AN UNBEATEN stand of 110 runs from James Rainford and his captain Tom Cant kept Tynedale sitting pretty at the top of Division A1.

The pair took control of the crease, the Ryton bowlers and the match to secure the 19 points which made it four wins from their opening four games for the Hexham side.

Hosts Ryton staged a late fightback in their innings after Paul Newton’s devastating spell removed four quick wickets, but their total of 182 wasn’t enough to prevent Tynedale maintaining their excellent start to the season.

After Josh Renton had home skipper Neil Robinson caught by Marc Heslop at mid-off, batsmen Liam Clarke and Azeem Ghumma played out a watchful second wicket stand of 60.

While Clarke cranked up the pressure, Azeem was more steady and was given a chance when Dale Leadbitter spilled a catch while he was on 16.

But the pairing was finally ended when Newton got into the swing of things, his slower bowling reaping big rewards as he bowled Azeem and his replacement Jordan O’Neil in consecutive balls. David Howorth played out the hat-trick ball.

But Tynedale kept up the pressure and Paul’s brother David, bowling from the other side, got in on the act as the lightning quick reflexes of keeper Jamie Crichton saw Clarke stumped.

Paul then continued to ask questions of the Ryton batsmen, tempting Akhtar to drive a shot straight into the lap of Sam Mannion at extra cover before bowling out Howorth.

A sixth wicket fell for just 10 runs as McClymont was run out by Cant with a dart from deep, taking Ryton from 80-1 to 90-7.

But a 60-run partnership between Chris Robb and Perry put their charge back on track, Robb steadying the ship with Perry the more attacking as they hit 11 boundaries between them by taking advantage of some mis-fielding. The run rate slowed when Perry hit high and was caught by Renton in the straight deep, with Wood throttling a huge six out of the ground to help Robb gear the hosts to an innings total of 181-9.

Mannion and Crichton gave Tynedale’s innings an early hint of impetus until the latter mis-hit a ball from Robb to give Robinson a catch with the score on 32.

After playing just five scoring shots from his first 30 balls, Mannion edged his way to 32 in over an hour of play before he fell when he pushed a ball back towards leg spinner Azeem, who picked up and threw down the batsman’s stumps as he strayed from his crease.

Rainford joined Cant and, after a thoughtful start, placed three shots to the boundary and the run rate was increased to just over a run a minute.

Rainford was the perfect foil to Cant who became more ambitious as they crept closer to their target, making his first 50 of the season with a curling pull shot for four.

He remained on the front foot and hit 11 boundaries, six of them in his final 17 balls faced, and he struck a straight thump for four to wrap the game up.

The victory keeps Tyne joint at the top with Swalwell as the only two teams with 100 per cent records at this early stage.