Saturday (27th August) saw local pride at stake with derby games for both the 1st and 2nd against South North. The shares we spoiled on the day with our 1st XI enjoying a hard fought win at the Hill, but our 2nd XI's fantastic league run came to a shruddering halt with a 6 wicket defeat at the Gosforth Bull Ring. The 3rd XI also suffered a heavy league losses on Saturday in the West Tyne and Sunday in the NEPL, against Riding Mill and Sunderland respectively.
Sat 27 August - 1st XI v South North (home) - NEPL Premier Division - Phil Haves match report
With the sun shining on yet another Saturday morning the first eleven hosted local rivals South Northumberland at Denton Bank with the visitors knowing that victory would give them one hand on the Premier League title.Skipper Pete won the toss & decided to have a bat on the 'new' wicket. Angus & Kyle progressed without much alarm until the score had reached 43 when Angus was caught at slip off the left arm spin of McGee. The left arm spinner then quickly struck again claiming the prized wicket of Coetzer caught behind off a ball that turned & bounced, 44/2.Finn joined Mohsin & the two of them confidently played shots all around the ground steadying the ship & without any risk continued to build their partnership past the hundred mark. Having taken the partnership to 142 Mohsin fell for an excellent 69 to give McGee his third wicket stumped by Peyton. Haydon joined Finn & the pair added a further brisk 40, with Haydon (a cameo 25) taking a liking to Crozier in particular, before Finn was bowled by the returning Wightman with a slower delivery for a brilliantly crafted 79. As the innings moved towards its close runs came & wickets fell regularly & we closed on 244/8 in our 50 overs with McGee being the pick of the visitors bowlers finishing with 3-45 from his 10 overs.
Bell & Birtwisle opened in reply for the visitors however we gained an early breakthrough as the dangerous Sol Bell was caught behind off Callum. Batting at 3 Peyton joined Birtwisle & the pair scored freely until the total had reached 71 when Birtwisle (24) slapped a wide delivery from Dan to Finn at point. Overseas professional Dithole (21) added 50 to the total with Peyton before he hit Max to Angus at extra cover with both umpires being in agreement that the ball had carried, a decision the opposition, especially Peyton took exception too!. Two balls later the aforementioned Peyton was out to the same combination for a fine 47 much to the delight of the home side leaving the visitors 122/4. Skipper Cragg added a further 30 to the total with Sean Tindale before astute field placing paid dividends as Cragg hit Torre to Finn, one of two extra covers in place. Tindale & Gough then counter attacked & added a further 41 before Tindale (37) was caught by a terrific boundary catch by Finn again off Torre. McGee quickly followed run out for 0 by Callum. Paton was caught on the boundary by Dan off Kyle, Gough was run out by Haydon before Callum returned to wrap up the innings as Finn took the easiest of his 4 catches with Wightman the man out for 5, South North all out for 215. The victory by 29 runs continues our recent good results at the Hill against the Bulls & ensures the League title race continues and next week we host another of the contenders, Burnmoor, looking for a similar result.
Photos from the day are available from Martin Avery Photography at
https://martinavery.dphoto.com/album/aavr4t
The match scorecard is available here
https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5024245
Sat 27 August - 2nd XI v South North (away) - NE Premier League Division 2
The 2nd XI winning run came to a crashing halt against South North who are also chasing the title at the top of the league. The Hill missing skipper Matty Hynd lost the toss and were inserted into the bat. Despite half centuries from Rohan Aatif (51) and Adam Heather (58), wickets fell all too regulalry at the other end with Frieddie McGregor (13) the only other batsman to get double figures. We were eventually all out for 179 in the 48th over.
A couple of early Anth Hunter wickets gave us hope of keeping our winning run going, however a 97 run 3rd wicket partnership meant the home side were always on top, eventually reaching their target for loss of 4 wickets with 10 overs to spare.
The result meant South North leap frogged is in the league, we now lie 3rd with 2 games to go. We now sit 15 points behind league leaders Tynemouth, who still have 2 tough fixtures remaining against Newcastle and Ashington. South North are still to play Sunderland and Hetton Lyons. We have games against Castle Eden and Chester le Street.
The match scorecard is available here
https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5024768
Saturday 27 August - 3rd XI v Riding Mill (home at Humshaugh CC) - West Tyne League - Chris Pounder match report
Saturday saw the West Tyne League 3’s suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of Riding Mill losing by 7 wickets.
After losing the toss we were asked to bat and wickets fell on a regular basis. Out of a total of 84 all out The returning (for one day only) Matt Reeves top scored with 23 followed by Furgus Wallace with 15 and Laura Pearson with 10 the only batters in double figures
Riding Mill saw off the 85 needed for the loss of only 3 wickets. Zain Ahmad with 2 wickets and Shay Marley with 1.
The match scorecard is available here
https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5295365
Sunday 28 August - 1st XI v Hetton Lyons (home) - Banks Salver Final
See separate report at
https://benwellhill.co.uk/blog/coetzer-century-sets-up-banks-salver-success
Sunday 28 August - 3rd XI v Suderland (away) - NEPL Sunday League Division 1
The NEPL 3rd XI were away to Sunderland on Sunday. The fixture was originally meant to be at Hill but was moved to Ashbrooke, due to a clash with 1st XI game in the Banks Salver final. A poor batting display chasing 234 , meant we went down to a second defeat of the month at the venue (after our loss on 7th August).
Sunderland won the toss and elected to bat, posting 234 for 9 in their 40 overs. There were some promising bowling displays from our young team, with 2 wickets each for Safi Diip, Aaron Armstrong, Shay Marley and old timer (!) Taylor Matthews.
In reply we only scored 128, with Safii top scoring with 41, other useful contributions from Rohaan (24), Freddie (18) and Taylor (16).
The match scorecard is available here
https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5134475
