It was a double NEPL fixture weekend. this was due to the early season wet weather, with the fixtures originally scheduled for the first weekend of the season moved to Sunday 1st Septmber, read on for how we got on this bumper weekend of cricket.
Saturday 31st August
NEPL Premier League - 1st XI v Felling (h) - Lost by 6 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
Saturday was the hardest result of the two to take as having been asked to bat first on what looked a belting track for the first time this season we saw the very best of Haydon as he constructed an excellent run a ball 80. Having played circumspectly early on he increased the tempo hitting 8x4s & a 6 as he added 96 with Adam, our best batter bar Yash this season , who made 76. Dan had also continued his decent recent form making 25 as we made what appeared to be a more than competitive 255/7 in our 45 overs.
In reply & not for the first time this season we had decisive decisions go against us as visiting opener Appleby was given not out following an extremely confident shout for caught behind off Callum which the consensus from around the ground was that it was out followed by an LBW appeal against Easton also turned down.
Having survived the let off early in his innings Appleby then proceeded to take toll on the Hill attack striking the ball cleanly with some magnificent shots as he took the game away from us making an excellent century. His 131 came off 82 balls & included 19x4s & 6x6s as he added 182 for the first wicket with Easton who made 50. Dan was our only wicket taker with 4-69 as the visitors reached their target 4 wickets down with 10 overs to spare.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Felling (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Felling (a) - Won by 19 runs
We were inserted into bat by the hosts and posted an excellent 234 for 4 from our 45 overs. Huge congrats to Rory Mustard who scored his first senior ton for the Hill, finishing on 104 not out, he was ably assited by Abu Siddique who scored 72.
Felling put in a good reply, eventually finishing on 214 all out in the last over. Once again it was the youngsters who did the damage, Jake Robson, Aaron Armstrong and Abu taking 3 wickets each, and Ayush Chakraborty taking the other.
A great display from our young side which bodes well for the future.
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Felling (a)
West Tyne - 3rd XI v Newton (a) - Lost by 4 wickets - Captains Report by Chris Pounder
Saturday saw the start of the mini league playoffs with a visit to Newton.
Losing the toss and being asked to bat first 3’s lost a couple of early wickets before Michael MacLauchlan (with a superb 96) and Gabriel Mellor (31) put on a partnership of 131 for the third wicket.
Harsh Patel would be run out for 1 trying to get Michael back on strike to try and get his ton before Michael himself was run out on 96 with 3 balls left in the innings. 3’s would finish on 150/5 from their 40 overs.
Newton’s innings would start in similar fashion with Dave Lee (9) and Kev Smith (0) falling quite early to the skipper before Newton’s skipper Andy Jones (45) and Matt Scattergood (35) would take the game away from the hill. After Scattergood was bowled by Amandeep Singh former hill player Chris Wilkie (31) would form a partnership with Jones before being one of 2 wickets for Harsh Patel, Jones being the other.
One more wicket would fall before Newton got over the line in 37th over. Tom Hewison taking his first senior wicket for the club. His reaction to his wicket was the best thing I’ve seen for a long while and the highlight of the weekend (sorry Michael).
3rd XI West Tyne scorecard v Newton (a)
Sunday 1st September
NEPL Premier League - 1st XI v South North (a) - Lost by 8 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
On to Sunday & a visit to Gosforth to meet South North on a dull & dank Sunday with the weather forecast not particularly favourable. Unfortunately Pete lost the toss & not surprisingly the hosts asked us to bat first. Rory made 17, Dan 25 & Fletch 0 as we slumped to 57/3. Adam (32) & Janders (22) added 43 before another 3 quick wickets were lost leaving us at 115/6. Max with 27, Will (17) & Luke (19no) helped us reach 181 before we were dismissed.
The home side started briskly in the face of some wayward bowling, another feature of our cricket this season,& following 2 breaks for rain/bad light a revised target of 131 off 28 overs was always going to be well within reach & was indeed duly passed in the 18th over. Luke & Rory were the wicket takers in an 8 wicket defeat.
Although not quite singing as yet the fat lady is certainly warming up in time for this Saturday when Ashington are the visitors to NBMS Denton Bank.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v South North (a)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v South North (h) - Won by 98 runs (D/L adjusted)- Match Report by Matty Hynd
The second XI suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of a strong South Northumberland side. South North batted first and scored a huge 370/5 in 45 overs. Alex Charnley scoring an impressive 147 not out. Our young bowling attack struggled with consistency and bowled 28 wides in the total.
We were always going to struggle chasing such a huge total and lost wickets at regular intervals. We ended up 85/6 in 22 overs when the rain came and ended the misery. Abu was holding things together 28 not out. Plenty to work on in the remaining 2 matches which will determine whether we finish top 4 or bottom 4 with 20 points covering 3rd to 8th.
