Durham Senior League: Burnmoor and Hetton Lyons issued a warning to leaders Boldon that they are still in contention as the title race approaches its latter stages.

Both hustled out the opposition while Boldon were hindered by a torrential downpour which interrupted their game with South Hetton.

After they had made early inroads into the batting, Gareth Smith and Philip Shakespeare saw South Hetton to 55 for three before the rain arrived.

In total 110 minutes were lost and on the resumption John Leslie went on to complete an unbeaten century. He cracked 11 fours and six sixes in his 117 and South Hetton reached 191 before declaring.

Boldon's problems began quickly when they lost three wickets with an hour to go and survival was then their main objective. This they managed but only collected eight points in the process when David Wilkinson's pace (5-43) caused them headaches.

Burnmoor narrowed the gap to 14 points with a polished display at Horden. Skipper Adrian Hedley's 50 highlighted a modest Horden total of 82. Neil Young (4-27) again turned up trumps and Michael Callaghan's welcome return brought him 3-9.

The Moors had little difficulty in hitting the runs needed.

Durham City were cleaned out in just 25 overs at Hetton Lyons. It was Des Beach who took the honours having City back in the pavilion in no time. His 9-16 in 12 overs was the best performance of the season. The opposition could only muster 34 which Hetton overhauled in just 20 minutes.

South Shields were no match for neighbours Whitburn who were always in control of a one-sided game. When both Shields' openers had been despatched with the total on eight, they faced an uphill battle. Ashok Patel (51) was their main hope. The left-handed player displayed some lovely strokes in his half century but an uncharacteristic shot proved his downfall at a crucial time.

The young Shields tail-end batsmen were then exposed.

Ashley Thorpe (4-35) took full advantage and with useful support from Neil Johnson (3-23) Whitburn were left chasing just 112 to win.

This proved unproblematic. Neil Ayre (30) and Thorpe (45 not out) took the bowling to task and Whitburn won by eight wickets.

Eppleton lost little time in completing a comprehensive win at Seaham Harbour. Matthew Young (39 not out) top-scored for Seaham but three wickets apiece from Matthew Jane and Elliott Hughes saw the Harbour all out for 83.

Eppleton then needed just 18.4 overs to complete the rout. Shaun Birbeck was unbeaten with 65 at the close.