SPOUT House clinched the league title when they entertained Harome in a championship decider on the penultimate evening of the season.

Harome led by two points before the start of play, but with three points for a win there was everything to play for and a close contest was eagerly anticipated.

But the game turned out to be something of an anti-climax as the home side won comfortably by eight wickets.

Having been asked to bat first, the Harome batsmen were suspicious of the pitch and failed to cope with the hostile bowling of Mark Farrar and Matthew Garbutt.

With the Spout House fielders taking every catch offered, the visitors were routed for a mere 30. Farrar captured 5-8 to fall just one run short of sharing the bowling trophy, while Garbutt had commendable figures of 4-13.

Harome's hopes of making early inroads into the Spout House batting were quickly dashed by openers Robin Garbutt and Paul Donaldson, who soon had 15 runs on board. Garbutt was caught behind for 11, but Donaldson remained unbeaten on 12 as Spout House won decisively by eight wickets in the 14th over to claim their third championship in succession.

Such joy didn't seem possible just two days earlier when they succumbed meekly to High Farndale by nine wickets.

On a beautiful evening up at Farndale, the visitors' top order had little answer to Geoff Eborall (2-11) and Adam Robinson (3-14). Hopes of later resistance faded once Ron Aconley joined the attack and tore through the fragile opposition to take 4-4 as Spout House were dismissed for 37 in under 15 overs.

High Farndale, determined not to repeat their recent collapse against Slingsby, took nearly 16 overs to knock off the runs. Mark Aconley was the only batsman to lose his wicket, but not before he had compiled 14.

Meanwhile, Kevin Wilson moved carefully to 21 before the winning run was achieved. "Not pretty but effective," was the comment on the scoreboard.

Gillamoor, who have concentrated on giving youth plenty of opportunities this season, travelled to High Farndale and, with the home side missing several regulars and neither side chasing for honours, the emphasis was on giving everyone a go.

High Farndale used seven bowlers and Gillamoor eight as the visitors made a respectable 74-6, with Andy Paxton's 31 the main contribution.

Adam Robinson, who has had an excellent season, took 2-11, while Matt Durrant - on loan from Gillamoor - was more than a little happy to bowl his elder brother, Dan.

High Farndale opener James Blacklock cannot have been too happy with his partner Luci Wilson, who managed to run him out from the first ball of the innings.

Chris Wilson made the most of an unexpected promotion up the order by notching ten, but it was left to Bill Hague to try and improve the scoring rate. He managed this quite well, but not enough to bring victory to High Farndale. He was dismissed in the final over for 32, with High Farndale still 12 runs short. There were two wickets each for Eddie Harland and Tom Munday.

Slingsby ended their season with a 52-run defeat at home to Gillamoor. Dan Durrant's powerful innings of 45 not out provided the highlight in Gillamoor's innings of 103-7 in 18 overs. Support came from S Bentley (19) and Eddie Harland (11), while four Slingsby bowlers shared the wickets.

Slingsby's undoubted enthusiasm hasn't as yet transmitted itself into ability with the bat, though an improvement is forecast next year, and once again they struggled, closing on 51-9.

P Strickland claimed 3-9 and there were two wickets apiece for Windress and Munday.