SATURDAY turned into a runmaking bonanza, with Stokesley captain Andrew Weighell and Great Ayton’s new South African professional Nick Hendrie hitting centuries.

The spectacular hitting of Weighell brought him a magnificent 159, his highest ever score, as he dismantled the Thornaby attack, with 15- year-old Tom Preece contributing to the 236-run opening stand, a club record in the Premier Division, with his best-ever senior score of 63.

Both were out in successive overs, with Weighell having hit 20 fours and four sixes from 132 balls and Preece reaching the boundary seven times from his 94-ball knock.

Thornaby couldn’t have expected to lose so heavily after rattling up an impressive 249- 4, with their new professional, Bathiya Perera, making 89 from 110 balls with nine fours and four sixes. Stokesley won by eight wickets.

Hendrie hit a maiden hundred against Barnard Castle but Ayton lost heavily to be toppled as league pacesetters.

Hendrie, who suffered a jetlagged golden duck on his Ayton debut the week before, looked quite magnificent in his 125-ball century, which included 58 in boundaries. Fellow professional Chris Batchelor was out for the first time this season and has an average of 198.

But Barney’s new pro, Aamer Sajjad, produced a match-winning unbeaten knock of 89 from 96 balls, including eight fours and four sixes, sharing a fourth-wicket unbeaten partnership of 110 with Ben Usher (42 not out).

A number of other games featured more top-quality batting, including 93 from Steve Naylor, Sedgefield’s professional, 80 from Guisborough’s Graham Murray and 82 from Hartlepool’s Neil Coverdale.

Naylor and his captain, Richard Hawthorne, scored 142 out of 187 against Marton as they held together a flimsy batting line-up. Hawthorne had to retire with a twisted knee on 90-1 before returning to be ninth out for 49.

The host club’s captain, Lee Hodgson, with six for 31 in 11 overs, was the outstanding bowler of the day but he was out without scoring as fellow pro Upul Indrasiri and Alex Wardell each hit undefeated half-centuries to win the match by seven wickets.

Coverdale and Murray were in opposition at Guisborough, where the hosts took 16 points from a ‘winning’ draw after reaching 249-6 and restricting Pool to 179-6 in reply.

Champions Richmondshire won for the first time this season when they beat newcomers Redcar, who struggled to 164, with Ollie Rodgers making 40. The home side amassed the winning runs for the loss of just two wickets as Gary Pratt (65 from 73 balls) and Mike Layfield (59 not out from 59 balls) hit 20 boundaries between them.

The Seasiders have lost their three opening matches, and with just five points are already adrift at the foot of the table.

The other new side in the league, Saltburn, are enjoying much better results but they had to hold out for three overs with their last pair at the wicket to earn a draw against Middlesbrough.

Paul Allen (41 and 3-56) was their man-of-the-match, while James Lowe (78 and 3-31) shared the star rating for Boro with Ryan Buckley (5-61).

Darlington regained the top spot when they defeated Normanby Hall by eight wickets on Saturday, and once again it was their bowlers who put them in the ascendancy as the Hall were bowled out for 126.

􀁧 On Monday, Darlington lost their leadership of the Premier Division when they were held to a draw by lowly Redcar, the Seasiders avoiding defeat for the first time this season. Six wickets from Callum Brown helped bring the Quakers down for 166 despite 62 from Lee Hutton, but then Mohammed Saad had to mastermind a successful backs to the wall effort, his unbeaten 61 coming from 105 balls and helping his side hold on at 140-8.

Marton took over the top spot when they walloped Saltburn by nine wickets after bowling them out for 94, Upul Indrasiri virtually unplayable as he took 6-14 in 8.2 overs.

Whalid Ghauri then rushed Marton to victory inside 25 overs with an unbeaten 59.

Stokesley moved into thirdplace contention when they won their third match in four outings by defeating hosts Sedgefield by four wickets in a low scoring game, Chris Allinson (4-23) and James Beaumont (4-22) the dominant forces.

Hot on their heels are Guisborough, who toppled Thornaby by 87 runs, and Great Ayton, who took 16 points from their draw against Normanby Hall after racking up 276-3, South African Nick Hendrie adding an unbeaten 78 to his Saturday century.

Barnard Castle won their third game on the trot, this time overwhelming Middlesbrough by 91 runs after a maiden century for Aamer Sajjad who finished 110 not out from 138 balls faced.

Chris West