Horwath Pulleyn-Heselton York Vale League division one leaders Askham Bryan YPO prevailed in a titanic struggle against Bishopthorpe.

Mark Cunningham's 4-41 stalled Askham's progress and they could make only 131-7. Only Martin Baggaley with 40 prevented a lower score.

The Bishopthorpe batsmen were invited to feast on some wayward bowling and Andy Walton Knowles (39) duly obliged. But with the score rattling on to 84-2 Mike Hamshere (4-46) got into gear to send the reply into free fall, Bishopthorpe's last eight wickets falling for just 39 runs to seal an eight-run win for Askham.

Resurgent British Sugar downed Drax by 20 runs. A splendid 50no from Clive Heaton took Sugar's total to 149-5. Drax then struggled to cope against Gary Iqbal (5-26) and Wayne Bellerby (4-58), despite 54 from captain Paul Smith.

Tollerton's demise continued at Westow. After racking up 66-2 with Ross Hardy on 33, they fell to Elliott Taylor, whose four-over spell of 4-5 sent Tollerton to 93 all out. The impressive Neil Earle then set about the Tollerton attack with an undefeated 49 en route to a nine-wicket win.

Norwich Union had a good day at the office to topple Stockton and Hopgrove. Matt Phillips hammered an unbeaten 103 and Will Smith added 60 as Union totalled 241-3. For Stockton, Steve Fraser (38) and Nigel Collinson (39) showed some fight but Gawaine Hogg (4-63) and Simon Cooke (4-9) wrapped up the reply at 129 all out.

Stand-in North Duffield skipper Chris Coward had a good day against Fulfordgate. His 3-21 coupled with Dave Suddaby's 5-25 bowled out Fulfordgate for 112, whose Mal Pepper top-scored with 34. Coward then returned 53 with the bat in a comfortable five-wicket conquest.

In division two, a rain-affected game at Burton Salmon saw Stillingfleet's Chris Walker (6-17) and Chris Woodfine (3-15) reduce the home side to 42 all out. Stillingfleet took just seven overs to overhaul the target with eight wickets intact.

Ben Johnson posted a respectable 142-9 against Ovington. Graham Haigh bagged 5-36. Ovington were then pegged back to 22-4 before a 121-run stand between Sadiq (97no) and Dave Cole (32no) saw Ovington home without further loss.

Wheldrake scored 151 against Thixendale. Ken Wallis cleaned up the Wheldrake tail with 4-35. Carl Van Niekirk (7-54) applied keen pressure to stifle the run chase, Thixendale eventually falling to 127 all out.

University of York Staff's star pupil in division three was Richard Waites. His 3-40 kept Wistow to 136-6 of which Mark Alford scored an impressive 68. Waites then smashed 80no as he and Ashley Pike took the Staff home by eight wickets.

Crash of the day was that of Askham Bryan YPO, who went from 35-0 and 55-1 to 66 all out as Woodhouse Grange's Pete Townsley took 6-21. Only Chris Parker with 36 showed any fight. Doug Bartle (32no) and Andy Kenny (29no) were largely untroubled as they saw Woodhouse home by ten wickets.

In division four, Burn just got home against Malton and Old Malton. Sean Moses took 4-31 in reducing Malton to 86 all out. Adam Huetson then carried his bat for 41no in leading his team home by two wickets.

Pocklington's Tim Ridgeway put Heworth to the sword. Firstly he took 4-13 from nine overs to bowl Heworth out for 62. He then struck 34 to guide Pock home by eight wickets.

Ovington secured victory over Stockton and Hopgrove in division five.

Peter Smith scored 62 for Ovington, while tail-enders Callum Sullivan (29no) and Joe Stearman (27) guided them to 173. Mike Jay took 4-34. Stearman then took 3-5 as he and Carl Welch 3-11 routed Stockton for 66.

But 24 hours later Sheriff Hutton made Ovington scrap for victory. Barry Steel (45) and Alan Fletcher (62) contributed to Ovington's 184-9. Good all round batting saw Sheriff go close but Steel's 4-43 curtailed their reply to 147 all out.

Updated: 09:42 Thursday, July 15, 2004