It was another bad day (weekend) at the office for the Hill, as all three of our NEPL teams went down to defeat, the 1st and 2nd's losing against Hetton Lyons on Saturday, and our NEPL 3rd's on Sunday against Seaham Harbour, however in better news the NTCL 3rd's continued their excellent season with a convincing win over Blaydon by 6 wickets, read on for all the info.
NEPL Premier Division - 1st XI v Hetton Lyons (h) - Lost by 6 wickets - Match report by Phil Haves
The visitors won the toss and asked us to bat on what looked a decent deck to take first knock.
Rory was first to be dismissed in the second over stumped off former Scottish international Tahir. Belly joined Dave (the pro) and he batted circumspectly before falling just before lunch for 19. Dave and Sam added 82 as our SAFA reached his 3rd league ton of the season before holing out to deep mid wicket for 106 off 125 balls (10x4, 1x6). When Sam was out for 41 with the total on 196 we had hopes of setting the visitors a target in excess of 250 however as has been a regular event this season we lost a cluster of wickets as Fletch (17), Ben (0), Max (9), Ayush (5) were all dismissed cheaply. A cameo from Woody(16) helped us to reach what seemed to be an under par 235.
In reply the away sides openers took advantage of some inconsistent bowling and raced to 55 before Max gained a breakthrough. The second wicket partnership added 101 before Woody claimed our 2nd wicket and Ayush our 3rd. By the time Ayush caught and bowled the Hetton Pro the game was almost over as a contest and the visitors quickly claimed a victory by 6 wickets.
Another disappointing Saturday and with games running out a dramatic upturn in form is required if we wish to give ourselves a chance of avoiding the drop which is becoming more and more likely each week.
NEPL 1st XI Scorecard v Hetton Lyons (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Hetton Lyons (a) - Lost by 3 wickets
Dissapointingly we lost to Hetton Lyons for the second time in the league this season, this time by 3 wickets, after a very narrow defeat earlier in the season by 1 wicket.
The home team won the toss and chose to bowl, and it looked a good decision as we quickly slumped to 8 for 2 with youngsters Liam Hynd and Harsh6 Patel back in the hutch. We then lost Abu to make it 31 for 3, but an excellent 69 from Michael Maclauchlan held the middle order together, and some late hitting from Andy Dawson with 43 off 34 balls, saw us post a competitive 208 for 9 off the full 58 overs.
In reply Hetton's innings was held together by opener Chris Martin's 76, and despite a flurry of wickets (4 for Aaron and 2 for Gabriel), batter/wk Matthew Tomys with 44 not out ensured the home team won in the last over by 3 wickets. We remain in 4th place in the league with 5 games to go.
NEPL 2nd XI Scorecard v Hetton Lyons (a)
NTCL Division 5 South - 3rd XI v Blaydon (a) - Won by 9 wickets - Vice Captains Report by Chris Pounder
In the nearest to a 'home' match the 3rd XI travelled to Blaydon with late call ups for Dave and Ibrahim. For probably the first time this season Cherry won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Debutant Naz Hussain bowled a great opening spell of 9 overs 3 for 37 and he was supported by Dave with 7.5 overs 4 for 29 including a catch his son Hector. The fielding and catching were good throughout the innings with one run out and then Hector picking up 2 for 10 as Blaydon were bowled out for 103 in 21.5 overs.
Some early boundaries from Rash get us off to a good start but at 31 for 3 the game was in the balance. A good partnership of 54 between James (30 not out) and Ibrahim (16) got control of the game and some good hitting from Hass (16 not out) led us to victory in the 28th over at 104 for 4.
It is the first time in the season we have had back to back wins giving us some good momentum for the final 6 games of the season.
NTCL 3rd XI Scorecard v Blaydon (a)
NEPL Sunday Division 1 - 3rd XI v Seaham Harbour (h) - Lost by 38 runs
The youth policy continued in our NEPL 3rd XI with only skipper Matty Hynd the wrong side of 20, however on this occasion the youngsters couldn't take care of business, with the man of the season Ayush ineligble due to playing for the 1st's the day before.
Seaham Harbour won the toss and batted scoring 203 for 5 in their 40 overs, opening bowlers Nick Mason and Gabriel Mellor taking 2 wickets each, the other wicket being a run out.
In reply we finished 38 runs short, with no real support for an excellent 68 from opener Liam Hynd, next best was Harsh with 21 and old man Hynd with 19 not out, as we finished at 165 for 8 in our 40 overs.
On the same day Chester le Street secured the title for the umpteenth time, we slipped to 3rd, with a crucial game coming up soon against second place South North, in what could well be a battle for the runners up spot, although Sacriston in 4th could still catch both teams.
NEPL Sunday 3rd XI Scorecard v Seaham Harbour (h)
