Federation Special Durham Senior League: Eppleton moved to within seven points of leaders Horden, making the chase for the championship more intense.

This evolved when the leaders drew at Burnmoor and Eppleton collected maximum points against Hetton Lyons.

On a batsman-friendly surface at Burnmoor the home side overcame the shock of losing Barry Dews to the second delivery of the game. Mark Benfield though repaired this initial damage.

Along with Neil Young, the pair added 112 in 87 minutes before Benfield was joined by John Tindale. Another fruitful partnershiop developed before the declaration was made on 225 with Benfield ending with an undefeated century.

Horden's intent onmaking sure they didn't lose, meant the game moving into a stalemate quickly and their 46 overs produced just 119 runs when stumps were drawn.

Three run-outs didn't help Hetton Lyons who struggled to reach 123 against neighbours Eppleton. Gary Hulme again turned up trumps with four wickets before his side began their reply. Sean Birbeck (52 not out) and Neil McKinney (45) soon engineered a comfortable seven-wicket win.

Durham City still remain without a win as a result of Felling's eight-wicket victory. Veteran spin bowler Tom Brown led the wicket-takers with 4-31. Chris Pleasants and 15-year old Paul Leonard had three wickets each and City were all out for just 96. Felling were never in danger of losing and Graham Wright (36 not out) saw that Felling registered their fourth win.

Whitburn recovered remarkably well at Boldon when it appeared that their innings was about to collapse. At 54 for five wickets, only Neil Johnson (81) had survived the early bowling of Philip Shakespeare (5-64). Johnson then found support from David Bell and Michael Smith but it was skipper Tony Shields (50) who gave Johnson most help. The pair added 110 in just 60 minutes.

The final score of 246 was a tall order for Boldon in the time remaining. Captain Chris Ellison produced 85 with Richard Potter (51 not out) but the total remained distant. In the end, 62 still separated the two sides.

Marsden retained their unbeaten record in a game which fluctuated against South Shields. When Marsden professional Sean De Kretser (90) added 92 in 76 minutes, with Chris Mann, Marsden were on the ascendancy. They then lost four wickets for just seven runs in the middle of the innings and eventually ended with 172.

Shields then had an early collapse and at 55 for five wickets were in danger of defeat.

Paul Muchall (38 not out) and Richard Binns (32) led a recovery which provided them with a chance.

They needed 73 from the final hour but then lost Binns. Muchall and Michael Dunn kept them in the game but Shields fell short and a draw was the outcome.

The South Hetton batsmen scored freely against Seaham Harbour. Bob Steel (78) and Dean Burrows (40) set the tempo before Peter Nord (61 not out) again made a useful contribution as Seaham tried six bowlers in an unsuccessful attempt to curb the runs.

Although Martin Gill (83 not out) stood firm, the South Hetton bowlers shared the other wickets and they had 50 runs to spare when the final wicket was taken.