (7), Earby 136 (0); Clitheroe 157-8 (0) Read 158-7 (5); Oswaldtwistle Immanuel 174-7 (5), Blackburn Northern 138-9 (0); Padiham 152 (0), Gt Harwood 153-4 (7); Ribblesdale Wanderers 234-8 (5), Edenfield 197-9 (0); Settle 194-9 (7), Baxenden 91-9 (0).

SENIOR DIVISION

P W L T Bp Nr Pts

Read... 13 10 1 0 6 2 60

Clitheroe... 13 7 3 0 14 3 55

Gt Harwood... 13 7 4 0 12 2 51

Settle... 13 7 4 0 10 2 49

Ribb Wand... 13 8 3 0 2 2 46

Cherry Tree... 13 7 3 0 4 3 45

Baxenden... 13 5 5 0 2 3 33

Earby... 13 4 6 0 4 3 30

Padiham... 13 4 7 0 2 2 26

Edenfield... 13 3 8 0 6 2 25

Oswaldtwistle I... 13 4 7 0 0 2 24

Barnoldswick... 13 2 7 0 4 4 22

Whalley... 13 3 8 0 2 2 21

Blackburn N... 13 3 8 0 0 2 19