CRICKET action took place both on the field and on the table-top at the Riverside.

While Durham were getting the upper hand over Middlesex in a Liverpool Victoria County Championship four-day fixture, at their Chesterle-Street home ground, the competition was just as intense in the club's adjoining indoor cricket school.

Seven teams were fighting it out for the North-East title in the National Table-Top Cricket Championship for Disabled Children, organised by the Lord's Taverners charity and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The ball is delivered down a bowling ramp and the batsman uses a 6in bat to score by striking the ball to various areas of the outfield, using all the traditional rules of the game. Games were played on a round-robin basis, culminating in the regional title being won by the Hill Top School A team, from Sunderland, edging out Portland School, from Gateshead.