Young Fish and Flintoff stand firm

Premier division pacesetters Clifton Alliance dropped four points at Fenner when they were held to a draw but they retain top spot by virtue of one more outright win than Dunnington, who went level on points after winning at Studley Royal.

Clifton wicketkeeper Shaun Holmes hit eight boundaries in his 63 and shared a third-wicket stand of 88 with captain John Gilham, who made 45. For Fenner, Dominic Rhodes took 4-34 and leg-spinner Mike Arundall 4-77.

Fenner were shackled as James Postill conceded just 21 runs in a 15-over opening spell. Their fortunes were revived by Peter Shally (33), Rhodes (34) and Steve Sergeant, who had made 28 in a fourth- wicket stand of 55 before he was run out when both batsmen were stranded at the bowler's end.

Rich Carroll's 3-44 then reduced Fenner to 175-6.

At Studley Royal, the home side were dismissed for 197 in 45.5 overs. Matt Coad top scored with 79 and Rob Nicholson made 39 as Dunnington's Rob Chipps claimed 4-47 and Adam Iyer 3-61.

Collis King led Dunnington's reply and made 92. It was left to the youthful Gareth Miles to steer his side to a five-wicket win with an unbeaten 41 as Dunnington took full points after utilising 13 of the extra 24 balls available to them.

Easingwold strengthened their grip on third place when they beat fourth-placed Woodhouse Grange by four wickets.

Grange were pegged at 160-9 by Pauls Skilbeck, who took 4-57 in 21 overs, and Steve Piercy, who claimed 4-53. Skilbeck then followed with 38 as he and Martin Piercy (45) negated the threat offered by Richard Hollingsworth (3-49) to move to a winning 163-6.

Acomb captain Andy Tute hit a fine unbeaten 123 to help his side gain a victory over fellow strugglers Thirsk. Ryan Mckendry had 4-53 for visiting Thirsk as 11th-placed Acomb made 209-8.

McKendry followed with 43 and captain Mark Cook made 47 and Ben England added 41 but Joe Dale (4-40) and Scott Nicholls (3-36) combined to bowl Thirsk out for 189 in the 48th over.

Sessay moved into fourth place after beating Beverley by four wickets in a game that saw two opening batsmen carry their bats. Ben Fish, 17, produced a mature display in making 95 not out to help Beverley post 223-5 before the vastly experienced John Flintoff batted throughout Sessay's successful response to make 86 not out as they reached their goal with just five balls to spare.

Stamford Bridge captain Matt Beckett played a decisive role in his side's five-wicket home win over Goole Town, who were held at 159-9 as Beckett (3-46 in 16 overs) and fellow spinner Dave Chaplin (4-55 in 20 overs) combined. Beckett followed with an unbeaten 56 as he and Danny Hagan (43) saw the hosts to victory.