SESSAY advanced to the semi-finals of the Pilmoor Evening League after beating Helperby by 23 runs.

Batting first, Sessay made 155-9 from their 20 overs, with Helperby’s efforts were hindered by continual dropped catches.

Mark Jackson top-scored for Sessay with 58 and was well supported by Nasir Jamal and Karl Carver, who scored 48 and 28 respectively.

Lewis Holmes finished with figures of 4-24 for Helperby.

Mike Poulter’s 45, alongside 24 from Luke Fletcher and 21 not out from Jonty Moorhouse were Helperby’s best scores, as they could only reach 132-6.

Newburgh are also in the last four after beating Easingwold by seven wickets.

Thomas Piercy looked to give Easingwold’s innings some early impetus before he was bowled for 22.

Easingwold closed on 77-3, with Anthony Malouf closing on 2-6 from his four-over spell.

James Banks led the scoring for the hosts, finishing with 30 not out as Newburgh won in the ninth over.

Meanwhile, Thirsk ran out as four-wickets winners at Dringhouses.

Houses lost a wicket to the first ball of the game but recovered to finish at 111-7, led by Harry Watkinson’s 38, Darren Avey’s 31 and Andy Luff’s 24, though they scored just six runs from their final three overs.

Rocco Cockcroft took 3-24 for Thirsk, as Jamie Hogg took 2-31 and Kyle Coetzee took 2-1.

Ben Collinson put up a brilliant 53 to set up Thirsk’s win, leading them to 112-6 with an over to spare. Tim Owen took 2-16 for Dringhouses.

Elsewhere, Clifton Alliance produced a strong comeback to beat Sheriff Hutton Bridge by 18 runs.

The visiting Sheriff Hutton restricted Clifton to just 94-5, with Alliance’s main contribution coming through Andrew Simpson (40).

Tom Appleton took 2-13 for the visitors who, despite losing a wicket early on, saw a partnership form between Richard Reynolds and Matthew Maltby.

Reaching 50 after 11 overs, Bridge looked set to emerge as victors.

Thomas Brown caught Reynolds for 20, and from there, Clifton looked to build.

Jack Heartshorne took Maltby’s wicket (40) and went on to return an impressive 5-14.

With the support of Brown (3-8), Bridge were all out for 76.