THE current Skipton League champions Cross Hills A have been knocked out of the Clarkson Cup by Division Three leaders Sutton B.

It was always going to be a tough match Cross Hills as they had to give a 110 handicap start to their opponents.

They got the start they needed with Philip Dowgill 21-1, Andrew Tate 21-4 and David Scott 21-5 pulling a lot of the handicap back.

But wins for Ken Williams 21-9 and Martin Loftus 21-0 put Sutton B back on track before Dennis Wynn-Jones 21-9 and Terry Birch 21-17 put the match beyond Cross Hills with a final score of 213-182.

Division Two side Oakworth received ten points start from relegation-threatened Lund Park A and the expected tight match materialised.

Lund Park A had four winners in the first five games, Ken Baker put up the best win 21-12, while Alec Walsh 21-11 kept Oakworth in the match. The remaining five games all went to Oakworth, with Nigel Graham 21-12 and Paul Haigh 21-13 helping to secure a 254-228 win for their side.

Settle A produced a good result when they took on high-flying Colne Cricket Club with a 30-point start.

David Ayrey 21-8 and Mick Duke 21-10 gave Settle a great start as the first four games went their way and they kept up the good work to win 233-202.

Holders Keighley A were expecting a tough game against Broughton Road as they were giving away a handicap of 55.

The Keighley side made light of the task as they won all ten games to triumph 215-172. Chris Wilson 21-6, Steve Morris 21-7 and Richard Hargreaves 21-9 were their best performers.

Sutton A had seven winners as they beat Rolls Royce 242-207. David Cadwallader 21-4, Craig Smith 21-5 and Sean Birch 21-6, recorded the key victories.

Devon B were always on top in the match against Whinfield A. Good wins from Tony Akers and Nick Squires both 21-11 helped them achieve a 260-232 success. Joan Myers 21-12 was one of only two Whinfield winners.

Silsden had to give a maximum 115 start to Cross Hills C, so they needed to be on the ball. They responded to the challenge by returning all ten winners with the best wins going to Barry Turnbull 21-4 and Alan Thornber 21-5. The final score was 225-216.

The final match saw Devon A beat Keighley B 231-207. The Keighley side were in receipt of 40 points, but Les Foster 21-5, Stephen Lofthouse 21-8 and Graham Perry 21-9 helped set up the win.

In the Supplementary Cup all the ties went with the higher-placed team. Colne Legion A had eight winners against Grassington where Dean Butler 21-6, was the only single figure winner for Legion.

Noel Hudson’s 21-12 win came too late for Grassington as they lost 249-229 for Legion.

Gargrave A defeated a weakened Addingham A 255-195 after providing all the winners.

Alister Keighley, Paul Drinkall and Martyn Foulds all won 21-6.

Steeton A were in good form with nine winners against Silsden PF B as they triumphed 274-227. Alden Phillips 21-10 and skipper Mary Hemsley 21-11 came up with the best scores for Steeton, while Shelia Cunningham 21-15 did her best for Silsden.

Cross Hills B recorded a big 257-200 win over a weakened Cononley B side. Derek Squires 21-3 along with Rebecca Seward and Stuart MacDonald both 21-4, made sure of victory.

Craven A had to give 45 points start to Colne Legion B but still won 229-211.

Joanne Ellis 21-4 and Ian Matthews 21-7 were the best winners for Craven A while Ken Wilson 21-14 was Legion’s best victor.

Cononley A produced ten winners against Division Two strugglers Lund Park B. Getting 80 start Lund Park could only find four double figure scores. Steve Wood 21-4 registered Cononley’s best win.

Silsden PF A gave Whinfield B 70 start, but it was far from enough as only John Holliday 21-18 got a win for Whinfield as they went down 247-209.

Paul Oliver 21-1 and Alan Pennington 21-3 were best of the Silsden PF winners.

The inter District Veterans took on top team Huddersfield and won the home match at Sutton 16-12 with wins by David Jacques 21-11, Derek Seed 21-12, Alister Keighley 21-16 and Michael Claxton 21-14.

The away side battled hard but lost 17-11 at Lindley where their winners were Barry Turnbull 21-14, John Parkin 21-16 and Billy Hardwick 21-19. Huddersfield won the match overall 29-27.

Cononley and Broughton Road were both knocked out of the Yorkshire Cup. Lower Hopton beat Cononley 237-146 with just Graham Reay 21-10 and Steve Wood 21-17 winning for Cononley.

Broughton Road went down 248-178 to Meltham with just Peter Haworth 21-18 and Arnie Ripley 21-20 troubling the judge.

Skipton Devon beat Slazengers in the Eric Hutchinson Cup.

Skipton will host the Yorkshire County Ladies Inter District competition this Sunday.

The Skipton and District team will play qualifying matches in group One at Settle against Bradford and Halifax.

Group Two will be at Gargrave with Aire & Wharfedale, East Coast and West Riding also starting at 10am.

Group Three will be at Cross Hills involving Castleford, Leeds and Harrogate, while Group Four at Cononley will start at 11am involving Huddersfield and Wakefield.

All the group matches start at 10am with the semi-finals and final will be at Craven and Whinfield at approx, with the final at Devon around 6.30pm.