Weekend cricket resumed at the Hill following an enforced weather break over the previous two weekends, and the 1s got it off to a fine start with an excellent win away to Felling in the Quarter Final of the NEPL Banks Salver competition. We are now through to finals day which will be held on Bank Holiday Monday 26th August. The venue is to be confirmed, but will either be at the Hill, South North, Whitburn or Burnmoor, who all made it through their respective quarter finals. Read on for the news of all our weekend games including an excellent win for the West Tyne 3s against league leaders Riding Mill.
Banks Hundred Salver - 1st XI scorecard v Felling (a) - won by 4 runs.
NEPL Premier League - 1st XI v Chester le Street (h) - Match Drawn - Match Report from Phil Haves
Chester were the visitors to NBMS Denton Bank on Saturday as we looked to turn the corner after a long run of poor results.
Pete won the toss & elected to bowl first as it appeared the weather might have a say later in the day although as it turned out was not the case. After an opening partnership of 33 Callum made the initial breakthrough dismissing McCann for 10. Up stepped Andrew Smith who, after being bowled by a Rory no ball, batted brilliantly & proceeded score with ease in an aggressive manner & added 158 with visiting skipper Thompson (51). Pearce came & went quickly before Smith’s fantastic knock of 162 off 114 balls (6x6 & 17x4) came to an end with the score on 285. It came as some surprise to several of those spectators watching that the visitors batted on before declaring on 319/7 off 50 overs which gave us 3 bowling bonus points. Yash picked up 3 wickets, Luke 2 whilst Callum & Max got 1 a piece.
With 60 overs to bat it was essential we got off to a decent start & this was indeed the case as Adam & Rory added 65 for the first wicket before Rory, who had survived a bizarre incident when a ball off Robinson hit the bails which then fell back into their grooves, was caught behind for 25. Just 6 runs later we suffered a severe blow to any hopes we may have had of chasing down the visitors total as Yash was caught behind. Adam completed his 3rd half century of the season before being dismissed for 59 with the total just shy of 100. Janders followed quickly afterwards with the score on 103/4. Haydon then played his best Hill innings of the season playing diligently & along with Belly added 58 but more importantly using up valuable overs until Belly was out for 15 with the total on 161. Haydon was out one short of a half century nicking a ‘Jaffa’ to the wicket keeper with the score on 171. This was to be the last success for the visitors as skipper Pete & Max saw us through to the end adding a further 39 as we finished on 210/6 with Max continuing his good form with the bat finishing 29 not out & Pete (13no) a confidence boosting not out at the same time.
The 9 points from the draw helped us narrow the gap further at the bottom of the table which has closed significantly over the last few weeks. Hopefully we can continue this trend as we travel to Jesmond on Saturday
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Chester le Steet (h)
NEPL Premier League - 2nd XI v Chester le Street (a) - Match Drawn - Captains Report from Pete Jones
On another sunny Saturday with rain expected the skipper won the toss and bowled. The game progressed steadily, with Prahalad in particular providing good control. The introduction of spin in the 16th over saw the Hill pick up 3 wickets in 4 overs to put themselves on top. With the home side on 90/6 in the 25th over we were hoping to be chasing well under 200. The bowlers applied good pressure but some sensible and determined batting kept Chester le Street in the game. Another flurry of 3 wickets in 4 overs had Chester on 159-9 in the 47th. At that point we came up against a number 11 who didn't follow the script and biffed 32 off 28 to see Chester to 209-9 from 55 overs.
At the half way point we felt we had a strong chance of a successful chase. In the end the strength of our batting order only served to make sure we didn't lose. Only Max Tidmarsh out of the top 6 made it past 16. His highly unfortunate dismissal for 36, off the outside edge of his thigh pad, to a ball that was going miles down leg, saw our hopes of a win slide into the distance. At 105-8 in the 37th Safi and Jonesy had 13 overs to survive, with only Phogat to come, who was injured and would be batting with one hand. Some good hitting from Safi (interspersed with some bad) meant the pair got us past 150 for an extra two batting points.
The lads played plenty of good cricket but a little more discipline and determination with the bat could have made the difference.
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Chester le Street (a)
West Tyne 3rd XI v Riding Mill (h) - won by 6 wickets - Captains Report from Chris Pounder
Saturday saw a break in the rain and a new venue for the 3’s when we hosted league leaders Riding Mill at Newbrough.
Winning the toss and electing to field The Hill bowled well on a small ground restricting Riding Mill to 170/7 from their 40 overs with two wickets a piece for the skipper and Rohaan and wickets for Jayam, Aaron and Ayush.
In reply Davey (0) went early followed by Zain (11) before a big partnership with Rohaan (79) and Jayam (32) would take us towards the win.
The win was secured in the 37th over with Ayush hitting the winning runs to finish not out on 19 alongside Michal Mc 11 not out.
A fantastic win for 3’s against the league leaders.
3rd XI West Tyne scorecard v Riding Mill (a)
NEPL Sunday 3rd XI v Chester le Street (h) - lost by 7 wickets.
It was a day to forgot for the NEPL 3s as they were well beaten by Chester le Street at Denton Bank. We batted first and were 118 all out with only Rory Mustard (25) and Matty Hynd (26 not out) passing 20, Chester reached our total with the minimum of fuss in 19th over, for loss of 3 wickets, 2 for Michael McLaunchlin and 1 for Jayam Patel.
NEPL Sunday 3rd XI scorecard v Chester le Street (h)
