HUMSHAUGH'S great form has sparked hopes of a top two finish.

Making it six wins on the bounce, they moved to within five points of second spot as they made the most of the cluster of abandoned games elsewhere in the division.

With the much anticipated top of the table clash between Allendale and Matfen Hall lasting just 11 overs before the rain won the day, Humshaugh closed the gap on the top two teams by 13 points as a result of their victory over Newton .

With the game reduced to 30 overs because of the rain, Humshaugh posted 148 after captain Andy Crawford put them into bat.

His brother Ed was promoted to open the batting alongside Allan Murray, and the pair got the team off to a great start with 53 for the opening wicket.

After Crawford was caught by Dan Taylor off Zack Brown and Rob Forster was bowled by Amila Prabandhika, Nick Reid joined Murray in the middle and they formed a key pairing of 42 with quick scoring, which included seven boundaries between them.

Andy Goulding was introduced to the attack to good effect as he had Murray bowled as the first of four wickets.

He also accounted to Reid after five fours and two sixes, with Jack Garrett and Steven Arnup also victims.

Luke Parkinson was run out by Andrew Jones, with Andy Crawford and Andy Elliott ticking them to 148 in 30 overs.

The score looked a good one on a wet outfield, but Newton put up a good fight before falling just over 20 runs short.

Giving little away with six excellent overs, Garrett gained the breakthrough when he bowled Taylor early in the reply.

At first change, Steven Thompson bowled well to clean bowl both Dinak Rawlley and Christopher Telfer, with Rob Forster seeing off Jonathan Bennett and Ed Crawford given his brother Andy the catch of Jeffery.

Elliott carded the important run out of Brown who was going well on 36 before his demise.

Jones and Goulding formed a good partnership to see the innings out, denying Humshaugh maximum points but not stopping them from jumping a place to third.

They were able to close the gap on Matfen Hall and Allendale who both registered five points on the day. Matfen had started the game well with Will O'Brien and Ian Pilkington reaching 45-0 from the 11 overs played.

The points were also shared between Haltwhistle and Stocksfield as the rain got the better of the conditions.

The game between Hexham Leazes and Benwell Hill II I did get finished, though, even if both teams lost 10 overs.

And it ended in victory for the hosts after captain Dan Toward's decision to declare to avoid further rain disruption proved a good one.

Ben Thompson was accomplished with the bat as he played an unbeaten century, he and fellow opener Raji Kingman getting them off to a swift start.

Kingman's departure brought in Andrew Webster to hit two fours in his brief spell at the crease, but Billy Kingman's aggressive knock really speared Hexham on alongside the assured innings of Thompson.

When Billy Kingman was bowled shy of his 50, young Lucas Holmes continued the high run rate as he and Thompson took the score to 184 before Toward made the decision to declare after 25 overs after an early tea was taken as rain stopped play.

Jeff Mason and Saeem Korum got Benwell off to a steady start in reply by taking the score to 33, but Andrew McCormick saw off Mason to put Leazes on top.

With Toward accounting for Luke Mussett, Holmes carried over his good form from bat to ball as he weighed in with three wickets which included the key removal of Korum.

From then on, Hexham were in the driving seat and two wickets from Thompson secured the points.

South Northumberland 1864 ripped through Newcastle III's strugglers to record an emphatic nine wicket victory.

The 10-men of Newcastle were only able to post a collective total of 48, unable to cope with the South North bowlers.

Cameron and Finlay Pearce contributed 12 runs for the opening wicket, but both fell within quick succession with the former run out by Will Fishley and the latter the first victim to Jonnie Bell, caught by Ross Ward.

Gregor Pearce and Haigh added 10 between them, but they too followed each other back into the pavilion within minutes as Bell quickly made it three wickets for the afternoon.

The innings' largest partnership of 24 was formed by Blair and Phil Kelly, but Fishley claimed Blair and Newcastle went from 46-4 to 48-9.

Fishley removed Kelly, while David Harbottle finished things off as he dismissed Kevin McNab and Edward Holland to go with the wicket of Goldsbrough.

Nathan Gough wasted no time in chasing down the score as he contributed 30 of the opening stand of 40 with fellow opener Bobby Green, before Gregor Pearce got Newcastle's one and only wicket.

Green was joined by Tristan Meears-White and they found the winning runs in the eighth over for maximum points.

Wylam's problems continued as they conceded their game with Haydon Bridge , presenting their hosts with all 20 points.