Majestic Martin leads the way as Lyons outgun Whitburn
Whitburn succumbed to a six-wicket defeat in their trip to Hetton Lyons.
Opener Daniel Shurben top-scored with 44 as the Villagers were all out for 149, with Ross Carty adding 32 and Luke Smith 18.
Four Lyons bowlers – Eddie Watson, Ben Whitehead, Mahesh Rawat and Cameron Grimwood – took two wickets apiece to set up their victory push.
Chris Martin’s unbeaten 67, with 11 boundaries, proved decisive, backed by 34 from Rob Talbot and 30 from pro Rawat, with a six and five boundaries respectively. Ian Elliot (2), Craig Smith and Mark Elliott took the wickets to fall as Lyons reached their target for the loss of four wickets.
Chester-le-Street are in scintillating form, crushing bottom club Gateshead Fell by 55 runs at Eastwood Gardens.
The visitors won the toss and elected to bat and, after the early loss of James Thompson, opener George Harrison (101 off 151 balls, including 13 fours and a six) and Richard Waite (49), put on 91 together for the second wicket.
A further partnership of 82 between Harrison and skipper John Coxon and then 64 with Liam Simpson (44), allowed Coxon to declare after 54 overs and give his bowlers time to bowl Fell out, which they did.
However, the returning Graham Onions had other ideas and he hit a fine 92 for the home side, including 15 fours, putting on 82 runs with Sam Roseby (35) for the fifth wicket.
Gurman Randhawa (3-51) and Quentin Hughes (3-20) eventually proved too much to handle and Fell are now in serious relegation trouble, 63 points adrift at the bottom.
The battle at the bottom ended in a draw.
Benwell Hill decided to bat first against Eppleton. At 56-3, they were in a spot of bother until the magical Kyle Coetzer came to the rescue with his second century of the season (109no). He is now averaging 68.5 in the league, having scored 685 runs.
He put on 116 for the fourth wicket with Sameet Brar (48) then added 87 with Mark Dale (45) and declared the innings closed for a massive 282-6.
In reply, Eppleton dug in and Kyle Davis (33), Liam Mallaburn (34) and Jack McBeth (51) batted well to ensure the draw. Of the nine bowlers used by the home side, only Brar, with 3-70, made any inroads.
Durham Academy have only lost one of their last nine league games and continued their excellent form with a six-wicket win against Tynemouth, denting the team from the Preston Avenue club’s title ambitions along the way.
George Harding claimed 5-36 in a devastating spell of bowling, and the ever-reliable Vijay Vyshak claimed 3-45, restricting Tynemouth to 144 all out, Matthew Brown topscoring with 38. Christopher McBride, with 34 off 52 balls, and Ross Greenwell’s half century (51 off 133 balls), slowly led their team to victory and they now move into sixth place.
South Shields, meanwhile, went down by 102 runs to visitors Stockton.
The Teessiders posted 199-9 batting first, with openers Tom Hewison (62) and Allan Worthy (60) dominating the Shields bowlers. Matthew Muchall and Sam Embleton, though, got on top to end with fine hauls of 3-47 and 4-60, with Chris Stewart striking twice,.
Shields, though, never got to grips with the run chase and were bowled out for 97, with openers Tim David (24) topscoring. Ryan Buckley bagged 5-25 to lead Stockton home.
South North are back to winning ways, with a comprehensive 84-run victory at front-runners Newcastle.
It was a damaging defeat and first of the season for the leaders, but they remain top by seven points.
The visitors made 218, thanks to opener Simon Birtwisle (47), John Graham (45) and an explosive knock of 40no from David Rutherford.
Stephen Humble (3-24), David Rutherford (3-33) and Lee Crozier (3-35) then bowled the home side out for 134.