THERE was a close finish in Pilmoor Evening Cricket League division two as hosts Easingwold edged past Rowntrees & Huntington.

Mark Keyworth (35) and Josh de Silva (31) helped the visitors to 115-7, Harry Kerr the standout bowler for Easingwold with figures of 4-11.

Easingwold then lost wickets with regularity to Tom Frane (4-24) and it was the experience of Kyle Waite (50no) and Andrew Metcalfe (37) which eventually saw them home at 116-9.

Raskelf batted first at Huby and posted a respectable 113-3, the main contributions coming from Harry Ellis, with 36 not out, Simon Webster, with 31, and Sam Porter, with 26, while Josh Robertshaw took 2-34 for Huby.

The outstanding innings of the evening came from Huby’s Aaron Kirkbride with 53 retired. With Matt Woodall making 21, Huby claimed victory at 114-5 with more than an over in hand, Dan Noble claiming 2-17 for the losers.

Clifton Alliance batted first against Civil Service and their 114-7 was due mainly to the efforts of Jake Atkinson (28), Jason Gatus (27) and Joe Ashdown (22), with Dennis Sivapragasam (3-21) and Richard Simpson (2-14) having the best returns for Civil Service, whose reply was 75-2, with Will Phelps making 34 not out.

Crayke made a good start to the campaign with a nine-run victory at Dringhouses.

They lost two wickets in the first over, but opener Peter Carr held firm and found his form to make 55 retired, which proved to be the cornerstone of his side’s 106-5.

Sam Lingard got the home reply off to a promising start with 23, but Mark Hutchinson hit back hard for Crayke and his 4-24, together with 2-15 from James Pocklington, held the hosts at bay as they closed on 97-9.