ON A day of top two battles Tynedale regained the leadership of Division A1 as they defeated the team who had temporarily replaced them, Annfield Plain, and Bedlington put themselves in a great position to claim the Division A2 title at the first time of asking as they humbled challengers Percy Main.

Tynedale were 18-4 at one stage of their game against the Plain, Neil Killeen wreaking early havoc in a spell which eventually went on to yield impressive figures of 5-30, but battling knocks from Johnny Meadows (44 from 62 balls) and James Rainford (42 from 103 balls) enabled the home team to scramble up to 189.

And that proved to be more than enough as Richard Darling ripped through the visitors in 12 overs, claiming 7-34 as Annfield collapsed to 73 all out inside 25 overs.

The defeat saw Plain drop down to third as Shotley Bridge overcame Consett by four wickets to lay claim to second spot, just five points adrift of Tynedale.

It was a workmanlike performance by the Bridge, Joe Gibson (4-34 from 11 overs) spearheading an accurate attack which held the home team to a 46 over total of 165, and then Phil Brown compiling a solid 61 to provide the foundations for success, the winning runs coming with one over to spare.

Swalwell are gradually working their way into the thick of the title race, their 133-run hammering of Ponteland sending out very clear signals to the teams above them.

Chris Hewison (62 from 86 balls) and James Welch (60 from 71 balls) provided the backbone of Swalwell’s 241-6, and then Guy Saxton completed the job with a burst of 5-33 which left the home team reply in ruins on 111 all out.

Swalwell are now just 20 points off the summit, and with 10 games still to play they are eyeing up an eighth consecutive title.

Meanwhile Ashington are still on the fringe of the race after notching up an impressive eight wicket home win over Lanchester, Callum Storey once again the key man as he bagged 5-18 from 10 overs.

Set a modest target of 128 Anirudh Singh did the rest with an unbeaten 74, 58 of the runs coming in boundaries.

Bedlington went 15 points clear of the rest in Division A2 with a 70-run win over closest rivals Percy Main, and with another gap of 18 points back to third the Terriers look like making it two promotions in a row.

Main’s Richie Walker looked to have given his side the upper hand as his spell of 6-31 held Bedlington in check on 169, but with Matt Tanney and Nicky Douglas sharing six cheap wickets Percy petered out for just 99.