YORK opened their Oxbridge ECB Yorkshire Premier League programme with a crushing ten-wicket defeat at the hands of Scarborough at North Marine Road.

York failed to post a competitive total although several of their batsmen got a start while, in contrast, Scarborough never let go of their objective and cruised home with 15 overs to spare.

York seemed set fair as openers Steve Piercy and Simon Mason put on 52 in 17 overs, but Mason attempted to increase the tempo and was caught. Piercy batted on to hoist a worthy 50, whereas his partners promised but failed to deliver as spinners Will Mallory and Rob Barlow tightened their grip.

Dan Broadbent held the tail together as best he could but York's last six wickets fell for only 22 runs. As six batters departed to catches, some examination of technique and approach would appear to be in order.

On a placid track, the 169 total was not a tall order for accomplished batsmen of the stature of Darren Harland, Scarborough's heavy-scoring captain, and Clint Heron, their prolific overseas import.

Having scored more than 1,000 runs last season, the Australian marked his return with a century, including 17 fours and two sixes.

After several leaner years, Scarborough will be encouraged by this performance as they did not have to call their recent recruits who have strengthened their squad.

York will be hoping that Jectan Patel, their Kiwi off-spinner, will give extra bite to their attack when he arrives in a couple of weeks.

Champions Harrogate crashed to a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Driffield, whose new overseass star Mohammed Zaman was the hero.

The Pakistani all-rounder took 3-48 to back up Mark Woodcock's haul of 4-42 as Harrogate struggled to 182 all out, former York player Alexis Twigg top-scoring with 52.

Zaman then hit 96, sharing an unbeaten stand of 147 with Steve Winterbottom as the East Yorkshire side galloped to victory.

There was also a shock as Doncaster, third last year, crashed at Cleethorpes by five wickets, the home side having ten overs to spare.

OXBRIDGE YORKSHIRE

ECB COUNTY PREM LGE

SCARBOROUGH v YORK

York: S Piercy c Elvidge b Barlow 58, S Mason c Harland b Beard 33, R Flack c Tubbs b Beard 7, M Wood c Heron b Mallory 17, M Mortimer c Whitmarsh b Barlow 12, D Broadbent st Whitmarsh b Mallory 19, W Warne b Barlow 1, D Snell run out 0, J Hamlyn lbw Barlow 4, G How not out 1, N Durham c Gormley b Mallory 0, Extras 17, Total 169.

Bowling: R Gilbert 5-0-23-0, R Swiers 10-2-27-0, P Beard 10-4-32-2, W Mallory 17-5-41-3, R Barlow 12-0-35-4.

Scarborough: C Heron not out 110, D Harland not out 52, Extras 10, Total (0 wkts) 172.

Bowling: R Flack 9-1-29-0, G How 7-1-32-0, A Broadbent 10-2-30-0, D Snell 7-0-49-0, S Piercy 7-1-27-0.

Scarborough (8pts) beat York (0pts) by ten wkts.

Umpires: M Maddocks & A Pawson.

DRIFFIELD v HARROGATE

Harrogate: J Inglis c Jennison b Winterbottom 26, A Twigg st Jennison b Zaman 52, M Stanford b M Woodcock 30, K Hussain st Jennison b Woodock 28, D Pennent c Jnnison b Zaman 0, C Kippax c Pennent b Woodock 15, J Kappa b Woodcock 2, I Dodds run out 0, C Guest c&b Zaman 8, AN Other not out 2, A Mantle run out 8, Extras 11, Total 182.

Bowling: A Kirk 6-0-20-0, I Winterbottom 5-2-19-0, Hodgson 5-1-19-0, S Winterbottom 7-3-25-1, M Zaman 17-4-48-3, M Woodcock 14.3-2-42-4.

Driffield: R Drury lbw Pennant 4, P Woodock lbw Guest 21, M Zaman not out 96, I Winterbottom b Guest 0, S Winterbottom not out 55, Extras 8, Total (3 wkts) 184.

Bowling: C Guest 9-0-37-2, D Pennant 9-0-33-1, J Kappa 5-0-11-0, K Hussain 8-0-52-0, C Kippax 2-0-22-0, I Dodds .5-0-13-0.

Driffield (8pts) beat Harrogate (0pts) by seven wkts.

Umpires: T M Cottam & K Smith.

SHEFFIELD UTD v YORKSHIRE ACADEMY

Yorkshire Academy: M Cummins c Barlow b Swanepoel 24, T Dimaline lbw Swanepoel 7, C Batchelor c King b Fletcher 32, H Rashid st King b Yarnley 13, M Lawson st King b Yarnley 0, A Shazad c Cobley b Swanepoel 24, S Kirby c Watson b Yarnley 2, S Patterson c Barlow b Taylor 2, D Stiff c Taylor b Longhurst 10, H Anderson not out 4, C Wiseman not out 0, Extras 17, Total (9 wkts) 135.

Bowling: P Swanepoel 11-5-7-3, R Taylor 10-3-15-1, S Cobley 8-1-22-0, T Fletcher 11-1-37-1, N Longhurst 7-2-18-1, D Yarnley 8-1-31-3.

Sheffield United: M Barlow run out 39, C Wood c Anderson b Shazad 4, N Longhurst c Anderson b Wiseman 4, C Watson c Batcheleor b Stiff 22, H emery b Lawson 25, P Swanepoel c Batchelor b Wiseman 18, D Yarnley not out 7, M King not out 7, Extras 15, Total (6 wkts) 141

Bowling: D Stiff 10.4-2-31-1, S Kirby 8-3-7-0, S Patterson 6-0-21-0, A Shazad 8-2-28-1, M Lawson 13-3-30-1, C Wiseman 5-1-18-2.

Sheffield United (6pts) beat Yorkshire Academy (0pts) by four wkts.

Umpires: J Holliday & A Featherstone.

Other Yorkshire League scores: Castleford 267 (A Bourke 153, J Sykes 62) beat Appleby-Frodingham 128 (J Parker 46; D Wainwright 4-35) by 139 runs.

Sheffield Collegiate 169 (E McKenna 88no) beat Barnsley 163 (J Ellis 42; S Clark 4-50) by six runs.

Cl;eethorpes 142-5 (W Kirby 55no) beat Doncaster 141 (S Deitz 4-27, A Carrington 4-34) by five wkts.

Hull 40-3 beat Rotherham 39 (J Baros 5-8) by seven wkts.

Updated: 09:50 Monday, April 28, 2003