WITH their three main rivals left kicking their heels, Malton & Old Malton were able to press their division one promotion bid by sending Ripon to their 12th defeat in 17 games.

Only Darren Wyrill came to terms with bowler-orientated conditions as he made 50 with his team-mates struggling to contain Chris Warters 5-59 and Jason Gains 3-68 who combined to hold the leaders to 143-9.

Ripon's batsmen then found the conditions equally difficult and were dismissed for 97 with the league's leading wicket-taker Ryan Bulger claiming 5-42 and Danny Foxton 3-8.

After a poor start to the season Tadcaster Magnet are powering their way up the division and attracted 26 points from their visit to Hornsea. The home side were skittled out for exactly 100 by Paul Clark, who took 6-38 with Dan Dales, who made 41, being the sole success.

Clark then followed with an unbeaten 34 to build on Greg Strydom's 45 to take Magnet to a six-wicket win.

Goole Town threw away a splendid opportunity to move out of the bottom two when they lost by five runs at Duncombe Park after appearing to have victory firmly in their grasp.

A quartet of Park batsmen all made good starts but failed to move on to big scores. Skipper Brian Leckenby top scored with 38 while Adam Rayner 27, Paul Wilkie 33 and Stuart Richardson 27 all made handy contributions.

But they were bowled out in the 45th over for 166 with Richard Mann, with 5-52 in 14 overs, and Dave England 4-37 doing the damage.

In reply, Gautam Sharma made 29, Neil Foster 32 and Anthony Rogers 46 to have Goole poised for victory at 159-7 with two of their extended 50 overs to go.

The penultimate over then proved to be a disaster for the men from Westfield as only two runs were scored but the final three wickets fell, leaving Goole all out for 161 with Duncombe's Paul Wilkie having taken 4-41.

Updated: 09:28 Monday, August 16, 2004