Foster's Durham Senior League: Hetton Lyons won the game of the day sending Whitburn to their first defeat of the season, writes Bob Gidney.
With Eppleton drawing at Felling, the Lyons have now moved within seven points of the leaders. Eppleton batsman Jimmy Daley (93) dominated with help from Shaun Bradbury (41) and Sean Ezzard (31), and declared early.
Chasing 220 was always a tall order for Felling but to their credit they made a positive reply. Skipper Graham Wright (48) helped his side to a draw and 11 valuable points. Whitburn posted a disappointing 155 at Hetton Lyons. Sean Birbeck (76) found assistance from Steve Errington (37) and the pair added a match-winning 130 together.
Burnmoor's movement up the table gained further momentum when they hit the highest score of the day against bottom placed Durham City. During this time Chris Ellison blasted 21 fours and three sixes, while his opening partner Barry Dews, registered 15 boundaries. The declaration was made immediately Dews reached three figures and 237 without loss.
City were far from fazed though by the large total. Paul Price (72) and Paul Lowe added 55 as runs came quickly. However, the bowling of Ian Conn (4-52) and Gary Brown (3-38) proved too much and Durham lost by 65 runs.
Marsden beat South Hetton by 16 runs. Mark Scott (32) top-scored for Marsden in a lowly total of 139.
The South Hetton bowlers, Kyle Bradbury (4-17), David Wilkinson (3-34) and Ashok Patel (3-17), had given their side a chance but they hadn't reckoned on David Wills and Dave Chamley. The pair shared seven wickets as South Hetton scored 123.
Seaham Harbour produced an impressive performance at Boldon. Although the Seaham batting never flowed, a team effort saw them to a reasonable total.
Martin Gill's 64 (including 11 boundaries) and a late 37 from Matthew Young enabled them to reach 190 despite a sterling bowling display by Graham Fox.
The paceman ended with 8-25 but this was to be to no avail.
Neville Gustard gave Boldon little respite and, along with David Thompson (4-73), reduced the home side to 44 for six wickets. Michael Barnes (48) gave the Boldon score some respectability but Gustard's 6-44 saw Seaham home by 48 runs.
Horden and South Shields both topped 200 with Shields winning with one delivery remaining. After making progress to reduce Horden to 57-5 Shields lost their way.
Nadeem Khan (114 not out) and Keith Cheetham (44) assisted Horden's cause and Shields were left to chase 212 to win. Then came an explosive innings from Australian Lindsay Cullen, who cracked 81 from 52 balls. Along with Lee Whalley (55) the pair added 98 together.
In a late scramble Shields lost wickets searching for the win which arrived in the final over.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article