THE lid was firmly kept on Haltwhistle’s usually fierce batting attack by Haydon Bridge’s impressive bowlers.

For the hosts restricted last year’s champions to just 46 runs when the neighbours met in a hotly contested West Tyne League fixture, allowing Bridge to claim maximum points in the five wicket success.

Jamie Taylor continued his form which saw him record the division’s best bowling average in 2015 by claiming the wickets of Halty’s main threats Joe Barber, Dan Parker, Ben Lloyd and Dan Kirkup. After Tom Waugh was replaced, Ian Watson came in and his slow bowling caused the hosts all sorts of problems as he claimed 5-6 from his six overs.

Haydon Bridge’s run chase started well with three fours in the opening over, but the dismissal of Neil Kendrew led to a regular fall of wickets.

Barber and Kirkup were bowling tight lines to make things difficult, but Taylor saw them over the line in the 22nd over with captain Graeme Pigg acting as anchor.

HAYDON BRIDGE v HALTWHISTLE

Haydon Bridge won by five wickets

HALTWHISTLE: J Barber c&b Taylor 4; D. Parker b Taylor 15; B. Lloyd b Taylor 5; G. Lee c Gradwell b Watson 0; R. Bell b Watson 6; D. Kirkup c Boyd b Taylor 6; P. Thompson c Taylor b Watson 4; L. Swallow not out 4; C. Bell c Welton b Watson 0; T. Nicholson st Welton b Watson 0; N. Bowerbank run out 0. Extras 2. Total 46ao.

Bowling: J. Taylor 7-0-24-4; T. Waugh 5.3-1-15-0; I. Watson 6-3-6-5. 

HAYDON BRIDGE: C. Welton c R. Bell b Kirkup 6; N. Kendrew b Barber 8; I. Watson b Kirkup 5; R. Gibson c R. Bell b Barber 7; L. Stephenson run out 0; J. Taylor not out 10; G. Pigg not out 5. Extras 6. Total 47-5. 

Bowling: J. Barber 11-3-19-2; D. Kirkup 10.1-4-24-2.

Haydon Bridge 12pts, Haltwhistle 2pts

Newcastle III caused a shock as they defeated in-form Allendale by two wickets in a high scoring spectacle.

Allendale posted a commanding 221 as they looked to make it four wins in a row, but a fantastic batting display by the home side saw them to a first victory of the campaign.

The visitors opened and the early dismissal of Tim Raglan, fresh from his 169 not out last week, proved key, although Allendale had plenty of runs in them throughout the order.

Ross Laidlaw made his half century and Eliot Corbel fell just short, and the total looked like it may be out of reach for Newcastle.

However, they got off to a flyer with the top three of Will Vickery, Matthew Brown and Steven Dobson seeing them to 173-1. A bit of a collapse threatened to undo their good work with the team needing 32 off the final three overs, and it was the pairing of number five Andy Robinson and number 10 Samuel Kent who found the winning runs as the latter hit a four off the second last ball of the game.

NEWCASTLE III v ALLENDALE

Newcastle III won by two wickets

ALLENDALE: T. Raglan b McMorran 8; J. Welch b Longman 4; R. Laidlaw c Robinson b McMorran 68; D. Griffin b Longman 0; A. Stobbs c Robinson b Kent 16; L. Watson c Richardson b Kent 39; E. Corbel b Kent 48; A. Sunda c Gupta b Brown 22; L. Pringle b Longman 0; D. Mills b Longman 0; G. Sparke not out 0. Extras 16. Total 221ao.

Bowling: P. McMorran 12-1-79-2; J. Longman 9.5-1-40-4; M. Brown 2-0-22-1; S. Kent 9-1-42-3; A. Robinson 4-1-32-0.

NEWCASTLE III: W. Vickery c Corbel b Sparke 62; M. Brown lbw b Sunda 38; S. Dobson c b Sunda 61; J. Richardson c Pringle b Sunda 2; A. Robinson not out 19; A. Poll b Laidlaw 3; J. Longman b Laidlaw 0; A. Hagemann b Sunda 0; P. Gupta b Sunda 0; S. Kent not out 21. Extras 18. Total 224-8.

Bowling: R. Laidlaw 10-2-62-2; T. Raglan 11-1-50-0; A. Sunda 10-1-46-5; G. Sparke 3-0-22-1; L. Pringle 3-0-12-0; L. Watson 5-0-23-0.

Newcastle III 12pts, Allendale 5pts

There were big scores racked up at Wylam as both of their openers Graeme Raffell and Alex Rayner hit centuries in their win over Hexham Leazes .

They nearly saw the entire 42 overs out together but Raffell was caught and bowled by Lucas Holmes after facing 117 balls, the pair spearheading the team to 271.

It was a big ask for Leazes to meet after a stuttering start to the campaign, but they gave it a good go with Andrew Brown starring with an undefeated 70. His reluctance to return to the pavilion frustrated Wylam, as their inability to bowl them out cost them two extra points.

WYLAM v HEXHAM LEAZES

Wylam won by 84 runs

WYLAM: G. Raffell c&b Holmes 118; A. Rayner not out 133; B. Duncan not out 5. Extras 15. Total 271-1.

Bowling: A. Brown 11-0-74-0; D. Toward 12-0-66-0; T. Willis 5-0-34-0; B. Kingman 2-0-28-0; L. Holmes 12-0-64-1.

HEXHAM LEAZES: B. Kingman b Duncan 11; R. Kingman b Robinson 0; A. Whitaker c Teasdale b Mann 27; A. Webster c Greenwood b Robinson 24; L. Holmes st Japes b Lamb 0; S. Donnison c Teasdale b Lamb 13; D. Toward c Robinson b Marshall 5; Andrew Brown not out 70; B. Teasdale c Rayner b Duncan 7; Alex Brown c Teasdale b Greenwood 14; T. Willis not out 0. Extras 16. Total 187-9.

Bowling: B. Duncan 2-46; P. Robinson 2-49; K. Marshall 1-27; M. Lamb 3-40; J. Greenwood 1-16.

Wylam 10pts, Hexham Leazes 5pts

Stocksfield II’s bowlers were on top as they denied Humshaugh a fourth successive win.

On a good batting track, Humshaugh didn’t make the most of the conditions and were all out for 80 runs.

That was largely down to two stand-out spells from Stocksfield teenagers, Christopher Scandle giving nothing away during an outstanding performance while new signing Ryan Chamberlain was clinical as he finished with seven wickets.

Humshaugh came out strong with Will Forster throwing a cat among the pigeons with a great opening spell alongside Matt Williamson whose efforts went unrewarded.

But Stocksfield opener Graeme Tolchard was excellent at the crease and his mature display with the bat made it comfortable in the end.

STOCKSFIELD II v HUMSHAUGH

Stocksfield II won by five wickets

HUMSHAUGH: A. Murray c Beedle b Watson 8; N. Byerley b Allen 6; A. Crawford b Chamberlain 13; M. Williamson b Chamberlain 13; S. Turner not out 12; L. Parkinson b Chamberlain 0; W. Forster hit wicket b Chamberlain 0; S. Arnup c Watson b Chamberlain 0; J. Speed st Beedle b Chamberlain 0; M. Pugh c Henderson b Chamberlain 14; J. Arnup c Beedle b Allen 4. Extras 10. Total 80ao.

STOCKSFIELD II: G. Tolchard not out 38; J. Tobin b Forster 11; D. Tyrrell b Forster 4; S. Beedle c Pugh b Forster 15; A. Thirlwell b Pugh 0; M. Henderson b Forster 3; J. Watson not out 6. Extras 6. Total 83-5.

Bowling: M. Williamson 4-0-20-0; W. Forster 9.4-3-36-4; M. Pugh 5-1-15-1; N. Byerley 1-0-7-0.

Stocksfield II 12pts, Humshaugh 2pts

Newton edged a close game which could have gone either way with Stamfordham by just one wicket.

With just one wicket in hand and with Newton requiring 10 runs, Chris Telfer and Steve Hunt dug in for the win with Hunt edging a four to secure the points.

Stamfordham batted well enough with Aamir Riaz top scoring, while Newton were matching them with the bat although they looked in trouble at one point when the eighth wicket was removed.

STAMFORDHAM v NEWTON

Newton won by one wicket

STAMFORDHAM: G. Halbert c Telfer b Prabandika 5; I. Donkin c Clark b Prabandika 7; A. Riaz c Clark b Goulding 67; O. Bracher c Goulding b Scattergood 11; J. Lonsdale c Rawlley b Telfer 2; A. McGrath c Goulding b Scattergood 1; J. Burnham c Bennett b Telfer 5; G. Adamson c Sethi b Scattergood 0; R. Gledson c Rawlley b Telfer 0; T. O'Neill run out 14; R. Gardener not out 0. Extras 13. Total 124ao.

Bowling: A. Prabandkia 2-29; M. Scattergood 3-15; C. Telfer 3-54; A. Goulding 1-10; S. Hunt 0-1.

NEWTON: D. Rawlley lbw b Lonsdale 1; M. Scattergood b Lonsdale 5; H. Clark b Adamson 9; J. Bennett c b Donkin 20; J. Balkwill b Gledson 42; A. Jeffrey b Donkin 14; D. Rawlley c b Donkin 0; C. Telfer not out 0; A. Goulding lbw b Donkin 0; A. Prabandika c b Donkin 4; S. Hunt not out 4. Extras 9. Total 126-9.

Bowling: R. Gardener 0-16; J. Lonsdale 2-33; G. Adamson 1-26; I. Donkin 5-30; R. Gledson 1-15.

Stamfordham 4pts, Newton 12pts

There was a good bowling performance by Matfen Hall despite their 68 run defeat to Benwell Hill III .

They picked up maximum bowling points for removing their guests all out for 134, but their batting display wasn’t up to same standard as they crashed out for 66.

Openers Callum Curnow and Aaron Tiffin bowled tightly, with Liam McWilliam and Tom Scott upping the ante to put the pressure on with Scott claiming the big wicket of danger man Mark Wright.

Darshana Thiranga’s impressive knock proved the difference between the two teams though, coming in at number five and guiding them on.

Benwell’s openers Thiranga and Saud Shinwari had Matfen in real trouble early on as they slumped to 23-5, with Kelly Withycombe and Tiffin showing lower order resistance with the latter reaching 10 in just four balls.

MATFEN HALL v BENWELL HILL III

Benwell Hill III won by 68 runs

BENWELL HILL III: D. Ladd b McWilliam 10; M. Hynd c Pearse b Curnow 6; D. Hunter run out 23; M. Wright lbw b Scott 6; D. Thiranga not out 47; J. Torre run out 1; A. Dawson b Scott 4; W. Archbold st Pearse b McWilliam 14; B. Hynes b McWilliam 0; S. Shinwari b McWilliam 12; C. Pounder b Curnow 0. Extras 11. Total 134ao.

Bowling: A. Tiffin 7-2-20-0; C. Curnow 8.5-0-25-2; L. McWillim 12-3-39-4; T. Scott 7-1-28-2; J. McDonald 2-0-19-0.

MATFEN HALL: P. Wood b Shinwari 8; L. McWilliam c Hynd b Thiranga 1; T. Scott c Hynd b Shinwari 0; C. Curnow c Hynd b Wright 11; M. Stephens c Hunter b Torre 15; R. Colesky b Torre 0; E. Scott c Pounder b Wright 2; K. Withycombe c Archbold b Thiranga 10; J. McDonald lbw b Thiranga 7; A. Tiffin b Shinwari 10; A. Pearse not out 0. Extras 4. Total 66ao.

Bowling: D. Thiranga 10-3-17-3; S. Shinwari 8.4-1-20-3; M. Wright 8-5-13-2; J. Torre 6-3-5-2; W. Archbold 3-0-5-0; C. Pounder 2-0-4-0.

Matfen Hall 5pts, Benwell Hill III 12pts