The clock was turned back over 20 years at Dunnington where the spectators were treated to the sight of former West Indian Test colleagues Collis King and Alvin Kallicharran sharing a three figure partnership.

The pair put on 109 for the third wicket with King making 102 off 106 balls in 106 minutes as he moved to the joint leadership in the century makers list with 22. He hit 13 fours and two sixes before being bowled by Mark Shepherd.

With captain Simon Kellett making 36 and Kallicharran 37, Dunnington reached 228 for 6 after being put into bat by Pickering, for whom Adrian Boyes took 3-49.

When Pickering responded, Colin Frank made 31 and Australian Tim Keane made a promising 46. King showed his all-rounder talent by taking 3 for17 but Pickering had little difficulty in gaining a reasonable draw at 147 for 7.

Champions Easingwold suffered a chastening experience at Clifton Alliance where they slumped to an 85 run defeat. David Russell top scored with 54 in Clifton's 170 for 9 with other contributions coming from Richard Hunter 29 and South Australian Darren Reeves who made 24. Paul Redshaw took 4 for 40 in 12 overs and Alan Robinson 3 for 43 in 14.4 overs.

James Postill (3 for 23) then helped to reduce Easingwold to 29 for 5 before Paul Skilbeck (29) and Dan Copeland (25) took the score to 75.

The partnership was broken by Mick Knowles who then scythed through the remaining batting, clean bowling all his victims and he took 5 for 8 in 32 deliveries and Easingwold were left in disarray at 85 all out.

Osbaldwick made the short journey to Heworth and batted first. No batsman was able to make a big score but handy contributions from Mike Thompson (27), Richard Carew (25) and Dave Cooper (30) enabled the visitors to reach 161 for 9 despite the efforts of Trevor Walton who took 3 for 28 and Graham Hayward who finished with 3 for 60.

South African Hayward followed with 39 while Dave Simpson made 38 and Andrew Dapson 44 but Stuart Boyle, who hails from Western Australia, applied the brakes with 4 for 30 and Heworth had to be happy with a draw at 151 for 8.

Thirsk were pleased to include the league's top bowler, Barry Petty, in their ranks against Sheriff Hutton Bridge as doubts about his early season fitness had emerged following a knee operation a few weeks ago.

Aussie Lincoln McCrae has returned for a second season at the Racecourse and gave immediate value when he hit 64 to help Thirsk reach 141 for 9.

Fellow countryman Kieran Rodgers was the most successful Bridge bowler as he claimed 4 for 37 while Paul Oldfield captured 3 for 32. Petty, whose total overs last season was only exceeded by 18 first class bowlers, then allayed his team's worries by bowling his usual 25 overs as he shackled the visiting batsmen.

No batsman was able to break the stranglehold but some relief came when a weather break was taken after 31 overs.

After the resumption the slow run-rate ground to a virtual standstill as the Bridge opted for safety reaching 75 for 6 in their 50 overs. Petty, bowling against one of his former clubs, had figures of 4 for 24 as he totally tied up one end.

Thirsk batsmen prospered at Whitkirk where five players reached half-centuries as 474 runs were scored for the loss of just 10 wickets.

Woodhouse Grange took first knock and were able to pile up a total of 240 for 5 as Nick Hadfield hit 55, Stuart Craven 69, Simon Dwyer 38 and new skipper Mike Burdett an unbeaten 42.

Whitkirk's batsmen then matched like with like and came within an ace of pulling off a victory. Skipper Craig Shipton made 62 and Dave Boucher 61 but the most satisfying innings was played by Grant Galloway, who celebrated his return to Whitkirk after a spell with former Leeds League rivals Colton, by hitting an unbeaten 74.

Despite the trio's efforts, Whitkirk fell just short of their target but claimed a profitable draw at 234 for 5.

Chris Simpson, who started his cricketing career as a junior at Acomb and topped the first division averages in 1986 before embarking on a long and successful stint in the Bradford League, has rejoined Acomb from Pudsey Congs.

He marked his return with 47 runs in a home total of 187-4 which was also enhanced by Duminda Perera's 49 and Andy Tute's 25.

After the tea interval, the Ripon batsmen failed to match their opposite numbers as new Acomb skipper Dave Sykes sent down 14 miserly overs which cost a mere six runs as he claimed three wickets. Because of his efforts, Ripon were only able to make 81-7 in a drawn game.

* Home clubs are reminded that they must ring in the result even if no play has taken place and that results should be submitted as soon as the game has ended not two hours later. It is also imperative that the results are phoned to the correct number, are in the required format and are complete and accurate.

This requires the caller to state the division and home club before commencing details of the game.

It does not require details of every batsman and full analysis for each bowler. Callers also need to wait until they hear the answerphone tone before commencing to give details.

Updated: 12:53 Monday, April 30, 2001