HEMINBBROUGH continue as second division pace-setters after beating Studley Royal by nine wickets.

Chris Scatchard made 56 for the Royals but Gurdev Singh's 5-32 had them all out for 138. Hemingbrough then suffered an early loss but this proved to be an insignificant setback as Imran Malik 56no and Maqsood Akhbar 54no guided the division newcomers to a nine-wicket victory.

Harrogate II suffered their fifth successive defeat when they went down by ten wickets after falling foul of the Dringhouses trio of spinners. Fourteen-year-old John Ormesher made 31 and David Garfitt 38 for the St George's Road side but the tweaking talents of John Crowe 3-25, Mick Kenyon 3-29 and Ian Bews 3-31 wrapped up the innings for 120. Openers Andy Kenyon then hit 61no as he and Nigel Ling 45no romped home.

Stamford Bridge's Stuart Boyle, who is now classed as a non-overseas player, hit his best York League score when he made 143 as his side amassed 283-5 against Sewerby.

Andy Milner 55 and Ed Sykes 28 also enjoyed the superb batting conditions at Catton Road. Boyle's big score was then bettered by Sewerby's overseas man Mitchell Rowing who hit 144 but no-one else was able to match his batting dexterity and Sewerby had to settle for a draw at 218-4.

Rowntrees came within a whisker of recording their first win of the season in a thrilling high scoring draw at Mille Crux.

Teenager Richard Lount made an excellent 60 at the top of the Bridlington order whilst Simon Garton made 25. Haafiz Khalid Mahmood then plundered the wearying Rowntrees attack, making an unbeaten 111 which lifted the visitors total to 225-3.

Rowntrees openers Richard Tuite 32 and Gerry Capelin 46 then laid a solid foundation which was built on effectively by Dave Whittle 59 and Paul Brook 40, who has joined the club after moving up from Somerset.

But their efforts just failed to clinch a victory when the home side's overs expired at 223-6, just an agonising three runs short of victory.

Updated: 09:32 Monday, May 24, 2004