THE rain frustrated Stocksfield as they were denied the opportunity to put pressure on the teams at the top of Division A2.

While picking up eight batting points which sees them level on points with second placed Seaton Burn, they were in a great position for a further 12 as they took on fellow promotion hopefuls Bedlington.

Put into bat first, Stocksfield completed their rain affected innings of 48 overs on a challenging 163-8. However, they were unable to defend the total as heavy rain during tea made the pitch unplayable.

They were looking to build on their excellent five wicket victory over Greenside of the week before, a solid all-round performance overhauling the visitors' score of 175.

James Doneathy took three wickets and Andrew Wood four, while Dan Whiley, Richie Mannion, Adrian Marrison, Tris Douglas, Steven Henderson and Sam Beedle all produced good knocks in reply.

But Stocksfield got off to a disastrous start against Bedlington when captain Whiley was lbw for a second ball duck.

Chris Patterson and Marrison rebuilt the innings, until the latter was sent back to the pavilion following a contentious umpiring decision.

Patterson fell a couple of overs later, but Luke Doneathy and Douglas both batted really well to fire the score on and take the team past 100.

Once both fell in their 40s, the innings fell flat even if cameos from Henderson, Wood and Paul Brown gave them 20 more runs than what they had projected.

Bedlington picked up one more point than their rivals and it is all tight at the top of the table with one win separating teams in second down to sixth.