BURNMOOR crashed to their first defeat of the summer and, along with their unbeaten tag, also surrendered their season-long leadership of the First Division.

Dawdon hit the high spots as they swept away Marsden to go top, and, with both Tudhoe and Esh Winning securing emphatic victories the championship race has a different complexion.

The Moor went into their match at Horden hoping to hit the halfway point of the season without losing, but in turning the form book upside down their bogey team took away that record at the same time as toppling them from their perch.

The hosts ended a run of four consecutive defeats in style, knocking off a target of 173 in 30.4 overs with six wickets to spare as Wayne Birks cracked 13 boundaries on his way to 83 from 61 balls.

Earlier Stephen Meek’s 72 gave the champions the confidence to declare in the 47th over with six wickets down, but that attacking move backfired in dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile, Dawdon were routing Marsden, blasting them out for 123 in 34 overs despite a defiant 49 from Chris Mann.

Anthony Watson and Liam Cowell shared eight wickets for the home team who then went on to secure victory by eight wickets inside 29 overs as Alan Anderson (63) rushed his team to the top of the league.

Tudhoe were even more clinical in their demolition of bottom club Evenwood, South African Kushen Kishen (5-38) and Ian Grainger (4-23) blasting the home team out for 65 in 17.3 overs to set up a seven wicket win in 9.1 overs. They are now third in the table, 30 points off the summit.

And Esh Winning bounced back from two consecutive defeats with a maximum points haul at Bunker Hill that took them up to fourth.

An unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 138 between Jalat Khan (69no with three fours and four sixes) and John Hodgson (67no from 50 balls) enabled Esh to declare after 45 overs on 227-5, then Khan (3-21 from 12 overs) joined with Paul Chivers (4- 40) to pull the rug from under Philadelphia’s feet as they subsided to 134 all out.

The Northern Echo:
AT THE CREASE: Esh Winning batsman Michael Robson hits out against Philadelphia. Picture: DAVID WOOD

Boldon CA made it two defeats in a row for Castle Eden as they eased to a 34-run home win.

Hylton moved out of the bottom two with an impressive five-wicket home victory over Easington inspired by Alan Mustard (61) and Darren Walton (60).

Mainsforth tumbled to a two-wicket home defeat to Crook after being bowled out for 76.

Wins for Whiteleas, Bill Quay and Seaham Park ensured the trio lopped a big chunk off Durham City’s lead at the top of Division Two.

City were sitting Saturday out and their three closest rivals made full use of the opportunity to make up ground, with Leas defeating Ryhope by 92 runs after rattling up 244-5.

Skipper Ray McRae (78no) and pro Hamad Ul Hassan (90) were the driving forces with the bat, while Kris Mc- Shane (4-37) headed an incisive attack which bowled the visitors out for 152.

Faz Hussain took six wickets for Murton, but couldn’t prevent visitors Bill Quay setting a target of 197-8 in 45 overs after Micky Orridge provided a thrilling finale to the innings with a rapid unbeaten 64. Davey Brown and Anoop Pai then shared six wickets as the home team subsided to 112 all out.

An Ali Watson hat-trick ended the game in a rush at Langley Park, the home team bowled out for 108 in 27 overs when trying to chase down a Seaham Park target of 181-7, John Sample’s 61 runs providing some much needed backbone to their innings after the first four batsmen went for just 12 runs between them.