Harrogate showing no signs of wilting

York have now won three successive matches and Hairs made a huge contribution. After slamming 12 fours and two sixes in an innings of 93 towards his side’s total of 253-9, he pulled off a vital catch to remove Kiwi Tony Manning two runs short of his half-century and ran out Kieron Watson.

Hairs had a fifth-wicket partnership of 73 with Nick Kay, who made 42. Appleby Frodingham were bowled out for 114, left-arm spinner and captain Dan Woods taking 4-38 in 13 overs.

Leaders Harrogate made it four wins out of four, defeating visitors Yorkshire Academy by 46 runs and stretching their advantage over Cleethorpes to six points. Alexis Twigg and Vic Craven had scores in the seventies, both men accumulating eight fours and a six.

Harrogate totalled 199-4 in a match reduced to 37 overs-a-side and Oliver Driver then took 4-12 in four overs in helping to restrict the Academy to 153-7. Jack Leaning made a half-century for the losers.

Cleethorpes lost by 15 runs at Rotherham Town who totalled 165-5, with half-century partnerships between Gurman Randhawa and Stuart Guy, and Jordan Lowe and Nathan Smith. Bill Kirby hit 46 for Cleethorpes .

Sheffield United gained their first win with a 31-run success at home to Castleford, enabling them to climb off the foot of the table and gain a psychological advantage for the League Cup-tie between the sides, which has been moved to next Sunday. Joe Tetley top-scored for United with 78, while Dean Smith contributed a valuable 40 despite the accurate medium pace attack of Dominic Sharp who took 3-35. Chasing Sheffield’s 186-7, Castleford struggled against the bowling of brothers Paul and Mark Cummins.

Driffield Town collapsed to 157 all out, losing by eight runs at Barnsley who scored 165-8. Driffield captain David Brent spun his way to 6-62 but Steve Nuttall hit a vital 63 for the winners.