After a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining journey, the Benwell Hill under 15's run in the Vitality Cup came to an end this Sunday with a four run defeat to a strong Durham City side.
Following our bowlout win at the Grange last week, we headed to Durham City with high hopes. Our hosts batted first but their accomplished openers were kept in check by our opening bowlers Haydon Mustard and Abu Siddique. This start was backed up by an excellent spell in the middle by Ibrahim Tayyab, then Durham City threatened to post a big score before two wickets from Abu held them back and they finally posted a large but not insurmountable total of 136 for 5 in 20 overs.
In reply, the Hill started well before losing key wickets at regular intervals to fall behind the clock. Skipper Haydon Mustard then brought his side back into the game with a fluent 42, but his departure was critical and despite some late hitting from Logan Ramshaw and Warren Poxon, we fell four runs short in what was an entertaining game between two good sides.
Good luck to Durham City in the regional finals in York next week, and bad luck to our lads who made a valiant effort in an excellent cup run.