LEADERS Baxenden lost their perch at the top of the SMS Youth League as they were well beaten by Great Harwood – and that slip allowed Cherry Tree to take full advantage and take over at the top of the tree.

Bash went down to a 10-wicket defeat – their first loss of the season – as Harwood were on song at The Cliffe with a romp that saw them move level on points with the Back Lane outfit in joint second place.

That result gave Cherry Tree the chance to sieze their opportunity and head to the top of the table – and they were once again on form and too strong for Barnoldswick at Preston Old Road.

Cherry’s strength this season has been their batting and that was the case again as they piled on the runs after skipper Ryan Hurley won the toss and chose to bat.

Wicketkeeper Jake Willacy made 33 at the top of the order before retiring not out and while Jack Woolridge went for a second ball duck as he was removed by Jonathan Beech, Cherry were back on track when Hurley made 15.

Kelan Florentine continued his run of not being dismissed in the SMS Youth League this season and he reached 30 before retiring and while there was a bit of a wobble in the lower order, Cherry managed to post 116-5 from their 18 overs.

Keir Strickland was the pick of the Barnoldswick bowlers as he claimed 3-12 from two overs, while Beech and Harry Slinger finished with one wicket each.

Beech looked in good form with the bat but he was run out by Saj Skhtar for 21 and Luke Scothern was bowled by Florentine for 13 and the Barnoldswick reply started to go downhill when Zak Green was well stumped by Woolridge off the bowling of Kes Mitchell for 23.

That took the momentum out of the Barlick innings and they closed on 80-6 as Cherry hit the summit.

Ribblesdale Wanderers inflicted a heavy defeat on Edenfield as they claimed an excellent success on their trip to Gincroft Lane. Batting first, Wanderers posted 94-7 with Hassan Shah the pick of the Edenfield bowlers as he returned figures of 3-7 from just 2.2 overs.

But any hopes Edenfield had of chasing the score down were left in tatters as their top order collapsed with Alfie Taylor, Sam Chicken, Jack Fallon and Jamie Hauserman all falling for a combined total of just five runs.

Adam Mohammed made nine but Adnan Khan, Shah and Matthew Roles all departed for single figures.

Joe Chapman did manage 13 but in the end Edenfield were all out for just 47.

Read beat Feniscowles in the other game.