Burnmoor have taken over the leadership and are in the position they occupied for most of last summer. With Hetton Lyons recording their third win in succession just one point separates the pair.

There was little to enthuse about at South Shields when the home side struggled throughout their innings against Burnmoor. Liam Graham struck three crucial blows which saw Shields plummet to four runs for the loss of three wickets by the end of the fifth over.

And from then on it proved an uphill struggle for Shields. Some middle-order resistance arrived from Owen Peterson and Anand Yalvigi but the re-introduction of Graham ended the home innings on just 106. Graham's contribution in his 11.2 overs saw the South African end with an impressive 6-26.

The second innings proved a formality with 55 coming from an Ian Conn-John Tindale partnership.

Conn remained unbeaten on 44 as the champions strolled to an eight-wicket win.

Hetton Lyons inflicted a first defeat on Whitburn in convincing fashion.

Professional Brian Murphy was the destroyer in chief of the Whitburn batting.

Home skipper Paul Shields (38) engendered a delay in Murphy's domination and when last out, he became the West Indian's sixth victim in a 6-70 return.

Chasing 146 provided few problems for the Lyons with the largest contribution coming from Stuart Walker (61) to lead his side to a six-wicket triumph.

Durham City produced a much more impressive display against Boldon.

Jim Allenby (46) and Andrew Kelly (33) laid the foundation for the 200 total when their opening stand was worth 76.

Brian Potts (64) then gave the innings greater substance and Boldon were left to chase 210 to win.

They never moved into a position to challenge seriously and ended well adrift but claimed a point.

Seaham Harbour experienced defeat for the first time losing heavily by seven wickets at Philadelphia.

Although Jeff Laws (43) and Umer Akhtar (38) set up the possibility of a large total with 80 for the first wicket, it failed to materialise.

Ian White's unbeaten half century later on was the only other score of note as Andrew Robinson (4-52) and Ian Potter (3-26) ended the Harbour innings on 173.

Fred Napier (63) and Michael Kearney with 85 together opening the innings, set Phili on their way.

Unlike their opponents though, Philadelphia maintained the flow of runs early on and victory was achieved with few problems.

Eppleton found difficulties playing against the spin of Felling professional Masood Mirza.

His six wickets kept Eppleton to 160.

However, Felling's run chase wasn't easy. The ever-reliable Glen Froud restricted Felling's reply but they claimed the bonus point in the draw.