Cawood gave their promotion bid a lift by gaining the only victory in division five.

They beat bottom-placed Hovingham, who were bowled out for 132 but owed much to the sporting attitude of their opponents, who put up with poor weather in the latter stages of the match.

Geoff Pears (40) was the only Hovingham batsman to relish the conditions as his side were dismissed for 132, Nigel Bartram taking 5-23. Keith Towndrow then cracked 49 as he and Stuart Baxter (49) saw Cawood home by six wickets.

Gary Andrew had made 49 not out as division six leaders Dunnington raced to 76-2 in 14 overs when chasing Huntington's 164-8. But his victory hopes were ended by rain.

Jonathon Dilks hit a worthy 70 which propped up the Carlton Towers innings when Thirsk visited Fishpond Field.

His efforts enabled Carlton to reach 126-7 in 38 overs as Martin Harper took 3-40. Thirsk's reply was stopped by rai after 10 overs with their score 22-1.

Tadcaster Magnet paceman John Reynolds had one of the day's better bowling returns when he took 6-40 in 15 overs at Stamford Bridge, whose Ian Fraser made 32 in a total of 124-8.

Only 4.5 overs were bowled after the break before rain, but Tadcaster had lost two wickets for just 12 runs.

York III had much less cause to welcome the early end to their game against Bolton Percy as they had their opponents in trouble. Simon Hall (3-18) and Mark Dunwell (3-33) had restricted Bolton to 91-7 in their 35 overs. York had moved to 60-1 in only 12 overs when rain ended play.

Updated: 09:07 Monday, June 28, 2004