THE plaudits belonged to 12-year-old James Percival as his excellent bowling helped Allendale II to victory over Corbridge Millers .

The young hot shot took seven wickets at the expense of just 24 runs to limit a buoyant Corbridge to 147, short of the 171 they were chasing.

His bowling proved pivotal as things threatened to get tight, Percival including three maidens from his eight-and-a-half overs.

Asked to bat first, there were good contributions throughout the order with the pick of the bunch captain Howard Robson, 12-year-old Ollie Fletcher and Snaith.

Corbridge‘s hopes were kept alive by some good scores from Steve Kent, David Cox and Richard Stokoe. But the introduction of Percival ended the contest in ’Dale‘s favour, earning them maximum points.

Percival was again in the wickets the following day as he ended with the scalps of the top three, but it was not enough as they lost by 111 runs to a ruthless Wylam II .

Half centuries from Rob Bergstrand, Liam Haney and skipper David Teasdale spearheaded Wylam to a formidable 261.

The highlight of the innings though was the removal of Haney to an excellent relay catch, Fletcher flicking the ball to Matt Scott, also just 12-years-old, as he fell over the rope to give Blair the wicket!

Robson gave Allendale a good start along with contributions from Fletcher and White, but things soon turned sour with Greg Brown and Katherine Lamb taking three wickets each.

Belsay were in the runs on their small batting track as they ran away from Stocksfield IV , posting 166 more than their guests could reply with.

Good contributions were made across the board with Chris Townson passing his half ton, captain Allan Johnson getting close to it too.

Ralph Marrison made things more difficult when he came into attack, but an unbeaten knock from Robert Wilson pushed the score on.

John Fraser made sure Stocksfield were never at the races despite Andrew Newton’s half century, Fraser including a hat-trick as he ended with excellent figures of 6-6.

With both teams struggling for runs, Wark added to Humshaugh II‘s woes with a three wicket victory.

Humshaugh’s score of 48 looked easy pickings for Wark, Duncan Sewell the only man to reach double figures as the visiting bowlers ripped through the order in 28 overs.

But Wark‘s batsmen were caused all sorts of problems by Humshaugh’s openers Michael Arnup and Sewell, before they were guided home by Tony Anderson and Simon Jeffrey in the 15th.

A half ton from Graeme Lee helped Haltwhistle II to victory over Hexham Leazes II , the visitors passing their target of 103.

His knock put his side in the driving seat, and he was well aided by support from Philip Sheldon and captain Lewis Swallow.

After losing both openers to ducks, Leazes‘ innings was rebuilt by a good innings from Billy Kingman, supported by Damon Watts, but there was little assistance elsewhere as they crashed all out soon after passing the collective 100.

Mitford’s first team won the club derby to close the gap at the top of the table.

With local bragging rights on offer, Chris Kirtley made sure it was the ‘A’ team in good spirits as his knock earned the eight wicket victory.

Despite the loss, Mitford II moved up to second spot by claiming four bonus points with Mitford one point behind with a game in hand.