Peter Benson Ribblesdale League: Optical Direct Under 11s knockout cup final: Read 271 beat Barnoldswick 259

BIG-hitting Chris Holt and Matthew Doughty dealt the knockout blow to help Read to victory over battling Barnoldswick.

And the win sealed Read's second success in the competition since it was launched in 1994.

Holt's 22 and a 20 by Doughty helped Read to a tasty total of 271 which proved to beyond Barnoldswick reach - although they gave it everything they had.

Competition rules mean that each team starts on 200 runs. Batsmen bat in pairs for four overs and are penalised five runs every time they are out - although they remain at the crease no matter how many times they are 'dismissed'.

Tom Lister and William Driver gave Read a steady if not explosive start with knocks of eight and 15 respectively and, importantly, did not concede.

Then Holt set about increasing the total with a string of boundaries with partner Scott Doughty playing the supporting role with a total of two.

However Holt blotted his copy book slightly in the last ball of his three over spell when he was run out.

That prompted a Barnoldswick fightback against the next Read pair Tom Marsh and Chris Baron who were restricted to eight runs between them and were out for times, with Sam Tillotson and Jak Moore picking up two wickets apiece.

Read needed to up the tempo with their final pairing and Matthew Doughty and Jonathan Gandy did just that.

Stephen Hall gave them a helping hand when he conceded 19 runs off his second over of the day, having started in fine form with a maiden over.

Hall was obviously disappointed with his wayward bowling but his team-mates made sure his head didn't drop and he made amends with a fine catch on the boundary to 'dismiss' Doughty off the bowling of Lewis Bradley.

However that didn't deter Doughty's all-out attacking play and he scored another nine runs off the final six balls he faced.

Barnoldswick's reply could not have been any better and the first two pairings of Thomas Lord and Bradley and Tillotson and Daniel Oldfield went through the opening eight overs without losing a wicket.

In fact the only thing they looked like losing was the ball as Lord hit two mighty sixes and Tillotson followed with one of his own as Barnoldswick had victory in the sight.

However Read's bowlers made their mark in the last quarter of the match when they reduced Moore and Andy Hakin to a handful of runs but more significantly took three vital wickets.

Barnoldswick's skipper Neil Thompson knew he had to produce a captain's innings if his side were going to snatch victory away from Read in the final four overs of the match.

But with partner Hall dismissed in the two opening overs, victory was now out of reach.

Much of Read's success had to go down to brave, and sometimes kamikaze, fielding where players stopped certain boundaries with any part of their body to concede just one run.

Thompson finished with an impressive 15 runs but he too was not immune to Read's bowlers and Matthew Doughty cleaned bowled him in the last over.

Read: Chris Baron, Tom Lister, Tom Marsh, Martin Pollard, Matthew Doughty, Jonathan Gandy, Scott Doughty, Chris Holt and William Driver.

Barnoldswick: Neil Thompson, Thomas Lord, Andy Hakin, Sam Tillotson, Daniel Oldfield, Russell Bradley, Lewis Bradley, Jak Moore, Mark Edwards and Stephen Hall.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.