THE Hunters York Senior League side avenged their semi-final defeat of last season when they beat the Halifax League by three wickets at Copley.

The York League's selection plans had been hard hit by club and work commitments which had decimated the original 18-man squad but every member played a part under the leadership of new captain James Pringle.

Halifax batted first on a compact ground and made a tremendous start as G Standeven and S Senior raced to 70 in 15 overs at which point the latter was bowled by Richard Bowling for 32, while

Standeven and H Singh were both run out.

Carlton Towers off-spinner Chris Pitts then bowled a beautiful spell of ten overs for just 26 runs as the next 15 overs saw the hosts glean a mere 38 runs. Pringle maintained the stranglehold in taking 2-29 off his ten overs.

S Wood and T Smith added a valuable 54 runs but a home score of 201-7 looked about 50 runs below par on a small ground with a fast outfield.

York openers Nathan Briggs (Hemingbrough) and Richard Lount (Bridlington) went off at a rapid rate reaching 44 before Briggs fell in the sixth over.

Two further wickets soon followed then Lount was bowled for 31 at 81-4 and the scales then tipped towards Halifax when a fifth wicket fell at 105.

But York's Tom Bartram made a fine 40 before being bowled at 148-6, and Matthew Beckett (Stamford Bridge), who answered a late call to join the side the previous night, made a decisive 32. He and Chris Pitts moved towards the winning post before Beckett's fine knock ended at 185-7 but Pitts' unbeaten 31 gave York victory with 21 balls to spare.

The York Senior League will be at home to the South Riding League in the second round on Sunday, June 13. The venue is still to be decided.

Halifax Cricket League: G Standeven run out 25, S Senior b Bowling 32, H Singh run out 10, C Roy b Pringle 20, M Lumb ct Pitts b Allman 17, S Wood ct Briggs b Bartram 27, R Laycock b Pringle 19, T Smith no 26.

R Hanson, G Alexander and M Reed dis not bat. Extras 25. Total: 201-7 Fall: 1-70 2-72 3-85 4-108 5-128 6-160 7-201

Bowling: A Wray 5-1-29-0, T Bartram 9-1-47-1, R Bowling 7-2-23-1, C Pitts 10-1-26-0, R Allman 9-1-42-1, J Pringle 10-2-29-2

York and District Senior League: N Briggs (Hemingbrough) c Reed b Hanson 16, R Lount (Bridlington) b Laycock 31, R Bowling (Heworth) c Singh b Alexander 13, M Hoyle (Selby) c Singh b Laycock 3, J Pringle (York) c Lumb b Singh 8, T Bartram (York) b Singh 40, M Beckett (Stamford Bridge) c Laycock b Roy 32, C Pitts (Carlton Towers) 31no, A Wray (Clifton Alliance) 1no, N Biggs (Hull Zingari) and R Allman (Acomb) did not bat. Extras 29. Total: 204-7

Fall: 1-44 2-68 3-80 4-81 5-105 6-148 7-185

Bowling: M Reed 3-0-22-0, G Alexander 7-0-31-1, R Hanson 8-0-45-1, R Laycock 9.3-2-27-2, H Singh 10-2-26-2, S Senior 3-0-23-0, C Roy 6-0-18-1

Updated: 09:15 Wednesday, May 19, 2004