East Rainton maintained their position at the top of the table when they defeated basement side Littletown by 59 runs.

The home side were far from disgraced, however and after losing the wickets of the first two batsmen for a combined total of only five runs, they recovered through a second wicket stand between Nelson (20) and Latham, who carried his bat for 71. Vallance made 24 before being run out and John Ricketts carried his bat for 17, but the target of 219 proved to be too great and when the 45 overs expired Littletown were only 159 for five.

Gary Humphreys took two of the wickets for 25 runs, John had two for 24 and Ian Kitching one for 51.

When they batted first East Rainton made a reasonable start through Neil Matthews with 21 and Gordon Steel. Colin Henderson added 20 before Wright struck 81 before being caught. Derek Aylesbury contributed 26 before the innings ended with 218 on the board. John Ricketts claimed three of the wickets for 41 runs, Suleman returned two for 39 and Bede two for 42 for Littletown.

Newton Aycliffe, in second place, maintained their challenge to East Rainton who have an 11 points advantage over their rivals. Newton Aycliffe restricted Medomsley to 126 which included 37 by opener Dixon, an undefeated 22 from Hurst and 29 by Milburn. The introduction of Glen Williams into the attack caused problems for Medomsley and he went on to finish with the outstanding figures of five for 30 while Stuart Mitchie had two for 21.

Mitchie then led the Aycliffe reply and made 50 before being caught. The good work was continued by John Williams with an unbeaten 42 and he found an able partner in Bennett (20no) as they put together and unbroken stand for the fourth wicket. Two of the three wickets were taken by Green at a cost of 34 runs.

Wearmouth are fourth after their eight wickets victory at Hunwick. Alderson (26) and Breen (58) gave the Hunwick innings a platform and the good work was continued by Pratt with 61. Keegan ended unbeaten on 24 and a total of 189 for four was achieved with Ray Morgan taking two for 39 in the Wearmouth attack. Replying Wearmouth won losing two wickets. Matthew Dench struck 58, Wright 32, Wayman and unbeaten 43 and Gary Pickering also carried his bat for 43.

Coxhoe were all out in 36 overs for just 92 in their home fixture with Sunderland Hospitals for whom Gary Shaw captured five wickets for only 21 runs in 11 overs, six of which were maidens. Williams top scored with 34 in the Coxhoe innings, but only Osborne, batting late in the order, gave support with 22. Replying Hospitals romped to victory in just 17.2 overs as Glen Shaw carried his bat for 60 with one six and nine boundaries. No fewer than 25 extras helped the hospitals cause.

Coundon went down by 48 runs at home to Simonside. Replying to a target of 160 Coundon opened with Timms (21), but generally the batsmen struggled and the top contribution came from extras on 23 when the innings closed on 111. P Thompson was in good form with the ball for Simonside taking five wickets for 30 runs while Haynes returned two for 25 and Main two for 18.

Batting first Simonside realised 159 for eight. They made a poor start when the first three batsmen managed only 13 runs between. Parks, batting at number four, contributed 20 and P Thompson (18) but it was Gaff with 32 and Wold who ended undefeated on 37, which moved the scoreboard into a more respectable position.

Plawsworth played their fixture against Washington at Durham City's ground on Sunday and won a high scoring game by four wickets which moved them into the top half of the table. John Alderson (42) and John Surtees (34no) were in good form for Plawsworth as was Mike Browbank who carried his bat for 33.

When Washington batted first and posted 192 for eight, their top scorer was Fallon with 34 while Raynor added a valuable 31. Kevin Jones bowled well in the Plawsworth attack taking three for 35.

In division two Belmont still enjoy a good lead over Kelloe. Belmont's latest victory, their 11th in 14 attempts, came at Tantobie where they won with four wickets remaining. The target was only 126, but there were one or two scares for Belmont when the first three batsmen made just six runs between. Doolan steadied the innings with 42 before Errington carried his bat for 52. His partner Reynolds, who went in before him, made just two not out when the pair put together a match winning unbroken partnership for the seventh wicket.

Bellamy with three for 37 and McMahon (2-27) almost clinched victory for Tantobie. When the home side batted first their innings also got off to a poor start before English scored 23. Bellamy added 31 to take the total into three figures and eventually a score of 125 was posted even though Noble captured five wickets for 52 runs and Oliver three for 25 in the Belmont attack.

Kelloe are 26 points behind Belmont following their 32 runs victory over Whiteleas. When they batted first Kelloe were all out for 93 which included 28 by Thirlwell who was run out after opening the innings. Turnbull added a valuable 24 but generally the batsmen were well contained by Peterson, whose four wickets cost just 30 runs and by Baxter with three for eight.

Replying the Whiteleas batsmen also struggled and were back in the pavilion with just 61 runs on top. Brian Cauwood top scored with 20 and Baxter added 15, but throughout the visiting batsmen were troubled, particularly by Pratt, whose four wickets were taken for just 12 runs. Hughes returned two for 14 and Turnbull two for 17 for Kelloe.

Burnhope overtook the formidable Wearmouth total of 217 for four losing just four wickets. Opener Mills batted throughout for an excellent unbeaten 93 and Coverley scored 39 before being run out. Gray then carried his bat for 34 as victory was achieved by a margin of six wickets.

Batting first Wearmouth ended past 200 mainly as a result of the efforts of Paul Lewis with 54 and Leonard, who was on 50 when he retired hurt. Both Larkin and Turnbull contributed 26 to the Wearmouth innings.

Washington had 25 runs in hand of Littletown. Adrian Wood opened the innings making 23 and Ernie Bewick added 24 when Washington totalled 133 all out. Barrass captured three wickets for 31 runs, while Chaplow, Russell and Milne all took two wickets.

When they replied Littletown were dismissed for 108 and almost half the runs came from Nixon who ended unbeaten on 51. K Bowes had a good day with the ball for Washington taking four wickets for 31 runs. S Bowes returned two for 18, Brown two for 30 and Garrett two for 21.

After bowling out Bearpark for 78 Kibblesworth won with three wickets remaining. In a game when runs were at a premium Kibblesworth were indebted to Kendall for his 18 and to Laverick who top scored with 23. Tate captured three wickets for 25 and Berry two for 25 in the Bearpark attack.

Batting first Bearpark managed just 78 with a top score of 23 by Tate. Dent took three for 15, Wilson three for 28 and Bush two for 16 for Kibblesworth.

North Bitchburn scored freely on their visit to Benwell Hill. Opener Dunn made 51, Dalton 23 and Lee 22 but it was Morgan who was the star as he carried his bat for a superb 102 out of a total of 227 for three.

Responding Benwell Hill were all out for 109 which included 28 by Khana and in the North Bitchburn attack none did better than Dalton with three wickets for 13 runs. Lee gave support claiming two wickets at a cost of 30 runs.

East Rainton entertained Plawsworth and it was the visitors who came out on top by a margin of 40 runs. When they made first use of the wicket Plawsworth's 45 overs produced a total of 95 for four with most runs coming from Andrew Burrell whose unbeaten 95 included three sixes and ten boundaries. John Presthed added 30 with five fours and Chris Smith carried his bat for 32 finding the boundary line on three occasions.

In reply East Rainton were all out for 155 in 35 overs. Following a poor start to their innings the home side recovered through Kevin Hall with 42 who had one six and five boundaries and Peter McMahon was in good form with the ball for Plawsworth taking four wickets for just 22 runs while Karl Pring returned two for 42 in eight overs and Alan Corner two for 50 from the nine overs he delivered.