The 2026 NEPL season began for the 1s with the toughest fixture of all against the 2024 and 2025 Premier League winners Burnmoor, with the Hill eventually going down by 5 wickets in a battling display which bodes well for the season ahead. There was better news for the 2s who beat Tynedale by 15 runs in a high scoring game at Priors Flat, and the 3s beat Matfen 2s by 70 runs in their opening NTCL fixture.
NEPL Premier Division - 1st XI v Burnmoor (h) - Lost by 5 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
On a blustery Saturday morning the First Eleven hosted current League Champions Title favourites Burnmoor.
Belly lost the toss and the visitors asked us to bat first. Two debutants pro Dave Christie and Toby Barton opened the innings and with David showing his aggressive batting nature along with Toby batting solidly at the other end we progressed to 41 without loss. The loss of Dave caught by former Hill player Callum Harding with a juggling effort at short fine leg was a disappointing end to a promising first innings in Hill colours and somewhat put the breaks on our innings. Visiting skipper Pringle then dismantled our middle order dismissing Adam (0), debutant Sam Dinning (4), skipper Belly (14) and Max (6) in a spell of 4-19 in his 10 overs and with Toby going for 18 we slumped to 86/6.
This soon became 104/7 when Abu walked past one and was stumped off Bridge. Another of our debutants Ben Cant was trying to rebuild the innings and look composed whilst wickets were falling at the other end and although Sam Martin-Jenkins hit a quick fire 13 he then hit a long hop straight to deep square leaving us 121/8. Ben did however manage the innings through to the 50th over playing a classy knock of his own ably supported by Harpo (12) and Lee (2no) as 51 were added and he deservedly reached his half century off the last ball of the 50th. We finished a respectable 172/9.
In reply Max got us an early breakthrough dismissing Greenwell with the score on 12 and when another debutant Mark Watson (Harpo) dismissed Brown we felt we had an outside chance of a surprise victory. This however was quickly extinguished as Robbie Bowman played a super innings of 84 off 61 balls and along with Pringle (27) they added 91 for the 3rd wicket. We did continue to fight hard in the field and managed to take 3 further wickets before an unbeaten 21 from Poynter saw Burnmoor to a comfortable 5 wicket win. Max and Lee with 2 each and 1 for Harpo were our wicket takers.
An encouraging start to the season albeit not the result we had wished for however this game against the strongest all round side in the League will not define our season.
Shotley Bridge are the visitors to NBMS Denton Bank on Saturday.
1st XI NEPL Match Scorecard v Burnmoor (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Tynedale (a) - Won by 16 runs - Captains Match Report by Joe Fletcher
In a last over thriller to start the season, the 2XI got off to a winning start in their league campaign against a strong 10-man Tynedale side.
Having lost the toss and asked to bat, the 2s found themselves in a spot of bother after the powerplay at 46/3 following some aggressive play up front. The middle order then steadied the ship with notable contributions from skipper Joe Fletcher 79(105), Ben Mussett 22(39) & Michael MacLauchlan 67(69). Some late big hitting from Andy Dawson 49(31) steered the score upwards of 250, finally finishing on 271/9.
In reply Tynedale got off to a flyer, and a rain break at 15 overs proved key as at 75/0 they looked to be running away with things. With a few minutes to reset the lads came out with a clearer game plan to restrict runs, and in doing so created opportunities, with spin playing a key part.
Ayush Chalraborty with 1/36 (10) & Peter Jones 0/49 (10), ensured the required run rate crept up well over above a run a ball, allowing for the likes of Aaron Armstrong 1/46 (6) & Jayam Patel 2/51 (10) could take wickets regularly enough to see us home.
There were moments where the game could have swung either way, but the lads held their nerve and ultimately secured the win in the last over, in which Tynedale could only manage 6 runs whilst requiring 23.
Onto another big test next week away at Tynemouth!
2nd XI NEPL Match Scorecard v Tynedale (a)
NTCL Division 5 West - 3rd XI v Matfen II (a) - Won by 70 runs - Captains Report by James Walder
A young 3rd XI team (one u14, four u15s and two u16s) travelled to Matfen for the start of the season in some wet and windy conditions. Having lost the loss we were asked to bat with Inyat Habibi making his debut and opening the batting with Thomas.
A wet pitch and outfield meant it was hard work with the ball doing plenty in the wind and off the pitch. We also had three 10 min breaks for some spring showers. Thomas and Inyat both fell early to good yorkers but then Gabe and James starting building a partnership. As it looked like we were getting on top we lost four quick wickets and the rebuilding job had to start again.
James was ably supported by Seb as we started to tick off the batting bonus points with James reaching 61 before being bowled by ex-Hill player Ramin Aatif chasing late runs. A late flourish saw us reach 170/9 with extras second top score.
Some early wickets from Khaled (2 for 12) and tight bowling got us off to a good start and the young bowlers coped well with a challenging wind blowing across the pitch. Gabe bowled a good spell picking up 3 for 16 including a good catch from Sukhveer and was followed by Sai who ended up with 3 for 14. We finished with our spinners, Sukhveer and Inyat, who both picked up a wicket as Matfen were bowled out for 100.
A great 30 point win to start the season and positive to see all the juniors contributing to a real team effort.
3rd XI NTCL Match Scorecard v Matfen II (a)
