A mixed bag in the first weekend of the 2025 season. The 1st XI won their first ever Division 1 fixture at Eppleto, the 2nd XI lost to Chester le Street in a run fest at the Hill, and a 9 man 3rd XI were well beaten by old foes Haltwhistle in their first ever Northumberland and Tyneside Cricket League (NTCL) fixture, Read on for more info and scoresheets.
NEPL Division 1 - 1st XI v Eppleton (a) - Won by 3 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
The beginning of a new season and first in Division 1 saw us visit Eppleton on Saturday with high hopes we could get the campaign for immediate promotion back to the Premier Division off to a winning start. Unfortunately Overseas Professional Tharindu Kaushal had not yet arrived and Warren Poxon took his place in what was otherwise a full strength side with debuts for Sam Martin Jenkins, Brij Sheopuri and Mark Wilson.
Phill Bell won the toss and asked our hosts to bat on what looked a challenging pitch. Callum and Max opened the bowling and set the tone for the rest of the innings with a disciplined and tight opening spell with Callum claiming our first wicket of the season. Debutant Sam then stepped in with a fine spell of fast medium bowling with 3 wickets reducing the hosts to 83/4. Lee made his return to Hill colours with his usual control and accuracy claiming 1-25 from his 9 overs.
Eppleton Professional Da Silva and Burlinson added 50 before the returning Martin Jenkins claimed a further 2 wickets to finish with 5-29 on debut whilst Warren (1-27) and Max (2-16) also got in on the act as we dismissed Eppleton for 146.
Rory and Pete opened up, Rory went in the first over caught at point off a ‘lifter’. Adam joined Pete and the pair showed all their experience and skill adding 78 as we made inroads into the target. 3 quick wickets saw us slip to 86/4 as Adam was dismissed for 28 whilst Mark and Brij both failed to trouble the scorers. Belly and Pete moved the score to 109 when the skipper (10) was adjudged LBW a fate that also befell Pete for an excellent 47 as we moved to 131/5. Sam cleared the boundary twice in a quick fire 15 but when he played on 10 runs were still needed. Max and Warren made light work of the requirement without further loss as we eased to a 3 wicket win with 7 overs to spare.
A pleasing all round performance ensured we have started the season in the best possible way and hopefully this can continue next weekend when Tynedale visit NBMS Denton Bank.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Eppleton (a)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Chester le Street (h) - Lost by 5 wickets - Pete Jones Captains Report
After winning the toss, batting first and finishing on 274-2 after 45 overs things were going very well indeed. Fergus Wallace had made an impressive maiden 2nd team 50 having been asked to open the batting. We had two 100 run partnerships in one innings and a powerful 85 off 60 balls from Joe Fletcher saw us accelerate at the end of the innings. Nadella and Siddique also made good contributions, both reaching 50. After that things didn't go so well!
Chester le Street made solid progress towards our total and wickets were hard to come by. The chase was lead by an impressive 132 from Cranston who capitalised on some poor bowling along the way. It looked like being a close finish up until Chester le Street hit two sixes in the penultimate over to finish the game 4 wickets down with an over to spare.
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Chester le Street (h)
NTCL Division 5 (West) - 3rd XI v Haltwhistle (h) - Lost by 7 wickets - Captains Report by Chris Pounder
The new adventure into the. Northumberland and Tyneside Cricket League didn’t get off to the greatest start at our new home Newbrough.
With 9 in the side opposition skipper Callum Snowdon won the toss and kindly put us in.We opened with newcomer George Acheson-Gray and Taylor Matthews who returned after his ACL operation. Taylor would be the first wicket to fall (LBW) for 1 in a partnership of 27 for the first wicket and he was quickly followed by George for a brisk 22 from 16 balls. Gabriel Mellor would top score with 24 but partnerships were few and far between and we would eventually be bowled out for 60.
In reply Haltwhistle would get over the line in the 13th over. Alongside top scoring with the bat Gabriel would also take the bowling honours taking all of the Haltwhistle wickets with figures of 3/27 in 6 overs.
A frustrating opening day for the 3’s. Hoping for better weekends ahead
3rd XI West Tyne scorecard v Haltwhistle (a)
