Sheffield Collegiate stole a march on their Oxbridge Yorkshire ECB County Premier League rivals by taking six points from their match with Scarborough at Abbeydale Park.

With a game in hand on leaders Harrogate and Doncaster, who lost an amazing, low-scoring clash with Yorkshire Academy yesterday, title-holders Collegiate are back in the hunt, with most other games washed out, including Cleethorpes v York and Castleford v Harro-gate, though the latter are reported to have been disappointed by Castleford's early call-off decision.

The ground staff worked miracles at Collegiate to make the pitch playable, albeit for a game reduced to 36 overs.

Scarborough were put in, and their flimsy recent batting was soon exposed. Clint Heron and Darren Harland showed promise in an opening stand of 29, but accurate paceman Andy Wylie accounted for both. A collapse followed, wickets shared by Richard Pineo, Nick Youngs and Stephen Clark, before unorthodox Neil Fletcher staged a recovery. Collegiate could not apply the final screw and Boro finished on 116-8.

There was never any doubt about the outcome. Collegiate's skipper, former Yorkshire and Middlesex star Richard Kettleborough, cast an imperious shadow over the six bowlers. Clark shared an opening stand of 82 before becoming the only victim, chopping on to one from Rob Barlow that kept low. Kettleborough (71no), and experienced Ed McKenna had no problem in steering an untroubled path to success.

Complications continue to arise over the Yorkshire League XI to meet the Aire/Wharfe League in the Costcutter Yorkshire Senior Leagues KO Final at Dunnington next Sunday. Doncaster and Yorkshire Academy are committed to playing their outstanding Yorkshire League Cup semi-final and this may rule out the participation of players from both clubs.

Yorkshire League team manager Chris Houseman was planning to work overtime today in an effort to resolve the selection problems.

Updated: 11:02 Monday, August 12, 2002