Earby lifted themselves off the bottom earning maximum points from two wins last weekend while Barnoldswick and Settle continued to struggle.

With good bowling and batting Earby scored easy wins at home to Oswaldtwistle Immanuel on Saturday and derby rivals Barnoldswick on Sunday.

In a rain-shortened match at Victory Park, hapless Barlick crashed to 80 all out.

James Thurstan led the Earby bowling attacks, taking six wickets in 14 overs while giving up 41. Ali Azmat was also very economical returning 3-19 from 11.4 overs.

Openers Luke Hodgson (28) and Adil Khan (21) top scored for Barlick while sub-pro Rizwan Malik disappointed and was out for a duck.

Azmat got Earby's off to a cracking start when he hit a six off the first ball.

Both sides were then forced off because of rain. When they returned, Earby's revised total was to get 61 off 27 overs.

However Azmat (44 not out), who usually bats third, and Stephen Pickles (15 not out) only needed 8.5 overs to reach their target, with the Applegarth side finishing on 62-0.

Earby captain Stephen Hipgrave said of Azmat batting order change: "We knew it was going to rain so we put him to bat first."

Barlick captain Michael Scothern added: "We were never in the game."

Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Barlick, as the club have lost prolific batsman Matt Nutter for the season after he suffered and hand injury in a pub attack on Saturday night.

Scothern himself will be out for two to three, possibly longer after he undergoes knee surgery on May 19.

The club are also still sorting out a visa for this season's pro Mohammed Ayub, and haven't had much luck with sub-pros as Malik also was out for a duck in Barlick's match at Great Harwood on Saturday.

Batting first Great Harwood put up 257-7 behind a knock of 80 plus by Russell Whalley. Barlick's weak reply resulted in them being bowled out for 104.

Earby had a better result at Applegarth on Saturday. They bowled Oswaldtwistle out for 166 behind some good bowling performances by Azmat (4-49) 16-year-old Matt Haines (2-45) and Stephen Hipgrave, who was 3-19 off ten overs.

In Earby's reply, Azmat only managed 19 runs but both David Watson and Nigel Hodge scored unbeaten 60 and 51 respectively to steer Earby to victory on 168-2.

Settle suffered a drubbing at the hands of Clitheroe on Saturday at Marshfield.

Neil Bolton (75) and New Zealand pro Michael Papps led Clitheroe to a total of 251-7. Settle youngster Eddie Read was the pick of the bowlers on 2-39.

In reply the Marshfield side could only manage 132 runs before they were bowled out.

Settle batted much better on Sunday at Cherry Tree before the match had to be abandoned because of rain.

They scored 164-5 in 34 overs with their pro Jeeva Kulatunga returning to form and finishing three runs short of century. His 97 not out was a much needed performance for the Sri Lankan, who had struggled in Settle's previous games - including the three runs at Clitheroe on Saturday.

This weekend sees two local Ribblesdale League teams in action in the Ramsbottom Cup. Earby host Oswaldtwistle Immanuel for the second time in a week, Settle are at home to Whalley but Barnoldswick have received a bye into the second round.