Readers Durham County League: Evenwood preserved their unbeaten record with a competent all-round performance at Crook Town where they earned their seventh win of the season.

And once again it was West Indian Deighton Butler who engineered victory. He went to the wicket after Evenwood's first three batsmen had managed only 21 runs between them and his contribution of 44 together with 46 from Neil Teesdale raised the score to a healthy 185-9.

Stephen Ball and Neil Davies shared seven wickets for Crook, whose hopes faded when Butler opened the attack with John Maughan. Butler conceded a mere 18 runs capturing four wickets and Maughan took three as the innings ended on 111 all out which included 39 by Philip Walker and 43 from March.

Kimblesworth are hot on the heels of Evenwood but despite requiring only 127 at Brandon they suffered one or two nervous moments as they conceded eight wickets.

Stephen Meek returned the excellent figures of 6-36 from 11 overs and John Moralee's 36 was the best Brandon could produce. Kimblesworth then found runs just as hard to come by but 47 from Adam Cochrane, who hit four boundaries, kept them in the game and victory was secured by ninth-wicket pair Gavin Swan and David Showler.

Jim Allenby conceded only 19 runs in eight overs taking three wickets and Michael Tinkler returned 3-41 from 12 overs but the two bowlers just failed to claim victory for Brandon.

Tudhoe remain third and they had more than 100 runs in hand of Mainsforth. Taylor (61) and David Ronson with a top-scoring 78 led their side to an impressive 248-9 even though Gary Purcell captured five wickets for just 40 runs.

Robert Chismon raised the hopes of Mainsforth when he opened the innings but when he departed for 70 the innings closed on 145. Kevin Littlefair was outstanding for Tudhoe and his seven wickets cost him a mere 29 runs.

Teneto Willett (54) and Peter Maddison (36) produced the runs for Ushaw Moor, whose 45 overs reaped a total of 167-8. Stefan Swanepoel guided Sedgefield to a two-wicket victory scoring 57 at number three even though Willett completed a good game with figures of 3-38.

Paul Chivers was another bowler in form for Willington against Langley Park.

In the maximum 12 overs, he claimed six wickets for just 33 runs and Gary Cummings took 3-32 reducing Langley, who on three occasions this season have topped 200, to only 116 in 39 overs.

Their top runmaker was Brad Jose whose 53 included six boundaries. Karl Brown did even better for Willington and his undefeated 62 included seven fours.

Young Chris Moore contributed 36 and victory was achieved in only 28.2 overs for the loss of just three wickets.

Etherley returned to winning form even though Esh Winning's Neil Arrowsmith had a five-wicket haul. Faced with a target of 159, Etherley were indebted to a second-wicket partnership between Colin Barker (72) and Danny Hinge (34). Opener David Lawlor (39) top-performed for Esh, whose innings closed on 158.