Page smacked the ball to all parts of the arena in a fine innings of 125, but it was not enough to get his team home, as Bellbird chased down the Wine Country total of 6-245 with relative ease.

In first grade Greta/Branxton got back in the winning circles after a narrow loss the week before with a 39-run victory over Bellbird at Carmichael Park.

Greta/Branxton batted first and posted a modest 9-176, with Darren Thomson again finding form with the willow with his team high score of 49.

Fellow veteran Greg Andrews also continued his good form of late with 39. Martin Shearer (21no), Darren Holz (16no) and skipper Joey Butler (16) also kept the scoreboard ticking over. Scott Miller was again Bellbird's best with the ball, backing up his five-for last week with 4-29 off 10 very economical overs. Zach Kronholm (2-49 off 10) also showed some good signs with the new ball.

The home side were all out for 137 in reply, with Jason Orr leading the way at the top of the order with a well-made 55. Luke Weekes (19), Miller (15) and skipper Rob Drage (13) made starts, while for the Blues it was Martin Shearer (6-45 off 8.2) and Darren Thomson (2-29 off 10) who completed excellent all-round games.

Peden's Hotel jumped into third place on the ladder following their one-wicket thrilling victory over Wine Country at Allandale to keep the Wood Ducks winless after one full round of competition.

Wine Country won the toss and batted first, and after passing a hundred without loss they looked like posting a fairly healthy total. However the loss of openers Mark O'Hara for a hard-hitting 89 and John Dwyer 13 in pretty quick succession started a major collapse, and the Wood Ducks were all out on the second last ball of the innings for 165.

Allan Heath (17no) and Ben Wood (15) were the only other pair to reach double figures.

Jamie Larsen was brilliant with the four-piece for the visitors, bagging 7-33 off 10, with Matt Zechel cleaning up the tail with 2-26 off 3.5.

Peden's were in bother at 7-75 in reply, but the experience of Mark Crowfoot (51) and skipper Matt Hopley (23) got the visitors back in the ball game. They eventually reached the target in the 37th over with no batsmen left in the sheds. Ben Read (21no) and Larsen (14) and Bailey Robinson (8no) remained calm in the tail to guide the Piranhas to a handy win. Wine Country skipper Luke Jeans led from the front with the new ball, taking 5-42 off 8.1, with Ben Wood next best with 2-42 off 7.

Mulbring had the bye.

The Cessnock District Cricket Umpires Association would like to extend an invite to anyone wishing to take up umpiring.

The payments are pretty good for all grades, so anyone wishing to do their ticket should contact Rick Carr by email nat_jane2@bigpond.com or Tom Lewis tomlewis060@gmail.com

Bellbird 9/197 (Joey Millington 90, Dylan Stoker 30, Dale Arnold 22, Hayden Regan 5-26 off 7, Daniel McCann 2-7 off 2) defeated Greta/Branxton 10/125 (Andrew Bercini 46, Will Regan 20, Craig Schumacher 5-27 off 10, Jack Bailey 3-40 off 9).

Wine Country 2/157 (Eain Harris 51no, Andrew Fensom 44no, Dave Plumridge 35, Angus Haack 14, Dane Grills 1-51 off 8.2, Dylan Smith 1-19 off 3) defeated Peden's Hotel 10/152 (Dylan Smith 61, Aaron Sweeney 33, Ryan Fox 15, Wayne Harris 3-17 off 9, Scott Purser 3-50 off 7.3, Hudson Smith 2-15 off 6).

Denman Hotel 10/150 (Adam Holmes 29, Chris Hall 21, Ben Duncan 20, Bailey Skelton 17, Adam Bartley 15, Jakob Bartley 15, Hayden Yates 5-33 off 9.4, Tae Rowsell 2-17 off 7) defeated Chelmsford Hotel 10/114 (Arron Follan 46no, Hayden Yates 31, Corey Goodwin 12, Shaun Clarke 4-24 off 5, Clayton Babic 3-29 off 9, Adam Bartley 2-19 off 4).

Bellbird 5/224 (Clint Starkey 77no, W. Denham 56, C. Cleary 34, Aaron Duffie 16, J. Cleary 12no, Daniel Minchin 2-12 off 4.5) defeated Greta/Branxton White 10/128 (Cory Stephenson 45, Jamie McNamara 32, Mark Scott 5-18 off 6.1, Rob Clark 2-31 off 9).

Mulbring 4/211 (Tom Callan 51no, Willie Watson 42no, Rob Young 25, Matt Gough 23, Lachlan Marino 1-62 off 10, Jonah Williams 1-42 off 7, Matthew Kemp 1-50 off 9, Chris O'Neill 1-22 off 5) defeated Peden's Hotel White 10/133 (Lachlan Marino 35, Matthew Kemp 32, Jonah Williams 27, Trent Mascord 4-11 off 2, Tom Callan 3-16 off 7, Willie Watson 3-40 off 10).

Wine Country 3/96 (Ty Cowley 59no, Bruce Cowley 24no, Jarrad Wilkinson 2-15 off 6) defeated Greta/Branxton Blue 10/92 (Sean Wright 23, Mal Hedger 18, Paul Graber 3-23 off 10, Jesse Ballenden 3-13 off 10, Ethan Dever 3-5 off 5).

Peden's Hotel Blue 10/194 (Daniel Olsen 95, Scott Larsen 24, Kranthi Panuganti 21, Liam Dureau 14, Braydon Harris 3-41 off 10, Riley Croucher 2-33 off 6, Robert Clark 2-41 off 9) defeated Denman Hotel 10/169 (Damon Besoff 60, David Mahony 24, Mitch Teasdale 20, Jordan Olson 15, Liam Dureau 3-23 off 7.4, Callum Dureau 2-38 off 7, Gary-Jai Russell 2-46 off 10, Mark Williams 2-44 off 10).

Bellbird White 5/246 (Joel Butterfield 76no, Shaun Anderson 72, Tony Roberts 39, Mark Barrow 24, Ian McCulloch 16no, Aidan Eather 2-48 off 6) defeated Wine Country 6/245 (Thomas Page 125, Aidan Eather 59, Brad Sommerville 17, Ian McCulloch 4-61 off 8).

Cessnock Hotel 9/119 (Aaron Garthwaite 36, Steve Collins 30, Andrew Collins 15, Kevin Dryden 14, Jayden O'Connor 5-34 off 10, Michael Read 2-10 off 6) defeated Peden's Hotel 9/115 (Shaun Capararo 49, Greg O'Connor 12, Craig Beer 12, Ricky Hollis 12, Joel Sweeney 2-27 off 6, Steve Collins 2-11 off 5.1).

Bellbird Maroon 9/230 (Alex Clifford 61, Ben Sillay 54, Heath Cameron 20, Jordan Field 17, Kyle Piper 16no, Andrew Schofield 16, Jeremy Brown 4-63 off 10, Garren Allerton 3-61 off 8.4) defeated Greta/Branxton 10/92 (Sam Dagg 28, Doug Engel 12, Kyle Piper 3-27 off 8, Tony Yates 2-29 off 6, Nathan Davey 2-9 off 3).

Supporters 8/199 (Aaron Field 43, Scott Minter 35, Tyrone Weekes 26, Hayden Taylor 26, Sam Weekes 20, Isaac Minter 17no, Suraj Radhakrishnan 2-24 off 6, Vijay Tharumakulasingam 2-46 off 10, Abinandan Sudharsanam 2-21 off 5) defeated Chelmsford Hotel 8/198 (Vijay Tharumakulasingam 61, Anthony Mitchell 46, Abinandan Sudharsanam 39, Nev Taylor 2-20 off 7, Jordan Minter 2-11 off 1).

First Grade: Mulbring 28*, Greta/Branxton 24*, Peden's Hotel 20*, Bellbird 16*, Wine Country 12*.

* byes received, 0 points allocated.

Second Grade: Bellbird 32, Greta/Branxton 28, Chelmsford Hotel 24, Denman Hotel 24, Wine Country 20, Peden's Hotel 16.

Third Grade: Bellbird 35, Peden's Hotel White 27, Greta/Branxton Blue 24, Greta/Branxton White 24, Mulbring 24, Peden's Hotel Blue 24, Wine Country 23, Denman Hotel 19.

Fourth Grade: Cessnock Hotel 35, Supporters 35, Bellbird White 24, Bellbird Maroon 23, Peden's Hotel 23, Chelmsford 19, Greta/Branxton 19, Wine Country 19.

Club Championship: Greta/Branxton 240.65, Bellbird 234.02, Peden's Hotel 191.38, Wine Country 160.75.

Club Championship Formula:- First Grade x 4.67, Second Grade x 2.8, Third Grade x 1.5, Fourth Grade x 0.75.

NB: Only Greta/Branxton Blue third grade, Peden's Hotel Blue third grade and Bellbird Maroon fourth grade teams contribute to club championship points.