by John Parkin

Askham Bryan's Mike Hodgkinson took a hat-trick in unusual circumstances in their Horwath Pulleyn Heselton York Vale League division three game against Tollerton Outlaws.

He achieved the feat in his second spell of bowling after having taken two wickets with successive deliveries in his first spell.

With his third ball batsman C Richardson was injured and forced to retire temporarily - and when he later resumed his innings he became the second victim as Hodgkinson took his second spell hat-trick.

Hodgkinson finished with figures of seven for 41.

Askham Bryan wicketkeeper Willy Raper had a great afternoon too, taking five victims - all to no avail as Tollerton Outlaws won and took maximum points. The star of their innings was Steve Raper with a fluent 76.

A chanceless 107 by Graham Davies helped Ovington to consolidate their position at the top of division one.

He and Jon Goodway added 176 for the second wicket as bottom club Hemingbrough struggled to stem the flow of runs. It didn't improve for Hemingbrough after tea as Ian Holmes and Paul Mizon bowled Ovington to victory by 136 runs.

Norwich Union are second in the table after beating York by 44 runs.

Norwich Union's 194 was built around an excellent 95 by Simon Morgan, who was dismissed by Graham Macfall.

Gawaine Hogg had York on the back foot with three for 27 in 11 overs and, despite a sprightly 47 by Peter Bainbridge, York never looked like getting the runs required. Simon Cook polished off the tail with three for 20.

Andy Sturdy and Ray Baggaley shared an opening partnership of 80 to set York Post Office on the way to a good win at Drax. Glynn Botterill and James Ledgeway kept the score moving as Post Office got maximum batting points.

A half-century by Kevin Thomas put Drax in a favourable position at 91 for one until he was bowled by Botterill, the first of his five wickets. At the other end Ledgeway picked up four wickets as Drax were dismissed for 144.

John Short rescued Bishopthorpe with an innings of 72 against Burn, whose Steve Goldsbrough took five for 37. Andy Watson's 67 held the Burn innings together after Derek Gardiner wiped out the middle order but it was touch and go for Burn as five wickets fell at 141, leaving the tail-enders to clinch victory.

Division two leaders British Sugar had few alarms when defeating bottom club Wheldrake.

Steve Bellerby was stumped by stand-in wicketkeeper S Newby for 87 and Sean Mahoney scored a maiden 50.

Wheldrake fought a mainly rearguard action, Neil Thurlow and Nigel Exton both getting into the forties, but they were never up with the run rate and finished on 130 for seven, 64 runs behind.

Heworth made a steady start against Westow. Anton Rodgers and John Dale put on 40 before both fell to Mark Earle, which triggered a slump to 64 for five. Steve Quinn and Mark Lancelot almost doubled the score and Heworth finished with 148 for six, which didn't trouble Westow's batsmen.

Rob Kellock's 75 not out was a tribute to forceful cutting and driving and Westow won with overs to spare to take second place in the division.

Paul Thorpe shored up the Clifton Alliance innings with a hard-earned 35 at North Duffield. Trevor Britain and Tony Moore each took three wickets but Clifton's 102 for eight would have been much less if Duffield had held their catches. Duffield lost opener Lee Wild caught by Thorpe for 22 but this was the only success for the visitors as David Beilby and Britain knocked off the runs.

Thixendale cashed in on some loose Copmanthorpe bowling to run up 218 for nine, their highest score of the season. Mike Walker and James Metcalfe put on 93 for the second wicket.

Copmanthorpe openers Steve Purdy and Andrew Northfield scored 70 off the first 10 overs but Walker slowed things with four for 58. Copmanthorpe skipper John Hughes took charge and shepherded his team to victory by two wickets.

Fulfordgate skipper Keith Pepper, who was eventually left stranded one short of a century, and Pete Fairburn put on 70 for the second wicket at Thorpe Willoughby. Gavin Cowley continued the attack and the score doubled to 153 and Fulfordgate totalled 198.

Thorpe's Jamie Harding, Mick Gandy and Martin Cook went for the runs but the side were struggling at 120 for seven. Dave Watson bludgeoned a quick half century and with skipper Greg Turner, who because of a hamstring injury batted with a runner, pulled off an unlikely win with an over to spare.

Title race blown open by major shock

The division three promotion race was thrown wide open by the surprise defeat of previously unbeaten leaders Escrick Park by bottom Club Wood-house Grange.

N Reader and J Flint Snr were the only Park batsmen to get double figures against the youthful Grange attack well led by Tony Smith.

Doug Bartle and Andrew Kenny, the game's top scorer with an unbeaten 66, gave the Grange innings a solid start but Richard Sherwood and Flint set up a tense finish taking four wickets. Kenny stood firm and with the help of Smith won the game for Grange with three balls to spare.

Hirst United bounced back to form in impressive style at Kelfield. Phil Smith top scored for Kelfield with 62 out of the team's 125 for seven as Mark Miller took three for 38 in 20 overs. Pete Alford and Dean Hedley took Hirst to a 10 wickets in only 23 overs.

Ben Johnson hit back well to reach 227 for six at Stillingfleet after losing opener Dave Lacey for a duck. Martin Reynolds, Neil Drew and Steve Wragg took a heavy toll on the bowling.

Darren Snowden had the first three Stillingfleet batsmen back in the pavilion with only five runs on the board. Scott Carlton and Wragg kept up the pressure to dismiss the hosts for 73.

Jim Watt carried his bat in 81 and finished with a six as York University Staff beat Melbourne.

Division four leaders Burton Salmon were made to battle for their win over Drax.

Max Driscoll and Adrian Davies took most of the wickets as Drax were dismissed for 93, Colin Droscoll wrapping up their innings. In reply, Max Driscoll stroked an elegant 54 but Burton slumped to 85 for eight as wickets fell at the other end to Steven and Paul Smith and Bob Wriggles-worth, but Burton hung on to win by one wicket.

Burn lead the chasing pack after their five-wicket defeat of Huntington. Chasing 95 to win Burn took their time, Tommy Burton topping the scoring with 32 with Neil Harrington taking five for 47.

Mark Alford again came to the rescue of Wistow with a powerful 53 out of their 100 against Acomb, Richard Carberry taking four for 26. The Acomb top order of Ben Wallace, Kevin Crawford and Trevor Pawson saw their side to victory.

Tadcaster Magnet continued their good run by beating Heworth by two wickets. Matt Winterburn batted well for his 36 for Heworth, who reached 136 for five.

Tadcaster skipper Steve Sugden led the way with 55, his second half century against Heworth in three weeks. Terry Fannon struck late on with three wickets to level out the game but P Batt's 38 was the clincher for Tadcaster.

Pete Roberts came to Ovington's rescue at Selby with a hard-earned 35 against a tight attack well led by Steve Sherwood, but their 92 all out was insufficient as S Knight 38 and Colin Johnson steered Selby home.

Bishops still on top despite Dent

Wheldrake skipper Kevin Dent took seven for 39 in 20 overs against division five leaders Bishopthorpe, who made only 117 for nine.

But Mike Brown, with five for 30 in 18 overs, and Derryk Slack (three for 21) had too much experience for the young Wheldrake batsmen, who limped to 86 for nine.

Pocklington are second in the division following a one-wicket defeat of Stockton & Hopgrove. A five-wicket haul for Pete Eastwood restricted the Villagers to 109. Collinson then took six for 56, but a maiden half century for John Latham and crucial support from Chris Bullock saw Pocklington win.

York are third in the table after beating Thorpe Willoughby, who batted first and were shot out for 51.

Woodhouse Grange continue to improve under the guidance of Barry Johnson. Grange held Selby to 146 and Johnson saw his batsmen reach their target with seven wickets and 16 overs to spare.

Updated: 12:22 Thursday, July 04, 2002