A season to forget for the 1s concluded with our heaviest loss of the season at Burnopfield, however the 2s and West Tyne 3s finished off their impressive league seasons with wins against Gateshead Fell and Newbrough, read on for all the info.
NEPL Premier League - 1st XI v Burnopfield (a) - Lost by 10 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
With relegation already confirmed our final League match of the season saw us travel to Burnopfield for a game that just about summed up all our trials & tribulations of the season in one afternoon.
For the final time in his captaincy tenure Pete won the toss & elected to have a bat but as has been reported on more than one occasion this summer early wickets tumbled as Haydon (11), Adam (9), Dan(5) along with ducks for Janders & Luke were all dismissed as we slumped to 33/5 inside 7 overs. Pete & Belly then showed something that we have missed in 2024 as they steadily built a partnership that passed the hundred until it was eventually broken having reached 143 when Pete was adjudged LBW for a well made 59. At a 174/6 it was set up for us to press on to a total well in excess of 200 however when Belly (65) was also given out LBW another trait of the season resurfaced as we lost the remaining wickets for the addition of only 27 runs, all out for 203 with 5 overs of the innings still to bat.
When we started in the field I’m sure none of those watching or the two teams expected to see what occurred in the next 18 overs. We witnessed an extraordinary start to the innings as future England opener Ben McKinney raced to 50 in only 15 balls ( 7x4s & 3x6s)as the hosts reached 74 after 4 overs. When fellow opener John Oswell joined the party with a 27 ball half century the hundred came up in the 6th over & the hundred & fifty partnership in the 12th over. With the ball flying to all parts of the ground McKinney duly reached his century off 55 balls with 10x4s & 4x6s & as the hosts knocked off the required runs in 18 overs Oswell had reached 91 not out with 11x4s & 4x6s.
This was a chastening 10 wicket annihilation to end the season which was full of disappointments,could not come quickly enough & which we never recovered from the loss of the Professional with 6 games remaining.
The team now have to reflect,learn from the season & the writer would expect those players involved will see it as their responsibility to ensure we bounce straight back in 2025 with the help of the right additions to the group.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Burnopfield (a)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Gateshead Fell (h) - Won by X runs - Captains Match Report by Pete Jones
The 2s signed off the season with a win at home against Gateshead Fell. I don't have the scorecard in front of me so there's going to be a bit of guesswork and approximation here!
We batted first and set an imposing total iof 289 for 5. This was largely thanks to Prahalad who, returning from the 1st team, was disappointed to be dismissed for 80. Maybe he can speak to Max Tidmarsh over the winter to learn about converting to triple figures. Prowler was just one half of an excellent 2nd wicket partnership with Wazzle Pox who himself was dissapointed to walk off with 70 odd to his name. Fergus Wallace, among others, kept the momentum going through to the end of the innings.
Throughout the Fell's innings they ticked along nicely but always behind the required rate. Apart from Prahalad the entire Hill bowling attack was aged 18 and under. The young lads did a good job of making it hard enough for the Fell to score despite some favourable batting conditions. There was a flurry of boundaries in the late overs as the Fell opener moved from the 80s to 130* but it was too little too late and the Fell finished 40 runs short for the loss of 3 wickets.
The scorecard also hasn't been uploaded to play cricket yet so I'm not sure exactly where we finished in the league but I think it's likely to be 4th. Not a bad effort at all considering all my contemporaries packed it in and we had 5+ players aged under 18 for most of the season. Well done everyone. Better things next year.
2nd XI NEPL Division 2 scorecard v Gatehead Fell (h)
West Tyne - 3rd XI v Newbrough (a) - Won by 7 wickets - Captains Report by Chris Pounder
The West Tyne 3’s finished the season with a 7 wicket win in against Newbrough at Stamfordham.
Losing the toss and being asked to field 3’s again bowled out the opposition cheaply for 70 thanks to another fantastic bowling performance from Michael MacLauchlan who was the best of the bowing with 8 overs 4 wickets for 10. Ben Robinson was also in the wickets with 6 overs 3 wickets for 21.
Gabriel Mellor could could consider himself unfortunate not to get himself with a decent bowling performance taking 1 for 3 with 4 maidens in his 5.3 overs.
In reply it was a little slower to knock off the runs compared to a week ago with 3’s reaching 72 for the loss of 3 wickets with Davey Ladd (30) and Michael MacLauchlan (29 not out) setting us up nicely for the win.
3rd XI West Tyne scorecard v Newbrough (a)
