Federation Special Durham Senior League: Eppleton recorded the only victory of the day and as a result moved into second place.

The Eppleton batsmen, Shaun Birbeck and Neil McKinney, were in rampant mood. Birbeck (16 fours) and McKinney (13 fours and five sixes) smashed the ball to all parts and Eppleton declared after 45 overs with both batsmen hitting unbeaten centuries.

Birbeck then caused early problems for Whitburn, but it was Stuart Lacey who took the bowling honours. He sent down 9.5 overs and with the aid of some smart close catching, ended with 6-17 with Whitburn scoring just 80.

Horden lost little ground with the other results going in their favour. Against Boldon, the leaders eventually declared after 51 overs with Adrian Hedley hitting a top score of 68. The Horden skipper added 56 for the third wicket with Nadeem Khan to cement the innings which ended on 183.

Boldon never reached a challenging position, but managed to hold out as Horden tried six bowlers.

Burnmoor lost an opportunity to edge closer to Horden when they could only draw at Felling. Attempting to score quickly, captain John Tindale (56) ended top scorer before the declaration was applied from 50 overs.

The Felling innings then depended greatly upon Graham Wright, whose 98-run partnership with Alex Bullock, held up Burnmoor. Wright (seven fours and four sixes) ended with 80 in his 94-minute stay. Ian Conn's lengthy 19-overs spell was again productive but his 6-48 could not force victory.

Marsden retained their unbeaten record, but only just. They were again indebted to Neil Heppel, whose batting has been a revelation this summer. Marsden found themselves on 94 for six wickets before Heppel's rescue act.

Along with David Wills (34), Heppel added 73 as Marsden ended on 182 with Chris King picking up 4-53. The game looked to be going nowhere at the start of the final hour with Durham City on 50 for one wicket.

However, when Paul Price (49) was dismissed - a victim of Heppel, who had just joined the attack - Marsden sensed victory.

Durham kept going though and reached the final over requiring seven with three wickets intact. A frenetic conclusion saw two wickets go down, with Heppel once again involved, and City ended two runs short of victory.

South Shields topped 200 for the third game in succession. Having lost three wickets for 73, the recovery came from Ashok Patel (45) and Lee Whalley. The pair accumulated 64 together and Whalley (72) hit his top score of the season.

Shields took all their overs to finish with 227, setting South Hetton a demanding task.

The Shields attack struck immediately and South Hetton were in disarray from the start, losing three wickets for only two runs.

Their only hope was to become entrenched and Peter Nord and John Pendlington settled into a survival pattern. The interest in the game frittered away as South Hetton were well content with the drawn outcome.

Heavy rain caused an early abandonment at Seaham Harbour when visitors Hetton Lyons were batting.