YORK Cricket Club enjoyed a weekend as wonderful as the weather.

On Saturday they had a Yorkshire ECB Premier League victory over Hull and yesterday handed out a comprehensive defeat to Doncaster to qualify for the League Cup semi-final at Clifton Park next Sunday against Yorkshire Academy.

York are now set for League Championship showdown as Sheffield Collegiate lost by two runs at Cleethorpes and lead York by five points so York need an outright win when they visit the South Yorkshire side next Saturday.

York adopted a positive policy in electing to bat with the aim of declaring early to earn extra overs to bowl Hull out to ensure a maximum eight points from the fixture.

The platform for success was built by the commitment of their front four batters. Openers Simon Mason and Stephen Piercy who built an opening stand of 66 in 19 overs, continued the process despite Simon Powdrell's steady spell that earned him six victims in 18 overs.

Riley O'Neill and Mike Mortimer finished the job off to raise a declaration total of 248-8 with, importantly, three overs to carry forward to Hull's innings.

Rob Flack and Greg How got early wickets and O'Neill joined the party to reduce Hull to 74-5 after 21 overs.

York's fielding was proving vital with seven catches in the match but the Humbersiders found solid resistance in the unlikely form of 15-year-old Tom Appleyard, who batted almost two hours for his 50. He found an ally in Mohammed Iqbal and forced York into the extra three overs.

The task was completed by Nick Kay, something of a 'man for the job' medium pacer who took two wickets in 17 balls to see York home by 65 runs with only seven balls to spare.

York v Hull

York: S Piercy b Simpson 37, S Mason lbw b Powdrell, W Warne ct Robinson b Powdrell 24, N Kay ct Hodgson b Powdrell 48, D Snell c&b Powdrell 9, R Flack c&b Iqbal 3, M Wood b Powdrell 14, R O'Neill not out 30, M Mortimer ct Kirby b Powdrell 15, G How not out 9. Extras 20 Total 248 for 8wkts.

Bowling: T Days 12-3-55-0, A Simpson 17-6-64-1, S Powdrell 18-1-88-6, M Iqbal 5-0-30-1.

Hull: S Robinson ct Mortimer b How 30, P Shally lbw 5, A Kirby ct Durham b How 5, P Hodgson ct How b O'Neill 14, A Simpson ct Piercy b How 11, T Appleyard ct Kay b Flack 52, D Wilkinson b How 1, B Kirby ct Mortimer b O'Neill 18, M Iqbal ct Picret b Kay 34, S Powdrell not out, T Days b Kay 0. Extras 13 Total 183 all out.

Bowling: R Flack 12-3-38-2, G How 15-2-51-4, R O'Neill 18-5-42-2, M Mortimer 4-1-24-0, S Piercy 5-1-16-0, N Kay 2-5-1-12.

In Sunday's League Cup match York were fortunate to win the toss and oblige Doncaster to field in the heat of the day. Simon Mason blazed away, hitting seven fours before departing at 37 with 31 runs to his name.

York were scoring quickly on an excellent track but losing wickets as fast so five wickets had fallen for 114 after only half the allotted 50 overs.

Fortunately Will Warne was playing an excellent backbone knock which set up a final onslaught from Marcus Wood and Mike Mortimer. Wood, batting low down because of midweek illness, was most punishing with 90 runs, including ten boundaries. Mortimer took his 50 in even time to set a target of 284.

Former Yorkshire County staffers Simon Widdup and Andrew Parkin-Coates set off as though the total was well within their range but bowlers Stephen Piercy and Rob Flack stuck to their task and claimed both. Flack set more problems the longer he bowled and ripped the heart out of the Doncaster reply with the wickets of Ian Leach and Peter Ellis. Riley O'Neill tied the middle order down and was rewarded with three wickets as York continued to take their catches. Nick Kay finished Doncaster off with two wickets in as many overs for York to win by 173 runs with 14 overs remaining.

York v Doncaster

York: S Piercy ct Chadwick b Parkin-Coates 2, S Mason ct Widdup b Shah 31, W Warnne ct Chadwick b Jones 67, N Kay ct Graca b Stokoe 16, D Snell ctc Chadwick b Stokoe 3, R O'Neill b Jones 2, M Wood not out 90, M Mortimer run out 51, R Flack not out 1. Extras 211 Total 284 for 7wkts.

Bowling: S A Shah 9-2-28-1, A Parkin-Coates 8-0-66-1, W Graca 7-0-43-0, P Stokoe 10-1-44-2, D Jones 10-1-56-2, S Widdup 6-0-37-0.

Doncaster: S Widdup ct Durham b Piercy, A Parkin-Coates b Flack 25, I Leach lbw b Flack 8, P Ellis ct Durham b Flack 2, A Chadwick cy Kay b O'Neill 2, S Shah ct Wood b Mortimer 1, N Harris c&b O'Neill 9, A Fiddler lbw b Kay 12, W Geaca ct Wood b O'Neill 4, P Stokoe ct Mason b Kay 0, D Jones not out 0. Extras 4 Total 101 all out.

Bowling: S Piercy 10-1-37-1, R Flack 10-2-24-3, R O'Neill 8-2-26-3, M Mortimer 5-1-10-1, N Kay 2.1-2-0-2.

Updated: 11:50 Monday, September 06, 2004