Durham City turned in the display of the day to upset the form book by beating champions Horden.

At the Racecourse Ground the careful and confident start by Horden came apart when they lost their last eight wickets for just 39 runs. Chasing a Horden total of 111 the opening partnership of 58 between Richard Cross (49) and Joel Hughes then engineered City's five-wicket win which was not easy to come by especially with the continuous threat of Nadeem Khan (4-45).

Seaham Harbour were indebted to a fourth-wicket partnership of 56 between Jeff Laws and Umer Akhtar with the latter making a half century. Philip Shakespeare ended with the impressive return of 7-71, but his display was to be overshadowed.

Neville Gustard became the Harbour hero who ripped the heart out of the Marsden reply. They were in dire straits as Gustard made early inroads which saw Marsden reduced to 24 for eight wickets and the end seemed imminent. However, a defiant tail took Marsden to a final total of 84 with Gustard returning 7-26.

Felling were only able to muster 92 at Eppleton with opener Charlie Wilson (41) hitting almost half the runs. Pace bowlers Paul Christie and Matthew Jane with three wickets apiece created the Felling debacle.

Eppleton's response was immediately stifled by the dismissal of Jonathan Beukes when the ever-reliable Chris Pleasants claimed his first of three wickets. However, Eppleton eased home by six wickets.

South Shields crashed to their second defeat when Burnmoor ran out convincing victors by nine wickets. The Shields batsmen were never able to settle and lost wickets in the second over to Des Beach. With the exception of David Maughan (42) the Shields batsmen posed few problems to bowlers Michael Callaghan (5-45) and Ian Conn (3-34). In the end they struggled to just 115.

Burnmoor's Gary Brown and Mark Benfield made 70 before being parted. Benfield went on to finish with nine boundaries in an unbeaten 71 as his side raced to their win.

There was a close contest at Hetton Lyons, who ended with nine wickets down against South Hetton. John Pendlington (75) made his first impression for South Hetton being the main contributor to his side's 157. Left-armer Ian Male with five wickets was the Lyons' most successful bowler.

Pendlington's 4-54 was almost sufficient to tilt the game South Hetton's way but the home side ended 11 runs short of victory.

A draw was also the outcome in the Whitburn versus Boldon game. The latter's professional Gary Gilder (47) assisted his side to 176 with Paul Cook (4-75) bowling throughout.

Entering the final hour needing 96 with six wickets left, Whitburn lost their way as Boldon restricted their runmaking