Malton end Easingwold's league title hopes

In the Premier Division, any lingering hopes Easingwold may have had of retaining their title evaporated when they suffered a last over defeat at the hands of 11th-placed Malton & Old Malton, whose 45-run win gives them real hope of avoiding relegation.

Their survival chances are likely to be further boosted next Saturday when they are due to meet fellow strugglers Sheriff Hutton Bridge, whose entire first team squad will be unavailable as they are in the National Village Cup final at Lords.

Malton's undoubted star was Aussie Brent Warren, whose unbeaten 80 was the definitive innings in his side's 190-5 and was then followed by an incisive 5-21 in ten overs. Darren Wyrill's 40 was the other good input in the Malton innings as Paul Skilbeck took 3-31.

Three Easingwold batsmen got a start but were unable to build big innings, with Martin Robinson's 34 just topping Paul Redshaw's 30 and Jonathon Marwood's 28. Warren had a great ally in the bowling department as Matt Yates took 4-25 to help dismiss Easingwold for 145 with just three deliveries to spare.

A rather strange game at Pickering saw them emerge with the worst of a draw against league leaders Clifton Alliance, despite losing only one wicket.

Clifton were given a sound start to their innings when Danny Harris and Dave Taylor put on 115 before being parted. Their total was further enhanced by Simon Corley and skipper Richard Musgrave as the four combined to see Clifton to a score of 247-6.

Adie Boyes, who had been on the top of the bowling averages, took 3-66 for Pickering, who then lost Mark Shepherd for 32. This was the only wicket to fall after tea, as Paul Witty made 95 not out and Colin Frank 58 not out in an unbroken stand of 134, leaving them on 202-1.

Sheriff Hutton Bridge's Paul Oldfield was caught off the first ball against Dunnington, but benefited from a Dave Kitching no-ball and made 43 before he was LBW.

He was joined in a second-wicket stand of 95 by Steve Crowder, who reached a seasonal best of 75 when he was bowled by Collis King, who took 3-82.

Bridge's 198-7, however, offered few problems for Dunnington, who reached 98 before Simon Kellett fell for 51. Opening partner Hamed Khan moved to his second century of the season and made 110 not out when Dunnington gained their nine-wicket win which keeps their title hopes alive.

In Division One, bottom-placed Tadcaster Magnet beat Duncombe Park, who are in a bit of a freefall. The 45-run defeat was particularly harsh on Park's Adam Rayner, who not only recorded his best York League figures as he grabbed 8-24, but also made 34 with the bat.

Magnet did well to make a score of 131 all out, in which skipper Paul Clark top-scored with 40, whilst New Zealander Carl Donaldson made 35 and recent signing from Yeadon, Callum Braddock made 27.

Rayner's 34 was matched by Brian Leckenby who made 35, but the other Helmsley batsmen floundered as Braddock took 3-34 and Ed Day 3-15, and then ended at 86 all out when Donaldson captured three wickets for just one run.

In Division Two, New Earswick put clear water between themselves and the bottom three when they won the relegation battle with Hovingham by three wickets, thanks to a great piece of bowling by Martin Hewitson, whose 8-40 was his second eight-wicket haul.

Despite Hewitson's effort, 11th-placed Hovingham were able to make 163 as Stuart Prest, Ben Thurman, Alistair Thorpe and H Scott each made runs. Simon Mosey hit back with 4-53, but John Hetherton made 36 and Andy Routledge 38. With their team-mates chipping in, Earswick ran out winners at 164-7.

Scarborough were another side to ease any fears of relegation when they trounced bottom placed Crayke by nine wickets.

The Hambleton side were shot out for only 93 as Neil Fletcher, who took 4-50, and Mark Wells, who took 5-41, went about their business in clinical fashion. John Dickinson then guided the Seasiders to victory with an unbeaten 62.

In Division Three, despite being denied outright victory, Folkton & Flixton are almost home and dry in the title stakes after gaining a productive draw at Acomb. Flixton have three batsmen in the top seven in the divisional batting averages, and all three produced the goods to see the Filey Road side to 199-9.

Mark Walmsley was top of the shop with 72, whilst Neil Elvidge made 31 and Damon Gormley 30. Dave Stroughair took 3-55, which helped to keep Flixton's batting bonus to four points rather than five. Gormley then followed with 3-16 whilst Lee Elvidge took 3-42, but firstly Nick Hinde with 37 and then Glyn Botterill, who made 27 not out, held up Flixton's victory charge and Acomb were able to draw at 124-8.

Having taken a remarkable five wickets for 10 runs last week, Easingwold's Keith Hollinrake found himself back with the second XI against Malton & Old Malton. He also found wickets harder to come by, but did manage to bag three victims, albeit at a cost of 64 runs.

Malton posted a decent 192-5, thanks to good efforts by John Foxton who was unbeaten with 58, Andrew Raine and Jim Dawson. After tea, Easingwold were reduced to 3-3, but were rescued by a fourth wicket stand of 73 between Alan Robinson and Paul Lyttle, which ended when the latter fell for 45.

Robinson then joined forces with Richard Jones to compile an unbroken stand of 87 to clinch a five-wicket victory, with Robinson narrowly missing out on a century and Jones unbowed with 26.

The threat of relegation still lingers over Londesbrough Park after their defeat by Stillington, who tracked down a home score of 187-6 to win by six wickets.

Park's run-makers were Charlie Rook with 61, John Williamson with 27, and Ben Lewis, who was 32 not out, whilst Shaun Speck was the pick of the visiting attack with 3-44.

In reply, Barry Milburn made 64 to move past 700 runs for the season and Kev Borwell made 28, whilst Speck impressed with an unbeaten 33 as Stillington reached 191-4.

In Division Four, Sheriff Hutton are nearer the title after they beat Tadcaster Magnet by five wickets.

Tadcaster's experienced skipper, Peter MacNamara was the only man to reach double figures, as Richard Armitage became the first bowler in the division to reach 50 wickets when he took 5-33. MacNamara made 45 not out but, with Simon Thornton taking 3-18, ran out of partners and Magnet ended on 101.

With Chris Megone making 27 and Tony Hull 47, Sheriff progressed serenely to 80-2, but then S Hoather took 3-9 in four overs to give solace for Magnet before Sheriff ended on 103-5.

Pickering lost for the 10th time when they had a six-wicket deficit at Civil Service after being dismissed for 145. Kev Wilson made 25 and Chris Hugill 42 not out, but first half honours were afforded to Paul Wynn for his return of 7-55.

Service then lost 4-40 before Rich Winterburn took the game by the scruff of the neck and rattled up an unbeaten 71. Rich Wells made 26 not out in an unbroken stand of 109.

Osbaldwick had the better of a high scoring draw at Huby and are a point behind Pickering. There were solid contributions from Matt Dunne with 56, Stuart Hall with 45 and Walton, who made an unbeaten 47. Dan Grainger took 3-61 but Osbaldwick made a good 216-7.

Batsmen again dominated after the break, but Hall's 4-86 just kept Osbaldwick's nose in front as Huby closed on 203-5.

In Division Five, despite being held to a draw, York III are firmly on course for promotion as they beat Sheriff Hutton Bridge. Skipper Steve Jones spurned the chance of making a century by declaring after 43 overs with his score on 80 and Kevin Mendham unbeaten on 76. Earlier, Stuart Green had made 37 to set York en route to their 236-3.

Londesbrough's spirited response was headed by Chris Barlow with 68 not out whilst S Dawson with 37, Mick Drewery with 28, and Adam Copeland with 25 all played their part. Green added 3-21 to his 37 runs and Park settled for a draw at 180-6.

In Division Six, Hovingham continue to lead by a slender three points after gaining a three-wicket home win over New Earswick.

A feature of the Earswick total of 134 all out was 55 made by the legendary Kenny Magson. John Megson added 28, but Mark Hemmingway recorded his eighth five-wicket haul in taking 5-37, and Mark Redhead had 3-41.

Rob Wood then hit back with 5-91 but leaked runs. Nigel Adams, with 25, and Gavin Watt, with 43, were able to engineer the win.

All 20 wickets fell at Stillington where they beat Thorp Arch & Boston Spa by 53 runs. Peter Dalton's 36 was the best batting for Stillington, who were dismissed for 136 by S Palmer, who took 3-28 and S Craddock, who took 3-39.

In Thorp's reply, J Monk made 25 and Ben Preston an unbeaten 30 but Dave Linton took 5-24 and Matt Coulson 4 for 19 to dismiss the visitors for 83.

Updated: 16:08 Wednesday, August 24, 2005