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Clitheroe skipper Phil Bishop believes his team have the potential to be in the Jennings Ribblesdale League shake-up come the end of the season.

At the halfway stage, Clitheroe stand a relatively-modest sixth but they are only 11 points behind leaders Cherry Tree.

And, having overcome the loss of key players to hang in there, Bishop believes it could well be time for his team's talents to start to blossom.

``It's very tight but anybody can win it,'' he said.

``We have been without Mick Dewhurst, through injury and work commitments, and that leaves a big hole in your side when you think how many runs he scores and wickets he takes.

``Then wicketkeeper Neil Winkley - the league's top keeper last summer - had to pack up through work.

``But Andy Burns came good on Saturday when he got 60-odd. That's his first real score this summer and he got 500 runs for us last year.

``So did Neil Bolton and I think he can get 6-700 this year.

``We signed a new player in Graham Kershaw, who had been playing for Morecambe seconds but had been out of the game for a couple of years after moving to this area.

``He is now finding his feet and had four wickets on Saturday to go with five from the week before.

``We're starting to tick over nicely. There's everything to play for and I think we will be in the shake-up at the end.

``A lot of teams are stronger this year, but we can give anybody a game. ``You have to fancy Cherry Tree because they have probably got the best all-round professional and team.

``But you never know.''

Bishop is happy with the way Clitheroe's own professional Stephen Benjamin has settled in.

``He's good. He has struggled a bit at times coming to terms with the different conditions but he's up for it.

``And people tend to forget that he's only 19.''

There were times in last Saturday's victory over struggling Blackburn Northern when Bishop was concerned that Clitheroe might come unstuck once again at the hands of the team at the bottom.

But they eventually clinched a maximum seven-points win by 23 runs.

``It was a good seven points for us in the end,'' he said.

``They have only won two games all summer but they beat us in a run-rate chase on the opening day of the season.

``We got a good score of 170-plus but they got the reduced target.

``On Saturday, it looked as though it might happen again. ``They went for it and with Mark Lomas and Nick Weaver going really well they could have won it.

``But we got Weaver out and it had a bit of a domino effect. They started going down like ninepins but we went for it right to the end.

``Now we play Read at our place on Saturday and that could be a great game.

``We've got new covers and our wicket has improved no end. I think it will be a cracker on Saturday, so we'll need a big score, especially with Peter Sleep in their side.

``So far, most of our rain-affected games have been away so we haven't really felt the benefit of the new covers, the seconds have had that.

``But we're looking forward to Saturday and the second half of the season.''