NIGEL ROBBINS equalled the amateur batting record with a hard-hitting 172 not out for Blackburn Northern against Settle in the Ribblesdale League.

He equalled the score of Phil Sant at Settle back in 1978 - also in a Settle-Northern clash.

This time Blackburn Northern went on to take the points despite Settle pro Paul Beech taking five for 121.

Barnoldswick stay top of the table after beating Whalley where Peterson warmed up for his Cup Final performance with 105 not out and Ian Scothern scored 69 not out.

Read moved back into second spot with an impressive victory over Baxenden.

Steve Rushton rattled up 104 not out despite batting with an injured ankle and Nawaz scored a half-century.

Earby are in third place after Andrew Pickles rescued their innings with 65 not out after Peter Gardiner had scored 86 for Oswaldtwistle.

Great Harwood kept their late run on track with Paul Houldsworth taking advantage of poor Edenfield fielding to score 56 not out.

Clitheroe let their challenge slip as Nasser Mahmood took 5 for 51 and Joe Grant 5 for 45 for Padiham, Jonathan Fielding captured 5 for 25 but it was not enough.

Ribblesdale Wanderers had the upper hand with Martin Briggs scoring 69 not out to defeat Cherry Tree after Gurdinder Singh took seven for 81.

Results: Blackburn Northern 244-8 (5pts), Settle 189-8; Cherry Tree 164, Ribblesdale Wdrs 165-5 (7), Clitheroe 103, Padiham 106-8 (7); Earby 185-5 (8), Oswaldtwistle 184-9; Edenfield 156, Great Harwood 159-6 (7); Read 234-5 (7), Baxenden 152; Whalley 185-5, Barnoldswick 186-1 (5).

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