It was a weekend to forgot for the Hill's senior teams, with all 4 teams slipping to defeats. The 1st and 2nd's both losing by the barest of margins, however both 3rd teams were on the end of heavy defeats. Read on for the gory details :
NEPL Division 1 - 1st XI v Newcastle City (h) - Lost by 3 runs - Match Report by Phil Nicholson
The Hill's First XI suffered an agonising three run defeat on Saturday at the NBMS Denton Bank ground. Visitors Newcastle City won the inaugural league meeting between the clubs from the last ball of the game.
The newly promoted Gosforth outfit were indebted to ex-Hill starlet Mohsin Mukhtar who made a well-constructed 73 in a total of 187ao on a used pitch. City had earlier won a useful toss and despite suffering three run outs posted a competitive score. The Hill wickets were shared and spinners Lee Crozier and Sri Lankan Tharindu Kaushal were particularly economical.
The Hill's reply stuttered at the start before left handers Rory Mustard and Adam Heather added 41 for the second wicket. Mustard nicked behind for a promising 30 and the youngster's dismissal began a folding of The Hill's middle order from 45-1 to 70-6. Heather and Kaushal rallied before the veteran perished for 27. Kaushal on his home debut was then joined by Hill vice-captain Max Williamson and the pair skilfully batted the home side back into the match by taking the score to 164. Kaushal had just completed his half-century when he holed out on the cover boundary for 51 from 50 balls. Despite Williamson continuing the fight alongside Harding and then Crozier, The Hill couldn't find the last few runs against a determined bowling unit.
It was in the spring sunshine a super game of cricket and Newcastle City were worthy opponents and winners on the day. Omar Ahmed with 3-16 and Shahzad Gul 2-29 were the pick of the visitors bowling. Both sides can look forward to successful seasons in the first division of the NEPL.
The Hill will have not one but two chances to avenge the defeat when we welcome Newcastle City for a Tyneside Charity Bowl cup match on Wednesday 21 May and for a NEPL 20/20 group game on Friday 30 May. Both start at 6pm.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Newcastle City (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Sunderland (a) - Lost by 1 wicket - Pete Jones Captains Report
Match Report to follow
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Sunderland (a)
NTCL Divison 5 West - 3rd XI v Humshaugh (a) - Lost by 9 wickets - Chris Pounder's Captains Report
Saturday saw the NTCL 3’s visit Humsaugh. I won the toss and decided to bat first and Humsaugh made light work of dismissing the Hill's ten batters, as we were left one short after a late withdrawal.
We were bowled out for 85 in the 33rd over with Aayan top scoring with 25 followed by Jamie Fletcher-Woods with 14 and Dave Haxon with 10. The only three to make it into double figures. Jack Garret the pick of Humsaugh’s bowlers with 5/17 from his 9 overs.
In reply Humsaugh batters got over the line in 17 overs with Rob Foster top scoring with 46.The one wicket went to Sai Patel.
All round a disappointing game after last weeks win over Blaydon.
3rd XI NTCL Scorecard v Humshaugh (a)
NEPL Sunday Division 1 - 3rd XI v Sacriston (a) - Lost by 112 runs - Matty Hynd's Captains Report
The 3rd team took the field against last years champions full of confidence but were brought back to earth with a crash.
Sacriston won the toss and elected to bat. Seb Fletcher-woods removed the opener with a beauty first ball, however Sacriston never looked back after that. Seb and Gabriel bowled well and kept the score down and honours were even after 10 overs when Sacriston were 47 /1. However the change bowlers found it more difficult as the watchful Ratcliffe and aggressive Buchanan increased the rate at pace. Buchanan in particular taking 26 off 1 over. Bowlers were rotated and the runs still flowed. The reintroduced Mellor removed Ratcliffe for 73 in the 32nd over and the score was 231. Buchanan fell next over to the returning Harsh Patel for a wonderful career best 154 from only 94 balls. The new batters had licence to be aggressive and closed at 298/5. Mellor 8 overs 1-29 was the pick of the bowling and Harsh Patel 3-49 did very well in his second spell. The Hill were never in with a chance with such a huge score and most players contributed. Rash Shad 50, Poxon 32, Ayush 27 and the aggressive Mexter 35 from 22 took us to full batting points and 186/5.
Some harsh lessons for the young team were learnt as we put down a few chances and missed a few run outs which helped Sacriston to score such a huge total. The team should be proud that they kept going and managed to pick.up full batting points. We move onto next weeks match against Whitburn.
3rd XI NEPL Sunday Scorecard v Sacriston (a)
