Hood weathers rain to help Marske to victory

Rain and bad light were never far away on the opening day of the season as only two sides won because several games ended prematurely.

The weather held up long enough at the seaside though for both Marske and Redcar to celebrate early successes.

Tim Hood bowled Marske into a winning position against visitors Richmondshire. He claimed seven of the wickets for just 36 runs in an impressive 14-overs spell and despite 66 from opener Mark Layfield, with a six and ten boundaries and an unbeaten 54 from Adam Smith, Richmond managed just 154-9 from their 50 overs.

Neil Coverdale (36) and Jonathan Wiltshire gave the Marske reply an encouraging send-off before Ian Coverdale and Fahim Fazal both passed 30 securing a six-wickets win for last season's runners-up.

The margin of Redcar's victory over Thornaby was only 21 runs at the end of a low-scoring game. Andy Hassack's late contribution of 31 was vital to the home team's total of 129 as Chris Nichols, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Ian Still all took three wickets.

Neil Muldowney led Thornaby's reply with a half century, but no other player managed double figures as the innings closed on 108. Dulip Samaraweera bowled an economical end picking up four wickets for a meagre 16 runs and Steve McGarry returned 3-36.

With Darren Blenkiron still there unbeaten on 63, an interesting finale was in prospect between champions Guisborough and newly-promoted Bishop Auckland at Fountains Garth.

There were still 16 overs to bowl when the weather intervened with Bishops on 119-2 still requiring another 104 runs with eight wickets intact. At that stage, Blenkiron had struck nine boundaries.

Guisborough's 50 overs produced 222 for the loss of eight wickets and most of the runs came from Saul Clifford, who had a six and seven fours in his 47 while Richard Dunn also recorded one six and ten boundaries adding 66. Phil Thomas bowled a splendid end in the Bishop's attack, conceding only 69 runs in 25 overs for five wickets.

Blackhall needed only another 38 runs with 24 overs remaining in their home game with Hartlepool. Their five-man attack pegged Pools to 150-9 from their 50 overs, the innings including a half century from Gary Tebbett, who found the boundary line on six occasions.

Although the Collierymen lost an early wicket, John Darby and Tony Booth quickly established a second-wicket partnership. Following the dismissal of Darby, Booth (42 not out) and Ben Usher, who carried his bat for 27, took Blackhall to within sight of victory when the rain arrived.

Bad light won the day at Northallerton, who were 30 runs short of a winning margin with six wickets intact. Middlesbrough's 179 was built around innings of 37 from Mark Croft, 30 from Mark Foster and a top-scoring 41 by Martin Ball. Jonathan Barnes was his usual economical self in the Northallerton attack returning the figures of 4-69 from 22 overs.

The home side quickly overcame the loss of an early wicket as Albert Aurelius (37) and Jerry Hall (40) put together a second-wicket stand. Captain Ian Gill maintained the offensive, hitting five boundaries in an undefeated 30 before the game was halted.

Darlington, seeking revenge for a final-day defeat by Darlington RA which cost them the championship last season, were 48 without loss at Feethams. Neil Pratt had struck an unbeaten 33 to add to the three wickets he took when RA were all out for 171.

Top performer with the ball for Darlington though was Mark Stainsby whose six wickets were taken for just 48 runs. Darren Hickey was the mainstay of the RA innings, cracking 76 to present the hosts with a reasonable target.

Mohamed Zahid made a good start in his second year as professional with Normanby Hall taking the wickets of the two leading scorers to finish with 5-75 in the home game with Saltburn.

Phil Ramage and Tony Bell both added half centuries to the Seasiders' total of 190-6 and when the game had to be abandoned, the Hall were 143-4.