Another mixed bag of results, with only the 1st XI getting a victory over the weekend, the quality and the manner of that win at previoulsy unbeaten Willington making up for the losses elsewhere.
NEPL Division 1 - 1st XI v Willington (a) - Won by 6 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
A first ever NEPL visit to unbeaten League leaders Willington on Saturday saw our best all round performance of the season so far as we eased to comprehensive 6 wicket victory.
Belly once again won the toss & asked the home side to have a bat and it was a decision that paid dividends from ball one as they were never able to get any real momentum in their innings. Max and Callum once again started with a miserly opening spell with only 25 runs scored in the first 11 overs whilst we claimed 2 huge wickets with Andrew Pratt run out by a fine piece of fielding & direct hit from Fletch at backward point and then former Durham and Leicester player Scott Steel out to a wonderful catch at extra cover by Brij off Max. Max went on to complete his best spell of the season so far finishing with 1-18 off his 9 overs. When Sam dismissed opener Nicholson and the Pro pinned the home skipper Stock in front Willington were 50/4 after 21 overs. Although stands of 62 and 56 followed the hosts were never able to get away in the face of continued tight bowling from all the bowlers and along with 4 wickets in the last 4 overs Willington finished their innings in 189/9. Along with Max, Callum 1/37, Sam 3/26, Tharindu 2/44 and Brij 1/20 were the other wicket takers.
Set a reasonable target on a good pitch we were confident that if we could play well and positively a win was achievable. The main obstacle to overcome was the home side’s Overseas Professional who had started the season in fine style taking wickets and bowling economically. On the day however Rory set the tone of the innings by taking 11 off their Pro’s first over and with Belly also helping himself to runs freely Sajjad went for 30 off his first 3 overs as we raced to 50 without loss inside 6 overs. Runs continued to flow and the 100 came up in the 15th over with Belly also reaching 50 off 42 balls. Rory was then dismissed for an excellent 41.
Adam joined the skipper and the pair added 51 before Belly was dismissed for a brilliant 79 and a little wobble followed as Brij and Adam followed quickly however Tharindu with a run a ball 21 and Max with 6 not out saw us home with more than 6 overs to spare.
A great win on the road in a very competitive division which ensures the top remains pretty congested. We travel again on Saturday in good spirits with another tough game at Seaham Harbour in the last set of win/lose games.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Willington (a)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Hetton Lyons (s) - Lost by 33 runs - Pete Jones Captains Report
Bowling first was no bad thing. Our only league win so far was chasing against Ashington. We got ourselves into a good position when Hetton were 129-7 in the 27th over. Largely thanks to a great start from Aaron and a brilliant spell from Wazzle Pox. Some good batting and a couple of dropped catches saw us let Hetton off the hook and they made a very reasonable 208 on a very dry pitch.
Despite losing Hynd Snr in the first over we made a steady start. Losing Warren and Jyam, who were both set, in consecutive overs was a big setback. Abu and Jack Hutt started to rebuild but when Abu was LBW for 22 and the required rate had started to climb things started to look tricky. In the end it was too much for our lower order and we fell well short. It was an improved bowling performance from last week but we still found ourselves in the silver medal position. We go again.
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Hetton Lyons (a)
NTCL Divison 5 West - 3rd XI v United Stars (h) - Lost by 9 wickets - Chris Pounder's Captains Report
The NTCL 3’s suffers another heavy defeat this time at the hands of United Stars.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first the hill lost a flurry of early wickets before Robbie Cope (12) and Freddie Mexter (42) added some much needed runs. However after losing their wickets the next highest score was the skipper with 7 not out. We finished 91 all out and Untied Stars got the winning runs in the 11th over for the loss of just two wickets. 1 wicket each for Jamie Fletcher-Woods and Sai Patel.
3rd XI NTCL Scorecard v United Stars (h)
NEPL Sunday Division 1 - 3rd XI v Sacriston (a) - Lost by 112 runs - Matty Hynd's Captains Report
The NEPL 3rd team travelled to Whitburn and lost the toss and were put into bat.
We made a steady start but lost Shad for a quick 23 and Taylor quickly for 0. Ayush and Harsh started to rebuild and Ayush passed 50. Ayush was out for 67 and then Harsh for a senior high of 27. Liam and Gabriel added 30 at a run a ball and Gabriel hit his first senior 6. We ended on 171/4 just short of maximum batting points.
We knew ot would be tough to defend with 1 very short boundary. Ibrahim and Gabriel opened the bowling but too many loose balls allowed Whitburn to get away. After 10 overs Whitburn were nearly 100. Ayush was brought on and he removed one of the openers but Whitburn were flying at 134/1. Taylor and Sai struggled to stem the flow of runs but Ayush continued to impress taking 2 wickets in 2 balls and eventually a 4th before Whitburn cruised home with 6 wickets in hand and 15 overs to spare. Ayush 4-29 being the pick.
Another tough lesson that in senior cricket consistency is the key. A lot of loose deliveries were bowled and punished and this was illustrated by the fact that Whitburn scored 106 runs in boundaries! A shout out to Amy Chapman who fielded superbly on the cover boundary on her NEPL debut saving a few more shots that would have went for 4.
