Guisborough have dropped into the relegation places. Although they prevented leaders Great Ayton from beating them at Leven Park, they were leapfrogged by Seaton Carew, who won at Marske.

Of the 12 games played by the Priorymen, they have drawn seven; hard to beat, but they are not collecting enough points from those draws.

However, they only drew this game thanks to number nine Colin Murray, 24 not out, and last man Chris Nicholls, 15 not out, holding out for the draw. Professional Shanuka Dissanayake batted well for 38 and Neil Russell added 25, in a total of 143-9.

Walid Ghauri was the pick of the bowling taking 4-12, but his efforts were not enough for the full 25 points.

Ayton scored 226-4 with Phil Holdsworth making 57, Chris Allinson 60 and professional Pitigala Jeewantha added 39, with Ghauri batting at five made making a solid 50 not out, with Chris Nicholls bowling tidily again, 2-46.

Seaton Carew will be delighted that they have escaped the two relegation places for now, as they had an excellent win at Marske, and by a healthy 95-run margin.

Seaton amassed 222 all out, with Usman Arshad making 73 before he was run out and skipper Paul Braithwaite added 60, before David Braithwaite contributed with 47. Benjamin Van Rensburg bowled really well and took 6-34, with support from Sam Berry’s 3-76.

Marske were many people’s choice to have serious title aspirations this season, but they have struggled.

Although most of their top order batsmen all made a start this time, excellent bowling from Danny Thomas with 3-34 and then Arshad with an excellent 4-22, ensured a great win Seaton.

Hartlepool are in trouble, after a crushing 75 run defeat at Darlington and although Pools have a 26 point cushion over Guisborough, they will be concerned at their recent form.

The visitors asked the home side to bat first and they made 189-5, with opener Nathan Wright making 75 and Muhammed Saad, who made 76, with Doug Mulholland taking 3-50.

Johnny Barnes made early inroads to the visitors batting, removing both Jonathan Rickard and John Watson cheaply, before Connor Whitelock got to work with the ball taking an excellent 3-14.

Once Harsha Vithana was run out without scoring, the game was over as a contest and although Mulholland made it look easy with 45 not out, this was a routine win for Darlington.

At the top, Barnard Castle made full use of winning the toss and taking the maximum 25 points at Norton. They have now reduced the lead to 18 points, behind leaders Great Ayton. They made 235-4 declared, off just 38 overs, with James Quinn leading the way making 116, which included 10 fours and five sixes, off 105 balls. Skipper James Finch then contributed 76, Including 12 fours off 97 balls, allowing the quick declaration, with Adam Fenby taking 3-75 with the ball.

Although Norton made a steady start, Simon Tennant soon got to work with the ball, taking 4-40 off 11 overs, with Chris Parr making 33 runs for the home side. However this was nowhere near enough and they were all out for 132, losing by 103 runs.

Stokesley slipped to fourth position after they were defeated at home to Marton by five wickets.

Man-of-the-match Alex Wardell, the visiting skipper, took 4-34, assisted by Mohammed Zahid who returned 3-14, to keep the home batsmen in check, eventually bowling them for 125.

Tom Preece batted well for 38 off 60 balls, but Wardell and Zahid would not let them get away. When the visitors batted, Wardell opened and made 31, despite the efforts of home skipper Andrew Weighell, who took 4-54, and Danny Kitching made 36 not out.

Richmondshire made full use of Stokesley’s loss, when they travelled to Acklam Park and beat Middlesbrough by six wickets. The Dalesmen moved into third, despite Boro skipper James Lowe scoring a fine 89, to lead his side to 173 all out, with Craig Marshall taking 4-49.

Opener Gary Pratt then made 73 not out, off 118 balls, which included seven fours and a six, and Mike Layfield smashed seven fours in his innings of 41 runs off 46 balls, to ensure an early finish.