STOCKSFIELD remain in contention with the top two after a win and a loss in the space of two days.

A disappointing defeat at Annfield Plain on Saturday was followed up by a bowler dominated victory over Benwell and Walbottle on Sunday, meaning they’re just a win off the leading pack.

Against Benwell, they were faced with a poor wicket, and they suffered an early setback when captain Dan Whiley had Luke Doneathy run out within five overs.

However, Whiley and Ben Archer dug in and formed a great partnership which proved key in the end.

Once Whiley fell inches short and was run out himself, Archer was joined at the crease by Matt Bewick and the two kicked the score on again.

But Bewick got one that stayed low and he was deemed lbw, which brought about the collapse of wickets as Stocksfield went from 91-2 to 110 all out.

With Sohail and Cary Robson chief wicket takers, the innings was bought to a halt early into the 45th over.

Stocksfield’s bowling performance was of the highest order as they judged the poor wicket well, removing their hosts for a combined score of just 51.

They got off to the best possible start as they had Benwell on 2-3, Doneathy and Chris Scandle striking during particularly thrifty opening spells.

Gavin Brown and Sohail tried to bring calmness to the order but their 27 run partnership brought about the collapse of the innings, Andrew Wood once again excelling with James Doneathy and Ryan Chamberlain also claiming wickets.

It was a good ending to a weekend which started with the frustrating defeat to Annfield Plain, in a game reduced to 40 overs per side.

Asked to bat first, Stocksfield were off to a disastrous start with Jonny Tobin, Luke Doneathy and Archer going cheaply and Whiley bowled for Michael Hawdon’s third wicket to take the score to 40-4.

Tris Douglas and Rob Thirlwell rebuilt the innings, though, with a good stand, Douglas looking good until holing out to mid-off.

Thirlwell, who carried his bat well, was joined by fellow teen Sam Beedle, who was his typical aggressive self, if somewhat more sensible, and his knock of 80 from around 60 balls was a stand-out performance over the weekend.

While he ran out of partners, he kept his composure and fired the score on to 171, a score which looked well out of their reach at the beginning of the innings.

Plain were allowed to get off to a flyer in reply though, and the slow start which saw them leak boundaries proved costly in the end to Stocksfield. Scandle got the breakthrough when he had David Newstead caught behind by Beedle, but it only brought in captain Sam Stephenson, and his unbeaten half century guided Plain to maximum points.