Champions Stamford Bridge made the most of leaders’ Woodhouse Grange’s inactivity to move within a point of the Foss Evening Cricket League summit.

As Woodhouse suffered a third straight wash-out Stamford closed the gap by defeating a battling Westow by eight runs.

Will Parker (54) and Drew Healey (31) were Stamford’s leading batsmen, rebuffing Matt Turnbull’s 3-14, as the Battleaxes posted 136-4.

Turnbull (62) and Tom Audsley (28) led a spirited reply, but Grant Van Es (4-12) held them short.

It now looks increasingly like the match at Low Catton Road between Bridge and Grange in a fortnight will decide the title.

Heworth continued their resurgence under skipper Simon Acomb , rising to third after a fifth win in six completed matches.

Rich Walton (33) and Andrew Simpson (32) led Heworth to 130-6 as Ted Donkin (3-27) and Ash Warner (3-38) shared the wickets.

Pocklington fell well short as Simpson took three wickets for no runs, while Charlie Binns and Waseem Akram took two each.

Osbaldwick picked up their first win to give themselves a chance of survival by hauling themselves above Pocklington. Mike Hattee (71 not out) and Johnny Rawsthorne (32no) added 115 without loss at Dunnington .

The Common Road side then fell five runs short as tight bowling from Drew Horner and Roy Harrison ensured the efforts of Adam Sutcliffe (32) and Dan Barrett (25) were in vain.

Salman Syed proved the thorn in the side of visitors Stockton & Hopgrove as his unbeaten 62 paced the chase perfectly to see Retreat home by seven wickets with two balls remaining in their division two duel.

Yapham are also in the chasing pack after Alex Nattrass’s four wickets in four balls blitzed Thixendale. Nattrass took 4-2 in just seven balls, backed by Jon Flint’s 3-13, to dismiss Thixendale for just 40. Will Axup (24) and skipper Jack Holman (11) saw Yapham home in 27 balls for the loss of one wicke