CHAMPIONS Chester-le-Street showed why they reign supreme as they took a clear lead for the first time this season by beating their closest rivals.

Blaydon arrived at Ropery Lane 12 points ahead of the Cestrians after having lost just once in their best start to a campaign for years, but when they left at the end of a bitterly disappointing day they had been dumped as table-toppers and fallen behind by as many points as they had been in front.

Chester had more than a few worries as they saw their first five wickets fall for 79 runs, but they recovered majestically through Andrew Tye (84) and Liam Simpson (49) and declared on 258 for nine.

Blaydon's Joe Reynolds (4-66 in 14 overs) and Chris Varley (3-80; 18) were the pick of the bowlers, but didn't quite have the impact of Tye (3-31) and Graham Cessford (4-35), who never let Blaydon establish themselves.

Even top run-maker Allan Worthy, who hit 54 with ten boundaries, and Geoff Stewart, 41, couldn't dominate a Cestrians attack in which Andrew Smith chipped in with two wickets as Blaydon were dismissed for 176, losing by 82 runs.

Former champions South North put an end to a disappointing run of defeats, but the most improved team of the season, Newcastle, powered their way to another win which kept them in the top four.

Hetton Lyons became the latest to experience Newcastle's batting power with 253 runs scored from 46 overs as James Atkinson (91), Niall Penfold (62no), Michael Richardson (41) and Rishahb Shah (41no) proved a magnificent foursome.

Atkinson shared in a stand of 88 for the second wicket with Richardson, hitting 11 fours and five sixes, while Penfold and Shah shared a partnership of 94 which left their team unbeaten in seven.

The Lyons might have expected better when Ryan Pringle (83), Paul Riddle (52) and John Tindale (40no) starred in a 60-over total of 252 for six, which on another day might have given them a win.

Stockton's first win of the season last weekend didn't give them the added confidence they might have expected when they faced Durham Academy.

Their bowlers toiled as Rami Singh hit a brilliant 126 and Sameet Brar added 69 as the hosts reached 316 for eight before declaring. Stockton faced an eight-man attack, but only Dean Williams (55) showed any real fight and they were bowled out for 206, beaten comprehensively by 110 runs.

Stockton stayed clear of the bottom two as South Shields and Gateshead Fell both lost as well.

Shields were bowled out for 150 by South North, for whom Chris Hewison fell ten runs short of a century as his side reached 260 for nine, while Fell fared even worse against fast-rising Benwell Hill, who bowled them out for 74.

Ali Maiden, the Hill skipper, set the tone with 96 out of 254 for six, and then they set upon Gateshead with Phil Jones (4-14), Graeme Race (3-16) and Dave Rutherford (3-13) proving unplayable.

Sunderland made a timely return to form with a two-wicket victory over Tynemouth, Joe Coyne top scoring with 48 and five other useful contributions down the batting order as they made the 247 needed to take the winning points.