CRICKET action took place both on the field and on the table-top at the Riverside yesterday.

While Durham were getting the upper hand over Middlesex in a Liverpool Victoria County Championship four-day fixture, at their Chester-le-Street home ground, the competition was just as intense in the club's adjoining indoor cricket school.

Seven teams were fighting it out for the North-East title in the National Table-Top Cricket Championship for Disabled Children.

Organised jointly by the Lord's Taverners charity and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the competition is designed to give youngsters with learning difficulties all the thrills of the sport, but on a table-top playing surface.

The ball is delivered down a bowling ramp and the batsman uses a 6in bat to score by striking the ball to various areas of the outfield, using all the traditional rules of the game.

Martin Mansell, table-top cricket officer for the ECB, said: "It's designed to be as authentic as possible to give them the thrill of playing competitive cricket.

"All the rules should be familiar to any cricket enthusiast, with familiar aspects of the game, like caught behind, caught and bowled and leg before wicket.

Games were played on a round-robin basis on three tables, culminating in a regional title being won by the Hill Top School 'A' team, from Sunderland, edging out Portland School, from Gateshead, at the top of the final table.