Inshore Fisheries
Langbaurgh League

SCRUTON’S flying start to the season came to juddering halt at the hands of 2012 champions Kildale, the previously unbeaten side crashing to a seven wicket defeat to relinquish their place at the top of the table.

The visitors struggled to cope with Kildale’s opening duo of Dan Doughty (4-29) and Jamie Peirson (5-52) and they limped to an all-out total of 100 in 35.1 overs. Peirson then capped a fine all-round performance by making an unbeaten 33, and along with Alan Cook (32), the pair made light work of the target to win by seven wickets inside 26 overs.

Bowlers were also in the ascendancy in most of the other games played, with East Harlsey having Hutton Rudby in trouble from the off despite an opening 39 from Matthew Brown.

Veteran Dave Willey was amongst the wickets, claiming 4-44, and he was ably backed up by Matthew Carter (3-24) and Andy Maguire (2-11) as they ran through Rudby’s lower order to dismiss them for 91. Maguire then rattled up a brisk 40 as Harlsey coasted home by six wickets.

Hartlepool Power Station also found runs hard to come by but managed to graft their way to 130-3 at home to Broughton. This proved to be more than enough as Gary Crawley tore the Broughton line up to shreds with a spell of five for 15 to send the visitors back for 70.

Crathorne stuttered to 91 for nine against Kirby Sigston with two batsmen, Chris Marshall (42) and Mark Green (37), making the lion’s share of that small total.

Paul Nicholson was the pick of the Sigston bowlers, taking 5-44.

Sigston didn’t have things all their own way in the run chase, but a solid 35 from Rob Cowton saw them edge over the line with three wickets to spare.

Stafford Place’s game against Moorsholm was abandoned due to an unfit ground, but the two points were sufficient to take them clear at the top of Division One.

In the second tier Karl Brown’s five for 21 sent Thimbleby packing for just 86 as Chop Gate romped to a comfortable seven wicket win, and East Harlsey B’s bowlers were also in fine form, with Jonathan Cleary in particular the scourge of Hartlepool Power B’s batting line-up.

In just six overs he returned the outstanding figures of six for six to leave Harlsey 61 all out. Andy Broadley (23 not out) and Gary Bliss (28 not out) then saw Harlsey home by ten wickets. In the only other game played Norton posted 97 for nine as Mike Fawcett took 4-35, and Steve Ollis’s 40 saw Ingleby Greenhow home by six wickets.

North East
Durham League

IN the North East Durham League, there was another double header of Division One fixtures, and new leaders emerged on Sunday night after Burnhope defeated Littletown to leapfrog them in the table and go top.

With Littletown not having a game on Saturday, Burnhope’s chances of making up any significant ground sank with the abandonment of their game at Hunwick because of a waterlogged pitch, but they made up for it the following day when they toppled the leaders by 58 runs.

Paul Cassell looked to have put Littletown in the driving seat with a spell of 5-22, but contributions throughout the order lifted Burnhope to a total of 142, and despite initial resistance from Greg Arundel (31) the leaders were sent crashing out for 84 as Michael Fraser (6-24) and Ritchie Omar (4-18) combined to devastating effect.

Victory took Burnhope a single point clear of Littletown, although the latter do have a game in hand, but Houghton were the biggest movers over the weekend as they followed a 112-run hammering of once mighty Kimblesworth with an eight wicket thrashing of Stanhope, those results lifting them to within five points of the summit.

Whilst both successes were built on an all-round team effort, Nicky Lawson particularly enjoyed his two days in the sun adding a Sunday best of 5-12 to the previous day’s haul of 4-10 to make it nine for 22 across the two games.

Kimblesworth recovered their composure in time to record a 102-run victory over Tantobie on Sunday, Dave Showler’s burst of 6-28 ensuring success after Dave Punshon had hit 63 out of Kimbles’ total of 172-5, but for Stanhope the Burnhope beating followed quickly on the heels of a 107-run defeat at the hands of East Rainton on Saturday.

Chris Vallance’s unbeaten 74 set Rainton on the path to a total of 180-8, and then Rachel Petherick (5-18) and Ian Kitching (4-5) brought a swift end to proceedings.

The individual highlight on Saturday came at Wearmouth where home bowler Adam Bewick claimed the magnficent figures of nine wickets for 17 runs from 11.5 overs, seven of which were maidens. This startling effort saw his team record a narrow 16 run win after being skittled for just 83 themselves.

And there were more low scores at Simonside where Beamish were bowled out for 109 in 44 overs, with Stephen Winter (5-22 from 12 overs) and Mark Smith (3-28) the destroyers in chief.

But it wasn’t enough to earn their side a win as Beamish bit back to rout the home team for 72, Richard Deacon (3-11 from 11 overs) leading an effective four-pronged attack.