Darlington and Middlesbrough produced 430 runs and a tied result in a game which had players and spectators on tenterhooks until the last ball.

In the early stages of Boro's reply it looked as if they would carve out a match-winning position as Richard Storr, with five boundaries in 47 and James Beaumont (45) put together a good opening stand before Henderson Brian maintained the impetus with 48.

But Darlington fought their way back into the match when John Glendenen claimed the wickets of the first five batsmen. From then on the visitors stuttered and when the last ball was bowled they needed one run to win with their last pair together. Jeff Lowe was run out leaving the scores tied.

Although there were important contributions from several players on both sides, Glendenen was clearly man-of-the-match.

He claimed six wickets for 76 runs in 15 overs and when Darlington batted first, the former Durham County man recorded three sixes and four fours in 69.

Darren Hickey added 48 and later Andy Fothergill and Duncan Johnson scored crucial runs down the order so that the respectable total of 215 was achieved.

Redcar and Saltburn are now level on points at the top. Both sides drew but Saltburn closed in on their rivals when they took 15 points at Hartlepool who just held on with their last pair at the wicket.

Even so, it was an improved performance by the Park Drive side who finished on 202-9 thanks mainly to the efforts of Gary Tebbett, who opened the innings and finished with 67. Three players, Andy Holland, Saurabh Shukla and Ian Jackson each made 24.

Adil Ditta and Mauhtashim Rashid shared six wickets for Saltburn who earlier posted a very healthy 256-5 from their 50 overs. Ditta (41) and Simon Davies (60) led the way but there were other contributions just as notable from Rashid (42), Tony Bell (54) and Jim Lawson (38 not out).

Blackhall put Redcar to the test before the game finished even. Batting first the Collierymen finished on 226-9 with 50's from Mike Foster, Tony Booth and John Darby.

Mark Cosgrove claimed three wickets in the Redcar attack before Martin Hood (36) and professional Mark Higgs, with a well-played 66, boosted Redcar's winning chances. Graham Bowen maintained the run-rate with 34 but when time was called Redcar were 23 runs short of victory and had eight batsmen back in the pavilion.

Marske were relieved defeating Darlington RA by eight wickets. Hood reduced the visitors to 125 all out by taking 6-31 and Stewart Hutton finished the job off, striking an unbeaten 69 out of his team's total of 126-2.

Northallerton moved up into sixth place with a four-wickets victory at home to Guisborough. Jonathan Barnes was the matchwinner, following up his lengthy spell which earned him 4-93 by hitting an undefeated 96. David Wake, with 42, assisted Barnes in Northallerton's response of 214-6.

Guisborough were not short of runs when they made first use of the wicket. Captain Richard Dunn top-performed with 75 and Gary Bolton ended 51 not out but the pair were overshadowed by Barnes.

There was a close finish at Kingsway when Bishop Auckland saw off the challenge of Richmondshire by just six runs. Steve Chapman was in magnificent form and, bowling throughout, he claimed nine wickets for just 47 runs in 27 overs, 13 of which were maidens.

When Bishops batted first they too found runs slow to come but Andy Bowman held the innings together, making almost half his side's total of 152 when he struck 10 fours in 75 from 137 deliveries. Umer Rashid, with 6-51 and Clive Layfield (4-33) curtailed the fluency of the home batsmen.

The game between Thornaby and Normanby Hall petered out into a draw. Geoff Love returned 4-35 and Ian MacDonald 2-31 as the Hall finished on 135-8. When Thornaby batted first their 50 overs yielded 178-5 with most of the runs coming from Love, who went in at three and was still there at the end.