Read looking for big bonus

Despite toppling both Ribblesdale Wanderers and Oswaldtwistle Immanuel at the weekend, which saw the Whalley Road side clinch their ninth victory of the season, Read still sit second behind leaders Baxenden who they beat just a fortnight ago.

However, at present Bash have accumulated 16 bonus points which has seen them break the 100 points mark while Warren Eastham’s men have picked up four, and they sit two points shy of the summit as a consequence.

But it was another impressive double-header for Read who won their respective fixtures by eight wickets. Chasing Ribblesdale’s 205, Read made light work of their challenge led by a match-winning knock from Will Driver and a helping hand from professional Stuart Hornby.

“We beat them comfortably even though they put up a big score of 205,” said Eastham. “It was a decent batting display from Ribblesdale but Will Driver was fantastic and put in a superb man of the match performance with an unbeaten 82. Our pro Stuart Hornby added 62 and Ben Law and Jon Harvey were in their 20s. We did it with quite a few overs to spare and with a lot of wickets left in the tent.”

He added: “But there were no bonus points for us again which is becoming a bit of a pain for us. We could only get six wickets on Saturday and it’s becoming something of a joke. Even though we’ve won every game we’ve played it would be nice to pick up some bonus points.”

And Read faced a less daunting obstacle on Sunday as they reduced Oswaldtwistle Immanuel to a 112 total. Jon Harvey was the pick of the bowlers, though they couldn’t quite secure a clean sweep once again.

“On Sunday Oswaldtwistle put up a challenge but in the end we had too much for them,” said Eastham. “We limited them to 112 with Jon Harvey picking up 5-27, myself 1-33, while Stuart Hornby added two wickets and Elliott Lowes another.

“Batting wise we just got on with it from the off. Will Driver went in and smashed a quick 30 and Mohammed Jamal went in to help us reach 50 within the opening six overs. We ended up knocking off their total comfortably inside 16 overs.

Eastham added: “We took nine wickets again, and I think it’s about the fourth time this season we’ve done that. Bonus points are what they are - a bonus. But if we continue to win all our games then we will win the league.”