After just three fixtures, Pickering are the only side to record more than one outright victory - and their second win took them to the top of the premier division.

On a day when batsmen flourished, Nick Hadfield hit 115 off 147 balls as he shared an opening stand of 104 for Woodhouse Grange with Jon Bean making 44.

Steve Burdett added an unbeaten 33 to take Woodhouse to 239-4.

Pickering's batsmen then countered in fine style with Mark Shepherd leading the way with an undefeated 97. He was assisted by Paul Witty, who made 71 in a 121-run second-wicket stand as the hosts gained a six-wicket victory with seven balls remaining.

Two batsmen made identical scores of 106 not out at Common Road when Dunnington gained a comfortable win over Beverley Town to ease the frustration of two previous rained off games.

Beverley made a disastrous start against the pace of Kirk Powell, losing their first three wickets for only three runs.

This soon became 31-5 as Powell progressed towards final figures of 7-50. But Jamie Mitchell and James Bayes added 97 for the sixth wicket before the latter fell for 44.

Mitchell went on to make an unbeaten 106 as Beverley showed fine recuperative powers to reach 188 all out.

Simon Kellett then produced an identical innings, figuring in a 101-run stand for the second wicket with Dave Greenlay, who made 31, to help Dunnington win by eight wickets.

Another game with two centurions took place at Osbaldwick where Carlton Towers had the better of a draw thanks to 117 from Aussie Sam McNally.

Lee Hanson supported with 30 but Steve Young's 3-67 kept Carlton to four batting points when their innings ended at 199-8.

Home batsman Steve Jackson responded in fine style with 103 but Paul Wright's important spell, which earned him 6-49, ensured the balance remained with the visitors as Osbaldwick closed on 187-9.

The need to utilise all the allocated overs was evident at Clifton Alliance where visiting Easingwold pulled off a fine win with four deliveries left from an extra over gained when Jason Sargeant (3-35) claimed a hat-trick by dismissing the final three Clifton batsmen in the 49th over.

Prior to Sargeant gaining the eighth premier division hat-trick, Clifton had reached 233 with John Hunter hitting 62, Richard Musgrave 37, Luke Wells 26 and Mick Knowles 25.

Hunter followed with 3-24 but Martin Piercy 90 and Dan Copeland 72 combined in a fourth-wicket stand of 143 to see Easingwold in with four balls to spare and leave the hosts at the foot of the division.

Matthew Till was Sessay's saviour at Acomb when his 71 enabled his side to cling on for a draw at 141-9 despite a 6-56 haul by Sanjay Rodrigo.

Earlier Till had taken 3-23 in an Acomb total of 175 all out reached through the efforts of Richard Sykes 37, Chris Simpson 32 and Andy Tute 45.

Crayke kindly allowed Thirsk the use of their ground because of the race meeting but visiting Heworth came away with the major share of the spoils.

Richard Bowling made 60, Dave Simpson 46 and Matt Atkinson 30 in the 197 total.

Thirsk's bowling star, Barry Petty, recorded his 28th haul of five or more wickets in the premier league when he captured 5-73.

He had fine support from youngster Richard Bentley who finished with 4-53.

One-time Heworth player Des Wyrill made 46 in reply with other runs coming from Mark Wainwright (39) and Dean Bramley (27). However, with teenager James Ulliott claiming 3-28, Thirsk were pegged to 163-7 and relinquished their table-topping position.

Updated: 09:48 Monday, May 12, 2003