Castle thwart leaders (From Durham Times)

Castle thwart leaders

9:00am Monday 11th July 2011 in Match Reports

The outstanding first half of the season in their new surroundings turned to frustration as the weather held up the championship hopes of Kimblesworth.

They were heading for a fifth victory, which would have taken them even further ahead as leaders, but the time they lost through the rain left them without enough overs to bowl out struggling Castle Eden, and 12 points from yet another draw - their eighth in all - was scant consolation for what might have been.

Kimblesworth hit 180-8 from 44 overs, with an unbeaten 64 from Kevin Dixon and 33 from Michael Fishwick.

Habib Quereshi, Castle's new pro, took two of the first three wickets, and Richard Ede bowled seven excellent overs to grab 3-24.

Castle's reply of 120-8 saw Kimblesworth restricted to 32 overs, and despite four wickets for Colin Myers, they couldn't finish off their opponents.

Seven clubs are involved in the championship race, separated by just 19 points, with Horden hanging on to second place after getting the worst of the rain.

Their match with third-placed Eppleton was abandoned after they had reached 111 for five.

More fortunate with the weather were Whitburn and Norton, the only winners of the day.

Whitburn took just 20 overs to score 160 to beat Durham City, and they did it with superb innings from Stuart Walker (58) and Andy Turns (35). Walker hit nine fours and a six in his half-century, while all but five of the runs Turns scored came from boundaries as the pair raced against the clock to set up victory.

City, who have now dropped into bottom place, batted well enough to post 159-9 from 40 overs, with Jake McCann (39) and Rob Flunder (32) each reaching the boundary five times. But they had to overcome the powerful attack of Stuart Walker (4-39) and Aiden Bannister (3-27) to keep City in the game.

Norton's victory, which lifted them into the pack stalking the leaders, was at Philadelphia, who they bowled out for 189 and then chased down the score with two wickets to spare. Jonathan Kean (4-41) was again on song while openers, John Watson (38) and Harry Linton (34) gave them the start they needed to inspire good contributions right through the innings.

Burnmoor needed just eight for victory with six wickets standing and three overs left when they were rained off at Boldon, while South Hetton played out a draw against Felling in another restricted game.