Durham and Cleveland SRA Principia Cups: Chester-le-Street successfully defended their Principia Women's Cup title with a 3-1 win over Darlington recently at Nunthorpe SC.

The favourites were handicapped eight points each player each game and collected seven games in total, but could not clinch enough to secure the result.

The victorious players were Lesley Winstanley, Sue Middlemast, Pam Rowe and substitute Rosy Malley in place of unavailable regular Lynn Robson. Chester had just made the final after a nail-biting semi-final 8-7 win over Durham with the rubbers tied at 2-2. Darlington had beaten their own seconds in the other semi-final by 4-0.

The Men's Cup went to Nunthorpe V of division six in the D and C League with a whitewash of Darlington V having a start of four points each game. They beat Chester-le-Street III in the semi-final and Darlington had defeated Nunthorpe III each by 3-2.

The winning players for Nunthorpe V were Mike Cinderey, Jeff Graham, Richard Collins, Ben Harrison and Mick Smith. Peter Collins was number five in the semi, while Stuart Ruddock had been a regular up to then. Interestingly, the two youngest players, Collins and Harrison, both 15, as third and fourth strings went through the whole of the tournament unbeaten.

Darlington V had an impressive run to the last four not dropping even one set and the two they lost in the semi-finals occurred after they had already taken a winning 3-0 lead.

Results - Principia Women's Cup Finals: Chester-le-Street 3, Darlington (-8) 1: Lesley Winstanley bt Sarah Hirst 3-1; Sue Middlemast bt Tracey Spears 3-1; Pam Rowe bt Diane Harker 3-2; Rosy Malley lost to Micaela Harris 0-3.

Semi-finals: Durham 2 (7), Chester-le-Street (-5) 2 (8): Vicky Smith lost to L Winstanley 1-3; Joan Gillespie bt S Middlemast 3-2; Pat Walling lost to P Rowe 0-3; Maureen Dwell bt R Malley 3-0.

Principia Men's Cup Final: Nunthorpe V (+4) 5, Darlington V 0: Mike Cinderey bt Richard Roff 3-1; Jeff Graham bt Peter Windram 3-0; Richard Collins bt Geoff Watson 3-0; Ben Harrison bt Andy Knapton 3-2; Mick Smith bt Andrew Scott 3-0.

Semi-finals: Nunthorpe III 2, Darlington V (+4) 3: Eric Fletcher lost to R Roff 0-3; Michael Angus lost to P Windram 1-3; John Palmer bt G Watson 3-0; Brian Lewis lost to A Knapton 2-3; Andy Goldsborough bt A Scott 3-0.

Chester-le-Street III 2, Nunthorpe V (+6) 3: Dave Todd bt M Cinderey 3-1; Mike Conway bt J Graham 3-0; Dave Middlemast lost to R Collins 0-3; John Shaw lost to B Harrison 0-3; Paul Gibson lost to Peter Collins 0-3.

Quarter-finals: Chester-le-Street III 3, Thornaby Pavilion 2; Nunthorpe V 4, Norton Hall 1; Darlington V 3, Guisborough III 2; Aycliffe 2, Nunthorpe III 3.