THE opening day of the Hunters ECB Yorkshire Premier League North provided plenty of headlines as last season's top four locked horns, newly-promoted Sessay announced their arrival in the top flight with an impressive performance, and an overseas signing sent home fans away happy.

York began their title defence with an impressive nine-wicket victory over Yorkshire Academy.

A century opening stand between Jonathan Tattersall (68), who joined them from Harrogate in the winter, and Duncan Snell (61no) meant that the visitors were in command when bad light brought an early end to the match at Weetwood, securing victory under the DLS method.

Earlier, York captain Daniel Woods (4-50) was among the wickets as the home side were dismissed for 198, which included a fourth-wicket partnership of 109 between Tom Loten (51) and George Hill (60).

The other two who made up last season's top four met at Low Catton Road, and 91 from Ryan Gibson set up a five-wicket win for runners-up Stamford Bridge over Harrogate.

The home side's bowlers kept a tight grip on proceedings early on and, although most of the top order got starts, Corrie Keable finished as top scorer with 38.

There were two wickets each for Luke Robinson and Ryan McKendry, but it was Max Maciver's 4-55 in the closing overs that ensured the home side would be chasing maximum points.

Gibson need only 76 balls to post his score before becoming the first of four wickets for George Ross at a cost of 69, but despite the visiting skipper's efforts, the hosts romped to victory with almost 20 overs in hand.

Sessay's Premier League debut could hardly have gone better as they took maximum points with a 60-run home victory, bowling out Acomb for 79.

In difficult batting conditions, Jacob Spencer's 38 turned out to be the top score in the hosts' 139-8, opening bowlers Tom Neal (4-44) and William Thurgate (3-40) seemingly having put the visitors on top.

Stuart Peirse (3-16) helped to reduce the visitors to 31-5, with Joe Schofield (29) the only visiting batsman to reach double figures, and his efforts ensured his side passed their previous lowest total in the competition of 65.

Overseas signing Kavindu Kulasekara had a debut to remember for Driffield Town as they beat Castleford at Kings Mill Road by six wickets.

The Sri Lankan took 3-39 as the visitors were dismissed for 173. There were also three wickets each for Jamie Hopper (3-39) and Jamie Greavson (3-51) while, for the batting side, Liam Hyde top-scored with 42 and Connor Fisher made 38.

Kulasekara then made an unbeaten 96 as the home side eased to victory with almost ten overs to spare.

The day's closest finish came at Moor Farm, where Woodhouse Grange fell just 14 runs short of the hosts' total. Sheriff Hutton Bridge's Mark Fisher (73) and Robert Pinder (62) helped their side score 200-6, despite the efforts of Tom Young (4-41).

Grange opener Andrew Bilton (55) replied with a half-century, giving the visitors a solid platform before an unbeaten 48 from new signing James Finch gave them a chance of victory, but two wickets late on from Fisher (3-34) checked their progress, limiting them to a share of the points.

A half-century from Darren Harland (58) set Scarborough on the way to an opening-day victory at North Marine Road.

The opener, along with Jonathan Read (37), helped the hosts reach 200-7 against Clifton Alliance, Thomas Brown being the pick of the visiting bowlers with 3-40.

Australian import Liam Hope-Shackley struck 68 off 45 balls for Alliance but they lost their way after a promising start and had to settle for a share of the points, finishing on 167-8.