The league season final got under way at the 3rd time of asking on Satuday 29th April. There was a tremendous win for the 1st's away to Burnmoor, however the 2nd's and 3rd's went down to heavy defeats.
Phil Haves 1st XI Match Report :
The first League game of the season handed us a tough task with a trip to Burnmoor. On arrival on a freezing morning we were greeted by the strange scenario of what appeared to be the mis alignment of the stumps!…. After a brief discussion the umpires decided play should go ahead & to keep up his consistent record Pete duly lost the toss & we were asked to bat. In the absence of Angus, Belly & Kyle the pressure was on the batsmen to set a challenging target. After the early loss of Haydon (he says it is his least favourite ground & never scores runs there) Luke then set about the Burnmoor bowling & hit the ball to all parts of the ground scoring a magnificent 129 off only 78 balls. With Dan & Adam gone cheaply we were 44/3 however a 64 run partnership with Pete & then a 68 partnership with Will took us to 186 before Luke departed. Will, in his first innings back at the club , continued on with confidence to reach an excellent 50 & along with Vasi they added 63 enabling us to finally finish with a highly competitive score of 263 all out. Burnmoor’s overseas seamer Waqas Maqsood was the pick of the home bowlers finishing with 5-38 in 8.3 overs.
Callum & Vasi opened the bowling giving little away & the first wicket fell when Ross Greenwell was run out falling short of his ground when taking a second run to Vasi at fine leg. Callum then took the wickets of the dangerous Karl Turner & Brown & 24/3 soon became 36/4 with Dan taking the prized wicket of Ryan Pringle caught by Luke. Max, Luke & Joe Torre continued to keep the home batters in check as wickets continued to fall on a regular basis & the home side were eventually dismissed for 104 in only 26 overs. There were 2 wickets for Callum, Luke & Joe with 1 a piece for Max & Dan whilst Vasi had little luck beating the bat on several occasions but finished wicketless.
Our overall performance was testament to the hard work put in over the winter & in pre season & 24 points was well deserved against an opposition who will be amongst the Lesgue front runners this season
Another challenging fixture awaits next with 2022 champions South Northumberland visiting Denton Bank on Saturday.
1st XI scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5543742
Unfortunately the 2nd and 3rd's did not fare so well, an under strength 2nd's lost by 9 wickets at home to Burnmoor. We were skittled for 90 all out, thanks largely to 43 from Joe Kilpatrick, Burnmoor knocking off our score in the 16th over.
2nd XI Scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5544825
The West Tyne 3rd's, decimatated from unavailabilities in the 1s and 2s, also went down to a heavy 9 wicket defeat. We posted 82 for 9 in 40 overs, 14 year old Aaron Armstrong top scoring with 17.
3rd XI scorecard is availble here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/5840546
