Saltburn must have thought they were home and dry at the halfway stage of their game at Acklam Park. And who could blame them?

Middlesbrough, without a win in seven attempts, had lost more times than any other side and even their captain Martin Ball admitted a difficult season lay ahead. But Boro turned the form book on its head in securing an eight-wickets victory and totally out-manoeuvring the much-vaunted Saltburn attack.

Brenton Parchment came good and his opening contribution of 72 in partnership with Mark Croft (70) laid the foundations for a successful assault on the Seasiders' formidable total of more than 250.

Mark Foster (67 not out) and Colin Haslett with an unbeaten 31 maintained the momentum and against all the odds Boro won, losing just two wickets.

The Saltburn batsmen also found runs easy to come by when they made first use of the wicket. Tony Bell and Phil Ramage both opened with 47, Richard Storr added 41 and Adil Ditta finished unbeaten on 49 as a total of 255-5 was posted.

Redcar remain in pole position, but they had just 14 runs to spare against Normanby Hall. Martin Hood (43) and Andy Hassack (33) guided Redcar to 180-7. Although there were some useful contributions down the order, the Hall's innings eventually ended on 160 as Neil Russell and Mark McCabe both claimed three wickets.

Imran Jan produced an exhilarating innings, which earned him the day's top score of 161, but he still finished on the losing side. Ben Usher added a half century as Blackhall realised 255-8.

It was Shanoka Dissanayake who was Richmondshire's man-of-the-match. First, he took seven of the eight Blackhall wickets for 98 runs and then struck 104 in a second-wicket partnership with Mark Layfield (96), which threatened the target set by the Colliers.

When stumps were drawn, Richmond were 251-7, just five runs short of a winning margin.

Darlington RA maintained their good form defeating Hartlepool at Park Drive by 34 runs. Darren Hickey stroked eight boundaries in 41, Maroof Khan added 40 and Jimmy Middleton 46 not out to a total of 187-9.

Following an uncertain start to their innings, Pool were finally dismissed for 153, which included an unbeaten 29 by last man Ian Jackson. Khan, Peter Cartwright and Lee Russell shared the RA attack and the ten wickets. Champions Guisborough won for only the second time, defeating Marske with five of their wickets intact.

Set a target of 207, they were home in 43.3 overs despite four of their first five batsmen contributing only 39 runs between them.

Richard Dunn, however, stood firm, hitting a six and 12 fours in 69 which was crucial in rescuing the situation before Chris Murray and Johnny May produced an unbroken partnership for the sixth wicket. Murray's 61 not out included four sixes and seven boundaries and came from just 27 deliveries.

Neil Coverdale with ten fours in 60 and Tim Hood, with an unbeaten 66, led the Marske innings, which also featured a useful 32 not out from Karl Bramwell.

Neil Pratt batted throughout for an unbeaten 148, but his Herculean effort failed to earn Darlington victory over Bishop Auckland at Feethams. Mark Stainsby (31), Simon Guy (47) and Mark Jobling with a late undefeated 26 propelled the visitors to 254 for the loss of only two wickets.

Richard Hawthorn proved immovable and he too finished undefeated, batting throughout the Bishop's innings scoring 79. It was his contribution which earned his side a share of the points and a total of 164-7 was posted when stumps were drawn.

Thornaby just held on for a draw in their home game with Northallerton. Hrishikesh Kanitkar made a useful 49 but even so the home side realised just 155-9.

Earlier, the visitors totalled 222-6 with half centuries from Jerry Hall and Jonathan Barnes and 46 from Albert Aurelius.