An unexpected defeat for Chester-le-Street put leaders Stockton further in control of their first championship bid with their advantage as table-toppers extended by ten points to 38 - despite being held to a draw against Newcastle.

The Cestrians were beaten by Benwell Hill, who leapfrogged them into second place.

It was an unhappy afternoon for the visitors' batsmen with the exception of Usman Arshad (52) and Chris Youldon (41) who were able to hold their heads high.

David Rutherford (3-33 from 20 overs) and Matthew Rodger (3-31) put Benwell on top and Chester's 205-9 would have been even less challenging had it not been for a last wicket partnership of 41 between Andrew Bell (27 not out) and Josh Wilson (22 not out).

After taking two of the other wickets, Zohaib Khan led the victory charge with an unbeaten 52 as Benwell enjoyed one of their best successes.

Opener Sameet Brar (46) set the pace before Alistair Maiden (38 not out) joined the Khan inspired partnership to celebrate with seven wickets still intact.

Stockton's exceptional batting power was again on view at Grangefield as they reached 275-6 before declaring after 53 overs. Peter Howells (65 not out) top scored but there was tremendous support from Matthew Brown (59), Kevin Ward (56) and Keaton Jennings (45), who between them hit 23 boundaries.

The wicket remained a batsmen's paradise as Jack du Toit (79) led the Newcastle fightback. They reached 197-4, 78 runs short of the target set with Ben Raine (41 not out) and Neil Corby (38) joining the runfest.

The Teessiders gained the bigger share of the points from the draw to keep well ahead of the chasing pack.

Durham Academy were beaten for the third time this season, routed by Blaydon. They were never at the races, bowled out for a meagre 95 runs with Gary Stewart (5-21) and Graeme Bridge (3-22) doing most of the damage. With the first four wickets gone for ten runs, and half the side out for 41 runs, the students were never able to recover. Blaydon won by seven wickets in 31.2 overs.

There was another impressive victory for Hetton Lyons at South Shields who were without Tom Latham. He was on T20 duty with the New Zealand international squad and how they missed him as they were bowled out for 156 to lose by 17 runs.

Bottom club Gateshead Fell sprang the day's biggest surprise by winning at Sunderland to move to within four point touching distance of safety.

In the first division, South Hetton emerged as Whitburn's closest challengers when they hammered Boldon by 143 runs, John Leslie and Murtuza Hussain sharing all ten wickets as Boldon were routed for 88 in only 29 overs. Gary Burlinson's 61 had helped put Hetton in the driving seat with a 55 over total of 231-9.

Whitburn remained well clear of the chasing pack with their fifth win of an impressive season, beating Eppleton by eight wickets after bowling them out for 111 with Neil Johnson (5-21) providing the cutting edge. Ross Carty (53) and Neil Ayre (40no) then squeezed the life out of the visitors with an opening stand of 96.

Washington turned in the performance of the day, beating Brandon by 63 runs after Lee Rushworth struck a wonderful 106 out of 238-7.

The home team then got a solid start with an opening partnership of 75, but when Karl Turner fell for 48 it heralded the fall of all ten wickets for 100 runs as Jordan Matthews picked up 4-73.