The penultimate weekend of the season saw the 2nd XI get back to winning ways away to Castle Eden, but the 1st XI winning run was dented by Burnmoor at Denton Bank. The 3rd XI had a double hearder, their Saturday game at Stamfordham was abandoned due to the early evening heavy rain, Sunday's game at Denton Bank against top of the table Haydon Bridge resulted in a heavy 9 wicket defeat.
Satuday 3rd September - 1st XI v Burnmoor (home) - NEPL Premier Division - Phil Haves match report
Saturday saw us welcome Burnmoor to Denton Bank for the penultimate game of what has been at times a difficult season. On a rare Saturday when the weather forecast looking changeable the visitors won the toss & elected to field. Following the early loss of Mohsin a 50 partnership between Angus & Luke ensured we got off to a reasonable start. This was however as good as it got with promising partnerships 'nipped in the bud' & wickets falling on a regular basis. Angus (40), Belly (38), Finn (35) & Pete (20) were the main contributors as we finished our 50 overs on 190/9 with the consensus being that it was somewhat below par.
In reply Burnmoor could not have got off to a worse start losing Durham's Graham Clark to Mohsin with the first ball of the reply. Marcus Brown fell to Dan with the total on 31 before a bizarre 3 balls saw the dismissal of the prized wicket of Ryan Pringle. Having initially top edged a long hop from Finn to Andy who grassed the looping catch 2 balls later he slapped a similar delivery to the same fielder who was relieved to complete the catch above his head. Max bowled Worthy & at 81/4 our hopes were raised. A partnership of 43 followed between Greenwell & Craig edged it back in favour of the visitors before Craig was dismissed for 21. Simpson joined Greenwell,who batted sensibly throughout the innings, & having given a caught & bowled chance early on then proceeded to blast his way to a 31 ball half century as the visitors won by 5 wickets with 10 overs to spare. Ross Greenwell finishing with a fine 67 not out.
A disappointing day as the better side won convincingly in the end. Our final game of the season sees us travel to Ropery Lane & a fixture against Chester le Street where we hope to end the season on a high & a victory.
The match scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5024238
Satuday 3rd September - 2nd XI v Castle Eden (away) - NEPL Division 2 - Matty Hynd's match report
After the disappointing loss the week before the team were keen to get back to winning ways against Castle Eden who also needed a win to stay in the league.
We won the toss and elected to bowl and Hunter and Kilpatrick opened the bowling. Hunter and Kilpatrick picked up 2 wickets each leaving Castle Eden 52/4 and Hunter was unlucky not to pick up a third when the no3 appeared to nick a ball behind. Safi and Jones joined the attack and Safi struck quickly removing the no3 who had passed 50. Safi continued to pick up wickets as Castle Eden struggled to play the spin and by the time Safi had removed the no 11 he had picked up an impressive haul of 6/47, bowling out Castle Eden for 150 in 33 overs. The outfield was quick and Castle Eden scored over 100 in boundaries and an additional 30 extras! The reply got off to a bad start losing Hynd first ball and McGregor for 0 leaving the Hill 22/2. Moore and Heather set about repairing the damage and put on 100 for the 3rd wicket, when Moore was out for 68 from 58 balls. Heather continued to knock the ball into the gaps and although Aatif was out for 13, we ran out comfortable winners by 6 wickets with 22 overs remaining. We move onto the last game of the season knowing that the league is outside of our control but hope that we can do our part in the final game at home to Chester-Le-Street.
The match scoirecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5024713
Satuday 3rd September - 3rd XI v Stamfordham (away) - West Tyne League
A superb knock off 74 from 14 year old Warren Poxon helped the 3rd XI to a very respectable 169 from their 40 overs in the familiar surrounding of Grange Park Stamfordham. There was also useful contributions from opener Laura Pearson (18 runs), 13 year olds Fergus Wallace (14 runs) and Aaron Armstrong (13 runs) in the middle order, and the tail, 15 runs from number 10 Shay Marley, and 14 from Sam Stilwell at number 11.
The game was nearly poised with Stamfordham at 114 for 4 with 12 overs to go when the heavens opened. usual wicket keeper Max Tidmarsh taking 3 of the 4 wickets to fall, Aaron Armstrong with the other.
The match scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5295370
Sunday 4th September - 3rd XI v Haydon Bridge (home) - West Tyne League
It was a difficult Sunday afternoon for the West Tyne 3rd XI as they made a rare appearance at Denton Bank against league leaders Haydon Bridge. Put into bat by the visitors we posted an identical score to Saturday (169) from our 40 overs. However the score was modest compared to the previous day, with the Hill wicket certainly more favourable for the batters. Old timers Andy Dawson with 48 not out, John Chambers with 38 and Davey Ladd with 27 runs showed their experience with the bat and were the main contributors to our total.
Haydon Bridge made short shrift of their target reaching it for the loss of 1 wicket in the 29th over, Taylor Matthews the only wicket taker.
The match scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5295374
