Watts' whack is not quite enough

The last man out for the home side in their defeat to title chasing Stocksfield , his departure to visiting skipper Ali Thirlwell a big relief to the second placed side as they kept up with the pace being set by leaders Allendale.

Watts, highly regarded within the Tynedale junior set-up, was on form throughout the Hexham reply and his seven fours and three sixes took him to triple figures.

Stand-in skipper Ben Thompson and Stephen Donnison contributed elsewhere, but the home side required more than 30 runs from the final three overs to overhaul Stocksfield's total.

The need for runs forced the youngster's hand to go more attacking, but he missed a quick delivery from Thirlwell as he started to tire after batting through 38 overs.

Thirlwell again played a crucial role in Stocksfield's victories as he continues to rack up the wickets, removing the 'long tail' by finishing with six wickets to prevent Leazes from taking the victory.

The captain came in after some tight opening deliveries from Perry Hall and Steven Henderson kept the lid on the Hexham scoring.

It was a continuation of a good performance for Henderson as his half century proved key in the Stocksfield victory.

Introduced after last week's half century maker Adrian Marrison was sent back for a duck, Henderson and Richie Mannion batted well and put their side on the path to glory.

Taking kindly to some loose bowling, they quickly got past 100 until Mannion's long spell at the crease was ended to leave the team on 127-2 at drinks.

Graeme Tolchard and Henderson kept ticking the score on as a big score looked likely, the latter looking good value for his 100 until lbw to Andrew Whitaker.

As Stocksfield were gearing towards 250, the run rate was slowed with Andrew McCormick stemming the flow. However, the final total was still enough for a crucial 20 points.

Matfen Hall continued their great run of form against Haltwhistle as they closed the point on their third placed rivals to a point.

Saturday's four wicket victory was their fourth on the bounce against their rivals, the visitors again indebted largely to the contribution from Kiwi duo Will O'Brien and Alex Tait.

The New Zealanders were well assisted by their teammates in a top all-round performance, the maximum points earned in the victory boosting their chances of a top three finish.

Matfen won the toss and chose to field first, and it proved a good decision as brilliant opening spells from Aaron Tiffin and Tait reaped three early wickets.

Haltwhistle's danger men Joe Barber, Dan Parker and Mark Rowell departed early, the former well caught at mid-off by Max Stephens.

Captain Graeme Lee and Phil Thompson stopped the rot, but a customary tight spell from O'Brien helped him to two wickets.

Tom Scott's movement with the ball resulted in two wickets for him, while Tiffin and Tait both returned to good effect to see off Halty's challenge.

The bowling display was well backed up in the field, with captain Alex Pearse impressing behind the stumps with three catches, which included a diving catch over his shoulder from fellow keeper Reece Thirtle.

Matfen got their innings off to a great start as sensible batting from Mark Irving and a more aggressive style from O'Brien took them to 36 in 10 overs.

John Armstrong was introduced and bowled Irving before seeing Tait out to a superb catch by Rowell, but O'Brien put in another great all-round display by adding six fours to his final total.

Armstrong finished with five wickets from his seven excellent overs and Rowell caught and bowled O'Brien to prevent him from reaching 50 as the order wobbled.

However, Eddie Scott hit the only six of the game to secure the 20 points which maintains Matfen's great season.

A ninth wicket partnership between Owen Murtough and Ed Crawford led Humshaugh to back-to-back wins, nudging the visitors to a narrow victory over an in-form South Northumberland 1864 side.

With wickets falling regularly, the duo became unlikely heroes for Humshaugh as they found the required runs with three balls to go.

Murtough was the man of the moment, hitting five fours on his way to a match-winning knock of 30 to get his side's season back on track.

Humshaugh had bowled and fielded well to restrict South North to 127, James Hutton the only home batsman to enjoy a great run in the middle.

Rob Forster came in and bowled some corkers to end with four wickets, with the other wickets spread evenly among the attack as Nathan Byerley, Crawford, Will Forster and Crispin Straker struck.

Humshaugh's hopes of victory seemed dashed when Allan Murray, Byerley and Nick Reid falling early in reply.

But a good partnership between Simon Turner and Rob Forster put Humshaugh back in with a shout.

However, the wickets started to tumble and Humshaugh were soon up against it until Murtough and Crawford dug in and made it 40 points from 40 from their past two games.

An improved Newton side continue to challenge for a top three finish as they restricted strugglers Wylam to double figures.

Wylam opener Graeme Raffell started well but his teammates didn't back him up well enough, the in-form Dave Archbold and Mark Davison bringing about the regular fall of wickets.

Jonny Greenwood added late resistance but Wylam were unable to reach the 100 mark as the Newton bowlers remained on top.

The home side were steady away in reply as they were confident of reaching their goal, and there were decent knocks throughout the order.

Richard Opie's bowling caused problems when he was introduced, but Newton had enough to get them over the line as all but two of their first seven batsmen reached double figures individually.

Benwell Hill III went level on points with Wylam towards the bottom of thee table, building up an even healthier gap on basement side Newcastle III in the process.

Half centuries from openers David Ladd and Saeem Korum meant it was all too easy for Benwell as they heaped further misery on winless Newcastle.

Newcastle batted well enough and their innings total of 118 was a decent one, Reitze and Ajay Prakash top scoring.

The introduction of Joseph Torre in as fifth bowler meant the visitors weren't able to post a more challenging total, finishing with four wickets from his five overs.

Captain Ladd and keeper Korum needing 21-and-a-half overs to guide Benwell to a third league victory of the campaign, Korum eventually falling but already inflicting the most damage.

There was a nine wicket victory recorded at the other end of the table, Allendale remaining red hot favourites for the title after thrashing Haydon Bridge .

Ross Laidlaw was superb with the ball as he posted figures of 5-6 from his six overs, limiting Bridge to just 67 runs between them.

Craig Stanners, a recent acquisition from Hexham Leazes' second team, made the biggest impact with the bat but he was lbw to Rory Sale to bring Bridge's innings to an end.

Dan Mills was Allendale's only casualty as he became Jamie Taylor's latest victim, caught by Gavin Boyd, but Tim Raglan was his typical aggressive self as he earned the hosts another maximum point haul.