THE 3D Durham Coast League avoided the havoc which the wet weather caused to the principal competitions, with all five matches rolling out interesting finishes.

Leaders Castle Eden enjoyed the only win of the day and it boosted their hopes of snatching the championship away from Murton. It proved a hard earned victory as latest rivals Boldon CA set them 214, but they did it in style with six wickets to spare.

Skipper John Spellman junior hit 49 when the opening batsmen managed just 25 between them.

Then came an undefeated 53 from Dean Langridge in the matchwinning stand with Alan Unsworth (38 not out) after Calvin Stephenson, their opening bowler, had chipped in with 38 as well.

Boldon had star quality with opener Jason Jones hitting a half century and Lee Jackson unbeaten on 61 as they reached 213-9.

Stephenson grabbed four of the wickets. The Castle extended their advantage by eight points to 36 with Bill Quay, who couldn’t quite get the better of Peterlee, staying in second.

Stuart Smith produced an exciting half century to make a declaration possible on 194-7. Their opponents battled to gain a draw on 124-9 despite six wickets for David Brown and three for Joe Dodd.

Murton, who have started without their usual impact and are currently seventh, struggled against Ryhope (200-9). Stephen Wright (2-3) and Michael Thorpe (3-32) had Murton in trouble before they finished on 131-8.

Just three of the six matches were possible in the Warmseal Durham Senior League with Hetton Lyons the only winners.

They beat Felling (177 all out) by five wickets with an opening stand between Sura Malinga (53) and Michael Walker (46) making it look easy. Paul Leonard made 42 and Alex Brook was on 34 when he ran out of partners.

Leaders Boldon had their match cancelled with the Eppleton ground waterlogged, but secondplaced Whitburn (120 all out) couldn’t take advantage as their rivals Burnmoor (78-9) ground out a draw. Ian Conn took seven wickets for the Moor while Neil Johnson grabbed five for the visitors.

John Pendlington (5-27) had Durham City in trouble on 64-8 against South Hetton (187-8). Among three of the five games possible in the Readers Durham County League there was a major boost for Shildon Railway who took back the slot as table toppers. They defeated Langley Park to leapfrog Crook Town and Kimblesworth who didn’t play because of the weather.

Ushaw Moor and Esh Winning were the others to take full points by beating Mainsforth and Brandon respectively, with excellent individual batting displays by Viraj Perera (83 for Mainsforth), Usman Arshad (66 not out for Ushaw), Tom Hodgkiss (58 for Brandon) and David Lawler (55 not out for Esh).

Swalwell continued to carry all before them in the Wellstream NTSL as they defied the conditions at Tynedale. They lead by 23 points from Shotley Bridge whose game at Annfield Plain was among four to be called off.

Richard Hawthorne (74 and 4-28) was Swalwell’s all-round star performer.

Benwell and Walbottle won the battle of the two bottom teams beating Ryton by 53 runs.