Hylton cut lead

Hylton are hot on the heels of Murton following victory at Easington.

It looked as if the Colliers had done enough to earn at least a draw, posting the formidable total of almost 220. But the Wearsiders chased the target from the start and succeeded with just two wickets remaining.

Joe Bittlestone (55) and captain David Hanson (42) gave the innings a good send-off before Christopher Allen added 32. It still took a late unbeaten 27 from Brian Conlin to earn maximum points as David Kennedy and Brian Daniels captured four wickets apiece.

Kennedy also starred with the bat, hitting a half century and down the order, Robbie Atherton (40 not out) and Brian Fenwick (41) took the total to 219-8.

Leaders Murton faced a much lower target but they too conceded eight wickets before winning. Once again Calvin Stephenson was the main contributor, ending unbeaten with 69 out of a total of 159-8.

Gary Critchley and Ian Bellerby both took three wickets and at one stage threatened to snatch victory for Boldon CA whose innings ended with 155-8 on the board.

Critchley also hit form with the bat, finishing undefeated with a half century while in the Murton attack none did better than Joe Dodd, whose four wickets cost him 53 runs. The runs flowed at Ryhope where Dawdon gained a creditable draw. Graeme Smith opened the home side's innings, making 68 and Graham Anderson struck 40 in a total of 256-7 - the highest of the day.

Although they were well short at 210-5, Dawdon were never threatened and Gary Braithwaite (56), Chris Price with 47 and Bobby Stephenson, who carried his bat for 40, were all among the runs.

So too were the Silksworth openers at Houghton. David Tate remained unbeaten on 77 and Graeme Weeks was 65 not out when the home side's total of 147 was overtaken without loss.

Gary Robinson made a good 46 but when he became one of Mark Foster's four victims, the innings failed to build on his good start.

Allan Unsworth was in good all-round form guiding Castle Eden to victory over Bill Quay. After claiming five wickets for 61 runs to restrict the Quay to 181-9, Unsworth added a valuable 39 in partnership with Gerard Magee.

In the end though, victory was down to David Garrigan who ended unbeaten on 48 in a five-wicket victory.

Jeff Tudor opened the visitors' innings scoring 41 and both David Hunt and David Orridge added 30 while in the Castle Eden attack, Tony Banks (3-32) gave good support to Unsworth. Keith Hewson was the Peterlee match-winner at Seaham Park. He went in at number three and was still there when victory was achieved with four wickets remaining. Hewson ended with 83no and the next highest score in the total of 136 was only 13. Michael Evans bowled a good end for Seaham, returning 4-47 and when the home side made first use of the wicket, they managed only 134 which included 30 by Michael Donnelly and 31 from Andrew Docherty. Chris Ford with 4-32 was the most profitable bowler in the four-man Peterlee attack.