BEFORE even a ball had been bowled in anger, York knew this was not going to be their day at Castleford.

The loss of Simon Mason (torn thigh muscle) and Aussie import Nash Stone (chicken pox) before the start was just a sign of what was to come as the Clifton Parkers went down by 58 runs.

Castleford elected to bat and got off to a steady start but the real damage was done by an 81-run fourth-wicket stand between Andrew Bourke (57) and John Randerson (43) in a devastating 70-minute spell.

Stephen Piercy and Rob Flack respectively removed the dangerous duo, but it was the sterling efforts of Greg How that mopped up the rest of the innings - taking 6-66 of 19 overs as Castleford finished on 207-9.

Marcus Wood (20) and Piercy (24) made early inroads into the target but when Wood and then Michael Mortimer (0) fell in the same over, York were forced onto the back foot.

Nick Kay attempted to smash York back into the game with a brisk 41, but rest of the innings were caught in the stranglehold of paceman Gary O'Neill (4-26 off 14 overs) and young Yorkshire slow left armer David Wainwright (2-20) and eventually succumbed for 149 all out.

Harrogate won their second game of the Bank Holiday weekend although Cleethorpes made them fight all the way for their five-wicket success.

Minor Counties pace ace Dave Pennett was again the man in-form with the ball as he bagged his second four-wicket haul of the weekend as Cleethorpes were dismissed for 86.

However, it wasn't all plain sailing for the St George's Road side as their batsmen had a case of the jitters with Alexis Twigg (30) and overseas all-rounder Khalid Hussain-Butt (33no) steering them home after the loss of some cheap wickets.

Title hopefuls Scarborough suffered a shock set-back as Sheffield United's Pieter Swanepoel condemned them to a nine-wicket reverse.

The South African ripped the heart out the Boro innings, taking 7-24, including the wicket of dangerous Aussie opener Clint Heron, to dismiss them for 127.

Barlow's unbeaten 54 saw United cruise home for maximum points.

On a bad day for batsmen, Doncaster moved to the top of the Yorkshire League with a comprehensive victory over neighbours Rotherham.

Hull secured their first victory of the season over Appleby Frodingham, while there were successes too for Barnsley and Sheffield Collegiate.

CASTLEFORD v YORK

Castleford: A Hursthouse c Pringle b Flack 18, N Dodds lbw b How 29, P Hadfield b How 5, A Bourke c Gilbert b Piercy 57, J Randerson b Flack 43, D Wainwright st Durham b How 13, G O'Neill lbw b How 17, J Glover not out 3, W Hodson c A Kay b How 6, I Shackleton st Durham b How 2, Extras 14, Total (9 wkts) 207. Bowling: R Gilbert 5-0-12-0 R Flack 19-6-59-2 G How 19-3-66-6, T Pringle 5-0-31-0, S Piercy 7-1-28-1.

York: M Wood c Shackleton b Hodson 20, S Piercy c Randerson b Bourke 24, M Mortimer c Wainwright b Hodson 0, N Kay b Glover 41, D Catlow lbw b O'Neill 19, A Kay b O'Neill 15, R Flack lbw b Wainwright 3, R Gilbert c Shackleton b O'Neill 8, G How st Shackleton b Wainwright 0, N Durham b O'Neill 3, T Pringle not out 4, Extras 11, Total 149. Bowling: G O'Neill 14-5-26-4, T Glover 11-4-44-1, W Hodson 7-0-32-2, A Bourke 9-2-24-1, D Wainwright 10-3-20-2.

Castleford won by 58 runs. Points: Castleford 8, York 0.

APPLEBY FRODINGHAM v HULL

Appleby Frodingham: P Taylor c Londesborough b Fisher 16, M Cairns b Days 11, J Taylor c D Barrick b Fisher 21, J Uddin c & b Dani 0, J Parker c Days b Dani 8, R Dransfield c Day b Dani 28, M Bramley run out 14, A Ellis not out 29, G Day run out 5, B Hildreth b Dani 1, C Taylor not out 1, Extras 10, Total (9 wkts) 145. Bowling: A Days 11-7-7-1, M Barrick 10-0-40-0, A Dani 17-3-52-4, J Fisher 17-6-37-2.

Hull: I Haller run out 26, A Simpson b C Taylor 3, D Barrick c Bramley b Cairns 3, A Dani run out 47, D Stevenson lbw b Cairns 1, A Kirby lbw b Dransfield 2, A Ward not out 30, J Fisher c Day b Hildreth 10, T Londesborough not out 11, Extras 16, Total (7 wkts) 149. Bowling: A Ellis 8-2-16-0, C Taylor 6-2-13-1, R Dransfield 12-1-42-1, M Cairns 131-1-39-2, B Hildreth 7-1-26-1.

Hull won by 3 wkts. Points: Appleby Frodingham 0, Hull 6.

SHEFFIELD UNITED v SCARBOROUGH

Scarborough: C Heron c King b Swanepoel 22, N Tubbs c Watson b Swanepoel 1, D Harland lbw b Swanepoel 7, P Seed b Swanepoel 0, G Pickup b Burden 60, C Batchelor c Burden b Swanepoel 6, N Fletcher c Burden b Swanepoel 1, T Whitmarsh lbw b Swanepoel 0, A Harrison c Zafar b Burden 15, R Swiers not out 2, C Clifford lbw b Burden 4, Extras 9, Total 127. Bowling: P Swanepoel 12-2-24-7, A Khan 14-1-54-0, T Fletcher 6-1-23-0, D Burden 7.4-1-19-3.

Sheffield United: M Barlow not out 54, P Swanepoel lbw b Fletcher 18, M Cummins not out 29, Extras 27, Total (1 wkt) 128. Bowling: R Harrison 12-4-33-0, R Swiers 10-1-37-0, N Fletcher 9-2-16-1, C Clifford 9.4-3-21-0, C Heron 1-0-8-0.

Match reduced to 45 overs.

Sheffield United won by 9 wickets. Points: Sheffield United 8, Scarborough 0.

CLEETHORPES v HARROGATE

Cleethorpes: M Smith run out 8, S Deitz b Pennett 6, W Abe b Hussain 8, S Webb lbw b Crowther 30, J Stevenson lbw b Hepworth 16, D Webb c Boyle b Hepworth 4, S Airey c Hepworth b Crowther 1, G Wilson c Bradshaw b Pennett 2, N White lbw b Pennett 4, J Davies b Pennett 0, A Carrington not out 1, Extras 6, Total 86. Bowling: K Hussain-Butt 12-4-21-1, D Pennett 11.5-2-32-4, P Hepworth 10-4-22-2, D Crowther 10-6-10-2.

Harrogate: J Inglis lbw b Davies 8, A Twigg c Wilson b Carrington 30, P Hepworth b Carrington 4, K Hussain-Butt not out 33, R Bradshaw b Stevenson 0, M Stanford lbw b Carrington 1, C Kippax not out 9, Extras 5, Total (5 wkts) 90.

Harrogate won by 5 wkts. Cleethorpes 0 pts, Harrogate 8.

DRIFFIELD v BARNSLEY

Driffield: R Gibbs b Broadhurst 0, R Drury lbw Ledger 30, A Southwick c Yates b Ellis 0, M Tennant lbw b Broadhurst 0, I Winterbottom c Thewlis b Ellis 0, S Winterbottom b Broadhurst 1, M Drury lbw b Ledger 9, D Kear b Ledger 0, M Woodcock st Thewlis b Ivill 2, A Kirk b Ellis 13, G Hodgson not out 2, Extras 12, Total 67. Bowling: M Broadhurst 9-1-23-3, J Ellis 9.1-3-23-3, R Ledger 8-4-71-3, M Ivill 8-5-6-1, R Wilkinson 1-1-0-0.

Barnsley: A Yates lbw b S Winterbottom 27, I Dukes lbw b S Winterbottom 28, G Bassom not out 5, R Wilkinson not out 4, Extras 7, Total (2 wkts) 71. Bowling: A Kirk 7-1-24-0, G Hodgson 4-1-6-0, S Winterbottom 7-0-18-2, I Winterbottom 4.5-1-18-0.

Barnsley won by 8 wkts. Driffield 0 pts, Barnsley 8.

DONCASTER TOWN v ROTHERHAM

Rotherham Town : D Clow c Chadwick b Weekes 0, O Burford b Harris 0, D Kemp lbw b Weekes 0, S Guy c Stokoe b Weekes 6, J Allan b Parkin-Coates 10, A Swallow lbw b Weekes 0, N Robinson c Dawson b Harris 0, J Plater lbw b Weekes 1, B Scrivens b Parkin-Coates 14, A Bashford not out 0, M Smallman b Weekes 0, Extras 26, Total 57. Bowling: L Weekes 12-4-30-6, N Harris 8-1-22-2, A Parkin-Coates 3-2-2-2.

Doncaster Town: S Widdup b Smallman 13, G Dawson not out 28, A Fiddler c & b Clow 2, P Ellis b Clow 11, A Parkin-Coates not out 2, Extras 2, Total (3 wkts) 58. Bowling: D Kemp 2-0-13-0, M Smallman 4-2-3-1, A Bashford 5-0-12-0, D Clow 4.4-1-10-2, A Swallow 3-0-18-0, S Guy 1-0-1-0.

Doncaster won by 7 wkts. Doncaster 8 pts, Rotherham 0.

SHEFFIELD COLLEGIATE v YORKSHIRE ACADEMY

Yorkshire Academy 131-7 (T Bhatti 43, C Wall 3-19)

Sheffield Collegiate 132-4 (R Kettleborough 69, S Clark 38, S Patterson 3-33)

Match reduced to 42 overs.

Sheffield Collegiate won by 6 wkts. Points: Sheffield Collegiate 6, Yorkshire Academy 0.

Updated: 11:54 Tuesday, May 07, 2002