Incessant wet weather over the past few months has left many clubs struggling to complete their pre-season ground work and it may be weeks before we see true wickets and fast outfields.

The first weekend of the season saw only six games completed in the Horwath Pulleyn Heselton York Vale League.

In the first division newly-promoted Ovington entertained York in what may be a historical finish.

Batting first Ovington made a very promising start reaching 149 for 6. John Sharples, the former York City captain, was soon in the groove with 48, David Whittle adding 45 before both fell to Chris Cole, who finished with 4 for 53.

Sean Hunter was the mainstay of the York innings with a gritty 49 while James Sharples and Graham Haigh made inroads at the other end.

Three wickets for Whittle left York facing defeat at 111 for 9 when Simon Hall joined Nick Ventress at the crease.

Gradually they inched their way to the target aided by some wayward Ovington bowling in very trying conditions. The winning runs eventually came from that history-making event, a five for a wide which sped to the boundary.

Division Two pitched together those old rivals British Sugar and Fulfordgate in a game very much dominated by the bowlers on a wet wicket.

Batting first Sugar were indebted to Clive Heaton, who after being dropped on three went on to make the game's top score of 27 out of a modest total of 73.

There was a solid display of accurate bowling from the 'Gates Paul Oldfield and a fine 'catching' performance from Luke Mitchell, whose 5 for 14 included four caught and bowled.

Andy Heaton collected a superb 6 for 18 and, along with Paul Wynn, who took 4 for 8, gave Fulfordgate no respite as they slumped to 41 with only Chris Grant reaching double figures.

Division three newcomers Escrick Park and Hirst United met at Queen Margaret's School where the visitors were put into bat and had difficulty in getting the ball of the square on a demanding pitch.

A few lofted drives from Russell Stones proved to be the highlight of their 86 in which there were three wickets each for Richard Sherwood and John Flint.

Chris Megone put aside his wretched run out of skipper Mel Neary in the second over to shore up the innings with 39. Bruce Neary saw them safely home before the rains returned.

Despite Tim Stephenson showing great early season form Melbourne were restricted to 119 for 7 against Ben Johnson. Scott Carlton was to the fore with an excellent 3 for 25.

But as Printers reached 25 without loss after ten overs the weather closed in.

Ovington's second XI gained promotion at the end of last season to division four but found formidable opposition in their opening game against Bishopthorpe.

Taking first knock they struggled against the accurate Derek Slack who sent down 20 overs returning 5 for 30.

At the other end John Latimer kept the pressure on as Ovington subsided to 96 for 9.

Owen Stewart hit a brisk 30 on his debut while there was an unbeaten 40 from John Ind to enable the Bishops to canter home.

There was barely any respite for the Ovington attack, which was shorn of the services of the veteran Brummit who crashed out of the attack with an ankle injury which need hospital treatment.

Copmanthorpe second string's first game in division five continued to display keen improvement.

Paul Newton defied everything the Tadcaster Magnet attack threw at him reaching 45 out of the total of 94. John Reynolds and Paul Sherwood were among the wickets for Tadcaster.

Skipper Peter Dickens held the Tadcaster innings together but there was no holding Copmanthorpe as Ian Bradley and Liam Elliker held too many aces to ensure a 16-run success.

In the final game featuring old rivals York and Woodhouse Grange both clubs posted opening partnerships of 52.

Doug Bartle, making his first appearance for the 'Grange, carried his bat for a steely 65 but the visitors found run scoring difficult as their 113 for 4 at tea will testify.

York on the other hand were off to a flier as Pervez Akhtar and another debutant, Neil Matkin, a St Peter's School master, steered them to a comfortable victory.

Updated: 12:41 Thursday, May 03, 2001