Londesborough Park caused a major upset by recording a four-wicket victory over perennial title challengers York in the Foss Evening Cricket League.

Russell Bowery made 45, but Londesborough bowlers Nathan Saltmer, who took 3-33, debutant Will Liddle and 14-year-old Joe Shingles were key to keeping York to 95-7.

In reply, Greg Drewery was Park’s star with 41 as the East Yorkshire side joined a pack on four points after sealing the win with seven balls to spare.

Woodhouse Grange took advantage to stretch their lead to five points, thanks to a narrow victory over Stamford Bridge. A belting Low Catton Road deck allowed Woodhouse to post 144-3.

The Hattee brothers, Mike (48no out) and Matty (44), were at the forefront of the scoring. Kev Murphy made 43 as Stamford seemed to be cruising to victory, until Grange skipper Andrew Bilton’s left-arm-spin made inroads with 3-20, only to fall three runs short.

Heworth skipper Andrew Simpson made 71 to see his side post 116-6 in a 21-run victory at Dunnington.

Dunnington also struggled when Simpson got hold of the ball as his off-spin, allied with tight bowling from Rich Walton, meant that only the seventh-wicket stand between skipper Gareth Miles (38no) and Jack Spofforth (25no) prospered.

The top two sides in the second division put on a run-fest.

The in-form Salman Syed rattled up 104 of The Retreat’s 128-7, clearing the ropes eight times and being particularly brutal on Melbourne skipper Harry Collins, who went for 48 in five overs. But Melbourne secured the victory to take them clear at the top with A J Clarke’s 63 leading them home by six wickets.

Ovington’s innings was devastated by Bishopthorpe’s Ian Holmes, who claimed four wickets with the last four balls of the innings to finish with figures of 6-8.

Holmes’ efforts kept the Knavesmire team to 102-6, Pete Kelly top-scoring again with 44. The Bishops then romped home by nine wickets as Scott Clapham (38), Ben Smith (34) and Sam Davies (28) were in the runs.

Pocklington provided facilities for Bubwith and Yapham to play as both had unforeseen problems with their grounds. Bubwith posted 107-9 with Paul Van Dijk making 41 as Alex Nattrass was again Yapham’s best bowler with 3-27. Van Dijk turned in a spell of 3-9 with the ball but Tom Atkinson’s unbeaten 73 saw Yapham home by four wickets with three balls to spare.

Pocklington came out on top in the battle of last season’s division one sides at Osbaldwick. Pock skipper Alex Downey (40) and Geoff Woodward (33) countered Steve Horner’s (3-5) two over burst to post 108-7.

Johnny Rawsthorne’s 25 was not enough to get Osbaldwick over the line, falling short at 100-6, as Iain Moorhouse took 3-15 to go with two catches from James Saltmer and Robin Miller’s direct hit from 30 yards.

Dunnington Academy doled out a crushing victory in the battle of the top two sides in division three.

Joe Smith hit a rapid-fire 83 from just 38 balls to add to supporting knocks from Grant Bulmer (33) and Sam Blain (30) as Dunnington amassed the biggest score of the season with 195-3. Jordan Edge made 31 in reply but Heworth Colts were 109 runs adrift at 86-4 when their innings closed.

Neil De was another bowler to take six wickets as Aviva Vikings defended their score of 100-9 at Retreat II. De had top-scored with 24 as Retreat’s Danny Tumman took 3-22. Rich Carroll (29) and Andrew Ferguson (26) made a reasonable hole in the chase but a triple-wicket maiden and final figures of 6-7 from De held Retreat 12 runs short.

Thixendale had a comfortable 28-run victory at Askham Bryan. Having posted 118-6, Thixendale restricted Askham to 90-5.


Westoe’s woe nets withdrawal

Westow have withdrawn from the League, having conceded their opening two games as players struggle with university and work commitments. The club hopes to submit a re-election bid to start with a new junior team in 2014.

The three points awarded to Londesborough Park and Heworth have been expunged and all future fixtures treated as a bye.