It was the tale of 2 centuries this weekend, Joe Moore scoring a magnificent 138 for the 2's in a huge 162 run win over Chester le Street, whereas Pete Halliday's equally impressive century (106 not out) came in a narrow 33 run loss for the 1s in the corresponding fixture.
At Denton Bank, Chester 1st's won the toss and elected to bat, and it turned out to be a good decision as they racked up 308 for 5 in their 50 overs. They had their own centurion, Jacob McCann scoring 103, with useful contributions from a number of other batsmen, meaning the Hill had a huge challenge in the second innings. Wickets were scarce, Mohsin taking 2 for 66 off his 10 overs, Kyle 1 for 43 (8 overs), Max 1 for 43 (7 overs) and Callum 1 for 51 (10 overs).
A decent opening stand of 60 saw the Hill secure a steady start, but this quickly became 93 for 4, Kyle being the 4th man out, adjugded LBW for 51. Enter the skipper Peter Haliday and Mohsin Mukthar who put on a stand of 123 for the 5th wicker, Mohsin eventually falling for 37, same late hitting from Phil Bell (27 off 16 balls), saw us getting close to the Chester score, eventually finishing 33 short. Pete brought up his 100 with a pull for 6, and he eventually finished with 106 not out off only 84 balls, a fine skippers effort.
1st XI scored is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4603565
In the reverse fixture at Ropery Lane, the Hill won the toss and elected to bat. This proved a fine decision as skipper Matty Hynd (93) and Joe Moore (138) put on a magnificant opening stand of 241 for 1st wicket. Runs continued to flow with Haydon Mustard scoring 51 not out, as the Hill scored 365 for loss of 4 wickets in their 50 overs.
With such a huge total to chase and the draw option not availble in the current 50 over format being used in the NEPL for the first half of the season, Chester were always up against it, despite opener Matthew Cranston's 77, wickets fell regulalry with Joe Kilpatrick taking 3 for 23, Pete Jones 2 for 20, Haydon Mustard 2 for 12, Will Archbold 2 for 28 and Joe Torre 1 for 27. The Hill eventually winning by 162 runs.
2nd XI Scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4604766
