RIBBLESDALE Wanderers missed out on a first league title in 20 years after a dramatic final day of the Ribblesdale League.

Wanderers went in to the last game of the season three points ahead of the defending champions knowing victory over Read would guarantee them a third league title and a first since 2000.

But as Settle eased to an eight-wicket victory over Oswaldtwistle, Wanderers suffered a five-wicket loss at home to Read – just their second defeat in the slimmed down 11-game campaign,

Ribblesdale won the toss and elected to bat and despite losing opener Eddie Steinson early on, Mack Spencer (18) and Andrew Needham (16) made steady progress.

However, they continued to lose wickets and at the halfway point were 68-5.

The experienced Ryan Canning and Dave Steinson came together and gradually built the total with a partnership of 72 – Canning making 49 and Steinson a gutsy 32.

But they fell within a couple of deliveries of each other and Ribblesdale were unable to cash in on the last few overs to post a still competitive 150-9.

Andrew Bennett did the late damage and ended with the impressive figures of 5-23.

In reply, Read lost opener Connor Lowes early, Duncan Bennett was then joined by Will Wrathall and they took the score up to 38 before Bennett was dismissed for 21.

Wrathall was joined by in-form Jack Wood who patiently built the score and despite the run rate climbing did not panic – particularly against the spin of Ryan Canning who only went for 15 off his overs.

The pair took the score to 113 when Wood was bowled for 45.

As the tension began to mount, Wrathall was run out for 49 going for a second run and then Jamie Halstead was caught off the bowling of Ian Britcliffe for 10.

But with 12 runs required off three overs with two new batsmen at the crease, Tom Turner made sure that there was to be no late twist in the match hitting two fours to secure a Read victory by five wickets and break Wanderers’ hearts.

Over at Oswaldtwistle, Settle were always in control, restricting their hosts to 94-9 with Harry Snowden ( 3-7) the pick of the bowlers.

Settle lost opener Alex Gould early but then cruised to victory due to a second-wicket partnership between John Davidson (50) and Tom Davidson (32no) as they sealed victory with 25 overs to spare.

Feniscowles who were bottom of Section B last season, finished in a superb third place after beating Barnoldswick.

The result of the match would likely decide who ended in third place and, batting first, Fenny posted a competitive total of 187-6.

This was mainly due to 60 from Mini Bhada and 30 from Abrar Hussain. Matthew Cavanagh took 2-32.

In reply, Barnoldswick lost both openers cheaply but then a 100-run partnership between Jack Rietschel (45) and Majid Inayat (52) took the score to 116-2.

However, from that point, Barlick collapsed, the wickets shared out with Syed Atiq Shah taking 3-48.

Cherry Tree beat Whalley to pick up their first win of the season and climb off the foot of the table.

Whalley batted first and scored 112-5 off 30.3 overs. Openers Hamza Nazir (25) and David Ainsworth (23) got the innings off to a good start. Charlie Elwood took three wickets with two for Jack Woolridge.

The match was delayed due to an injury and when it resumed, Cherry Tree required total was reduced to 82 off 20 overs.

But a superb unbeaten knock of 52 from Louis Strand guided Cherry Tree to a welcome eight-wicket victory.

Brinscall came away from Earby with a victory. Batting first, Brinscall were bowled out for 111 but then dismissed their hosts for 77 to seal a 34-run win.

The match between Padiham and Salesbury had been brought forward a week and played last Sunday.

In a low-key fixture, Salesbury batted first and were quickly dismissed for just 45. Bailey Muldoon took 6-18 and Toby Burrows 3-20.

Padiham wasted no time in knocking off the required runs in eight overs thanks to Owen Deakin Pickard (24no) and Callum Clarke (16no).