Bill Quay became the new leaders after their second but biggest win of the season.

They demolished the batting of struggling Peterlee to take over from Seaham Park, who were held up by Washington. The Quay posted 211-4 at home to the bottom club with Nathan Drewery (53), Jeff Tudor (42) and Paul Bentham (35 not out) scoring runs before a declaration.

Then Sam Wraith (6-14) and Daniel Pearson (4-10) went on the rampage and Peterlee were bowled out for a paltry 30 runs.

Wraith had double cause for celebration as his haul included a hat-trick.

Seaham dropped to second place when Washington held them to a draw after batting out the match with their last two at the wicket. Andrew Docherty hit exactly 100 and shared in an entertaining stand with Shoaib Akhtar (73) as they hit 203-2.

Washington proved defiant at 162-9. The draw gave them vital points but not enough to move out of the bottom two.

Castle Eden moved third from top when they gained their best win of the season against Ryhope. John Malkin (6-60) and Tony Banks (4-45) bowled out their visitors for 185 before the senior John Spellman (37) and Kevin Bailey (36 not out) saw them home by five wickets.

Murton's batting, by contrast, collapsed against Silksworth, whose first win was especially impressive. Steven Wright (6-23) and Chris Pringle (3-21) had the Murton innings at an end for just 74 runs before the latter opened their reply with an unbeaten 43 to earn Silksworth the full points with a nine-wicket success.

Dawdon surprised Easington, who fell from grace after the narrowest of defeats.

They lost by just nine runs even though Gary Ward (5-45) had Dawdon back in the pavilion for 124. The visitors had a posse of bowlers, Watson (3-37), Coates (2-15), Appleby (2-19) and Scurr (2-41) combining together to send Easington packing for 115.