Easingwold victory propels Woodhouse into pole position

8:51am Monday 5th May 2008

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Woodhouse Grange are the only side in the York & District Senior Cricket League premier division to have won both their opening games after beating Easingwold by three wickets.

The Grange bowlers were in miserly mode in the first hour as the hosts struggled to maintain a rate of one run per over.

Andy Dawson (32) and Paul Skilbeck (38) eased the shackles, and Tom Piercy made a handy 30 before falling to a fine boundary catch by Simon Dwyer.

Spinner Chris Pitts, who dismissed Piercy, then held on to a sharp return catch to see off Dan Copeland before the home side's innings received a late boost from Paul Redshaw's unbeaten 40 off 34 deliveries to enhance the total to 170-6.

Grange's successful reply rested on Jon Bean (33), Joel Hughes (35) and an unbeaten 31 by Andy Anderson, which earned the win with ten balls to spare, thus thwarting the efforts of Paul Skilbeck (4-58).

A solid performance saw Stamford Bridge gain much the better of a draw over Pickering after a half-century from skipper Matt Beckett (51) helped Bridge reach the division's top score of 204-8.

Valuable support was provided by Phil Hill (34) and Ollie Pimlott (33), while Tony Evans had 3-30 for the Pikes.

In reply, Chris Nicholls made 33, but a decisive 20-over spell by Mark Fairweather, who took 4-26, restricted the Pickering batsmen to 106-8.

After the humiliation of being dismissed for a record low score on the opening day of the season, Malton & Old Malton produced an improved performance, but still tasted defeat when their batsmen were unable to build on a splendid bowling performance that had seen Dunnington dismissed for 115.

The only significant innings in the game came from Collis King, who underlined his class in making 49 as his colleagues struggled against Danny Foxton (5-25 in 12 overs) and Mark Yates (3-36).

Malton were then blitzed by pacemen Kelvin Patterson (5-26) and Otral Blackford (3-18 in 18 overs).

With Naumaan Ali grabbing 2-6, Malton were all out for only 66.

Acomb inflicted a second defeat of the season on Hull Zingari, whose 109 all out was some way adrift of their 174.

The hosts benefited from good batting by Paul Hemingway (68) and Joey Burton (47).

John Beech took control as he removed five Zingari batsmen for a personal cost of 39, while Glyn Botterill, with 3-7, lent valuable support.

Goole built on their opening victory with another good performance which saw them gain a winning draw over Thirsk.

Aussie Ashley Hulme was again prominent in making 77 and taking 3-50 for the divisional newcomers.

He had good batting support from Neil Foster, with 35, and Kev Murphy, who scored 32, as Goole reached 192-9 despite another sterling performance from Barry Petty, who claimed 5-72.

Thirsk's batsmen never looked likely to match their opponents' score, but gained a draw thanks to a marathon effort by teenage opener Liam McKendry, who batted through the 50 overs to make an unbeaten 58.

Sean Holmes played his part in making 30 as Thirsk closed on 145-7.

A nip and tuck game at Sessay saw the home side narrowly gain the better of a draw over reigning champions Clifton Alliance thanks to a fine partnership between Nick Harrison and Dave Johnson.

The pair added 120 for the third wicket, with Harrison making 83 and his Aussie partner getting 52 as they projected their side towards an eventual total of 187-8.

When Clifton replied, Richard Musgrave made 50 and James Postill followed his 3-45 with an unbeaten 34.

Skipper John Hunter added 27, but the fourth run out of the innings saw Clifton's last man at the crease in a non-striking capacity in the final over, which was successfully negotiated by Postill as Clifton survived on 170-9.