Heworth retained the BYB Cricket Supplies Under-11 Championship for 2003 after a 48-run victory over Woodhouse Grange.

Batting first, Grange were 246-2 and looked set for a good score before Chris Barratt took four wickets in one over to turn the game in Heworth's favour.

With danger-men Chris Bilton and Scott Reeves dismissed, Grange had to chase runs in their final overs but wickets started to tumble.

Barratt finished with 4-14, Jack Leaning 2-15 and Will Pepper 1-6 as Grange stalled on 246.

Heworth's first pair of Andy Simpson and Pete Tasker took no chances and finished their overs on 210-0.

Second pair Leaning (21) and David McDermatroe consolidated and took the score to 236-1 before the target was passed by Pepper (14) and Steve Ward (3), Mark Dobson (18) and Barratt (4) and a final total of 291-1 was posted.

Steve Young, of BYB Cricket Supplies, made the championship presentation and expressed his delight at seeing the league going from strength to strength.

It started with just six teams two years ago and is now 16-strong.

The game is played eight-a-side with players batting in pairs for five overs each.

Batsmen cannot be dismissed in those five overs, but if they are 'out' then five runs are deducted from their team's total, which starts on 200.

The York and District Junior Cricket Association's committee say they will take on concerns expressed by representatives from York after its under-11 side missed out on a place in the final.

Some parents from the York club contacted the Evening Press to express their disappointment that Woodhouse Grange were selected to play in the final instead of York.

Both teams were set for a top two finish in the East Zone, which would have ensured a place in a play-off against the top two teams in the West Zone for a place in the final.

However, the league were forced to scrap the play-offs because there were too many outstanding fixtures.

It then took the decision to select Woodhouse Grange from the East Zone and Heworth from the West Zone to compete in the final.

In the East Zone, York believed they were tied with Woodhouse Grange, both teams having won six matches with one match, coincidentally against each other, still to play.

However, Grange were chosen to go through to the final because the league received only verbal confirmation and not a card from York following one of their victories, which was over Osbaldwick.

The win over Osbaldwick has since been confirmed, but the league said they did not take the unconfirmed match into account when deciding Grange should represent the East Zone in the final.

League secretary Alan Carter said it was not in a position to change the date of the final and could not therefore accommodate the outstanding fixtures.

In the circumstances, he said the league had to make a decision and had tried to be as fair as possible.

He said: "York have written a letter and we have taken on board their points and will be having a meeting to discuss it further.

"It is not how we wanted it to end and unfortunately we had to make a tough decision."

Updated: 08:23 Thursday, August 21, 2003