The monsoon that fell last Saturday afternoon ruined what promised to be a fantastic day for all 3 senior sides, as they were all in winning positions.
Sat 20 August - 1st XI v Burnopfield (home) - NEPL Premier League - Premier Division
The Hill bowled out Burnopfield for 144 inside 34 overs, and at 26 for 1 after 6 overs we looked set for a comfortable victory, but the weather intervened with no play possible in the late afternoon/eveing session. Earlier in the afternoon this did not likely with Burnopfield goign well at 96 for 1, however the spin twins of Mohsin Mukhtar and Max Williamson then combined to rip out the top and middle order as the visitors collapsed to 126 for 8, Mohsin taking 4 for 32 off 9 overs, and Max taking 3 for 40 off 10 overs, and not to be out done fellow spinner Joe Torre, spun his way to 2 late wickets to complete the collapse. Daniel Gardiner the other wicket taker, with the important early scalp of league top scorer John Oswell.
The match scorecard is available here benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5024260
Sat 20 August - 2nd XI v Washington (away) - NEPL Premier League - Division 2 - Matty Hynd's match report
The second XI travelled to Washington knowing that they needed to win to keep up the pressure at the top of the league and that Washington were going to be a tough test after they had defeated Ashington and Tynemouth in previous weeks and were fighting to stay up.
After an evening of showers and a used wicket Washington won the toss and elected to bat. Washington showed some attacking intent with opener Cutter hitting a couple of aggressive boundaries. However Kilpatrick continued his good form and removed one opener and the dangerous Hebron, leaving Washington 35/2. Siddique couldn’t quite get his radar correct and was replaced by Jones in the powerplay and he removed Cutter in his first over. Safi came on and with spin at both ends the runs slowed up. Safi picked up a couple and Washington were 47/5. Skipper Smith came in counter attacked well and scored a quick 23 before Safi trapped him LBW and Washington had quickly moved onto 90/6. This brought together Easton and ex Hill player Race who again counter attacked and Race in particular punished any loose bowling, and they put on 68 for the 7th wicket. Siddique returned and removed Easton and Kilpatrick also returned and picked up another wicket, leaving Washington 159/8 with 15+ overs left. Race passed his 50 as Washington approached 200. However Aatif joined the attack and had Bell dropped with his first ball but removed Race (59) with an excellent delivery. Jones then trapped the no11 LBW, to help keep Washington to 198 after only 40 overs. The wickets were spread around, Kilpatrick 3/33, Jones 2/19, Safi 3/50, Aatif 1/2 and Siddique 1/50. Extras were again second top score of 37 , with the wind, the orange ball some big spin all playing its part.
For the second week in a row we got off to a bad start losing Hynd for 0 and McGregor for 5, leaving us 28/2. However Moore and the Washington specialist Heather set about repairing the damage. Moore was then LBW for 34, and Aatif 1, leaving us again under pressure at 74/4. Dawson joined Heather and Heather passed 50 as the weather started to circle. Heather was then well caught behind for 51 and we were 146/5, but knowing we were ahead of the run rate should the rain intervene, as news filtered through from Newcastle that in had been raining for some time. Siddique was then out to the last ball of Wilkie’s (4/19) spell, leaving us 159/6. Kilpatrick joined Dawson and they picked up some good singles as the rain started. By the time the rain came properly we were 164/6 in 39, with the target being 156 at this point. Once it started there was no chance to get back on and we picked up an important win, which took us top of the league as Tynemouth, South North and Ashington were all abandoned. A very good win against a very competitive side and the league is now in our hands with 3 to play and a very tricky match away to South North next up.
The match scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5024710
Sat 20 August - 3rd XI v Mitford (away) - West Tyne League
The Hill were handily placed at 111 for 5 with 10 overs in the innings remaining when the heavens opened at Mitford, no further play was possible, with the teams sharing 7 points each. Rashid Shad was our top scorer with 51.
The match scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5295280
Sunday 21 August - 3rd XI v South North (home) - NEPL Sunday League - Division 1
The NEPL 3s got back to winning ways with a comfortable 6 wicket victory against South North. We won the toss and put the option into bat, and the decision was quickly justified with the visitors losing 4 quick wickets. Abu Siddique was the pick of the Hill attack, taking 3 of those early wickets in figures of 6 overs 3 for 12. There was also 2 wickets each for Safiun Diip, Ben Robinson and Shay Marley, as the Bulls were skittled for 120 in 34 overs.
The Hill chased down the total with minimum fuss in the 26th over. Openers Freddie McGregor (36) and Safiun (37) getting the bulk of the runs, supported by Matt Lockey (26).
The match scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5134474
