After losing the entire league fixtures for the past two weekends, Saturday and Sunday cricket made a welcome return on 29th and 30th July. However, it wasn't a wiinning return for the 1st XI , who went down to a 3 wicket defeat in a low scoring game at Whitburn. The 2nd XI had a frustrating draw in the reverse fixture at Denton Bank, after having the visitors 9 down 17 short of the Hill's 200 for 5.. The 3rd XI went down by 4 wickets to league leaders Haydon Bridge in the West Tyne. It was better news on Sunday, as the 2nd XI had a comfortable 128 run win over Hetton Lyons to reach the final of the Banks Bowl.
1st XI v Whitburn (away) - Phil Haves match report
As usual in recent weeks Saturday brought about a lack of sun and warmth for our visit to bottom of the table Whitburn along with Pete losing the toss again. The hosts had no hesitation in asking us to bat in helpful bowling conditions. As I seem to write every week early wickets tumbled, this week it was in the face of some frugal slow medium seam bowling by Shakespeare & the steady medium pace of Muchall. Adam May also took advantage of the conditions & our batting fragility after lunch with 3 cheap wickets. We eventually succumbed to 86 all out in another exceptionally poor batting performance with the only batter worth mentioning was Adam who batted a marathon 112 balls for his 17 & that included 2 boundary 4s!!
A wicket for Callum in the first over raised our hopes that we might be able to defend the meagre total however a 2nd wicket partnership of 53 appeared to scupper that. The introduction of Dan however raised our hopes again as he took 4-13 & with Max also chipping in with a wicket we reduced Whitburn to 68/6 giving us an outside chance of victory. Sadly we were unable to press home our advantage & despite another wicket for Max Whitburn got over the line for the loss of 7 wickets.
The lengthy winless run has seen us dragged into a relegation battle with 7 games of the season to go & we need to grab a positive result quickly to ease the nerves around the club. Felling are the visitors to Denton Bank on Saturday
1st NEPL scorecard v Whitburn (away)
2nd XI v Whitburn (home) - Matty Hynd's match report
The second XI returned to action after the last 3 fixtures had returned no result due to the weather. Skipper Hynd won the toss and elected to bat. Whitburn bowled well and when an unusually subdued Moore was caught for 7 from 31, the hill were 13 for 1. Tidmarch and Nadella came and went and the Hill were 51/3. Hynd and Siddique put on 50 before Hynd was caught for 45. Siddique and Mustard then put on 65 before Siddique was out for 58. Mustard (36*) and Poxon (18*) pushed us onto 200/5 in 55. Maybe slightly under par but a good fighting effort against a well disciplined bowling attack.
Whitburn also found the new ball difficult as Kilpatrick and Siddique bowled tightly, removing both openers leaving Whitburn 31/2 in 16 overs. The pitch appeared to be drying in the strong wind as the Hill struggled to press home the advantage against a couple of left handers who used the short boundary to good effect. They had put on 56 when Safi removed Markham for a patient 37 from 79. Jones picked up another wicket but he too was struggling with the short boundary and a sucession of left handers and at 151 for 4 things were in the balance. Siddique returned and picked up a wicket and when Siddique caught May for 68 off Nadella the game swung back into the balance as Whitburn were 177/7. Nadella then picked up 2 in 2 balls next over leaving Whitburn 178/9. Kilpatrick and Nadella couldn't pick up the last wicket as Whitburn snuck in for a winning draw. A really close match and the team dud well to keep fighting. All bowlers picked up a wicket in a strong bowling performance against a strong batting lineup. Kilpatrick 2-27, Siddique 2-39, Safi 1-41, Nadella 3-22 and Jones 1-42.
2nd XI NEPL scorecard v Whitburn (home)
3rd XI v Haydon Bridge (away) - Chris Pounder's Match Report
After a 2 week washout the West Tyne League 3’s faced the league leaders Haydon Bridge away.
Having won the toss and electing to bat first 3’s posted 131/7 in 40 overs with young Ed Moody top scoring with 31 followed by Michael Maclauchlan with 21. Their partnership of 58 took 3’s from 66/4 to 124/5. Not out the end 13 year old Gabriel Mellor on his West Tyne debut finishing on 6 not out.
In reply 3’s started brightly having Haydon Bridge 3 down for 27 in the 7th over. Michael bowling the dangerous Barber for 14 and the skipper getting two in two to remove Waugh for 3 and Gibson without scoring.
James Moody would get himself on the board bowling Cunningham for 5 and trapping the dangerous Leadbitter in front for 32 to leave Haydon Bridge 73/5 at the half way stage.
Unfortunately for 3’s only 1 more wicket would fall as Elliott hit 53 before being bowled by Michael leaving the hosts needing 1 run to win. That run came in the 33rd over with Haydon Bridge winning by 4 wickets.
Some brilliant performances despite the defeat against a team who is likely to win the league at a canter this year.
West Tyne 3rd scorecard v Haydon Bridge (away)
Sunday 30 July - 2nd XI v Hetton Lyons (h) - Banks Bowl Semi-final
An excellent 128 run victory for the 2s over Hetton Lyonson Sunday helped secure our first place in a Cup Final of the 2023 season. The Hill batted first scoring 235 for 6, with Max Tidmarch top scoring with an excellent 97 not out. Hetton were never in the game, eventually finishing at 107 all out. Prahalad Nadella took 4 for 3 in 2.5 overs, Warren Poxon and Safiun Diip took 2 wicket each, with 1 each for Abu Siddique and Pete Jones.
2nd XI Banks Bowl Scorecard v Hetton Lyons (away)
