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The sunshine arrived in the Dukes NEPL on MatchDay 11, the half way point of the League season.

In Divisons 1 and 2 on Saturday there were six centurions with two teams also topping the 300 mark.

Starting in the First Division, and Blaydon kept up their title challenge with a 141 run win over previously unbeaten Newcastle at Jesmond.

Asked to bat first, Blaydon declared on 243-8 with half centuries from Paul Freary and Chris Varley.  Martin Fearon collected four for 73 for the home side.

In reply, Newcastle never really got going with three wickets apiece for Martin Pollard, Joseph Reynolds and Varley contributing to Newcastle's 102 all out.

Sunderland successfully chased down 208 at Gateshead Fell, losing only four wickets in their reply.

Gateshead batted first and despite having three batters in the 40s, no-one went on to get the big score and the Chris Hooker's five for 76 was the pick of the Sunderland bowling - Fell 208 all out.

Opener Dan Shurben cracked 63 at the top of Sunderland's reply, with 61 from Michael Turns and unbeaten 42 from Greg Applegarth as the visitors took the points with six wickets in hand.

Hetton Lyons and Stockton played out a high scoring draw at Lilywhite Terrace, with 558 runs for only 13 wickets in the day.

Lyons batted first and their 304 for 5 was built around Shaun Birbeck's 104 and Gary Scott's 67.

In reply, Jon Rickard's half century at the top of Stockton's innings helped them get off to a positive start.  Matthew Brown's 63 kept up the momentum, but four quick wickets changed the emphasis from attack to defence for Stockton.

At the end Andy Parr and Tom Coulthard were at the crease with 8 wickets down when time was called and the Teessiders on 254.

There was a thrilling finish at Tynemouth, where the visitors Benwell Hill won by one wicket with eight balls of the game remaining.

Tynemouth were put into bat and used their full 65 over allocation in scoring 259 all out, built around 93 from Rameez Shahzad.  Joe Kilpatrick and Zohaib Khan each picked up four wickets for the Hill.

Mark Dale and Alistair Maiden began the reply at seven an over but both men were dismissed before tea.  The Hill kept up with the rate but were losing wickets at regular intervals with Shahzad starring with the ball.  Zohaib Khan completed his hundred at better than a run a ball but he was ninth out with four runs needed.

In the final twist of the game, the next delivery went for four byes to complete a win for the Hill.

South Northumberland crept back into the top three with a narrow seven run win over Durham Cricket Academy at Gosforth.  The Bulls batted first and struggled through their innings until Stephen Humble slapped a quickfire 57 down the order, allowing a declaration at 205 for 9.

In reply the Academy were 184 for 6 with Sameet Brar unbeaten on 50, but the more experienced South North squad took the last four wickets for 15 runs to complete their win.

Finally in the First Division, leaders Chester le Street enjoyed a thumping 207 run win over South Shields at Wood Terrace.

Batting first the Cestrians called a halt to their innings after just 50 overs with 314 on the board.  Andrew Smith scored 113 and John Coxon finished unbeaten on 101.

With a daunting run chase, only Philip Bell gave any resistence with 59 in a total of 107 all out.  Andrew Bell had four for 40 and Ian Hunter three for 14.

In the standings after 11 games, Chester le Street have 244 points, Blaydon on 230, South North 188, Benwell Hill 186, Newcastle 155, Sunderland 146, Durham CA 125, Tynemouth 121, Hetton Lyons 109, Stockton 88, South Shields 82, Gateshead Fell 69.

Division Two's action saw hundreds for Stephen Ward (120no for Stockton v Hetton Lyons) and Ross Nicholson (106no for Blaydon v Newcastle).

Chester le Street, Stockton, Blaydon, Tynemouth and Sunderland were the day's winners.  Sunderland are top of the table with 210 points, with Chester le Street on 204 and South Shields 173.

Full results and league tables can be found here: 

http://stats.thelca.co.uk/Events/Dukes_North_East_Premier_League_Division_One_2011.html