NE Premier League: Ruthless Lyons outgun Academy to climb to pole position in the Premier Division

Lyons won the toss and chose to bat on Saturday, capitalising to post 215-5 declared after 56 overs.

Jonny Malkin, with five fours in a 148-ball 76, and Stuart Walker (41, with five boundaries, off 84 balls) put on 92 for the first wicket.

Malkin and Jack Burnham (59no, with five fours, off 79 balls) added 75 for the second wicket and Chris Winn made a useful 28 not out at seven, with three fours and two sixes in a blistering 12-ball innings.

Max Williamson grabbed 3-52 for the Academy, while Adam Ahmed took 2-48.

The youngsters found it tough going in their reply, and they were dismissed for 122 in 46 overs.

Harry Adair top-scored with four fours in a 64-ball 30, backed by Ben Seabrook (27, with four fours) and Jamie Dass (26, with four boundaries).

Ben Whitehead was the top Lyons bowler, snatching 4-15 in 11 overs, while Chris Ralston had 3-32 and Burnham 2-30. Cameron Grimwood also struck.

Whitburn kept their unbeaten record going with a comfortable draw at home to defending champions South Northumberland.

The visitors won the toss and chose to bat, duly putting on 242 all out in 52.5 overs.

Sam Dale (40, with nine fours) and John Graham (42, with eight boundaries) led the scoring, while Sean Tindale had four fours and a six in 32, Durham’s Liam Trevaskis fired five fours in 30 and Richard Stanyon did likewise in 29.

Kieran Waterson snatched 4-61 in his 15 overs, while close-season signing Matthew Muchall took 4-41 in 11. Craig Smith bagged 2-59.

Jackson Edmonstone produced his best performance so far to inspire Whitburn’s response of 193-6, with the Australian blasting 11 boundaries in a 121-ball 79 before becoming one of Trevaskis’s three victims (3-46).

Chris McBride had three fours in 27 and Phillip Bell three in 15 before Chris Stewart saw out the game with four boundaries in an unbeaten 22, off 54 balls.

Eppleton’s disappointing start continued with a 127-run thumping at Benwell Hill.

Eppleton put their hosts into bat and were soon regretting the decision as the Tynesiders piled up 261-6 declared in 54 overs.

Mark Dale (64, with seven fours) and Mohsin Mukhtar (51no, with three fours) put on an unbroken 112 for the seventh wicket, while Jacques Snyman earlier had 10 fours and a six in a 51-ball 62.

Dom Stuart took 2-48 for Eppleton, backed by wickets from Josh Coughlin, David Wilkinson, Craig Scurr and Connor Whitelock.

The Church Road men had trouble in their response, which ended on 134 after 47.5 overs.

Daniel Stephenson top-scored with three fours in a 50-ball 24, while Whitelock had three boundaries in 22. Coughlin added 16, Marcus Brown 15 and Joe Coyne 13, with Braydn Davis 13 not out at the end.

Snyman starred with 5-30 in 14 overs for Benwell Hill, with Kyle Coetzer taking 3-22.

Chester-le-Street secured a ‘winning draw’ at Tynemouth, picking up three bowling points and four for their batting, but slipped to third place

The Ropery Lane men decided to bat first and amassed 240 all out, with skipper John Coxon scoring 55 and Andrew Smith 58, with Mark Watt (4-52) taking the bowling honours.

Tynemouth were in trouble after losing early wickets, but Barry Stewart (66no) and Andrew Smith (47) helped them to a draw, making 163-7 in total.

Sacriston finished good six-wicket winners at Stockton, who had a point deducted for their slow over-rate.

The Teessiders made 170 all out in 47.2 overs, led by a 62-ball 60 from No 6 batsman Joe Hewison, who had four fours and a six.

Tom Hewison hit five fours in 40 at the top of the order, but Jack Keall was the star of the innings, taking 4-20 in eight impressive overs. Graeme Bridge took 3-54 and Graham Hubber 2-51.

Sacriston looked in trouble at 33-3 and 45-4, but an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 126 between Durham’s Matthew Potts (94 off 100 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes) and Bridge (37 off 69 balls, with two fours) eased them to a memorable first top-flight triumph.

Felling got home by two runs in a tense finish against Newcastle for the first win.

The home side, who lost the toss and were put into bat, found it hard going as they made 151 all out in 58 overs.

Former Durham star Phil Mustard stole the show with six fours in an 81-ball 52, supported by 25 apiece from Josh Eaton and Paul Leonard. Ben Quirk (3-44) and Jacques Du Toit (3-25) shone with the ball.

Newcastle fell to 1-2 and 21-5 before Alex Simpson gave them hope of victory with a brilliant 84 off 90 balls, with eight fours and a six. But he was the last man out, three short of victory, with only Sam Roseby (11) and Quirk (10no) also getting into double figures.

Leonard (3-29) and Chris Nicholls (3-19, including the vital wicket of Simpson) were the pick of the bowlers, while Anthony Trotter and Dale Shaw each took 2-34.