West Indian Teneto Willett has made a great start at Ushaw Moor who romped to a nine-wickets win over Etherley - their second consecutive victory.
Willett dominated the match from beginning to end. His medium pacers earned him five wickets for a miserly 22 runs in 12 overs, and he was close to a century when success was secured.
Danny Hinge and Yasas Tillakaratne both hit half centuries as Etherley ended on 165 before Willett took over with the bat.
He was unbeaten on 97 having formed an unbroken century partnership with Peter Maddison (45 not out) as Ushaw Moor raced home, losing just one wicket.
Kimblesworth comfortably saw off Mainsforth. A target of 193 always looked too big for the home side who were back in the pavilion after 26.4 overs with just 75 runs on board.
Australians Gavin Swan and Brendan Clancy broke through the early order and Stephen Meek and David Sanger also got in on the wicket-taking act.
Runs were a lot more plentiful when Kimblesworth made first use of the wicket.
Aussie Michael Fishwick struck eight boundaries in 48 before Sanger (31 not out) and Swan (44 not out) formed a productive partnership for the sixth wicket which raised the score to 192-5.
Champions Evenwood needed less than 100 at Sedgefield but it was touch and go before they edged to a two-wickets win. In a game dominated by bowlers, John Maughan and Billy Teasdale shared eight for the visitors as Sedgefield were restricted to just 97 from 37 overs.
Replying, Evenwood also found the going difficult as Jonathan Clark, Stefan Swanepoel, Stephen Flockett and James Foster all claimed a couple of wickets.
Tudhoe had just two runs to spare defeating Crook in another game where a rain-affected wicket favoured the bowlers. Stephen Ball and Neil Davies each took three wickets but 49 from Shahid Anwar enabled Tudhoe to post 114.
The outcome was touch and go all the way but eventually Simon Davies clinched victory for Tudhoe taking the wickets of the last three batsmen at a cost of only eight runs.
Esh Winning's new professional, Indian Rakesh Dhurv starred in his side's victory at Shildon. His top-scoring innings of 41 resulted in a total of 157 being realised despite Pearce and Kirkley both taking three wickets for Shildon.
Douthwaite hit 30 but the home side were all out for 120 as Dhurv returned 4-32.
Darren Brown ended unbeaten with a century and newcomer Paul Chivers scored 48 in the Willington total of 220-4 at home to Brandon for whom Australian Jim Allenby made a half century.
Brandon though were constrained by the six-man Willington attack and never threatened despite the efforts of Allenby. At stumps, they had made only 117-7.
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