Guisborough again have a clear lead at the top of the table following their victory at Marske and Saltburn's inability to bowl out Middlesbrough.

Once Marske had been restricted to 160 all out, Guisborough's task was comparatively easy and they celebrated their eighth win in 12 attempts with five wickets and more than seven overs to spare.

Saul Clifford, with seven boundaries in 40 and his opening partner Graham Shaw, whose 57 included ten fours, gave the side a perfect start and the impetus was maintained by Richard Dunn with 33.

Opener Adam Pattison was in good form for the Seasiders making the game's top score of 60 when he found the boundary line on ten occasions. David Towse was his usual economical self, but it was Dunn who was Guisborough's chief wicket-taker with 5-54 in 15.4 overs. Saltburn predicted that they would find it difficult to bowl out Middlesbrough on the excellent Acklam Park strip and their fears were well founded.

The visitors, batting first, ended with 213 all out and their top performers were Tony Bell with 47 from 87 deliveries and Amer Ditta whose 38 came from 57 balls.

James Beaumont, introduced as third-change into the Boro attack, sent down 11 overs in claiming five wickets for 59 runs.

The home side made an inauspicious start to their reply, but James Lowe (32) was sound and later Chris Liddle also held up Saltburn making 56 from just 61 deliveries. He struck eight boundaries.

The Rashid brothers, Umar (3-32) from 19 overs and Mauhtashim, with 3-22 from 15 overs pegged away but were unable to prise the wickets of Brett Roberts or Lee Beaumont and Boro comfortably finished on 157-8.

Darlington are third after they drew with Northallerton but they were desperately unlucky not to win. They needed just 14 runs with more than six overs remaining when rain caused the abandonment. Required to score 171, they were 157-4 and Simon Whitehead was still there unbeaten with 59.

Jonathan Barnes dominated the Northallerton innings, hitting a couple of sixes and 11 fours, contributing 88 to the all-out total of 170 which came from 49.4 overs.

Rob Lawrence and Neil Pratt had identical figures of 3-31 sharing 25 overs in the Feethams attack. Darlington RA rattled up 242-5 from their 50 overs at Wolviston.

Darren Hickey could hardly have made a better debut, top-scoring with 62 which included a six and seven fours. Captain David Eckels and Maroof Khan both made half centuries and Gerard Hull added 44.

Wolviston battled away in their reply but never threatened the RA total. When rain stopped play with an over remaining, they were 117-8 of which Geoff Peacock scored 60 with ten fours.

Khan was the most productive bowler in the six-man RA attack, conceding just 31 runs in 18 overs for four wickets.

Steve Chapman and Stephen Lamb led Hartlepool to victory at Richmondshire. They produced an unbroken century partnership for the fourth wicket as opener Chapman struck 11 fours in 88 not out and Lamb carried his bat for 36. Success was achieved with seven wickets and four overs remaining.

Skipper Clive Layfield top-performed in the Richmond innings, hitting eight boundaries in 71 and Chris Layfield added 30 to the total of 176-5. Blackhall were assisted by 34 extras when they reached 226-9 at Thornaby.

Imran Jan was their leading run-maker with a six and six fours in 72 and Tony Booth was not far behind the professional, adding 71.

Michael Muldowney opened the home side's reply and when stumps were drawn, he was unbeaten with 86 which together with a half century from Usman Tariq, had Thornaby comfortably placed at 180-4.

Normanby Hall were within four runs of victory against Redcar with two of their wickets remaining.

Faced with a target of 212, they were indebted to Geoff Scanlon (39), Stephen McNicholas (32) and professional Mohamed Zahid (44).

Dulip Samaraweera was again in sparkling form for Redcar, adding 71 to his growing haul of runs, but Steve Russell did even better contributing 81 to a total of 211-6.