Its been a busy few weeks for our junios, with many of them representing senior teams as well as performing at their junior age group level. Read on to find out how our Under 15, Under 13 and Under 11 teams are getting on so far this season.
Under 15's update
The start of the under 15 Monday night League was badly hampered by the weather as our first two games against Ponteland (16 May) and South North (30 May) were cancelled due to rain.
We then on 6th June played a very strong and experienced Tynedale side without some key players, and although our young side fought hard, we lost in the last over. The Hill scored 114 for 3 with Freddie McGregor scoring 26, Warren Poxon 20*, and 13 year olds Subhan Shahzad and Rory Mustard scoring 31 and 25 respectively. We did not start well with the ball allowing Tynedale to get off a flying start, but we came back well before our visitors edged home with three balls to spare.
A strong batting performance at Newcastle City on 13 June saw the Hill rack up 170 for 2 in 20 overs, Freddie continued his excellent form with 50* before captain Abu Siddique blasted an unbeaten 53 to score his third consecutive under 15 fifty. Subhan also did well scoring 24. In reply, our bowling and fielding was excellent lead by Aaron Armstrong who took 3 for 11 as Newcastle City were restricted to 40 for 8 in 20 overs.
The County Cup run ended in disappointment as we were defeated by Stocksfield in the semi final on Friday 3 June. Batting first, we were struggling at 30 for 4 before an excellent partnership between Warren Poxon and Fergus Wallace took us to 116 for 5 after 20 overs. However, despite 2 for 19 from Aaron, Stocksfield reached their target in the 18th over and will play South North in the final.
Under 15 May scorecards are available here.
Under 15 June scorecards are available here.
Under 13’s v Newcastle City (a) - Sunday 15 May – won by 59 runs
Scorecard - https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5307438
Another excellent batting display saw us post 166 for 3 against Newcastle City. Subhan Shahzad and Fergus Wallace both scoring 30 before they had to retire, there was other good knocks from Ben Robinson with 25, Rory Mustard and Tom Hewson both with 17. In reply Newcastle City were never up with the rate and finished on 106 for 5, 1 wicket each for Ellie Foggan, Harsh Patel, Ibrahim Ahmed, Ben Robinson and Aaron Armstrong.
Under 13’s v Alnmouth (a) – Sunday 22 May - ECB Cup – lost by 15 runs
Scorecard - https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5437459
Our most disappointing performance of the season so far, where some poor bowling and fielding meant we were chasing 145 to win the game, Rory Mustard the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 8 off 4 overs. Despite some great batting from Rory Mustard (35), Subhan Shahzad (31) and Aaron Armstrong (30) – all of whom had to retire, we finished 15 runs short of the target, meaning we were out of the ECB cup.
Under 13’s v Tynemouth (h) - Sunday 29 May – won by 31 runs
Scorecard - https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5307444
We returned to winning ways and cemented our place at the top of the league with a workmanlike win against Tynemouth. We batted first, another 30 and retired from Subhan Shahzad and Rory Mustard, and an excellent late order 19 from Ibrahim Ahmed, helped us recover from a sticky start to post 120 for 6. Tynemouth finished on 89 for 6 in reply, with Under 11 player, Seb Fletcher-Woods taking 2 for 18, there was also 1 wicket each for Ellie Foggan, Fergus Wallace, Aaron Armstrong and Gruff Planchant.
Under 13’s v Tynedale (a) - Sunday 5 June – won by 51 runs
Scorecard - https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5307449
Away to Tynedale has sent a shudder through many a Hill team over the years, so it was with some delight that we came away from their ground (Priors Flat) with an excellent victory. Once again we batted first and posted a good score of 136 for 3. Openers Gabriel Rodder and Aaron Armstrong each with 30 (retired) got us off to an excellent start and Rory Mustard scored another quickfire 30 before having to retire. Wickets were hard to come by but we kept the bowling tight as Tynedale finished on 85 for 5, Subhan Shahzad with 2 wickets and 1 each for Ibrahim Ahmed and Seb Fletcher-Woods.
Under 13’s v South North Blue (a) – Sunday 12 June – won by 62 runs
Scorecard - https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5307474
Another great batting performance from the team saw us post an excellent 146 for 5 from our 20 overs against the South North Blue team (this is the 2nd of 2 teams South North have in the league and is mainly made up of Under 12s). Gabriel Mellor once again made the most of his opportunity at the top of the order with another 30 (retired), Rory Mustard hit another quick fire 33 (retired), and there was also good contributions from Ben Robinson (19), Subhan Shahzad (15), Ibrahim Ahmed (13) and Fergus Wallace. South North finished 84 all out, with 3 wickets for the impressive Ibrahim Ahmed, 2 wickets for leg spinner Aaron Armstrong and 2 for opening bowler Ellie Foggan.
We sit proudly at the top of the table, played 5 won 5.
Under 11 updates
The Under 11s hosted Tynedale on 15 May in the second game of the season which saw Nishka and Tommy make their u11 debuts. A strong batting display saw the team reach 326 for 7 with Nicholas, Hector and Oliver all reaching double figures and more importantly there were no run outs. Some good straight bowling and catching meant that Tynedale never really got going with their reply. Sai and Vihaan both picked up there wickets and Sukhveer also got two wicket on top of three run outs. It was great to see four different fielders take catches and Tynedale ended up on 282 for 14.
On May 22 we hosted a South North team that included several county players and an u11 debut for Daniel. In our best batting performance of the season we scored 292 for 8 with Seb leading with way with 15 runs. We ran really well putting pressure on the fielders with good calling and decision making. In reply South North had some powerful hitters but we managed to stay in the game courtesy of 3 run outs. We needed to pick up some wickets in their last pair and managed to get a team hat trick with Sai bowling two batsmen and then getting a run out but South North held on and ended on 319 for 10. We have two new wicket keepers (Hector and Oliver) this year and Oliver managed to pick up two stumpings. The team were disappointed to lose but it was really pleasing to see improvement in the areas we had talked about and worked on in training.
Our planned game on May 29th was conceded by Newcastle CIty.
Our next game was on June 5th at home to Tynemouth and saw a debut for Idris. We batted first and with both teams only playing 8 we took advantage of the extra space with some good running to put the fielders under pressure (we still managed to fit in two run outs!) and reach a total of 273 for 5. Some good straight bowling and fielding meant that Tynemouth never really got going and they ended on 253 for 7. There were two runs outs and Freddie picked up two wickets in his two overs.
Our most recent game on June 12th was at Backworth and the team (and spectators) were faced with some gale force winds blowing across the pitch. The bowlers adapted well to the wind and after ten over Backworth had only scored 18 runs. Sai then managed to pick up three wickets in an over, Nicholas had two run outs with direct hits and Sukhveer took a good diving catch before some late hitting saw Backworth reach 266 for 6. Our reply got off to a great start with Freddie and Seb putting on 22 for the first pair and this was followed up with Daniel and Nicholas scoring well in the middle pairs. Our final pair of Hector and Oliver saw a stand of 32 with some powerful hitting and good running to lead us to a total of 322 for 4.
