YORK pulled off their richly deserved sixth consecutive Yorkshire ECB County Premier League victory when they scalped their old foes Scarborough by seven wickets at North Marine Road.

York now claim fourth place in the league after their third win in a row over Scarborough, who were bowled out for 105 in 40 overs with Australian Nash Stone once again York's hero.

He had a big hand in the runs being knocked off in 28 overs for the loss of only three wickets.

Showing his proud mother and father how it should be done, Stone took his total Yorkshire League wickets haul to 56 with his brilliant 6-29 return before he scored an unbeaten 44 with the bat.

Stone's parents are over here for a holiday and hope to be joined soon by their other son, who is playing club cricket in the south of England.

Boro had made a good enough start as their opening bats, Mark Cowell (30) and Chris Allen (16), put on 48 before Allen was trapped lbw by Greg How in the 18th over.

But Stone came on the North Marine Road scene to have Cowell well caught behind by York's skipper, Nigel Durham, in the next over.

From being 48-0, Boro plunged to 48-2 in two overs, wickets then falling at regular short intervals as the writing loomed on the wall.

On a green wicket, Scarborough's skipper, Nick Tubbs, had inexplicably decided to bat first after winning the toss which must go down as the fatal turning point of the game before it had even started.

York lost Ed Senneck (1) in the fourth over with the score on seven, Stephen Piercy (12) and Nick Kay (3) heading for the changing rooms in successive overs with York's score on 38-3 after sixteen overs.

Then with Simon Mason (38no) firmly played in, Stone came on the scene again to form what was to become an unbeaten match winning stand of 71 in 12 and a half overs.

York's delighted skipper Durham had added two more wickets to what is believed to be the best performance behind the stumps in the league so far - 25 wickets, nine of them stumpings.

Although York must not let their new-found success go to their heads, it is a fact that their future continues to look rosey with five fixtures in the next five weeks against clubs from the lower half of the table.

The fight for top honours in the Yorkshire ECB County Premier League took another twist on Saturday as Sheffield United regained the lead over their local rivals, Sheffield Collegiate (194-9), with two wickets and four balls to spare.

Collegiate's left hander Richard Kettleborough scored 78 runs but United's batsmen held firm in the face of a 4-77 and 3-67 onslaught from John Hespe and Mark Boocock.

Harrogate continued their fight back with a six wicket home victory over Hull, for whom Darren Stephenson scored 40.

Peter Hepworth took three Hull wickets for 44 in 15 overs and again showed his all-round versatility scoring 45 with the bat, his skipper, John Proud, leading the way with 64.

Third placed Harrogate increased their lead over Doncaster Town to nine points as Town's home fixture against Appleby-Frodingham was put back to a week today.

Cleethorpes' 260-9 earned them an 'incomplete win' at Driffield who hung on to their last wicket at 241-9, Pakistani Shadab Kabir producing the highest score in the league yesterday - 128 for Cleethorpes.

Castleford scraped home to a tight seven run win over their brave visitors, Barnsley, who are having a constant battle to move off bottom place.

Cas were bowled out for 153 in 56 overs, Barnsley being dismissed for 146 in 58.4.