Great Harwood captain Stuart Maher is delighted that his side have bounced back with three consecutive wins after a nightmare start to their Ribblesdale League campaign.

"We were beaten as heavily as we could be by Read on opening day, a 10-wicket loss and we probably came third out of two if that’s possible," said Maher, whose side beat Earby by 26 runs in the League on Saturday before chalking up a narrow Ramsbottom Cup victory over Padiham on Sunday by a three-run margin.

"There is still plenty to work on, our fielding in the cup game was poor and we allowed the match to get much tighter than it should have.

"But there have been a lot of positives. After we lost Alan Armer to the pro ranks we lost a second wicket-keeper when Phil Allen suffered a ‘freak snowboarding accident’ on Friday.

"But Jonathan Crabtree has stepped in and done really well. He took three fine catches on Sunday despite being very stiff.

"A new lad who has joined us from Enfield, Amar Ullah, has come out of second and third team cricket and made runs opening the batting – and he bowled a vital seven-over spell for 25 at the death in a run chase in the cup match.

"The pro was magnificent on Saturday, we scored about 70 off the last five overs.

"He got around 55 of them, which is something we have kept preaching, the value of having wickets in hand."

Syed Shahabuddin’s unbeaten 127 and 56 from Ullah enabled Harwood to defend their 213 for three against Earby in the league with some comfort.

Shahabuddin also claimed four wickets, including the scalp of opposite number Ali Azmat for nought.

In the cup game Russsell Whalley smashed 69 with Ullah contributing another 41 as Maher’s side posted 232-9, a target Padiham were just unable to topple.

Baxenden professional Babar Naeem came within a couple of hits of rewriting the league record books at Church Meadow on Saturday, smashing an astonishing 226 not out to crush Ribblesdale Wanderers.

Naeem batted through the innings and struck an incredible 18 fours and the same number of sixes in his 130-ball blitz, ending just seven short of Kashif Siddique’s 233 as Baxenden racked up 337 for six.

"A phenomenal display of hitting, remember we were 116 for five at one point," said captain Andy Caunce, pictured.

He might have expected to put his feet up after that but when Wanderers posted 69 for the first wicket Naeem received the call with the ball.

He then took six wickets in just over six overs as he and Lewis McIntosh (4-27) polished the home side off for a paltry 108 all out.

Baxenden successfully chased down Settle’s 207-7 in the cup, Caunce hitting 55 as his side won by three wickets.

Oswaldtwistle Immanuel suffered something of a Ribblesdale Wanderers backlash and went out of the cup at the first hurdle at New Lane on Sunday.

Despite half-centuries for Oliver Clare (68) and professional Chris Cook-Martin (83) the Immanuel men were unable to defend their 213-6, the visitors winning by five wickets with nine overs to spare.

Immanuel had a happier outcome in the league on Saturday.

Clare (60) again was among the runs with long-serving Paul Dignan hitting 52 not out as Nick Payne’s side passed Cherry Tree’s 199 for four successfully for the loss of five wickets.