Close half century

MERVYN Close with 51 and Andrew Toulson (41) led Barnard Castle to an impressive 187 for eight when they visited Redcar in Division Three. Ian Patchett bowled 13 overs for Redcar and claimed three for 47 before the Seasiders were restricted to 79 for nine, mainly by the bowling of Warren who in nine overs captured five for 14.

Martin Hill (62), Mark Robinson (36) and Chris Normanton (25) were all in form as Guisborough defeated Saltburn by 89 runs. The home side posted 192 despite Wrek taking five for 27 in 10.2 overs and Parkinson four for 60 from 19 overs.

Saltburn were dismissed for 103 as Mark Robinson completed a good game by returning four for 41 in 13 overs. Willie McDougal with three for 18 from 4.4 overs and Alex Welch (2-12) gave good support.

Middlesbrough had 29 runs to spare at home to Marske who were dismissed for 165 including 79 by Carl Bramwell. Paul Middleton took four for 44 in 17 overs for Boro who, batting first, realised 194 for nine. Most of the runs came from Matthew Cooper with 64 not out, Max Cook (32) and Matthew Carr (32).

In Division Four, Richmondshire ended with 172 mainly due to the efforts of Jonathan Simpson with 103. Visitors Preston were 151 for five at stumps.

Darlington had the better of RA in the derby game, overtaking the home side's total of 143 with eight wickets to spare while Blackhall had three wickets in hand at home to Nun thorpe, who, batting first, finished with 124 for nine of which Hanmer scored 40 while for Blackhall, Norman Young returned four for 46. Derek Spence top scored with 27 in the Blackhall innings and for Nunthorpe, Hanmer took three for 24.

Hetton Lyons Sunday League

Stockton won off the last ball at Blaydon. Set a target of 182 they needed one run from the last delivery and scraped home with the last pair at the wicket. Ellis contributed 50 and Mason 49 to the Stockton total while for Blaydon Stuart Forster had five for 53 and John Manning three for 53. It is the third time this season that Blaydon have lost off the final ball of a match.

Batting first, Blaydon posted 181 for nine with Graham Forster scoring an unbeaten 80 while Stephen Jobling hit a half-century.

Simon Davison finished with three wickets for 65 and David Parr had six for 56 in the Stockton attack.

Peter Vinton (43) and Craig Harrison (34no) led Felling to 165 for seven despite Smith jnr returning three for 25 for Gateshead Fell who responded with 132 for nine including 40 by Donkin. Douglas claimed four for 36 for Felling.

Mark Dixon hit 124 not out and Andrew Waters jnr made 61 of Consett's 228 for six at home to South Shields for whom Lowes had three for 37. Moore carried his bat for 60 and David Maughan contributed 34 to the Shields total of 165 for eight.

Paul Bond with 91 top scored when Hetton Lyons easily defeated Swalwell and South Northumberland also recorded a comfortable victory with 110 runs to spare at home to Annfield Plain who were all out for 80 when Graeme Allison captured three for five. Gavin Brown (71) and Paul Carding (60) were the principal contributors to South North's 190 for six.

Ryan McVittie (45) and Dick Longstaff (35) were in good form for Burnopfield who finished with 158 despite David Brown picking up five for 36 for Bill Quay.

The visitors won losing six wickets when James Phillip scored 31, Michael Finlow (30no) and Phil Savage (30).

Whickham won by five wickets at Whitburn as Keith Walker scored 59 of his team's 110 for five. Batting first Whitburn made 109 as Ian Hodgson and Ian McInterey both picked up three cheap wickets.

Foster's North East Premier League

Norton made 231 for five against Stockton in their Second Division match. Neil Fox was five runs short of a century and Geoff Kean contributed 71 while for Stockton, Mark Fletcher was the pick of the attack with three wickets for 47 runs.

Replying, Stockton gained a share of the points when they finished with 145 for five which included a half century by Stephen Ward.

Gateshead Fell emulated the first team by defeating Tynemouth with eight wickets to spare. Faced with a target of 182 they were grateful to Brian Arkle for his 77 and to Norman Brown (64).

When Tynemouth made first use of their wicket they finished on 181 for one with Vince Howe hitting an unbeaten 83 and Tom Whiting 69 not out.

Benwell Hill reached 200 for the loss of seven wickets as runs flowed from Simon Lunn (53), David Griffith (50) and David O'Neil (35no) while for South Northumberland, Richard Temple claimed four wickets for 43 runs. Responding, South North posted 167 for two with James Brown and Michael Smalley both making 53.

Michael Nunn (34) and James Butler (24no) led Sunderland to 139 as Keith Porter captured five for 28 and Andrew Robson had three for 31. Newcastle were 138 including 49 by Andreas Hageman and 31 by Robson. James Butler bowled a good end for Sunderland picking up four for 37 runs and seasoned campaigner Chris Young had three for 29.

Chris Metcalf and Ian Nairn both scored centuries in Chester-le-Street's drawn match with Norton at Ropery Lane. Metcalf contributed 103 and Nairn 116 to the Cestrians' total of 255 for four and in reply Norton were 80 for two when the match had to be abandoned because of rain.

In the Second Division League Cup, Norton progressed at the expense of Benwell Hill on Sunday. Geoff Keen scored 82, Chris Thomas 87 and Chris Tait 52 when Norton realised the huge total of 279 for five from only 45 overs. Anthony Fawcett then took three for 28 runs in nine overs to restrict Benwell Hill to 159 all out.

Gateshead Fell also went through when they hosted Sunderland and won by 28 runs. Batting first, the Fell totalled 164 for eight with Paul Morris making 58 not out and Tim Gray an unbeaten 30. Sunderland replied with 136 for eight of which Michael Nunn contributed 58 not out and for Gateshead Fell Philip Hudson had three for 34.

League table

P W D L Pts

Chester-le-Street 9 3 5 1 111

Blaydon 9 3 5 1 100

Tynemouth 9 2 6 1 98

Gateshead Fell 9 3 4 2 91

South Northumberland 9 2 7 0 90

Newcastle 9 1 7 1 84

Norton 111 9 1 5 3 77

Benwell Hill 10 8 2 0 76

Stockton 9 0 9 0 72

Sunderland 9 1 5 3 61

Norton 11 9 0 7 2 52

Langbaurgh West Rural District League

Scruton made 121 for seven from 40 overs but still lost by seven wickets to visitors Chopgate who had five wickets to spare. Mark Lane, with one six and five fours in 43 not out, was the architect of the Chopgate innings, while for Scruton, Brian Barritt claimed two for 61 in his 17.1 overs.

Batting first, Scruton were indebted to a seventh-wicket partnership of 68 between Steve Greensit (59) and Geoff Bell (30).

Crathorne passed 200 in defeating Ingleby Greenhow by 106 runs. Mooney (67), Murdoch with an unbeaten 78 and Clemmit (30) were all among the runs when Crathorne finished with 204 for three before Ingleby Greenhow were all out for 98. Marshall was top performer with the ball for Crathorne capturing five wickets for 22 runs and the other five wickets were shared by Leng, Clemmit and Bruce.

Kirby Sigston overtook Stafford Place's 152 for five with four wickets in tact. John Thompson (54) and Neil Kendrew (31no) led the chase for runs for Stafford Place. Peter Connor had four for 33 in 9.3 overs.

When Stafford Place batted first and reached 152 for five most of their runs came from David Metcalfe with 41 and Steve Hollis (47).

Hutton Rudby totalled 155 for eight before losing by seven wickets to Great Broughton for whom Mark Smith scored 47, A Robinson (36no) and A White with an unbeaten 37.

In the Hutton Rudby innings, John Hurford ended 50 not out and James Bailey contributed 39.

A Blackett with 31 top performed in Kildale's 147 all out at home to Great Smeaton for whom M Blench had five for 62 and J Morton three for 47.

When Great Smeaton went into bat they won by six wickets after A Hutchinson (33) and S Watson (32) had given the innings a perfect start. Afterwards, A Barber added 31 and Blench carried his bat for 30.

Maltby went down by seven wickets when they hosted East Harlsey. Batting first the home team managed just 98 with opener M Barber contributing 43 while for East Harlsey, Dave Willey bowled splendidly in taking six for 47 and Mould had three for 17.

Although East Harlsey lost an early wicket they comfortably won through G Bliss (30) and Willey (39no), D Eland taking 3-22.

l The league's Under-21 team enjoyed a seven-wicket victory against the Darlington and District League in the KV Computer Services competition.

Darlington batted first and scored 109-9 in their 40 overs after being 25-1 in the first 20 overs, Richard Kirby taking 3-15 and Matthew Lockwood 2-14.

In reply, sound batting from Dan Doughty (36), Mark Lewis (27), Martin Pugh (22 not out) andPeter Hunt (15) enabled Langbaurgh to reach 113-3 in 35 overs.

This season the format of the competition has changed, teams playing in two groups on a league basis with the winners meeting in the final.

The final of the Gjers Cup has been put back for a week to July 12