It was always going to be a difficult weekend for the 1st and 2nd XI's with fixtures against league leaders Burnmoor and Hetton Lyons respectively, especially so with a horrific unavailability list of over a dozen players. Unfortunately the situation was so bad that the West Tyne 3rd XI had to concede their game against South North as they had only 3 players available at selection. There was an improved performance on Sunday for NEPL 3s but they went down to defeat against Newcastle. Read on for the gorry details ...
NEPL Premier League - 1st XI v Burnmoor (h) - Lost by 9 wickets - Match Report from Phil Haves
League leaders Burnmoor were the latest visitors to NBMS Denton Bank on Saturday as we looked to continue last weeks good performance.
Pete lost the toss & as expected we were asked to take first use of the wicket. The innings got off to the worst possible start as Yash had his furniture comprehensively disturbed first ball of the game by the visitors Pro who then also trapped Max LBW as we slumped to 0/2 in the first over. This soon became 13/3 when Belly was gloved behind for 0. Rory & Janders then set about repairing the innings & added 38 before Janders, who took 12 off Killeen’s first over was dismissed for 17 shouldering arms to the same bowler only to see the ball crash into his middle stump. Having made a composed 42 Rory was adjudged LBW to left arm spinner Bridge - 65/5. Will made 4 & was out just before lunch as we reached 78/6. A reset was required after lunch to give us any chance of reaching a half decent total with the tail required to bat with Pete however this didn’t materialise as Dan, Warren & Luke fell for the addition of only 5 runs with the latter two not troubling the scorers as we slumped to 86/9. Callum managed to stay with Pete as they added 23 for the last wicket before Callum was adjudged LBW for 9 whilst Pete finished unbeaten on 32 as we were bowled out for 109.
This was never likely to be enough to trouble a strong visitors batting line up & after what looked a great shout for LBW from Callum was turned down the opening pair moved effortlessly to knocking off the required runs reaching 103 before Max got our only success dismissing Marcus Brown. The remaining 7 runs came quickly without further loss. This was not a season defining defeat however a nil point return was an extremely disappointing return undoing the good work of last weekend.
We face a trip to the coast to face Tynemouth next Saturday as we enter the business end of the season when our performance needs to improve considerably if we want to climb the table & avoid relegation.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Burnmoor (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Hetton Lyons (a) - Lost by 61 runs - Match Report from Matty Hynd
We took to the field with a very young bowling attack and after winning the toss elected to field.
Safi and Ben Robinson opening the bowling and both bowling with great control. Keeping the run rate low. Michael Maclaulan and Ayush came on first charge and kept tje pressure on and Ayush removed opener Alex Birbeck for a patient 20 from 81. Hetton continued to be well shackled by the bowlers and were 135/4 with overs ticking down. Tomys and Dixon injected some pace and took Hetton past 180 but also past their intended declaration point of 51 overs and finished 188/5. All bowlers bowled well with Safi 14 overs for 29, Ben Robinson 7 overs 15 being the most economical and Ayush (1/53) and Armstrong (2/66) picking up the wickets having bowled very well.
The batting was not as impressive as we got off to the worst start losing Aatif in the first over. We then played a succession of poor shots and slipped from 25/1 to 29/6 and effectively lost any chance of the match. Skipper Hynd and Tidmarch put on 40 for 7th wicket until Hynd was out and then we lost 2 more quick wickets leaving us 69/9. Armstrong and Maclaulan counter attacked well against attacking fields and added 58, Armstrong (24 not out) and Maclaulan 29 before Michael unfortunately played on 5 overs from the end.
We unfortunately only picked up 2 points for a match where we looked like picking up more. However the more experienced Hetton side stuck in the game and did what we have done to others over the years and ground out an important win for them as they are top of the league. We can However take a lot of positives from the match from a young side that had 6 under 17s playing and 2 x 2nd XI NEPL debutants.
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Hetton Lyons (a)
West Tyne 3rd XI v South North (h) - match conceded
NEPL Sunday 3rd XI v Newcastle (a) - lost by 5 wickets
The NEPL 3s travelled to Jesmond with the usual team mix of predominantly junior players and a few senior players. The hosts won the toss and inserted the Hill. Two of the aforementioned junior players (Freddie McGregor with 65 and Aaron Armstrong with 60 - his first senior half century) scored the majority of our runs in a competitiive total of 210 for 7 in 40 overs.
In reply the hosts saw off the Hill total for loss of 5 wickets, with their first 4 batters scoring 30 each, Aaron took 2 wickets and Ayush 1, with 2 run outs. The Hill remain in fourth place in the league.
NEPL 3rd XI scorecard v Newcastle (a)
