THERE was rather a jaded effort by Skipton Veterans in the annual one-day event for the Hickson Trophy, which was held in the Leeds area, when they were well beaten by Bradford at East End Park.

The players never got to grips with the slow playing surface, despite some of them being regular visitors to this venue two years ago in the Federation League, and went down by about 40 points.

The winners were Derek Seed, Alistair Keighley, Cliff Taylor and David Hemsley but, despite a rally in the mid-order, there was no doubt about the result.

Bradford won the event for the third consecutive time, beating Huddersfield in the final in Tadcaster.

Settle also had only four winners in the Yorkshire ABA’s mixed team event for the Radley Trophy at the quarter-final stage, when they went down by almost the same margin to a good Ossett Flying Horse outfit. They were the last local representatives left in county team events.

There has been a busy weekend for Yorkshire teams. The Yorkshire Ladies somehow qualified for the county semi-finals despite an overall defeat by Warwick/Worcester, with local player Viv Abell just losing in the away leg. They now meet old rivals South Yorkshire in the semi-finals on August 20.

Yorkshire Parks Veterans lost narrowly to South Yorkshire, with David Hemsley winning narrowly in the home leg at West Bradford.

The senior side are out of the County Championship proper after losing to East Midlands in the last match. Both Peter Clarke and Robbie Ellis lost by narrow margins in the away leg at Stretton but Andrew Tate won easily at home at Pudsey BC.

David Scott continued his recent revival when he teamed up with event organiser Daryl Wright to win the Phillip Wright Memorial Doubles at Alkincotes Park in Colne with a convincing 21-10 win over Barry Cowell and Stuart Marshall. This event is held in memory of Daryl’s son, who was killed in an accident some years ago.

Richard Hargreaves tried hard to win the Hebden Bridge Merit again at Sowerby T&BC last Sunday, only to lose 21-12 to Tony Bannister of Heptonstall in the final. En route, he beat father Trevor in the semis.

Tonight sees the semi-finals of the Skipton KO events for the Clarkson and Supplementary Cups. In the Clarkson Cup, Keighley BC meet Broughton A at Colne Cricket while Lund Park A play Devon A at Steeton. In the Supplementary, Whinfield A play Sutton B at Keighley BC while Silsden PF B met Settle A at Alkincotes Park.

Gargrave is the venue for the Skipton Veterans Handicap finals tomorrow at 1.30pm when the last eight players go to post in an open event.

The Skipton Inter-District team compete in the annual Yorkshire ABA event featuring the usual 12 teams at venues in Bridlington. The locals face tricky games against both Leeds and Bradford at Bridlington Bay and, if successful, play the semis at Westgate and a possible final at Hunmanby.

Latest positions in the Hebden League see Cross Roads A and Mytholmroyd A level on points at the top of Division One but Oxenhope B near the drop zone. Cross Roads B are a handy third in League Two and Cullingworth B are second in Division Three.

The Worth Valley/Skipton Juniors play Leeds B away on Saturday at 7pm.