The big game of division two was at Hornsea where the leaders clashed with second-placed Malton & Old Malton and emerged with the better of a draw where the side batting second failed to force a win by just two runs.

The resulting advantage draw meant that Hornsea became divisional champions, while Malton are left requiring 22 points from their final game to be absolutely certain of promotion.

Hornsea had made stately progress to 40-1 in 16 overs when rain caused a stoppage, which on resumption left Hornsea with only 17 more overs to bat.

With Mike Harrah making 40 and Paul Johnson 34, they were able to reach 148-7 in the 33 overs despite Matt Yates' 3-59.

The target seemed within the range of the Malton batsmen, whose Greg Johnson made 32, but Ahmed Nadeem earned 5-71 in 17 overs and he and his fellow bowlers pegged the scoring rate.

Aussie Dave Nankervis then cracked an unbeaten 58 in just 45 balls but the task of scoring 17 off the final two overs proved to be beyond Malton's reach.

Bridlington were also involved in a closely-fought draw before getting the better of Harrogate to retain their promotion interest, some nine points behind Malton.

Their promotion bid suffered a setback during the week with the league committee's ruling that their game last Saturday with Castleford should be awarded to their opponents after being called off when the umpires considered the pitch to be dangerous, with the consequence that Bridlington received no points.

Batting first, Bridlington posted an impressive score of 224-8. Simon Brook (53), Richard Lount (54) and Hafiz Khalid (33) all made good runs, while Peter Kippax had the best figures of 3-42 for the hosts.

In Harrogate's reply, James Brecknock made 61, Rupert Scales 66 and Paul Taylor 32. Bridlington fielder Danny Snaith was taken to hospital after being struck by the ball but Khalid's 3-51 was just enough to hold Harrogate to 220-6.

Rowntrees had to thank two players, Paul Horner and Dave Whittle, for their narrow victory over Stillington, which ensured the Mille Crux side second division cricket next season.

Stillington, who were anxious to avoid a 17th defeat, were only able to field ten men but posted a presentable 171 through Wayne Linton (25), Shamy Dissanayake (32) and Kevin Borwell (34). Paul Horner added 4-69 to his seasonal haul and Dave Whittle bagged 4-61.

The pair then provided the two better scores in Rowntrees' reply with Whittle making 46 and Horner an unbeaten 36. Sean Marshall chipped in with 23 as Rowntrees eased to a two-wicket victory in the penultimate over.

Updated: 11:44 Monday, September 08, 2003