PUDSEY St Lawrence saw their hopes of reaching a second Yorkshire Premier League play-off final shattered at Scarborough.

They suffered an 18-run defeat at the hands of North Yorkshire South Durham League side Great Ayton who will now play Wakefield Thornes at Headingley next Saturday.

St Lawrence, who were crowned as Bradford Premier League champions for the third time in four years a week earlier, had opportunities to win the game but didn't take advantage of them.

A target of 180 on a pitch as good as Scarborough is one St Lawrence would have fancied chasing down nine times out of 10.

But this was the occasion when things did not go their way. A battling Great Ayton side, boosted by the efforts of opening bowlers Pitigala Jeewantha (4-34) and Joe Marsay (4-48) dismissed them for 161 with 6.5 overs to spare.

Although the St Lawrence players made it clear to see that they felt a number of key decisions went against them, nobody took charge of the run chase.

Mark Robertshaw looked as if he might until he was dismissed for 39 while skipper Chris Marsden seemed to have tipped the odds in his team's favour with a brisk 23 before being bowled aiming a rash shot at a ball from Marsay.

Young Harry Cullingford, who took five overs to get off the mark, stayed cool as wickets tumbled, but finished stranded on 22 not out as he ran out of partners.

Great Ayton, who won the toss and batted, looked for much of their innings as if they would post a much bigger total than 179.

Young Aussie Mitch Davis made the most of being dropped early in his innings by making 79 while Jeewantha made 31.

The departure of Davis, caught trying to loft the spin of Marsden over midwicket, sparked a collapse which saw the last six wickets fall for just 11 runs.

Marsden was the chief beneficiary with 5-28 and it looked as if St Lawrence had seized control of the game, but

Great Ayton had other ideas and earned themselves their first-ever appearance in the play-off finals.