Leaders Easingwold lost their Hunters York and District Senior Cricket League premier division unbeaten record to bottom-placed Pickering, whose four-wicket victory was their first of the season.

All seemed serene as Easingwold moved to 51-0 before Martin Piercy was dismissed for 29 by Ady Boyes with the final ball of an over.

Boyes then grabbed the 11th premier division hat-trick when he added the scalps of Martin Robinson and Tom Piercy with the first two balls of his next over. The Easingwold slump continued as they slipped to 62-5.

Opener John Marwood then finally found a resolute partner in the youthful Tom Banks and the pair were able to add 97 for the sixth wicket before Banks fell for 33.

Marwood completed his sixth top-flight century, undefeated on 107 from 213-6. Boyes finished with 5-59.

Pickering's reply revolved around an unbeaten 93 from Craig Aconley and with Colin Frank making 32, Pickering pulled off a fine victory with three balls to spare.

Having had mixed fortunes last weekend when they recorded their first premier win only to be ejected from the League Cup due to a breech of registration rules, Stamford Bridge again struck winning ways.

They gained an impressive four-wicket triumph at Acomb to go fourth.

Acomb reached the maximum batting points mark when Andy Tute, with 42, Paul Hemingway (27) and Joseph Burton (51) took them to 207-8.

Acomb got the valuable wicket of Shikar Darwan for 40 but then Stamford skipper Matt Beckett made 37 and Dave Chaplin 59 as they moved to 208-6 despite the efforts of Andy Tute (3 for 56).

Dunnington batted first at Clifton Alliance and saw four of their players make good starts without going on to hit a big score.

Nevertheless, the efforts of Simon Kellett (26), Dave Greenlay (35), Jack Bolam (25) and Harwood Williams (37) saw Dunnington to 195-8.

Paul Boraston with 3-39 and Francis Hawthorne 3-58 were the successful bowlers for Alliance who then moved to a six-wicket win in the 47th over after John Gilham with 75 and John Hunter, unbeaten on 55, shared a fourth-wicket stand of 95.

Heworth's dismal start to the season continued when they were soundly beaten by old rivals Woodhouse Grange.

They came away from Elmpark Way with a six-wicket victory after Simon Dwyer, with 45no, and Steve Burdett (30no) had seen them overcome a poor start as Mohammed Ashfaq Ahmen claimed 3 for 38 with his off-breaks.

Earlier, John Hughes had posed problems for the home batsmen in claiming 6-23 with only Mike Taylor showing any prowess as he made 37 in his side's score of 120 all out.