STAMFORDHAM shot to the top of the Division Two table with a comfortable victory over Allendale II .

On a day when many games were wiped out for bad weather, they were able to get the game played and jumped above their top of the table rivals with the 87 run triumph.

Reaching 178-8 from their 40 overs, they restricted Allendale to double figures to go nine points clear of Mitford B , and 14 ahead of third placed Belsay . Both of their rivals have a game in hand though.

Stamfordham openers Alex Gray and Richard Gardener took them to 80 for the first wicket before the latter finally departed for a well made 30.

Gray, meanwhile, was in great form as he raced to 80, helped out along the way by former Humshaugh player Andrew Neal with 15 on his debut.

Howard Robson got Allendale off to a good start, but the wickets started to tumble regularly following his departure and Richie Gledson finished with figures of 4-25.

Gardener and Benn Horncastle both claimed two wickets, with captain Graham Adamson taking the other.

Wark jumped to fourth after they inflicted a low scoring defeat on visitors Haltwhistle II .

Both teams only had nine players to chose from, and they struggled for runs on a damp day.

Haltwhistle batted first but were all out after scraping 50 runs, Dixon and Heppell the only two to reach double figures.

Lee Telfer inflicted most of the damage as he finished with impressive figures of 4-9 from five overs, with Matt Cameron taking two wickets and Paul Armstrong and Mick Turner one each.

Likewise, Wark only had two batsmen passing single figures but the pairing of Armstrong and Phil Suckling did enough to guide their team to victory.

Heppell claimed four wickets to put pressure on Wark, but they still had four wickets in hand when they secured the win halfway through the 13th over.

Humshaugh II continued their good form as they defeated Stocksfield IV by seven wickets.

Stocksfield captain Andrew Newton chose to bat first and he, along with opener Stephen Smith, were the biggest contributors to the innings total of 65.

They were faced with some good bowling from openers Adam Murphy and Michael Arnup, who claimed three wickets, with Owen Murtough coming in and causing havoc with the ball to finish with four wickets.

With Dan Taylor continuing his good form with the ball, Humshaugh faced a tough start as he accounted for both openers, Murphy and captain Carl Binovec.

But Murtough completed a great day all-round as his unbeaten knock sent Humshaugh towards their target, forming a good third wicket partnership with Andy Mullen.

When Sam Jolly bowled Mullen, Glen Tweddle came in but the game was already won with thanks to the solid knock from Murtough.