Another cracking weekend for the Hill, as the 2s secure the NEPL Division 2 league title against Sacriston, the 1s ensured a double success and the West Tyne 3s tied at Wylam.
Following the epic win over South North last week, the 1st team were keen to follow this up on Saturday at home to relegation threatened Sacriston. After rain reduced the game to 36 overs per side, the Hill batted first after being put in and scored 201 for 4 with openers Mohsin Mukhtar and Kyle Coetzer putting on 105 for the first wicket before Kyle fell for 54. Mohsin continued to bat beautifully until he was unluckily run out in the penultimate over for an excellent run a ball 94.
In reply, Sacriston started well and were in a good position at 124 for 2, but once Jonny Bushnell fell for a well made 71, the wickets started to tumble and they fell 28 runs short as they were bowled out for 173. Both Anth Hunter and Callum Harding took 3 for 28, and there was also a wicket each for Max and Mohsin along with a couple of excellent run outs.
The 1st team finish their season on Saturday at Washington, another team fighting for their Premier League survival. The 1st XI scorecard versus Sacriston is available here at https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4603569
The 2nd XI travelled to Sacriston needing between 4 points to secure the league, however we wanted to keep the momentum up with another win. The team showed 2 changes from last week with Adam Heather dropping down from 1st XI duty and Ben Moody giving us an extra seam option and Andy Dawson and Rohaan Aatif dropping down to the 3s. The weather had been wet overnight but arriving at Sacriston the wicket was dry and the outfield was being, roped to get rid of any excess water.
We again lost the toss and Sacriston elected to bat. Ben Moody and Joe Kilpatrick took the new ball and Sacriston made a steady start against the swinging ball and reached 18 for 0 when Ben Moody picked up the first wicket of the day, this quickly became 37/3 as Ben picked up another and Joe Kilpatrick the other. Stephenson arrived at the crease and was instantly aggressive, hitting a couple of 4s and 3 big sixes as he put on 50 in quick time with Small for the 4th wicket. Just as Sacriston were starting to feel on top, Stephenson went for one too many big shots and top edged one to cover off Jones for a well-made 30 from 29, making the score 89/4. Safi joined the attack and in tandem with Torre strangled the scoring as wickets started to tumble and Sacriston slowed up to 114/7 and eventually 139 all out, which looked under par to what looked possible when Stephenson was striking the ball so well. The wickets were again shared with Kilpatrick (3-30), Moody (2-20), Torre (1-31), Jones (1-39) and Safi (3-14).
Hynd and Moore opened up and aided with a number of wides, we reached 42/0 in the 6th over before Moore was superbly caught and bowled by Nicholson for 20. This brought in the inform Anderson who continued to ride his luck but score freely. Hynd was next out for 33, with the score on 108, before Anderson attacked the leg spinner and passed his 3rd x 50 in a week. He also took us passed Sacriston’s score in the 24th over, and he was 58* with Heather 2* at the other end. This mathematically secured the league with another solid team victory. This leaves us with 1 fixture to play at home to Washington, with the hope that we can end the season with another victory.
The 2nd XI scorcard v Sacriston is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4604800
The West Tyne 3rd XI played in a seldom seen tied game at Jubilee Field against Wylam.
Having lost the toss on we were inserted by Wylam and in our 40 overs posted a decent 168/6 with Davey Ladd hitting 33 on his last appearance of the season. Fardin Bhuiyan continued his fantastic form with 30. Major contributions followed with Andy Dawson hitting 23 and Rohaan Aatif 21
In reply Wylam secured a draw with a single off the last ball of the game 8 wickets down. 2 wickets each for Shay Marley, Haroon Malik, Matthew Lockey and 1 for Owen Blackburn with a run out for Fardin.
The Hill finished with 13 points from the game and sit 6th in the league. The 3rd XI scorecard v Wylam is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4797539
On Sunday the 2nd XI won another cup competition with an 18 run win over Tynemouth in the Roseworth Triophy. The Hill batted first and posted 120 in our 20 overs, Runs were shared with Joe Anderson (23),Will Archbold (22) and Haydon Mustard (21) top scorers. Tynemouth finished 102 all out, with 3 wikets each for Pete Jones and Joe Torre, 2 for Will Archbold and 1 for Joe Kilpatrick. The team have one more cup final to go to try and secure 4 pieces of silverware in what is already a remarkable season.
The 2nd XI scorecard v Tynemouth in Roseworth Trophy final is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4960675
