Despite being held to a draw at Easingwold, Yapham strengthened their position at the top of division four as their nearest rivals Huby suffered an embarrassing defeat at bottom placed Thorp Arch and Boston Spa.

Paul Barnes hit his maiden league century for Yapham when he made 111 out of an all out total of 204. Trevor Smith took 5-27 and Gavin Rees 4 for 83.

Easingwold never threatened, reaching 125-8 in reply with Richard Skilbeck making 31.

Promotion-hunting Huby came off the rails at Thorp Arch and Boston Spa where they were shot out for 62 by Steve Raine's 6 for 18. Huby's bowlers then hit back by grabbing five victims but Rob Williams made a decisive 30.

Sheriff Hutton moved into third place when they beat derby rivals Sheriff Hutton Bridge by 75 runs. Tony Hull, with 43, and C.Woolley 36 helped Sheriff to 164-6 with Steve Glaves, who switched clubs at the start of the season, taking 3 for 60 for the Bridge.

In reply, Chris Walls made 27 but saw his side bowled over for 27 with M Faith claiming 4 for 13.

Dunnington also saw their promotion hopes end when they could only make 60 all out at Carlton Towers where the son and father combination of Simon Boddye (6-23) and Terry Boddye (3-19) rolled them over.

Thirteen-year-old Jonathan Dilks, who made 27no when the teams met earlier in the season, was unbeaten with 22 as Carlton won by eight wickets.

The League's leading wicket taker, Steve Beales, took 6 for 36 to help send Dringhouses to a 114-run defeat. Dave Todd with 4-56 and John Lohan 3 for 43 had Huntington rocking at 54-5 before Beales steadied the boat with 27no. Number 10 batsman Darren Willis hit an extremely useful 39 in a competitive 175-9. Dringhouses' innings was soon in disarray and only M.Hayter (33) was able to resist as Beales took his seasonal bag to 70 wickets at under 10 runs apiece. Wally Baynes grabbed 4 for 23.

Thirsk are making a determined bid to escape relegation and did their cause a power of good with a nine-wicket win over Acomb.

Andrew Young's 5 for 50 helped dismiss Acomb for 133 then Mark Wainwright 49no and John Harper 70no were associated in an unbroken second-wicket stand of 120 as Thirsk cantered to victory.