Horwath Pulleyn Heselton Cup holders Burythorpe squeezed into the second round of this year's competition after a tense two-run victory over York Vale League division one rivals Ovington.

The tie provided a feast of runs, with Phil Hill's 60 and the unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 61 between Paul Milner and skipper Derryk Milburn being the highlights of Burythorpe's 208 for six.

Dave Brummitt and John Sharples bowled well for the visitors and the latter, with Jon Goodway, then looked to have put Ovington in the driving seat with an opening stand lasting 24 overs.

But the return of Andy Milner to bowl five of the last ten overs proved decisive as he took the vital scalp of Sharples in the 38th over, the batsman having hit a superb 91.

Ovington made a valiant attempt to score the 13 required from the last over but failed by two runs.

The surprise of the day was Drax's defeat of Stamford Bridge. The Bridge struggled to get on top of the tight Drax attack, limping along to 110, Kelvin Brook being well rewarded with four for 19.

John Finch led the patient Drax reply, carrying his bat for 39 with the winning runs coming in the 38th over.

York had too much strength for battling Fulfordgate, winning by eight wickets.

Pete Fairburn shored up the 'Gate innings with a hard earned 42 and helped them to 139, Sean Hunter taking four for 34 and Ian Calpin three for eight.

Hunter and Chris Taylor gave York a good start and a blistering unbeaten 43 from Nadim Sadiq hastened them to victory.

Pete Buck's 25 was the only bright spot for Kelfield, who had no answer to the all-round strength of Stockton and Hopgrove in losing by seven wickets.

The Thorpe Willoughby attack gave little away against Clifton Alliance, with Granville North getting three men out for ducks.

Michael Jackson's defiant 46, aided by 23 from Chris Elliott, helped Clifton to 118 for eight, but they had to earn every run and the result was never in doubt as Steve Merritt and John Cooke put on 52 for the first wicket in reply, the winning runs coming with six wickets to spare.

A second-wicket stand of 53 between Neil Wilson and Stuart Nesbitt laid the foundation for Burn's 197 for six against Norwich Union, David Prime hitting a rapid 62 as the bowlers wilted.

Fifties by Brian Garnett and Simon Morgan put NU in good heart but an indifferent display from the middle order cost them as Burn ran out winners by 25 runs.

A solid display from York Post Office ended British Sugar's hopes.

Andrew Sturdy's unbeaten 65, added to 44 by Paul Thornton, saw PO reach 175 for four, while three early wickets to Glen Botterill put the brakes on Sugar's reply with only Steve Bellerby and Steve Mahoney offering much resistance, PO winning by 65 runs.

A fine all-round display by P Elliott saw fifth division Wistow beat third division North Duffield by 30 runs in round two of the Scothern Construction Cup.

Taking first knock, Elliott dominated the Wistow innings of 127 with a well worked 80, while John Patrick and Roy Bramley both took three wickets.

Michael Bell, taking five for ten off eight overs, had Duffield on the back foot from the off but it was Elliott who took out the middle order, including top scorer Mark Stockdale, as the visitors innings fell away to 97 all out.

Batting collapses led to a tense finish at Huntington where Hirst United just pulled through.

The hosts looked doomed at 43 for eight against a strong attack but Mick Storey and last man Neil Harrington added 40 runs to give their bowlers a target.

Mark Miller and Tony Hinch were coasting along having put on 48 for the first wicket in reply before Storey and John Walker (4-21) got among the wickets to reduce Hirst to 75 for eight.

However, Adrian Brine and Mick Brook hung on to see Hirst through and leave Huntington ruing missing a chance to get Miller out when on five.

An unbeaten 64 from John Bonarius and 26 from Antony Rodgers were the highlights of Heworth's innings against steady Melbourne bowling, in which John Chaplin took three for 23.

Melbourne were indebted to 64 from debutant Phil Stephenson and 37 from Mike Howden as five of their colleagues failed with the bat against Terry Fannon's young attack, Andrew Room striking the winning runs for the visitors.

A high scoring game saw Ask-ham Bryan reach 159 for four in their 40 overs at Bishopthorpe, with Dave Milner hitting 65 and Mark Grewer 50 before both falling to Andrew Copeland.

Bishops kept up with the run rate but in doing so lost wickets to Tom Hovington and Dave Grimbley until Copeland, with good support from Dave Stead, came to the rescue with a 77-run stand to see the Bishop's through.

John Hughes (50) and Peter Northfield (73) rattled up 122 for the opening wicket as Copman-thorpe firsts made the Wheldrake second XI bowlers toil.

Steve Purdy kept the momentum going with an unbeaten 75 as Cop raced to 254 for five.

There was little joy for Wheldrake when batting, with only David Kimberley and Harry Codling reaching double figures, Kevin Ryder returning four for nine as Cop ran out easy victors.

Escrick Park avenged an earlier league loss by inflicting the season's first defeat on Stillingfleet.

Superb batting by Chris Megone and James Reynolds took the 'Fleet bowling to pieces with a second-wicket stand of 142, while Neil Reader and John Flint ran 25 well judged runs at the end to see the Park to 213 for five.

Having lost the top three batsmen to Dennis Tucker, 'Fleet struggled with only Wayne Livesey, Rich Elcock and Dave Firth getting past ten.

Flint and Reader hastened the end by spinning out the last four wickets for five runs.

Dick Whaley and Jodie Shann set a fast pace for Woodhouse Grange at Burn with a rapid 76 for the opening partnership.

A half century from Ed Smith and 29 not out from Neil Thompson kept the scoreboard moving to 193 for four at tea.

Mark Longhorne and Adie Hewitson prospered for Burn, hammering 106 for the second wicket, but when both were bowled by Peter Edmondson the innings began to lose its way.

A rare failure with the bat from Doug Bartle was compensated by three wickets as the Burn innings closed on 178, just 15 runs short.

North Duffield inflicted the season's first league defeat on Stillingfleet to take over the lead in York Vale League division three.

Batting first, Stillingfleet were stunned by the loss of skipper Rob Murray for his second duck of the weekend and Rob Bielby had a similar fate when stumped by brother David as 'Fleet struggled to 113.

Chris Woodfine (29no) and Wayne Livesey (27) top scored while the versatile Duffield attack saw the eight wickets evenly shared by the four bowlers, the other two batsmen being run out.

John Patrick and Beilby soon had Duffield on the winning track, cemented by Trevor Britain and Mark Stockdale.

Draws for next rounds:

Horwath Pulleyn Heselton Cup second round (Saturday, June 16):

Drax I v Stockton & Hopgrove I; Bishopthorpe I v Burn I; Thorpe Willoughby I v York Post Office; Burythorpe v York.

Scothern Construction Cup third round (Saturday, June 16):

Bishopthorpe II v Copmanthorpe I; Escrick Park v Melbourne; Hirst United v Wood-house Grange I; Burton Salmon v Wistow.

Updated: 11:59 Thursday, May 31, 2001