SECOND placed York CC dropped points in the battle with Harrogate for the Hunters ECB Yorkshire Premier League North title.

Leaders Harrogate took maximum points from their game with Acomb but York dropped two after failing to bowl out opponents Woodhouse Grange.

Prolific batsman Duncan Snell (79) had passed 50 for the fourth innings in a row for York and helped set Grange a target of 250-9. Richard Walton had marked his league debut for the visitors with five wickets.

But Grange finished the game on 214-8 with brothers Andrew Bilton (74) and Chris Bilton (41) leading the way. Daniel Woods (3-62) and Tom Pringle (3-62) took the bowling honours for York.

League leaders Harrogate must have been concerned when the start of their match against Acomb was delayed due to rain but, once play got underway, they wasted little time recording an eighth straight win.

Harry Stow (3-19) and skipper George Ross (3-26) both picked up three wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 116 with two balls of their allotted 38 overs remaining.

It took Harrogate only half that time to race to victory - losing just two wickets in the process- thanks to an unbeaten half-century from Ross and 43 from Matthew Good.

Stamford Bridge put an an end to a four match losing streak courtesy of victory over bottom club Dunnington.

It was a close contest, however, and Bridge were bowled out for 179 with Donovan Sinclair (33) one of a number of players unable to capitalize on a good start. Dave Brent took 4-44 and Steve Liburd 3-53 for Dunnington.

Dominic Rhodes (5-37) replied with his second five wicket haul of the season for Bridge and it looked as though a comfortable victory would result as the hosts slumped to 48-8.

However, a ninth wicket partnership of 92 between Brent (49not out) and Collis King (62) took Dunnington to the brink of a shock victory. They fell short by 14 runs but their efforts still secued a valuable four points in the battle for Premier League North survival.

A century from Mark Fisher (117) helped Sheriff Hutton Bridge reach 262-7 at home to Castleford for whom Eddie Morrison took 4-62.

Two early wickets from Fisher (3-45) then had the away side in trouble at 35-3 but a stand of 115 between James Sykes (52) and the game's second centurion, David Wainwright (100no), steadied the innings, the skipper remaining unbeaten in a total of 211-7.

Yorkshire Academy looked to be heading for a third straight defeat when 91-5 chasing Driffield Town's total of 197-7 but a partnership of 93 between Jordan Thompson (80) and Edward Barnes (50no) steadied the ship and set them on the course to a four wicket win.

Barnes’ innings capped a fine all round performance after he had removed both openers prior to half-centuries from Casey Rudd (50) and Grant Halder (52no).

Overseas signing Shivil Kaushik (5-41) picked up five wickets for Hull as they beat east coast rivals Scarborough by 28 runs. The hosts made 185-4 in a rain affected innings, former Scarborough players Chris Grey (48no) and Andrew Simpson (39) both making useful contributions.

Kaushik received support from Steven Sergeant who picked up four wickets in the visitors reply but last wicket pairing Alex Carrie (32no) and Richard Ngarva (47no) took their side to a respectable 157-9.