South Shields fail to halt title hopefuls Chester-le-Street

Chester-le-Street leap-frogged two of their closest rivals in the title race and made up four crucial points on the leaders Newcastle, after thehome win over South Shields.

The Cestrians are now on a roll with three wins in July so far, and now move into second place, but still have 31 points to make up.

Shields won the toss and decided to bat, with opener Timothy David scoring a brilliant century, his fourth league ton this year, (113) including 13 fours and three sixes off 134 balls and a cultured 67 from Gordon Muchall, gave Shields a respectable total of 232-9.

Liam Simpson (4-49) and Gurman Randhawa (3-75) led the way, with some excellent bowling.

At one stage with Chester on 103-3, the game was evenly balanced, but Richard Waite with (57), Quentin Hughes (53no) and Liam Simpson with (46no), including an 89 run partnership ensured a vital win.

Whitburn entertained the leaders and still unbeaten Newcastle where the home side won the toss and asked the visitors to bat and they made a huge score of 324-7.

Nick Hobson’s century of 124, including 18 fours and a six and Michael Allan with 94, including 12 fours and five sixes off just 84 balls, was instrumental in the score and they put on 169 for the second wicket.

Mark Elliott under the circumstances, returned decent bowling figures of 3-48.

Whitburn then batted reasonably well, with Lee Henderson (43) and Joseph Coyne (59), in their total of 209, but a devastating spell from man of the match Michael Allan with 4-36, including a hat-trick, paved the way for the win, despite the tail wagging a bit for the home side, with 49 runs scored for the last two wickets.

In the Dukes ECB NEPL First Division, Felling were held at home by Boldon who won the toss and decided to bat first.

They scored a formidable total of 261-7, with Nicholas Sampson-Barnes (42), and a brilliant century from Umar Waheed (122no) and then Oliver Sampson-Barnes with (44) were responsible for the mainstay of the runs.

Felling in reply, lost a couple of quick wickets and never really got going in their run chase, but Gary Scott (40) and Ian Hunter (31), secured the draw, finishing with 144-7.

In Readers Durham Cricket League Division Two, leaders Littletown stayed top, after a convincing 90 run home win over Boldon CA.

Openers S Harris with 44 and Matt Dench with 47, plus Niall Heron with 30, gave the home side a solid platform to make 203-8 declared and then Shashikant Kadam with 3-25, helped them bowl out the visitors for 114.