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BACK to form Richmondshire closed a ten point gap which the new leaders, Barnard Castle, opened up just a week ago and now share top place in one of the most open-ended championships for years.

But what a battle the Dalesmen faced before beating one of the teams fighting the threat of relegation, a revitalised Redcar coming within ten runs of pulling off one of the great surprises of the season.

At the same time Barnard Castle were held to a draw by Norton, another side in the bottom four, who made a massive recovery from the loss of half their team cheaply to stop their high flying rivals staying as table-toppers in their own right.

The Dalesmen won because of a late batting collapse in which the last three Redcar wickets fell for the addition of only one run. Challenged to score 184 for victory, they got to 173-7 when another brilliant innings by ‘pro’ Usman Arshad (76) ended, only to suffer the horrendous collapse with victory snatched from under their noses.

Mike Layfield returned to his personal best form with 80 runs from 119 balls, including 12 fours and two sixes, to show the way for Richmond, sharing a second wicket stand worth 83 with Gary Pratt (36). But Callum Brown (4-58), Mohammed Zahid (3-56) and Dale Metcalfe (2-26) helped to keep the others among their hosts relatively subdued.

In Redcar’s reply, Brown (31 from 42 balls) showed what great all-round skills he possesses before Arshad smashed 11 boundaries in the sweetest of innings, taking his run making to close on 400 in five games. It was such a blow to him to find his efforts in vain as the tailenders slumped. But the league’s top wicket taker, Toby Bulcock (4-56 from 14.4 overs) and Pratt (3-10 from seven overs) played a massive role in swinging the game in Richmond’s favour.

Former ‘pro’, Marc Symington was Norton’s hero with 75 against Barnard Castle leading the side from 42-5 to finish on 175-9. He also took up vital time as they never looked likely to get anywhere close to the 223-5 which the home side scored. His match saving innings saw him face 142 balls from which he hit ten fours and a six.

A second wicket partnership of 129 between Aamer Sajjad (84 from 92 balls) and Simon Tennant (71 from 105 balls) put Barney in a winning mood, only to be spiked by Symington before Peter Armstrong safely played out the last seven balls to take useful draw points.

Stokesley, who have a game in hand over the top two, moved from fifth to third place ready to pounce when they play that extra match next Sunday. They strolled to a nine wicket win over Normanby Hall after being set 175 runs and reaching their target in 219 balls.

Fit again Andrew Weighell hit a magnificent unbeaten 98 with 16 fours and a six as he shared the wicket for all but 14 balls with brother Jonny, who made 63 with nine fours and a six. Normanby had lost just five wickets in their innings.

Middlesbrough and Great Ayton fought over fascinating draw points at Acklam Park with two of the league’s outstanding professionals, James Lowe (71) and Chris Batchelor (70), top scoring for their respective teams. Lowe faced 92 balls and hit 11 fours sharing in an opening stand worth 78. Then Steve Reeves (45) partnered Lowe for the next 61 runs. Boro made 203-8 with Steve Pennock (4-24) and Michael Croft (3-27) doing most of the damage as six wickets fell at one stage for 43 runs. Ayton were just 16 runs away from victory on 188-8 after a late 43-run surge by Croft (24 not out) and John Grainge. Reeves took four wickets to slow down the late fight.

Struggling Marton had a better day against rivals who consider them as a bogey side with Jack Vickerman (37 not out) and Tom Sowerby (26 not out) grabbing 48 in an unbroken seventh wicket stand for Darlington after tottering at 70-5. They finished on 152-6. Marton reached 199-4 after a desperately slow start, with Hasantha Fernando (82) and Tom Urwin (64) sharing a stand of 92.

An unbeaten 76 from Martin Hood saw Guisborough (181-8) home against Seaton Carew (179), while Marske’s unpredictability was evident at Hartlepool for whom Lewis Stabler (57 not out) took the score from 122-8 to 176 without further loss to win dramatically. Callum Prosser took six wickets for Pool.

In Division One, Billingham continued their drive for promotion with their 11th win in 15 games and now head Whitby by 22 points.