Foster's Durham Senior League: Just two points separate Whitburn from nearest rivals Hetton Lyons after the league leaders were involved in an amazing conclusion to their game with Felling.

Chasing a formidable target of 241 to win, Whitburn lost three wickets in a frantic last over and with the scores level the match ended in a tie.

Meanwhile, Hetton Lyons were too strong for South Shields and consequently were never really under pressure chasing a moderate Shields score of 140.

Shields were indebted to Johnny Wightman (69) for holding their innings together and apart from Michael Dunn and Jimmy Gaff the rest of the batting left much to be desired.

Des Beach latched on to the batting lapses and his four wickets, along with Tommy Nixon's three for 31, enabled an early conclusion to the Shields innings.

Hetton Lyons raced to 61 before Shaun Birbeck (31) and Marc Hopkinson (37) were out after just ten overs. Some delightful stroke play from 16-year old Michael Walker (34 not out) then sealed a comprehensive win.

Felling captain Graham Wright smashed 134 off the Whitburn attack. He added 111 with Mark Douglas (44) and they declared at 240 when Wright was out.

Whitburn took up the challenge immediately and a productive opening stand saw Neil Ayre (72) and Paul Shields (30) add 110. Skipper David Bell (55) continued the brisk run-making and when the final over was reached, three runs were required for victory with three wickets in hand.

Youngster Paul Leonard bowled straight and dismissed Bell and Gary Ventress and Ian Elliott was run out off the final delivery to leave the scores level.

Marsden performed exceptionally well to successfully defend their score of 139 and beat Horden by 17 runs. A late 37 by number ten Rob Lawrence was the top score in a very modest total.

Nadeem Khan with five for 16 off 11 overs was largely responsible for this after Carl Watson had taken the first three wickets. The Marsden bowlers then gave little away as their five-pronged attack all contributed to Horden's downfall.

Eppleton hit the highest score of the day with 264 from their full quota of overs. Their openers Jimmy Daley (76) and Sean Ezzard (72) cracked 151 together in just 89 minutes which provided a platform for those who followed.

Burnmoor's reply began positvely when 50 came from the first ten overs. Half centuries from John Tindale and Neil Young took the Moors total near to 200 but not sufficient to concern Eppleton.

Seaham Harbour's batting again looked solid. Against South Hetton David Thompson top scored and his 70-run partnership with Steve Sennett for the seventh wicket hoisted Seaham to 219.

Bob Steel though was in fine form. Assisted by John Pendlington (55) the pair opened up with a partnership of 166. South Hetton raced to victory with Steel hitting his first century of the summer.

Bottom of the league Boldon drew their eighth match to date when they were held at Durham City. They were chasing 192 for victory - a tall order considering they had yet to reach 200 this term.

Grant Forster was not out 89 at the end and found the best support late on from Gareth Smith (35).

Like Forster, City's Tom Meredith (49) held his side's batting together. He became one of Orlanzo Jackson's four victims but Durham still had two wickets left at the close.