Easingwold continued their seemingly unstoppable drive towards the premier division title in Hunters the estate agent York and District Senior League when they recorded their eleventh victory with a comfortable four wicket success over Acomb.

Andy Tute was in good form for the visitors as he made 75, with Richard Sykes chipping in with 34. But Easingwold's Paul Skilbeck (4-50) and Paul Redshaw (3-68) ensured that their batsmen had a reachable target by pegging Acomb to 152-7.

Three home batsmen then delivered the goods, with Martin Robinson at the top of the heap with 44, Jonathon Marwood making 37 and Tom Piercy 25 as the trio warded off any threat posed by Dave Sykes, who took 3-58 as the Town earned 26 points.

Dunnington were able to nibble away at Easingwold's lead by taking the full 30 points in an overwhelming victory over Thirsk in a game switched to Common Road because of the races.

Dunnington still face the challenge of trying to eliminate Easingwold's 66 point lead if they are to retain their title for a fourth term.

Hamid Khan let the way for Dunnington with 92 while Collis King hit 66 and Harwood Williams an unbeaten 27 before the declaration was called after 48 overs with Dunnington on 225-4.

Thirsk then succumbed to 69 all out as former Leeds Police player Zahid Khan took 5-41 and Dave Kitching 4-18.

A week ago yesterday, Sessay slipped to 37-7 at Sheriff Hutton Bridge in the quarter-finals of the National Village Cup, but then rallied through an eighth wicket stand to make over a hundred which still saw them soundly beaten as the Bridge moved into the national semi-finals for the first time.

Sessay must have thought things could get no worse when they again travelled to the Bridge intent on avenging that defeat and also the home side's earlier league triumph.

However, their nightmare was compounded as Mike Smith produced a devastating spell of bowling. He took 6-10 and bowled 10 maidens in a 15 over stint, with Paul Oldfield (3-13) also getting in on the act as Sessay were reduced to 26-9, three runs short of the lowest total recorded in the premier division.

This unwanted record was avoided as the last pair added 12 runs, but Danny Snowball's first delivery ended the resistance as Sessay were all out for 38.

Peter Crowder (17no) and Ian Clish (22no) then made short shrift of the target as they recorded one of the quickest wins in the premier division, taking just 9.1 overs to knock off the runs without loss

York remain in the bottom two after suffering a seven wicket defeat at Pickering, whose Mark Shepherd (79) and Colin Frank (49) shared in a decisive second wicket stand of 105.

York's first innings score of 183-7 featured an unbeaten 60 from Brendan O'Donovan and a 4-68 spell by Craig Aconley. Following the big stand, Chris Nicholls saw the Pikes home with an unbeaten 27.

At Beverely, the home side were dismissed for 150 by Clifton Alliance in an unusual innings which saw no batsman top 25 runs and four Alliance bowlers each take two wickets.

The home total was then eclipsed with comfort as Lorenzo Ingram rattled an unbeaten 93 to see the York side home with 12 overs to spare. Dave Taylor made 26 for the victors.

Woodhouse Grange moved into third place with a 30 pointer over old rivals Heworth.

Three Grange batsmen impressed, Jonathon Bean making 50, Kamran Sajid 62 and Simon Dwyer 61. Mark Bell was Heworth's best bowler with 3-61, but his batsmen were then found lacking as Ashley Quinn took 3-49 and Paul Grewer 3-16, only overseas player Darius Slabbert making a notable score as he hit 42.

Updated: 11:25 Monday, August 02, 2004