SHERIFF Hutton Bridge kept up their title challenge in division one of the Pilmoor Evening Cricket League with a 46-run win at Sheriff Hutton.

Bridge are level with Sessay two points behind leaders Thirsk with five games of the campaign remaining.

The second-placed side batted first and posted 148-8, with Rob Pinder hitting 31 and Dave Phillips 40, while David Hull claimed 4-21.

The reply was led by Geoff Schofield's 50 and 21 from Tom Harrison, but they collapsed to 102 all out as Nick Scaling took 3-2 and Danny Cass mopped up the tail to finish with 4-1.

Thirsk kept their winning run going when they entertained Newburgh. Ryan McKendry, with 67, and Mark Cook, with 60, provided the bulk of their 167-6, and the visitors struggled to 91-6, with Charles Ramsay making 28 as James Wilkinson took 3-9 and Josh Peirse 2-9.

Sessay won for the fourth consecutive time with a victory over visiting Clifton Alliance, which leaves their opponents at the foot of the table. Alliance batted first and struggled against accurate four-over spells from Craig Easton (3-3) and Mark Jackson (2-8).

Allan Barton's 30 rallied the innings in the later stages and Alliance reached 78-8.

Sessay's reply hit early problems as Dominic Snook claimed two scalps, but the home effort recovered through the efforts of Stuart Peirse (31), Nick Thorne (21) and Matthew Wass (23no) and Sessay won at 81-5 in the 16th over. Snook finished with 3-8 from five overs.

Helperby's title challenge is fading fast following a 20-run home defeat by Alne.

Eddie Myers (20), Stuart Morley junior (42) and Duncan Stirke (20) helped them post a competitive 117-8 in spite of Atish Chouhan (3-21) and Charlie Grassby (2-33).

Grassby then led the Helperby reply with 60 but he had little support as his colleagues faltered against Sean Foulds (3-11), T Wilson (2-22) and Stirke (2-14) and the home reply closed on 97-8 to lift Alne off the foot of the table.

In division two, Easingwold were comfortable winners at Civil Service.

They ran up 160-3, with Kyle Waite making 44, Mark Mierzwinski 30, Ronnie Alexander 28 and R Waite 46 not out, while Phil Northing claimed 2-48.

The Service reply never got off the ground and, although Will Phelps made 26, they closed on 73-6, with Richard Lindsey taking 2-2.

Dringhouses' good form continued with a nine-wicket victory at Huby, who batted first and were dismissed for 93, Arran Kirkbride top scoring with 22 against D Johnson (3-18) and Mick Kenyon (3-4).

Tom Owen (31no) and Chris Storey (39no) then steered Dringhouses home.

Rowntrees & Huntington came out on top in a closely fought encounter with Raskelf.

Richard Brown top-scored with 44 in Raskelf's 91-8, with Max Hunter taking 2-9 and Phil Thompson 3-9.

Brown then captured 4-21 and Josh Summerscales claimed 2-17, but Thompson made 28 to help his side reach 92-7 in the 16th over.

New Earswick's difficult season continued when, for the third time this season, they failed to fulfil a fixture and conceded to Crayke.