DRAX made up ground on HPH York Vale Cricket League division one leaders Bishopthorpe with a crushing victory against North Duffield.

With Bishopthorpe having a free week, Drax made full use of their opportunity to post 217-6 with Kevin Thomas unbeaten on 91. Drax's bowlers then tore into North Duffield's fragile batting as Steve Smith (5-29) and Paul Vickers (3-25) shot them out for 95.

Westow also hit the 200 mark against Askham Bryan YPO with Elliott Taylor smashing 71 of his side's 203-8. Taylor then initiated the Askham collapse with 3-46.

At one stage Askham were 95-1 before the introduction of Mark Earle (4-22) saw them all out for 148. The returning Ray Baggaley hit a superb 58 and Mark Grewer added 41.

British Sugar hit a respectable 174-7 against Burn. Glenn Hunter then top scored with 56 as Huetson (45no) and Rob Adamson (47) took Burn to an eight-wicket win.

Norwich Union's season continued to slide at Wheldrake where they struggled to 73 all out against Mark Fearn (3-34) and Danny Nicholson whose 3-5 came in eight deliveries.

David Johnson (3-15) and Simon Cook (4-35) tried their best to defend a low total but Wheldrake got over the finishing line with two wickets to spare.

Fulfordgate smashed 193-5 against Thixendale in division two with Mal Pepper (47) and Mick Nelson (64) the main contributors.

David Smallwood (3-19) and Steve Bygott (3-27) followed solid work from Simon Anderson to reduce Thixendale to 19-7 at one stage before they folded at 67.

York hit the highest divisional score with 226-4 against struggling Kelfield. Stu Green hit 96 and Matt Boyle 56no. Apart from Neil Atkinson's 62, Kelfield's top order failed to fire and the innings ended at 174.

Hirst United struggled against the accuracy of Stockton and Hopgrove's Mark Dobson who took 4-26 to leave Hirst on 105-9. Stockton were cruising at 100-3 before Tim Wild (4-37) produced a mid-order wobble before Stockton won with 106-7.

Ben Johnson's batting machines Martin Reynolds (79) and Danny Cameron (53) ensured maximum batting points with a total of 193 against Stillingfleet.

Chris Walker (4-50) and Chris Woodfine (3-8) were the pick of the 'Fleet bowlers. Rob Murray hit 79 but with Steve Wragg (4-89) and Darren Snowden (5-76) to the fore, Stillingfleet fell just short at 175.

Heworth's Mark Groom hit 47 in his side's 140-6 against Copmanthorpe. Early wickets fell in the Cop reply but a breezy 26 from Kev Ryder set up Martin Hillyard and Pete Waterhouse to both hit 32 to get back with the required run rate. But, the returning Groom held a tricky catch and bowled tidily to earn Heworth a five-run win.

Acomb overcame Malton and Old Malton in division three after their eight, nine and ten batsmen scored 69 runs between them to lift their total to 161-9.

Jim Baxter's 56 proved too little in Malton's reply as Lee Scrimshaw took 4-26 in restricting Malton to 131.

Bishopthorpe recovered from 49-5 to reach 232-6 against Burton Salmon thanks to John Short's magnificent 132no. A massive 183 runs came from the last 20 overs to boost Bishopthorpe's total.

Dave Olde retired hurt for 76 in Salmon's reply but Dave Thornton (52) kept up the effort although Bishopthorpe ran out 57-run winners.

Clifton Alliance's John Bladen hit 95no in his side's 201-6 against Thorpe Willoughby. Bladen then took 3-32 to restrict Thorpe Willoughby to 178 which included an unbeaten 50 from Dave Watson and 37 extras.

Ovington smashed 223-7 against University Staff with Barry Steel hitting 62 and Andy Cole 39.

Cole was then hurt while fielding and had to leave the field by ambulance.

Despite a knock of 52no from Staff's Andy Watts the reply halted at 179-5.

Updated: 11:33 Thursday, July 07, 2005