Clifton Alliance clung on to pole position in the Hunters the estate agent York and District Senior League when they managed to partially defend their below-par total of 166 all out to eke out a tie at Malton which earned them 21 points.

John Gilham was their top scorer with 45 while Chris Malthouse followed his debut half-century a week ago with 37.

Australian Brent Warren took the bowling honours for Malton with 6-79 off 19 overs, spinner Matt Yates giving sound support with 3-31.

When Malton responded Darren Wyrill made 28 but it was left to skipper Neil Johnson to carry the flag with 79.

Despite his efforts, Malton entered the final over needing eight for victory which was eventually reduced to two off the final ball. The resulting single left the scores level with Malton on 166-6 and taking 23 points due to having dismissed their opponents.

Sessay stayed second with their fourth win in six games at Osbaldwick.

The hosts totalled 159-9 with Phil Hall (30) and Matt McGuinness (44) making their mark as David Johnson took 4-44.

McGuinness followed with 3-18 but sound performances by Nick Harrison, who hit 64, Chris Till (41) and Matt Till (28) steered the visitors to a five-wicket trioumph.

Having hit a league record double century a week ago, Collis King was unavailable for Dunnington but his fellow batsmen were still able to pass their target of 237-9 against a weakened Woodhouse Grange attack.

Five Grange batsmen made runs to set up a decent score with Mike Burdett topping the list with 41. Jon Bean and Simon Dwyer each made 37, while New Zealander Karl Jowsey added 30 and Richard Steel 28 as Zahid Khan (3-47) and Dave Greenlay (3-69) made inroads.

Hamed Khan then rediscovered his form of last season to hit 90 only for Dunnington to lose five wickets for 148.

Paul Miles came to the rescue with an unbeaten 61 as he and Harwood Williams, who was undefeated with 36, combined in a match-winning stand of 90.

Two other batsmen to strike form after a lean start to the season were Sheriff Hutton Bridge's Paul Oldfield and Mike Smith, who made 91 and 53 respectively to see their side to 218-9 at Acomb.

With both Dave and Richard Sykes unavailable, Andy Sykes maintained the family tradition by taking 6-62 in an important 13-over spell.

Acomb were then given a sound start by Andy Tute (25) and Scott Nicholls (35) but their dismissal gave little cause for concern in their opponents' ranks as Sanjay Rodrigo, with 78no, and Joey Burton (69no) shared an unbroken stand of 157 which took Acomb to an eight-wicket victory to leave the Bridge trailing the pack by 29 points.

Both sides gained a satisfactory ration of points in a high-scoring draw at Heworth where the home side just had the edge on Beverley Town.

A quintet of batsmen contributed to Heworth's total with Dave Simpson making 36, Colin de Grandhomme 41, Guy Wilkinson a flamboyant 30, Richard Bowling 28 and Ian Wilson 26, pushing the score to 224-7. Beverley's best bowling came from ex-Fenner player Dan Craker, who took 3-47 and Peter Parnaby, who had 3-74.

Beverley's reply of 215-6 featured a half-century by James Hodgson, backed by 37 from another ex-Fenner player Ross Davey and cemented by an unbeaten 76 from Jamie Mitchell. Heworth's James Ulliett took 3-40.

Pickering find themselves in fourth place after gaining an advantage draw over Easingwold.

The Pikes' three stalwarts - Chris Nicholls (36), Mark Shepherd (42) and Colin Frank (27) - provided the bedrock before Mark Aconley hit an unbeaten 57 to lift the home score to 220-6 with Jonathon Marwood 3-60 showing the best bowling return for the visitors.

Easingwold skipper Martin Piercy then made 45 and cousin Tom Piercy 59. But Tony Evans claimed 3-49 and Easingwold fell marginally short at 212-6, despite an unbeaten 35 from Dan Copeland.

Updated: 10:03 Monday, May 30, 2005