'Trees stand in way of Acomb final

The second semi-final will immediately precede the final on March 23, when Rowntree 'A' will be trying to prevent Acomb 'A' qualifying to meet their club-mates.

Unfortunately the competition was somewhat devalued when both Clifton Alliance 'B' and Woodhouse Grange 'B' teams failed to field sides in their second round games but called off too late for their beaten first round opponents to be re-instated.

Clifton Alliance 'A' were involved in two memorable games when they beat Woodhouse Grange 'A' by one wicket but then lost to Rowntree 'A' by virtue of losing one less wicket when the scores were equal.

Woodhouse 'A' posted a good score when Phil Stothard hit 43 and Johnson made 35 not out to take them to 138 for five.

Clifton 'A' then looked to be heading for defeat when James Postill was dismissed for 25 immediately after returning from his retirement to leave them reeling at 78 for four. Duncan Naylor, having gone to 25 with three successive six hits, then took command and set about the task of making 61 runs in four overs, hitting the first ball of the final over for a winning six.

Clifton and Rowntree 'A' then clashed in a second round game in a low-scoring game which produced a nail-biting finish. Only Syd Corley made an appreciable score for Clifton making 49 before being last out at 89 for six.

The Rowntree batsmen then struggled and lost three wickets for 55 before reaching the final over on 89-5. Mike Shirley opted for safety first as he played out Naylor's bowling for a maiden to take his side into the semi-finals by virtue of fewer wickets lost. Shirley remained unbeaten with 25.

This win had come after Rowntree had hit one of the highest totals in the competition in the first round when they made 183 for one against Osbaldwick and were denied the chance of becoming the first side to have all six batsmen reaching the retiring mark when Dominic Atkinson was run out for 13.

Richard Tuite led the way with 51no while other undefeated knocks came from Nick Sedgwick 30, Dave Thompson 27, Paul Horner 25 and Mike Shirley 25.

Osbaldwick received a handicap start of 20 runs but were totally shackled by the Rowntree bowlers and were only able to add 50 runs for the loss of five wickets as Rowntree won by 113 runs.

Acomb 'A' had little trouble in disposing of a Thirsk side who were bowled out for 85. Des Wyrill 20 was not enough as Acomb's Scott Nicholls 26no and Dave Sykes 29no took their side to a five-wicket.

Eleven-year-old Robert Thorpe was the Clifton Alliance 'B' hero when he captured two for 18 and took a good catch after being called in to fill a gap against Rowntree 'B'.

Andy Barton hit 60 and Paul Thorpe an unbeaten 44 as Clifton were able to total 136 for four. The youthful Thorpe then made two decisive strikes and although Kevin Palmer made 29, Chris Todd 19 and Tony Edwards 18, Rowntree were dismissed for 115.

Second division leaders Bolton Percy fell to a strong Woodhouse Grange 'B' side despite making 110 for four. Run-makers were Mike Furze with 27 and Howard Hall 30 not out.

In reply, Steve Thompson hit 26, Matt Johnson 32 and Paul Townsley 29no as Grange won by three wickets.

Unfortunately the Grange players were then unavailable for their second round game and conceded to Stillington who had earlier defeated Tadcaster Magnet by 71 runs.

Mick Carr was Stillington's star player when he followed his unbeaten 27 with three wickets for seven runs to record the best bowling figures in the competition.

Matt Coulson also retired for 26 as Stillington went to 144 for two. Paul Downey top scored with 19 for Magnets who were all out for 73.

Stillington were again in action in the first semi-final when they batted first against Acomb 'B'.

Andy Ingle (2-19) and Andy Hough (2-25) posed problems and only 26 from Peter Dalton enabled Stillington to reach 90 all out.

Ingle then carried on the good work with 27no and, with Rob Littlewood hitting an unbeaten 29, Acomb cruised into the final without losing a wicket.

Updated: 11:36 Friday, January 25, 2002