OVINGTON are in pole position for the HPH York Vale Cricket League division one title after winning at closest rivals Westow by seven wickets.

Barry Steel and Craig Nicoll kept prolific home openers Andrew Welford and Mark Earle quiet as Westow reached 67 without loss after 20 overs, Steel pegging them back with five maidens.

Westow were then reduced to 101-6 as slow bowler Ben Busby took four wickets. Ali Fothergill hit a counter-attacking 37 to take them to 168-9.

Tom Cookson (42) and Pete Kelly (33) shared an opening stand of 75 and solid contributions by Craig Nicoll (32no), Joe Whale (21) and Tom Armes (30) saw Ovington run out easy winners.

Burn openers Leigh Adamson (42) and Tom Bourke (26) put on 69 against Kelfield and, with Harry Cruise scoring 41, they reached 204 at tea. Graham Robson (3-31) and Scott Hunt (5-21) continued their run form as Kelfield were bowled out for 75.

Stockton & Hopgrove hauled themselves off the bottom by beating Askham Bryan.

Dean Tyler (4-33) and Tom Williams (4-45) shone as the home side were bowled out for 138, Chris Copeland top scoring with 49. Stockton skipper Rich Kerrison maintained his recent excellent run-making with a match-winning 90, hitting 16 fours.

Ben Johnson slipped to the foot of the table after losing at Melbourne, who recovered from 11-2 thanks to a partnership of 147 in 23 overs by Oliver Steels (69) and Ben Shingles (76).

Needing 220 to win, the printers replicated the visitors’ start by losing wickets with the score on three and 11, and they were bowled out for 82.

An under-strength Wheldrake were skittled for 37 by Clifton Alliance whose Matt Mellor had a field day with figures of 8.5-2-15-6.

In division two, Thorpe Willoughby crashed to defeat at Yapham by 61 runs.

Sam Noble (49) put on 83 with Alex Brown (78no) for Yapham’s second-wicket but spinner Steve Jackson applied the brakes with 4-20, including two wicket maidens, as the hosts totalled 169-6.

Man-of-the match Noble then exploited the turning wicket to take 6-20 as the visitors crumbled to 108 all out.

Thorpe lost top spot to South Cave & Brantingham who beat struggling Fulfordgate.

Gate relied on Alan Baldock (74) to build a modest total of 129. Cave were in trouble at 70-5 with Sam Patchett out for 36 before Oliver Pierce (39no) and Scorah (24no) saw them home with five overs remaining.

Hemingbrough were bowled out for 79 in 37 overs by Ovington II whose Jeremy Foulke took 3-6 from six overs. The low target was never a problem with opener James Eckersley making batting look easy with 54 not out.

Marcus Thandi scored an unbeaten 100 in Hirst Courtney’s victory against Malton & Old Malton, sharing an opening stand of 113 with Ben Copeland.

Bishopthorpe made it 11 wins out of 11 in division three by beating Stamford Bridge II by five wickets.

David Langton made 61 for Bridge before falling victim to Matthew Sharples who had figures of 10-0-29-4. Bishopthorpe were 76-4 with the game in the balance before Will Middleton (34) and a rapid knock by Mark Ford propelled them to the brink of victory.

Father and son Paul and Louis Sangwin were in the runs together in Yapham II’s win against Thorpe Willoughby II.

Louis took 4-29 as Thorpe were bowled out for 98 – four wickets falling with the score on 58. He then scored an unbeaten 31 and figured in a 58-run partnership with dad Paul (39).

New signing Rob Ellis took 4-9 in six overs in Selby's win against Ovington III.

Press Performance of the Week: Sam Noble’s 6-20 and 49 runs saw Yapham outplay promotion hopefuls Thorpe Willoughby in division two.

l DIVISION three splits into three sections from this coming Saturday, the idea being to help mitigate some of the disruptions caused by conceded games.

There will be three groups of four with the leading clubs in Group 'A' carrying forward the points earned to date and the winner will receive the

championship trophy.

Those in Groups 'B' and 'C' will resume on zero points and the winner of each will also receive a trophy.

Group A: Bishopthorpe, Acomb, Pocklington, Dunnington.

Group B: Ovington III, Burn II, Stamford Bridge II, Thorpe Willoughby II.

Group C: Yapham II, Tadcaster Magnet, Malton & Old Malton II, Selby.