Ashington slip up against league leaders Burnmoor in top of the table clash

However, the home side emerged victorious by seven wickets and as a result increased their lead at the top to 39 points.

The defeat saw the Mighty Acorns drop down to third spot – but incredibly only 13 points separate the chasing pack from second to sixth.

The start was delayed until noon due to heavy rain – and after skipper Sean McCafferty had lost the toss, Ashington were immediately on the back foot after being invited to bat.

Burnmoor’s professional, Waqas Maqsood, got into his rhythm and trapped Cam Nichols lbw from the last ball of the first over.

Worse was to follow as Matty Potts was caught behind in the fifth at 3-2 then paceman Maqsood sent Jack McCarthy’s off stump cartwheeling out of the ground in the seventh.

The scoreboard showed a sorry looking 9-3 – but great application, determination and a sprinkling of good shots from Scott Pearcey and Jack Jessop completely transformed the innings.

However, just before lunch, the pair fell in consecutive overs.

Pearcey found the boundary on seven occasions, but with the final ball of the 27th over he smacked a return catch to bowler Graeme Bridge and departed for an excellent 51 from 75 deliveries.

Jessop fell lbw for a hard grafting knock of 25 – the visitors ending the session on 89-5 – but when McCafferty also nicked behind in the second over after the resumption, Ashington were on 91-6.

The Harmison brothers Ben and James continued to battle and featured in a stand worth 58 before the latter was run out in the 49th over for 10.

Shortly afterwards, Ben took a single to complete a superb half century before he was caught just inside the boundary edge by Marcus Brown for 76.

Ian Sharkey made 17 then Alex Storey and Alex Nice took their side through the 200 barrier until the latter was run out with two balls of the innings remaining.

Without strike bowlers Jeremiah Louis and Matty Collins, Ashington opened with Nice and Nichols.

Ross Greenwell and Brown scored 40 inside the first 12 overs before the much needed breakthrough came when James Harmison had Brown caught at short mid wicket by Ben Harmison for 26.

The dismissal brought Durham’s former Ashington player Mitchell Killeen to the crease and along with Greenwell, the pair added 108 to put a hole in the target.

Both completed their respective 50s before Killeen was brilliantly caught behind by McCarthy off Nice for 57 in the 37th over with the score on 141.

Burnmoor required 62 to win from 15 overs and Ryan Pringle – who came in to bat at number four – was a man on a mission. The hard hitting skipper had collected seven boundaries in next to no time when he went for another and was well caught in the deep by Nice for 41.

However, Pringle’s team only required a further seven runs to win and they achieved their target just before the end of the 46th over with Greenwell carrying his bat and finishing unbeaten on 75.