Despite a battling dispaly the 1s went down by 4 wickets away to Ashington, the 2s had the better of a drawn game at home to Ashington, and the West Tyne 3's lost to Haydon Bridge in high scoring game.
NEPL Premier League - 1st XI v Ashington (a) - lost by 6 wickets - Match Report from Phil Haves
A glorious summer Saturday greeted us at Langwell Crescent for our fixture with Northumberland rivals Ashington. Home skipper McCafferty won the toss & asked us to have a bat on what looked a good wicket for batting. A steady start saw us reach 20 before Rohaan was the first to go caught behind & he was soon followed by Adam adjudged LBW, one of a number of debatable decisions for both sides during the day, with the score on 33. Yash had made 13 when he snicked off to home Pro Louis then with Belly & Pete falling in quick succession for 3 & 0 respectively we had slumped to 78/5. We negotiated to after lunch when Janders was bowled for a well made 32 & when Will (11) & Rory (11) - the latter given out LBW - we had slumped to 110/8 & the home side felt an early finish may be on the cards however up stepped Max & Dan. They both batted with great maturity mixing stern defence with selected aggression as the scoreboard ticked over & the partnership reached 60 before Dan was bowled for a well made 20. Max then upped the tempo & with some brutal hitting down the ground including 19 off the last over reached his maiden Premier League half century finishing on 63 not out off 48 balls as we finished on 201/9 a total which at one point appeared totally unrealistic but gave us something to bowl at.
In reply the home side lost their first wicket with the total on 11 as Dan bowled Nichols. This was however unfortunately our sole initial success as Jessop & Potts added 146 before Max had Potts caught at point by Adam. Jessop followed soon after caught & bowled by Yash who also had an LBW decision go his way which dismissed McCarthy. When the home skipper was strangely given out caught behind off Jake for 0 with the total on 183/5 we might have had an outside chance of a victory however Ben & James Harmison levelled the scores before Ben chipped Dan to Jake at midwicket before the winning runs were hit.
As has seemed to have been the story of the season the batters other than Yash failed to put together any meaningful innings with only the lower order managing to get us to respectable total. Max & Dan were undoubtably the highlight of the day & hopefully they can build on the way they played in the next few weeks. With Janders also showing signs of a bit of form maybe next week the improvement in the batting will continue further when we return to NBMS Denton Bank on Saturday hosting Burnopfield.
1st XI NEPL scorecard v Ashington (a)
NEPL Premier League - 2nd XI v Ashington (h) - match drawn
The 2s won the toss and batted first, posting a superb 270 for 5 declared in 53 overs. Arun Phogat top scored with an excellent 103 not out, Freddie McGregor next best with 59 not out - the pair put on a 143 run 5th wicket partnership. There was also useful contributions from openers Prahalad Nadella (41) and Max Tidmarch (39).
Despite reducing the opposition to 46 for 3, wickets were hard to come by and with opener Josh Robinson standing firm with 70, we never looked like getting the 10 wickers required for victory. Ashington eventually finishing on 186 for 6 wickets in 52 overs. Prahalad Nadella and Warren Poxon took 2 wickets each, and Abu and Ayush 1 each.
The result leaves us 7th in the table but only 31 points from Hetton Lyons at the top of the table.
2nd XI NEPL scorecard v Ashington (h)
West Tyne League - 3rd XI v Haydon Bridge (a) - lost by 45 runs
The West Tyne 3’s winning streak ended at champions Haydon Bridge on Saturday in a close encounter.Losing the toss and being asked to field by the opposition Haydon Bridge posted 220/7 from their 40 overs. Neil Kendrew top Scored for the hosts with 75. The pick of the hill bowlers were Jayam Patel 2/38 and Fergus Wallace 2/16 with the returning Joe Barns, Aaron Armstrong and Gabriel Mellor all Picking up a wicket.
In reply the hill got off to a good start with Davey Ladd and Fergus Wallace opening the batting. Both would see themselves to 50 before Davey went for 65 in 24th over with the score on 106 and then just after getting his first senior 50 Fergus was caught at long on for 51 with the score on 132/2. From then on Haydon Bridge took control taking wickets on a regular basis with only Gabriel Mellor (13) and Joe Barnes (16) getting into double figures.We would finish on 175/6 in our 40 overs losing by 45 runs.
Disappointing to lose but lots of positives to take from the game.
West Tyne 3rd XI scorecard v Haydon Bridge (a)
