Saturday afternoon saw one of the best partnership's in the Hill's history. Skipper Pete Halliday with 113 not out and Kyle Coetzer with 122 not ou, put on 252 undefeated runs to help the Hill recover from 37 for 4, and beat Chester-le-Street by 6 wickets with 3 overs to spare. This followed an impressive win at Tynedale on Friday evening to keep our hopes alive of making it through to the knockout stages of the NEPL T20 competition.
1st XI - Phil Haves Match Report
An extraordinary day on Saturday at a sun soaked Ropery Lane started in the usual fashion as Pete lost yet another toss & we were asked to field. We started off well with Callum producing a ‘nip backer’ to bowl McCann (0) without playing a shot, however 4 overs into his impressive opening spell he pulled up injured. With Dan Gardiner also carrying an injury this left us 2 bowlers down in sweltering conditions. Kyle reduced the hosts to 26/2 by removing Whitfield however Andrew Smith then joined a watchful John Coxon & played in his accustomed belligerent manner racing to 50 as the pair added a 100. Aided by a great catch by Will the returning Evasio removed Smith & Dawson in consecutive balls to temporarily slow the scoring rate. Hughes & Coxon added a further 45 before Evasio again took 2 wickets in quick succession removing Coxon & MacAlindon. This proved to be our last success as Hughes & Simpson finished the innings with a flourish adding 114 as the hosts called a halt at a daunting 284 after 54 overs with Hughes completing an unbeaten century. All the bowlers toiled manfully in the heat with Vasi being the pick of the bunch finishing with 4/65.
Chasing such a large total we hoped for a solid start to the innings however this was not to be as a blistering opening spell from young Durham seamer MacAlindon reduced us to 37/4 with Haydon, Dan, Angus & Belly back in the pavilion. What was to follow will live long in the memory of the small number of Hill supporters & indeed the home crowd in attendance as Pete & Kyle set about the rebuild in a confident manner accumulating runs all around the ground. The tea break arrived without further loss and a manageable 6 runs per over required from the remaining overs. 2 further spells from MacAlindon brought no success except to the runs scored as we gradually increased the pressure on the home bowlers without much risk and at drinks the rate was a little over 5 an over. Boundaries, 1s and 2s continued to arrive as both batters neared their individual 100s. The NEPL and Hill record 5th wicket partnership had been shattered (see details below) along the way as firstly Pete and then Kyle both reached hundreds. A brilliantly managed chase was completed with more than 2 overs to spare as Pete finished unbeaten on 113 (10x4s/ 3x6s) & Kyle 122 (11x4s/ 2x6s) as they added 252 unbeaten.
This was undoubtedly one of, if not the finest run chases in club history and confidence should be high as we now look forward to the first ever visit of Castle Eden to Denton Bank next Saturday.
Record Partnership details
As stated it was an all time record 5th wicket partnership for the Hill and for the NEPL, and the third highest for any wicket for the Hill. Previously Phil Nicholson and John Windows held the Hill 5th wicket partnership record at 170 v Backworth in 1998. The previous NEPL record 5th wicket partnership was 182 by John Graham and Adam Heather for South North v Norton in 2006.
It was also an all time record run chase for the Hill beating the previous figure of 283/2 v Stockton in 2005.
It was Kyle's fifteenth NEPL century, moving him three ahead of Zohaib, and he is now very close to 5000 League runs for the Hill. It was Pete Halliday's third NEPL hundred.
Amazing stuff well played both.
1st XI NEPL scorecard v Chester-le-Street
1st XI NEPL T20 scorecard v Tynedale
2nd XI - match report
After a very promising start to the season, the 2s came unstuck on Saturday at home to Chester-le-Street when the lost by 9 wickets. Stand in skipper Dawson won the toss and batted, but the Hill were soon in trouble at 22 for 3 and then 44 for 5, eventually finishing 122 all out in 43 overs. Top scorer was Anth Hunter with 30, with useful contriubutions from opener Freddie McGregor (25) and Andy Dawson (28).
The visitors made short shrift of the Hill total, knocking the runs off in the 23 over for the loss of only 1 wicket. A distastrous result with Zero bonus points gained. The result saw the Hill slip to 5th in the league, with Chester taking over top spot.
2nd XI NEPL scorecard v Chester-le-Street
West Tyne 3rd XI - Chris Pounder's match report
Saturday saw the West Tyne Leage 3’s lose a close game at home to Belsay. Winning the toss and batting first The Hill were 167 all out with Taylor Matthews, returning to make up the numbers, 50 Shiva Prasad 28, Michael MacLauchlan 23 and on debut young Ayush Chakraborty 28.
In reply the Hill we’re going well with Belsay 67/4 at 20 overs before they started to accelerate the run rate and get over the line with 4 balls remaining.
Numerous dropped catches cost 3’s dearly including the Sri Lankan Nuwan who finished the game with two huge 6’s to finish 58 not out.
Despite the loss it was a decent performance from a team that had four juniors. All four contributed brilliantly. Along with his 28 Ayush toon 1/28, Ibraham Tayyab 1/25 and the best of the bowlers Fergus Wallace taking 3/28.
Next up Halty at the Haugh.
3rd XI West Tyne scorecard v Belsay
NEPL Sunday 3rd XI - match report
Chester-le-Street once again provided the opposition for the Hill in the fixture at Ropery Lane, and it was a familiar faces who did the damage for our opponents, with Charlie Purdon (who had scored 52 against the 2s the day before), carrying his bat for a magnificant 145 not out, in the home team's total of 204 all out. There was some good performances for the Hill with the ball, with James Moody taking 3 for 31 off 8 overs, Ben Robinson 2 for 22 off 6 overs and Fergus Wallace with 2 for 16 off 4,4 overs. There was also a wicket a piece for Aaron Armstrong, Abu Siddique and Ayush Chakraborty.
In reply, a young Hill line up finished 45 runs short, Abu Siddique with a maiden senior half century (51) the pick of the batters, old man and skipper Joe Feltcher weighed in with 33, but the CLS total was always out of reach. We currently stand 3rd in the league only 2 points behind leaders Gateshead Fell.
3rd Sunday NEPL scorecard v Chester-le-Street
