Dream dashed

It was the eighth time Knaresborough had won the cup and the second time Steeton had been in the final, the last time being 1969.

A man of the match performance came from Knaresborough captain Steve Booth, the former Somerset slow left armer who put himself on from the start of the Steeton innings ending with 7-53 off 19.4 overs, six maidens.

On a wicket that was hard to score on Knaresborough got off to a fast start, but Phil Barrett caught Michael Standford off Chris Taylor and Guy Saxton chipped in to claim the wickets of Jonathan Corcoran and Paul Thompson.

But Brett Crabtree and Brett Lunt took up the challenge and they put on a stand of 59 before Mark Hedges caught Lunt off Gary Boulton.

And Boulton went on to claim the wickets of Crabtree, who was top scorer with 43, and Booth while Neil Spragg bowled Stuart Carey and John Dodman was run out off the last ball of the innings, leaving Richard Tattersall the not out batsman and Richard Proctor and Mal Brittain not batting.

The first wicket fell on 29, the second on 59, the third on 62 and the fourth on 121. The fifth went down on 122, the sixth on 126, the seventh on 151 and the eighth on 156.

Boulton finished with 3-41 off six overs, no maidens, and Saxton had 2-36 off 14, three maidens, Spragg 1-21 off eight, one maiden, and Taylor 1-48 off 17, four maidens.

In their chase for victory Steeton suffered an early setback when Robert Wynn fell lbw to Booth and then Russell Newton tried to blast the bowling apart but came to grief when he was on 25, being caught by Thompson off Brittain.

Matthew Pinniger soon followed and the Steeton middle order came and went rapidly. Captain Andy Smith, 19, tried hard to get the innings back on course, but Booth and Brittain kept a tight grip and only some bright hitting by Barrett, 16 not out, got the South Craveners to three figures before Knaresborough won.

The first wicket fell on 13, the second on 30, the third on 40 and the fourth on 41. The fifth was lost on 51, the sixth on 54, the seventh on 68, the eighth on 71 and the ninth on 84. Brittain finished with figures of 20-8-38-3.

Knaresborough: J Corcoran b Saxton 22; M Standford c Barrett b Taylor 20; B Crabtree c Pinniger b Boulton 43; P Thompson c Smith b Saxton 1; B Lunt c Hedges b Boulton 25; J Dodman run out 7; S Carey b Spragg 2; S Booth b Boulton 21; R Tattersall not out 5; extras 10; total (for 8) 156.

Steeton: R Wynn lbw Booth 2; R Newton c Thompson b Brittain 25; M Pinniger b Brittain 10; N Spragg b Booth 8; M Hedges c Carey b Booth 1; D Robinson b Booth 2; A Smith st Tattersall b Booth 19; G Saxton lbw Brittain 3; G Boulton c Standford b Booth 1; P Barrett not out 16; C Taylor b Booth 3; extras 11; total 101.

On Saturday Steeton had a five-wicket home victory over Skipton, who scored 175-6, the South Craveners winning with 179-5.

For them Neil Spragg took 4-49 and Russell Newton scored 63, Matthew Pinniger 36 and Mark Hedges 29 not out, while for Skipton Martin Redhead hit 62 not out and Gareth Lee 35.

Spragg's wickets came off 12 overs, two maidens, and the other Steeton bowling figures were Guy Saxton 11-2-28-1, Chris Taylor 25-9-78-1 and Gary Boulton 2-0-9-0.

For Skipton Lee had 3-32 off nine overs, two maidens, and Mick Scott 2-35 off 16, four maidens. The other figures were Matt Taylor 3-0-19-0, Steve Young 6-1-30-0 and Andy Roberts 10.5-1-49-0.

Skipton: S Young b Saxton 12; M Whitaker c Hedges b Taylor 10; C Nuthall c Hedges b Spragg 29; S Atkinson c Hedges b Spragg 8; M Redhead not out 62; G Lee b Spragg 35; M Saghir c Hedges b Spragg 6; extras 13; total (for 6) 175.

Steeton: R Newton c and b Lee 63; M Wilson c Saghir b Scott 21; M Pinniger c Young b Lee 36; N Spragg c Redhead b Lee 1; M Hedges not out 29; R Wynn lbw Scott 1; A Smith not out 12; extras 16; total (for 5) 179.

Silsden beat Otley by six wickets at home, scoring 75-4 after the visitors were all out for 73 to go six points closer to promotion.

After a good start by Otley it was Andy Pullen who got the breakthrough with the first wicket falling on 30, and after that there was more accurate bowling from Mark Akrigg, who finished with 4-16 off 16.2 overs, four maidens, and who took two wickets in two balls.

Pullen finished with 6-26 from 17 overs, eight maidens, five of his victims being bowled, and David "Buckets" Jackson took another hard hit boundary catch, making it nine for the season.

Top scorer for Otley was B Hawley with 16 and after their first wicket fell the second went down on 33, the third on 38, the fourth on 39 and the fifth on 44. The sixth and seventh were lost on 64 and the eighth and ninth on 69. Other Silsden bowling figures were Adrian Emmott 8-3-12-0 and Andy Knowles 7-0-13-0.

In the reply Tim Sugden hit 25 not out and Jackson a quick 20, the first wicket falling on 22, the second on 25, the third on 51 and the fourth on 71.

The Otley bowling figures were A Mitchell 15-6-19-3, C Barlow 1-1-0-1, C Martin 6-2-16-0, R Machell 5-0-21-0 and S Saxton 5.4-1-18-0.

Otley: G Dobson b Pullen 10; B Hawley b Pullen 16; C Barlow b Pullen 4; M O'Grady c H Sugden b Pullen 3; C Smith c Waggett b M Akrigg 13; S Wood st H Sugden b M Akrigg 3; P Machell c and b M Akrigg 8; C Martin c Jackson b M Akrigg 1; S Saxton b Pullen 5; R Machell b Pullen 0; A Mitchell not out 2; extras 8; total 73.

Silsden: D Jackson c O'Grady b Mitchell 20; D Bainbridge st Dobson b Mitchell 5; T Sugden not out 25; A Waggett b Mitchell 12; C Meehan c Dobson b Barlow 10; A Emmott not out 0; extras 3; total (for 4) 75.

Addingham lost by 70 runs away to Ilkley. The home side scored 146, R Wyn-Griffith getting 54 and G Roope 26 while Craig Turner took 6-48 and Chris Campbell 4-34 for Addingham, who were all out for 76, Darrell Robinson hitting 29. For Ilkley J Cockcroft took 5-16 and A Bird 4-17.

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