Steeton continued their domiation of Division A when they took four points from their rain-affected derby match at Silsden.

After clinching the championship there was no letting up for the Summerhill side.

Heavy overnight rain caused the match to be reduced by 30 overs, and after a mjor mopping up operation the game did not start until 5pm with both sides getting 20 overs.

After winning the toss Steeton captain Stuart Hudson elected to bat, confident in the knowledge that his bowlers could defend whatever total his batsmen posted.

The opening pairing of Pinniger and Newton started very positively against the Silsden bowling, immediately imposing their personalities as they put on 58 runs for the first wicket in just seven overs.

Newton was back in the runs again and showed renewed confidence as he pummelled a rapid 26 which inlcuded five fours.

At the fall of Newton's wicket in came Spragg, who again found form with some superb shots, his rapid 20 continuing the tempo.

The backbone of Steeton's positive start was the ever consistant Matthew Pinniger. After quickly assessing the pace of the wicket and the vagories of its bounce, he unleashed an onslaught combined with arrogant shot selection as he scored 46 runs off only 29 balls as Steeton plundered 96 runs off the first 10 overs.

With the introduction of Silsden spinner Mark Akrigg, who accounted for Pinniger with his first ball, Silsden started to bowl an altogether tighter line. With Pullen taking confidence from Akrigg Steeton were made to work harder for their runs.

Steeton captain Hudson batted well as he scored a solid 22 not out, and with useful contributions from Alex Haworth and Andrew smith, Steeton set a target of 142-6.

The pick of the Silsden bolwing was Mark Akrigg with two for 28 off his six overs and Andrew Pullen with four wickets for 68 runs in his 10-over spell.

When Silsden took their turn to bat they were to come across the rapidly improving Guy Saxton who opened the bowling with Hudson and forced the home side to work hard for every run.

Hudson found his usual tight line and took ended with one wicket for 33 runs in six overs and was backed up by Neil Spragg who bowled the other four overs from one end to keep Silsden tied down. But the pick of the bowling was Saxton who bowled unchanged with a 10-over spell of fast swing bowling, which has been deservedly rewarded by representing Yorkshire Under-19's this year. He claimed four wickets for 48 runs.

The other wicket fell to a run out, thanks to excellent fielding from Hudson.

By scoring off the last ball of the match Silsden secured two points, but Steeton were very happy with their efforts.

n Steeton 2nds won the vital toss, in a game reduced to 20 overs by the rain, and asked Silsden to bat.

They got off to a bright start with Chris Meehan (24) and Bruce Walker (14) before two poor calls led to both openers being run out.

Ian Sagar (33 not out) kept the momentum going and despite some late order flurries, 114 always looked too low to contain Steeton's strong batting line up.

Phil Barrett (28) and Gary Boulton (52) provided the backbone as Steeton won with an over to spare.

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