TWO fours off his opening three balls was a sign of things to come as New Zealander Alex Tait guided Matfen Hall to a third win on the bounce.

His unbeaten century saw his team overhaul Haltwhistle’s high total of 204, ending the pre-season title contenders’ 100 per cent record in the process.

Together with Mark Irving, playing his first game of the season for Matfen, they frustrated Haltwhistle as they rotated the attack regularly, seeing off the run chase with seven-and-a-half overs remaining.

Tait was in particular form as he timed the ball sweetly and made good use of a dry outfield, his knock of 105 including two sixes and 17 fours.

Haltwhistle’s captain for the day Dan Parker won the toss and elected to bat first, and they were off to a flyer even if Parker was dropped on nought.

He and Joe Barber quickly made their way to 58 after 11 overs, before the dangerous Barber was caught behind by Alex Pearse off the bowling of Tait. Father and son then combined to remove Parker, caught by Steven Tiffin off the bowling of son Aaron.

Tait’s fellow Kiwi Will O’Brien came into the attack and took two wickets, but the partnership of Dan Kirkup and Phil Thompson quickly put Haltwhistle back in control.

Kirkup again weighed in with some big hits as he hit three sixes and Thompson accumulated runs at a steady rate, and they moved the scoreboard on.

However, both departed in their 30s to the bowling of Kelly Withycombe as they couldn’t resist going for the big hit from her well flighted deliveries.

Haltwhistle were restricted by some tight bowling from Ian Pilkington, but Jonny Wallace and John Armstrong batted well late on to take their innings total past 200.

Matfen got off to a great start in reply with Pilkington racing to 25 before he went to a superb catch at gully by Barber off Wallace.

But it only brought Tait into attack and he stole the show, wasting no time in making his presence felt. At the other end, Irving’s sensible batting frustrated the bowlers with some well executed late cuts.

Tait’s rapid scoring took him to his 50 in no time at all, and they made a 100 runs between them in just 15 overs. While Haltwhistle using nine bowlers to stem the flow, Tait brought up his century with a six and a four, with his batting partner reaching his half ton soon after.

A late fight back from Haydon Bridge gave unbeaten Allendale a scare, but the visitors managed to hang on to their advantage.

Gavin Boyd’s first 50 had the title favourites panicking as an excellent batting display helped take Bridge from 37-7 to within touching distance of their rivals.

With Tom Waugh helping to push the run rate on, Boyd had his team back in contention as he smashed everything to the boundary but his dismissal, caught behind, ended the home side’s hopes.

Allendale won the toss and chose to bat first, and Charles Sale and captain Tim Raglan put them on the right track with a partnership of 65.

But it was a day for the bowlers and, despite a good contribution from Ali Stobbs and stubborn resistance from the ever dependable Dan Mills late in the order, Bridge restricted Allendale to 139.

The home batsmen struggled against the deliveries from Allendale openers Raglan and Ross Laidlaw, and they looked in deep trouble at 37-7.

Thinking the game was in the bag, the pair had bowled their allotted eight overs before Boyd came to the crease, and his six fours and three sixes saw the home side claw their way back before falling just over 10 runs shy.

Jack Garrett continued his great form since joining Humshaugh , his unbeaten knock of 85 seeing the side make it three wins from three.

With Allan Murray weighing in with a very useful 45 on his first appearance of the season, they defeated a young South Northumberland 1864 by 66 runs.

Home captain Andy Crawford won the toss and elected to bat, and it proved a good decision with Murray the rock in the early stages as he batted past the drinks interval.

Last week’s century maker Nathan Byerley, Crawford and Rob Forster couldn’t match Murray’s efforts, but Garrett in at number five was again the star of the show as he guided Humshaugh past 100 as he hit eight fours.

He and Richard Byerley were at the crease as the overs ran out, the hosts in a commanding position at tea.

Nathan Byerley and Garrett opened the bowling and had South Northumberland struggling as their tight spells resulted in two wickets each.

Tristan Meears-White and Calum Fletcher offered some resistance, the latter hitting two massive sixes, but the victory belonged to Humshaugh with Rob Forster and the in-form Stephen Thompson both taking three wickets.

There was late drama as reigning champions Stocksfield scraped past Hexham Leazes to make it 60 points from a possible 60 at this early stage of the season.

Requiring 30 runs with just one wicket in hand, teenagers Chris Scandle and Paul Brown stuck in and saw their side over the line with just seven balls remaining.

Brown made up for a mix-up which saw his captain Ali Thirlwell ran out by Toby Willis, showing great maturity to dig in and see the team to glory alongside fellow junior Scandle.

Stocksfield’s bowling performance was a good one, but Leazes were off to a solid start with openers Andrew Whitaker and Ben Thompson moving the score on at a quick pace.

Stephen Donnison and Dan Toward similarly put in good displays with the bat, but the rest of the order struggled against some good deliveries with Thirlwell’s five wickets wiping out the tail.

There was a disastrous start for Stocksfield as they lost four early wickets to the bowling of Alex Brown and Toward, but Graeme Tolchard and Matt Bewick’s 50 run stand for the fifth wicket proved key in the run chase.

Wickets started to tumble at regular intervals as Rob Willis claimed three victims, but youngsters Brown and Scandle showed old heads to edge their time to a third successive maximum point haul.

Benwell Hill III are up-and-running for the season as they picked up their first win - but only just.

For Newcastle III ran them extremely close, just two runs off their rivals by the time the overs ran out.

Benwell faced a tricky start as Patrick McMorran conceded just one run from his eight overs, with Reitze also claiming the early scalp of David Ladd for a duck.

Kevin McNab and Jameson were in the wickets too to make thing difficult for Hill, but good knocks from Aqeel Tassawar, Ben Hynes, Shaun Rushton and Joseph Wood later in the order saw them post a good score in the end.

Newcastle were reeling in reply as both openers Ali Poll and Dylon Christie went for ducks, but the third wicket pairing of Robert Eagleton and Jameson rebuilt the innings. Benwell continued to pound away with Chris Pounder returning good figures, Newcastle just two short with McNab ran out at the death in the desperate search of the required runs.

Wylam are still on the lookout for their first win of the new campaign as they lost out in a high scoring affair with Newton , who recorded their first victory of 2017.

Newton’s score of 231 proved too much for their valiant hosts in the end, a good batting display seeing them off to a great start.

Openers Chris Wilkie and Dinak Rawlley geared them towards the 100 mark, with the latter impressing the most. Taylor and skipper Jim Balkwill continued the good work, with Andrew Jeffrey pivotal at the end of the innings after a mini wobble.

Wylam openers Graeme Raffell and David Teasdale did well against some good bowling from Wilkie, with the hosts put in a good position with James Teasdale and Ben Duncan also in the runs.

However, runs were more difficult to come by towards the end with Phil Mostyn’s resistance not enough to secure Wylam the win.