NORTON in Hales continued their relentless pursuit of the Premier Division title... and in the process ended Church Eaton's faint hopes.

Neil Bloor's side stretched their unbeaten run to 16 matches after beating fourth-placed Church Eaton by seven wickets.

A superb bowling display from Craig Ruscoe, who took 5-19 from 21 overs, helped dismiss Church Eaton for just 102.

An unbeaten 38 from John Caulkin then guided the front-runners to victory and ensured they remain 29 points clear with just two matches remaining.

Second-placed Sandon require two 25-point hauls from their final games to stand any chance of grabbing the title, despite thrashing Little Stoke by 140 runs.

Chasing 176 to win, Little Stoke subsided to just 35 all out as Sandon skipper Steve Greatholder took 6-14.

Only Richard Wright (16) made double figures, while Jason Groves was unable to bat.

Earlier, a seventh-wicket stand of 101 between Greatholder and Harmeet Kang rescued Sandon from a precarious 74-6.

Greatholder struck three fours and three sixes in his 47, while Kang remained unbeaten on 45 as Sandon recovered to 175-7 declared.

Alex Kay had caused the early damage to the innings by taking 3-52.

Third-placed Keele Park's hopes of top spot were ended after they suffered a surprised defeat at the hands of struggling Newcastle and Hartshill.

Nagavara Arekatla top-scored with 57 in Keele Park's 152-9 declared as Simon Shenton (5-37) impressed with the ball.

Newcastle and Hartshill, who had only won one match heading into the fixture, were in no mood to let their victory opportunity pass and eased to a six-wicket win.

Pete Leighton led the way with a run-a-ball 58, while Matt Davies's rapid undefeated 27 saw them past the post.

Oldfields slumped to the foot of the table after losing to Maer and Onneley by six wickets.

Oldfields were in deep trouble on 36-8 before Gavin Collett (42no) saw them limp up to 80 all out.

Maer and Onneley's new-ball attack of Jamie Gannon (6-37) and Adam Edwards (4-34) ripped through the Oldfields line-up.

The home side then stuttered to 20-4 in the run chase, but Greg Brown (32no) and Alex Scott (28no) restored order to inch Maer and Onneley into the sanctuary of mid-table.

Leek Moorlands seamer Chris Price continued his rich vein of form, but his side had to be content with a draw against Oakamoor.

Price, fresh from his seven-wicket haul against Oldfields the previous week, took 5-24 as Oakamoor were restricted to 74-8 in pursuit of Leek Moorlands's 136-8 declared. South African leg-spinner Jean Rossouw provided valuable support with 3-27. Matt Nicholls and Mark Jones had earlier been the stars of the Leek Moorlands innings, making 53 and 32 not out respectively.

Martyn Cooke (4-36) and Dave Nash (3-40) were the stand-out performers for Oakamoor.

CHRIS TRAVERS