HIRST Courtney’s dedication to the HPH York Vale Cricket League has paid dividends.

They beat Stillingfleet by eight wickets in the semi-finals of the Scothern Construction Cup after giving up a day trip to watch Yorkshire at Scarborough.

At the start of the season the club acquired a dozen tickets for the t20 game against Durham at North Marine Road – only to later find it clashed with their own cup semi-final.

Rather than watch the county professionals, Hirst opted not to hand Stillingfleet a walkover and managed to dispose of the tickets via the league website www.yorkvale.co.uk They were rewarded by clinching a place in the final after their spinners bowled Stillingfleet out cheaply. Brian Howard (4-10) and Ken Winters (2-25) took charge as Fleet went from 82-3 to 104 all out.

Howard then struck 45 as Hirst knocked the runs off in 14.3 overs for the loss of a couple of wickets.

Hirst will have to wait to see who they will meet in the final at Hemingbrough on Sunday, August 7, as the other semi-final between York RI and Thorpe Willoughby was washed out and will be played this Sunday.

Hirst have applied to enter a second team in the Vale League. They last had two sides in the league in 2007.