SINGH KING OF ASHBROOKE
FIVE-WICKET JASPREET INSPIRES WELCOME 22-POINT WIN FOR RELEGATION-THREATENED SUNDERLAND
Sunderland boosted their survival fight with an impressive eight-wicket success against title-chasing Felling at Ashbrooke on Saturday.
Victory over secondtop Felling secured 22 vital points in their battle to beat the drop.
Felling made 173-9 declared in 49.1 overs, led by Stuart Walker (46, with eight fours), Mark Turner (43) and Bryan Potts (29).
Jaspreet Singh enjoyed a brilliant haul of 5-29 in 12.1 overs, helped by two from Zaheer Shahbaz.
The Wearsiders lost Muhammaz Khalil for just four in their reply, but Greg Applegarth’s 33, with six fours and a six, laid the foundation for Kamran Hussain’s unbeaten 71 and 63 not out from Ramanpreet Singh in a match-winning, unbroken partnership of 111 for the third wicket.
Sunderland’s win proved to be extremely valuable as it turned out, when fellow strugglers Washington won at Brandon by four wickets to also gain 22 points.
Chris Peareth top-scored with an unbeaten 60, helped by 11 boundaries, and Sairaj Raghavan hit 40 in their allout total of 172, with Trent Mais taking a terrific 6-48 in his two spells. backed by Graeme Race (2-28).
Ash Thorpe hammered 53 not out, with six fours and a six, to see Washington home in 54.4 overs, supported by Mais (35, with six fours) and Thomas Colledge, who had six boundaries in 39.
Table-toppers Sacriston drew at Seaham Harbour, taking 16 points to their hosts’ 11.
Harbour batted first and scored 213-8, with Stewart Pattison hitting 13 boundaries in 68 and Dale Shaw 10 fours in 51.
Martin Stephenson made an unbeaten 37, with Craig Stephenson adding 26. Graeme Bridge returned bowling figures of 3-30, with Nathan Hall striking twice.
Sacriston then batted and made 208-9, with last pairing Hall (32 not out) and Jack Keall (18 not out) keeping out the home bowling attack, despite Jack Lacey taking 5-43.
Boldon stay third, 31 points behind the leaders after their home win over Burnmoor.
The visitors made 198-9, with Steven Meek (57) and Neil Young (56) top-scoring. Umar Wahee,d with 4-43, and Calum MacLeod (4-36) impressed with the ball.
In reply, Nicholas Sampson-Barnes with 60, MacLeod (48) and Oliver Sampson-Barnes (41) guided their team home by five wickets for an important win. Liam Burgess grabbed 2-53.
Mainsforth helped the relegation battlers with a 122-run win over Blaydon, who are now deep in trouble.
Although the home side lost early wickets, they still racked up 284-6 with Muhammed Laghari scoring a magnificent 132 not out, and Jonathan Barnes smashing 78
Man of the match Laghari returned bowling figures of 5-32 to see Mainsforth home, with Geoff Stewart’s 56 in vain for Blaydon, though his brother, Gary, blasted 29 not out at the end.
Bottom club Tudhoe made a good effort in their home match against Willington, scoring 226, with Cameron Delport hitting 74 and Ian Grainger 33.
Anand Singh returned 4-52 and Steven Alderson 3-12.
However, Willington batted well, courtesy of Jake Louth (35), Anand Singh (51) and James Stock (53no), to win by six wickets and move into fourth place.