Read the reports below to get the full story on a frustrating Saturday for the 1st's at home against Felling, a big win for the 2nd's and how the NTCL 3rd's got hammered for a double century by Greenside batter.
NEPL Premier Division - 1st XI v Felling (h) - Losing Draw - Match Report by Phil Haves
Felling were the visitors to NBMS Denton Bank on Saturday in the first of the red ball win/lose/draw series of games which saw Aaron Armstrong make his First Eleven League debut after a series of strong performances in the Seconds.
Belly won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first. Harpo quickly got into his work with the red ball dismissing Easton, Twiddy and away skipper Mustard as Felling slipped to 42/3. Canty then dismissed Appleby and Hurst in the space of 4 runs reducing our opponents to 63/5. The Visitors Aussie overseas Robinson having survived a huge shout for caught behind stood firm at the other end and when joined by all rounder Slane they steadily rebuilt the innings adding 40 runs before SMJ struck with the score on 103.
Stamper and Aussie Robinson increased the run rate moving the score on to 191 before Aaron claimed his maiden wicket caught by Dave Christie. Knowles joined the Aussie who reached his ton and the pair took the total to 259 & with 2 wickets for Dave and 1 for Max the Felling innings closed on 272 one ball short of 58 overs.
In reply David and Rory looked untroubled taking the opening partnership to 96 before David was controversially given out LBW for 56 (3x4 & 4x6). We then lost 3 wickets with the score on 108 as Toby (5), SMJ who was promoted up the order for 0 & Rory for 45 (5x4 & 1x6). 2 further wickets fell, Sam (14) and Belly (0) with the score on 130. Canty was dismissed for 2 and when Adam was bowled for a well made 28 it was left to Max (14no) & Aaron (1no) to see us through to a draw as we finished 173/8.
We took 10 points from the game and go again next weekend when we entertain Burnopfield.
NEPL 1st XI Scorecard v Felling (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Felling (a) - Won by 163 runs - Captain's Match Report by Joe Fletcher
A convincing win for the 2s on Saturday against Felling.
Having won the toss and deciding to bat, we did excellently early on in some tricky conditions to build a foundation, an opening partnership of 77 for Ayush and Harsh (both opening for the first time), meant that when the inevitable Benwell Hill collapse did come (132/2 to 196/7), we were able to still post a competitive 224/9 (dec).
By in large our batting success was down to Ayush Chakraborty who battled hard for 53 overs for his 98. Although he was unable to convert into his maiden hundred, it was extremely pleasing to see him step up from batting 8/9 to opening with such maturity.
In the second half, we were extremely dominant. Naz Habibi on debut took a wicket with his first ball, and from then on we didn’t look back. Special mention to the spin duo of Ayush and Jonesy, who took 4/8 (7) & 5/13 (10) - an insane effort to leave Felling all out for 61.
That result leaves us with 5 wins from 6, and a trip to Newcastle City next week, weather providing!
NEPL 2nd XI Scorecard v Felling (a)
NTCL Division 5 South - 3rd XI v Greenside (h) - Lost by 268 runs - Vice Captains Match Report by James Walder
The day didn't start well - losing the toss to Greenside 2nd XI and being asked to bowl in the sunny conditions. Sai and Nicholas both picked up an early wicket but that was about as good as it got. A brutal partnership of over 200 followed as all bowlers struggled against some powerful hitting on the small ground. Both batsmen reach 100 and despite Nicholas returning to pick up a third wicket, a rarely seen double hundred was reached in the last over as Greenside reached 380 for 3. Nicholas was picked of the bowler with 2 for 50 from his 8 overs.
The batting target was about bonus points but there was a steady stream of wickets as the team were bowled out for 113. The highlight was a score of 43 by Cherry (just short of his personal best) as he led the way to 2 batting bonus points.
It was a tough day for young team but they stuck together and will come back stronger over the summer.
NTCL 3rd XI Scorecard v Greenside (h)
NEPL Sunday Division 1 v Seaham Harbour (a) - Lost by 6 runs - Captain's Report by MattyNEPL Hynd
The NEPL 3s took the field with another young side left by Michael and after losing the toss they were bowling on a warm day.
Gabriel and Nic started well and we had Seaham in trouble at 51 for 4. However Seaham were managing to punish the bad balls and were scoring at a good rate. Hunter (41) and Wright (30) scored freely but wickets were falling regularly. At 106/7 we looked on top but more hitting from Churlish (24) and no11 Rochester 22 not out pushed Seaham to a competitive 166/10 in 34.1. Mellor (2/41), Walder (1-18), Siddique (1-23l , S.Patel (1-23), Smalley (1-17l and skipper Maclaulan (3-0) took the wickets. At the break it was evenly poised although we were disappointed that 100 of the runs were in boundaries.
Harsh and Michael opened up and we lost Michael early and quickly followed by siddique for 9 leaving us in trouble at 22/2. Seaham bowled straight and scoring was hard but Harsh and Daniel dug in. Harsh accelerated and got to 50 before being well bowled for 55 from 80 after putting on 65. Freddie was out quickly but Seb came in and attacked and he and Daniel put on 42 quickly before Seb was out for 22 from 25. When Daniel was out for a well made 36 from 98 chances started to slip away but Gabriel 18 from 23 pushed the game into the final over, only for us to come up 6 short. A great effort from the young team and 13 points collected. Seaham bowled very well and their experience told in the final 10 overs in a very close and exciting match.
NEPL Sunday 3rd XI scorecard v Seaham Harbour (a)
