Baxenden remain on top of the Veka Ribblesdale League senior division thanks to a narrow victory over Earby.

The leaders won by four wickets, but only three balls remained when they hit the winning run.

Callum Waddington's half-century was vital as Baxenden chased 157, but so too an unbeaten 41 from Jonathan Fielding.

Blackburn Northern are up to third despite the heroics of Cherry Tree paid man Zahoor Elahi and an important contribution from Northern's stand-in professional, Shanan Stewart.

Elahi hit an unbeaten 109 from his side's total of 199-9, but the home side knocked off the target for the loss of six wickets.

Kiwi all-rounder Stewart, a temporary import' from East Lancs, contributed an undefeated 52.

Padiham, for whom Mahmood struck 120 from 87 balls, remain second thanks to a 47-run victory at Edenfield, while their second team made it nine wins out of nine in division two. They thrashed Burnley Belvedere by 137 runs with Kevin Hitchon making 157 from 331-3 and then claiming 6-42.

Clitheroe's hopes of retaining their senior division crown are now slender at best. They are sixth having lost three of their nine matches including Saturday's latest set-back at Whalley.

In the bottom of the table clash, Oswaldtwistle Immanuel just had the best of a low scoring game against Barnoldswick.

The potential wooden spoonists were dismissed for 102 thanks mainly to Aamer Saeed's 6-45. Ossie' struggled to reach the target but eventually did so with just two wickets remaining.

Immanuel's second success of the campaign and Settle's sixth defeat sees the Marshfield side drop into the bottom two.

They lost by 85 runs after Ribblesdale Wanderers posted 217-7. Wanderers captain Joe Scuderi hit 65 and then took 5-37 as the visitors were bowled out in just 38.4 overs.

Great Harwood brought in Saeed Anwar junior from Rishton and he hit 37 and took 4-36 from 22 overs as they beat Read by 56 runs.

Senior Division: Blackburn Northern 203-6 (Shannon Stewart 52no), Cherry Tree 199-9 (Zahoor Elahi 109no) - Blackburn won by four wickets; Earby 156-9 Baxenden 159-6 (Callum Waddington 55) - Baxenden won by four wickets; Edenfield 159-9 Padiham 206 (N Mahmood 120) -Padiham won by 47 runs; Oswaldtwistle Immanuel 105-8 Barnoldswick 102 (Aamer Saeed 6-45) - Oswaldtwistle won by two wickets; Read 122-9 Great Harwood 178-8 (Peter Sleep 65, Chris Harris 7-77) - Great Harwood won by 56 runs; Ribblesdale Wanderers 217-7 (Joe Scuderi 65, Alistair Marsh 60) Settle 132 (Joe Scuderi 5-37) - Ribblesdale won by 85 runs; Whalley 181 Clitheroe 124 - Whalley won by 57 runs