Darlington Building Society NYSD ECB Premier League

IT was all-change in the race for the championship, as Richmondshire took back their place at the top when Marske, who had held the position for nine successive weekends, had their hopes crushed by rain and relegation-threatened opponents.

A battling Billingham Synthonia side held them to a draw from which they could only take a meagre seven points, having failed to chase down 172 runs when they lost seven of their 50 overs due to the weather break.

Marske have played a game less than the new leaders, whose day ended with an impressive victory over bottom club Normanby Hall, which has given them an eight-point advantage.

The Dalesmen held their hosts to a modest 135 with pro Toby Bulcock (3-46) and Craig Marshall (3-30) each bowling 15 accurate overs. Hall's professional, Aamer Sajjad, who hit 46 from 67 balls with five boundaries and stumper, Chris Veazey (32 from 85) featured in a partnership worth 44 runs. But the Hall produced a poor start, losing three wickets for 24, and an equally uninspired finish with the last five batters collecting 37.

Richmondshire showed the difference in strength as they won by eight wickets, making the runs needed within 31 overs with Gary Pratt unbeaten on 57. He faced 83 balls and included four fours and a six in his repertoire, with Mike Layfield hitting 44 from 39 balls.

Marske's bowling seemed off colour as they were unable to bowl out Billingham. Alston Bobb top scored with 39, Faisal Hussain added an unbeaten 30 and Elliot Holmes made 23 as they lost just seven wickets in setting their target of which the Seasiders fell short by 34 runs. They finished on 138-7 after Lee Hodgson (43 from 75 balls) and Saeed Bin Nasir (33 from 67 balls) had shared a 41-run stand to take them to 104 in the 28th over.

The second wicket fell just as they seemed set to start a winning chase with 15 overs left. Bobb (3-35) and Martin Cull (3-31) were able to turn the tables and five more wickets fell with 29 more runs added.

Darlington pepped up their challenge as championship outsiders with an eight-wicket win over Hartlepool as James Sutton hit one of the day's three centuries. His unbeaten 103 came from 152 balls with 15 fours. Pool made 181-8 with 58 from Phil Mustard and 42 from Lewis Stabler. But Connor Whitelock (3-54) and Liam Coates (2-24) kept the score to reasonable proportions from their 15 overs apiece. Darlington needed 47 from the last nine overs to win and did it with eight balls to spare.

The other century makers were Middlesbrough's Adil Ditta, unbeaten on 135 from 129 balls against Norton for whom Craig Symington was undefeated on 116 at Acklam Park. Ditta hit 76 in boundaries and shared a stand worth 96 with Paul Johnston (48 from 82 balls) as Boro made 229-7. But Norton were 13 runs behind on 216-5 after Symington's exciting chase ended with honours even.

Guisborough's Shani Dissanayake enjoyed a great all-round display at Stokesley, taking 6-21 from 12.1 overs and hitting an unbeaten 43 not out to see his team over the winning line by a five-wicket margin. Jonny Weighell made 41 runs and brother Andrew took 3-16 in a magnificent 15-over spell, but Stokesley continued to struggle after being devastated by injuries and their all-out score of 105 was taken apart in 37 overs, by the Priory club.

Seaton Carew showed how much more resilient they have become when up against the better teams in a drawn finish at Great Ayton. The home side were bowled out for 206 with Chris Batchelor missing out on a century by 12 runs, but Seaton replied with 158-8. Kashif Ali (44), Paul Braithwaite (31), Usman Arshad (26) and Martin Skirving (25) showed quality, although Steve Pennock (3-8 from four overs) made a final assault to win Ayton the game.