Bank Holiday Monday saw a welcome retun to winning ways for the 1st's as they posted an excellent 64 run win over fellow strugglers Tynemouth. The victory made up for a disastrous result on Saturday away to Castle Eden. Meanwhile the 2nd's recorded an excellent double with wins over Sunderland (on Saturday) and Tynemouth (on Monday). Unfortunately the West Tyne 3rd XI fixture at Haltwhistle was abandoned due to heavy rain in the first innings.
1st XI v Castle Eden (away) - Phil Haves match report
Our first ever visit to Castle Eden on Saturday proved to be one to forget as following the usual pattern this season we lost the toss & were asked to bat on a difficult wicket. Only Haydon (16) & Max (17) reached double figures as for the second time against us this season the home Overseas Professional Bilawal Iqbal produced a devastating spell of skilful seam bowling with 5-14 as we were dismissed for a paltry 50.
Callum & Vasi did manage to take 3 wickets before the home side passed our total enabling us to take 1 point from a really disappointing performance. With 3 games to go at least one positive result is essential to avoid ending a poor season with relegation.
1st XI NEPL scorecard v Castle Eden
1st XI v Tynemouth (away) - Phil Haves match report
After Saturdays defeat, Monday saw us visit Preston Avenue to play fellow strugglers Tynemouth in a rearranged game from the first weekend of the season and whilst mathematicians might disagree everyone playing and watching knew that the winners would end the game safe from the drop and the losers would still need a win.
Tynemouth won the toss and asked The Hill to bat first. Sub Pro Jacob Clark , took the early wicket of Haydon caught at slip for a four ball duck and not long after had Belly caught also for nought. James fell caught behind for 6 & when Angus was bowled we had slumped to 52/4. Kyle batted circumspectly for 55 & with the support of Pete (19) and Will ( 15) ensured we had a score to defend on what was a low and slow pitch. A final total of 165 was competitive if we bowled well.
Callum & Vasi opened up & they removed both openers cheaply as the home side slumped to 10/2. Clarke and Jamal moved the score on to 44 when Clarke square cut Dan & Will took a quite stunning one handed catch at backward point. In his very next over Dan got one to bounce and Jamal mis timed his pull shot and was caught by Callum at mid on. The home side were in trouble now and we continued to bowl with discipline & accuracy through Dan, Kyle & Max resulting in us dismissing the hosts for 101 with only Matthew Brown providing any resistance with 27. Max & Dan picked up 3 wickets a piece whilst Kyle (2), Callum & Vasi were the other wicket takers The much needed win virtually ensures safety & removes the pressure for the last 2 games against Burnopfield & Ashington.
1st XI NEPL scorecard v Tynemouth
2nd XI v Sunderland (home) - Matty Hynd's match report
The weekend saw a double game weekend and a maximum point return for the second XI.
Saturday we hosted Sunderland and lost the toss and Sunderland elected to bat. The team were boosted by the returning Rory Hanley who picked up a wicket early on. However at 22 for 1 Sunderland had made a decent start. However a 20 over burst from Nadella and Safi pegged them back, Nadella (4/23) and Safi (5/22) bowling Sunderland out for 83 I'm 31 overs. Only the opening bat, no 6 and extras making double figures. We started positively but then went from 17/0, to 24/5 quickly as the rain made the wicket a bit unpredictable. However Safi 29 not out from 47 and warren Poxon showed a different side to his game 32 from 83 saw us home with 4 wickets in hand
2nd XI NEPL scorecard v Sunderland
2nd XI v Tynemouth (home) - Matty Hynd's match report
We then hosted Tynemouth on bank holiday Monday and after the deluge on Sunday it was not surprise that after losing the toss we were put into bat. Moore and Hanley battled hard as the opening Bowlers from Tynemouth bowled very well. Hanley fell for 11 and Poxon picked up from Saturday and worked very hard against a seaming ball. Moore then got another good one and was out for 21. Poxon followed for 17. It showed how hard it was as it took 21 overs for the first boundary! Tidmarch again batted well for 32 and Dawson hit some late runs 20 from 27 which took us to a very competitive 149 all out. Abu and Hanley opened up and made life difficult for Tynemouth and Tynemouth were soon 10 for 3. A good partnership between Hallam and Mcgee followed before Poxon ran out Hallam leaving the game in the balance at 76/4. However Safi and Armstrong started to stop the boundaries and wickets started to tumble and although mcgee passes 50 he was running out of partners. He then holed out off Armstrong and Tynemouth were soon 104 all out. Abu 2/26, Hanley 1/22, Safi 3/13, Armstrong 3/22 picking up the wickets in a very good bowling performance.
2nd XI NEPL scorecard v Tynemouth
3rd XI v Haltwhistle (away) - Chris Pounder's match report
The West Tyne 3’s visited Halwhistle in what eventually ended up in an abandonment Travelling with 9 players 3’s lost the toss and were asked to field and were off for rain three times before the game was called with Haltwhistle on 153/5 in 26th over.There were 2 wickets for Ibraham Tayyab and a wicket each for Abhi, Shiva and Gabriel Mellor with his first senior wicket.
7 points from the only game in the League to get some cricket in took us above Mitford into 9th.
West Tyne 3rd XI scorecard v Haltwhistle
