It was as you were at the top of the Duke ECB NEPL Premier Division as the two leading sides South Northumberland and Hetton Lyons both won convincingly to maintain the gap between themselves and the chasing pack, but Benwell Hill lost more ground despite clinging on to the only unbeaten record in the top flight.
Top of the table South North had little trouble disposing of Durham Academy, bowling them out for 132 and then easing to a five wicket win. James Thompson (53) and opener Reece Carr (40) were the only batsmen to make a reasonable contribution against the Bulls as Jonny Wightman (3-41) led a quartet of wicket takers, and then skipper John Graham provided the reassurance with a calming unbeaten 41 after a slight stutter on 51 for three.
But the Bulls couldn’t shake off the Lyons who hunted down hosts Whitburn to bag the same number of points. After the loss of a couple of early wickets Lyons recovered through Lal Kumar (69 from 56 balls) and Jarvis Clay (44), and with Chris Varley adding 35 from the number ten slot the visitors declared on 211 for nine after just 40.3 overs. The Whitburn response struggled from the off as Martin Pollard took out their top four batters, and with Varley chipping in with 3-34 the home team fell for 139, Pollard ending with 5-33 from 12.1 overs.
After looking like folding when they lost four middle order batsmen for just 10 runs Benwell Hill went on to bat through the full 65 overs against Chester-le-Street, eventually totaling 211-9. Rammi Singh (57 from 61 balls) and Zohaib Khan (49) were the men who looked like making it a more formidable proposition for the Cestrians until Max Morley (3-58 from 19 overs) and David Foster (4-58 from 20 overs) applied the brakes.
Street were then sweating when they lost the top half of their innings with just 69 on the board, and it took a partnership of 60 between Chris Youldon (48) and Callum Thorp (37) to save the day as Khan picked up four wickets. Chester eventually closed on 189-8, the draw doing neither side any great favours.
Blaydon were the day’s biggest movers as they gained their expected win over Sunderland, bowling the Wearsiders out for 126 with spinners Ryan Buckley and Graeme Bridge sharing eight wickets before Paul Underwood (57 not out) from 74 balls) and Ken McClure (50 not out from 56 balls) rushed the hosts to a nine wicket win in only 23.3 overs with an unbroken stand worth exactly 100.
In the day’s other games champions Stockton (290 for eight) piled on the misery for Gateshead Fell (148), whilst Tynemouth and Newcastle played out a high scoring stalemate in which David Hymers picked up another six wickets for his growing collection.