ALLENDALE took a big step towards clinching the Division One title with a vital victory over reigning champions Stocksfield .

With second placed Matfen Hall gifted maximum points when Wylam conceded their fixture, the pressure was on table topping Allendale to perform.

And they did just that to go into the final three games 13 points clear, looking to add to their KO Cup trophy picked up in July.

They were strong all-round during the victory over Stocksfield, confident they had restricted their opponents to 50 less runs than what was expected.

Their openers Ross Laidlaw and Tim Raglan were unable to find the breakthrough initially with Jonny Tobin and Matt Bewick ticking the score on.

But Liam Pringle continued his impressive form and saw off Tobin, Graeme Tolchard and Phill Bewick, with Geoff Sparke having Matt Bewick caught by Alan Craig.

Raglan returned to the attack and claimed the big wicket of Stocksfield captain Ali Thirlwell who looked in attacking mode with a four and a six, alongside son Rob who was keen to stick around.

Raglan removed Alex Roney and Matty Scott, bowling in tandem with brother Rhys, had James Tolchard caught by Dan Mills, but the hosts were unable to bowl their opponents all out.

Allendale suffered a shock as they chased the total down, Ali Stobbs going for a duck in the second over with James Tolchard taking a catch from Tobin.

But Raglan and Laidlaw geared their side towards victory, both opening up their bodies as the former hit four fours and the same amount of sixes to reach his 50 during a 70-odd run partnership.

Laidlaw kept plugging away when Raglan hit one to Ali Thirlwell off Aaron Rourke, joined by Raglan's brother Jack who edged them even closer to victory before Ali Thirlwell claimed both him and Matty Scott.

A late cameo from John Welch alongside Laidlaw got Allendale over the line with the first ball of the 28th over.

Haltwhistle stopped the rot as they returned to winning ways after four defeats, the team putting in a good performance in the victory over Hexham Leazes .

Stand-in captain Michael Parker put Leazes into bat first, and they got off to a steady start with Andrew Whitaker racking the runs up alongside Raji Kingman.

With Ben Cousins accounting for both openers, the wickets started to be shared around with John Armstrong, Jonny Wallace and Lewis Swallow all taking two as well.

Dan Parker joined his colleagues on two wickets too, including the big wicket of Billy Kingman who batted really well for his 50.

Scoring was slow in reply for Haltwhistle as openers Dan Parker and Carl Bell made just 23 off the opening 16 overs.

But their game plan was not to lose wickets and it worked to perfection, Parker significantly increasing the run rate when he got his eye in to power his way to 81.

Andrew Webster came in to attack late on and claimed four wickets to make things a little tricky, but it was comfortable in the end for Halty as they found the runs with the first ball of the penultimate over.

Five wickets from Stephen Thompson saw Humshaugh inflict a heavy defeat on Haydon Bridge .

Thompson, who has been in and out of the first team this season, really made his mark as Bridge were all out for just 67 runs.

Teammate Jack Garrett made things difficult for Bridge's openers and he removed both Ian Watson and Tom Waugh, but it was first change Thompson who stole the show by taking the wickets of Mick Cunningham, Keith Carruthers, Liam Stephenson, Gavin Boyd and Graeme Pigg.

Crispin Straker picked up the important wicket of Jamie Taylor who looked in great form, with Nathan Byerley finishing things off by removing Greg Liddle and Joe Hines.

Haydon Bridge's bowlers kept things tight and scoring was difficult to come by, even though Humshaugh were chasing such a low score.

Ed Crawford went early to a catch by Carruthers off Taylor, but Allan Murray and Byerley ticked things along steadily.

Both went to the bowling of Waugh, leaving Simon Turner and Nick Reid to guide Humshaugh home.

The in-form South Northumberland 1864 jumped up to third in the table as a result of their crushing 10 wicket success over Benwell Hill III .

Benwell didn't even get to 20 overs as they were bowled out for a miserly 36 runs, South North's bowlers firmly in control of proceedings.

Only Assanka Jayaweera managed to get out of single figures for Benwell, with Cameron Skinner, Simon West, Intisaar Ul Haq Fazal and Matthew Nice ruthless with the ball.

The total was reached in 44 balls as Bobby Green went in search of a quick finish, his 29 aided by nine from Fazal as they sailed to maximum points.

Newcastle III weren't able to field a team for their trip to Newton , and it was a similar story in Division Two when Clara Vale II conceded their fixture at Hexham Leazes II .