Yorkshire colt fast bowler Nick Thornicroft exchanged ball for bat and became York's hero with a quickfire 40 off 16 balls to propel York to an unlikely victory over Scarborough by three wickets.

This success also established the Clifton Park outfit as outright leaders of the Yorkshire ECB County Premier League as no other game managed to start on Saturday because of rain.

The match was limited to 30 overs each, starting at the latest time of 3pm, but it produced some stirring cricket.

Scarborough won the toss and batted to give York maximum inconvenience with a wet ball. The Seasiders were soon in their stride, with 39 off the first eight overs for only the loss of Ashley Lyth caught hooking at Thornicroft.

Scarborough captain Darren Harland was playing with assurance and found a promising ally in Boland State batter Renzo Arendse, who played some deft shots before being run out. Gary Pickup and Mark Lawson took the total along to a useful 135 at the close.

It seemed a mountain of a total when York found themselves 6-3 in five overs.

York wisely sent in Rob Flack to stop the rot. Simon Mason and Marcus Wood made useful contributions, but Wood departed in the 21st over with 69 runs required, double the existing run rate.

Enter Thornicroft, who left 17 minutes later with the York total boosted by 48 runs. He deposited five balls over the boundary and struck a four, being particularly severe on his County colleague Mark Lawson, who was threatening to win the game for the Seasiders.

Scarborough suffered two strokes of bad luck. Arendse, who had bowled two tight overs, pulled up lame and then a boundary catch was disallowed as Lyth, the catcher, was adjudged to have touched the boundary rope.

By this time York's task was down to five an over and the redoubtable Flack, with the scampering Greg How, finished the task with five balls to spare when How struck Lawson off the back foot through then covers for a boundary.

York v Scarborough

(at Clifton Park)

Scarborough: Ashley Lyth c Mortimer b Thronicroft 3, Darren Harland b Broadbent 44, R Arendse run out (Sheedy) 23, Gary Pickup not out 31, AN Other c Flack b Broadbent 26, A Kundl not out 1, extras 7, Total (4 wkts) 135.

Bowling: Thornicroft 4-1-17-1, Flack 4-0-25-0, How 14-1-44-0, Broadbent 8-0-42-2.

York: Sheedy c fielder b Pateman 0, D Broadbent lbw Gilbert 0, S Mason b Arendse 24, N Kay c fielder b Gilbert 2, R Flack not out 41, N Wood c and b Gilbert 16, Thornicroft st Rounthwaite b Lawson 0, How not out 8, extras 5, Total (7 wkts) 136.

Bowling: Gilbert 15-2-60-4, Pateman 4-1-21-1.

Updated: 09:06 Monday, May 02, 2005