After weeks of waiting, the inevitable happened on Saturday 7th September with relegation confirmed from NEPL Premier Division for the 1st XI. However, in better news our young 2nd XI continued their excellent progress with an impressive win against Ashington and the West Tyne 3rd XI won their play off game against Stocksfield, read on for all the details.
NEPL Premier League - 1st XI v Ashington (a) - Lost by 7 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
Saturday at NBMS Denton Bank was ‘last chance saloon’ with our hopes of avoiding relegation extremely slim & a win over Ashington was essential if we were taking it to the last game of the season.
With grim weather greeting the players as they arrived at the ground it appeared that a late start would be the order of the day however with minimal time lost no overs were deducted meaning a full 45 overs per side would dictate our fate.
Not for the first time this season Pete lost the toss & expectedly we were asked to bat.
Haydon & Adam opened up & played with confidence adding 70 for the first wicket before Adam nicked one behind for 20. Haydon reached his 50 off 57 balls before Dan departed for 14 & Janders (5). Pete (11) added 32 with Haydon until he was caught in the deep trying to up the run rate. Belly, Max & Will all departed cheaply as Haydon reached his maiden senior Hill hundred with his second 50 coming off 73 balls before he was 8th out for an excellent 107. A brief cameo from Luke (16) took us past the 200 as we finished what many watching believed was a bit under par on 203/9.
The visitors innings started steadily with both batters punishing any loose deliveries & looking comfortable at the crease. Having not looked in much trouble a rush of blood handed us the first wicket with Jessop needlessly run out for 48 with the total at 75. Fellow opener McCafferty followed soon afterwards caught behind off Callum. This was to be a rare moment of success as McCarthy & Harmison added 112 as Ashington moved easily towards their target until with the scores level Harmison chipped Prowler to Callum at mid wicket. The winning runs came next ball & we slipped to defeat by 7 wickets & consequently relegation with a whimper.
In the cold light of day we have not executed any of our disciplines consistently or well enough throughout the season with the inevitable result. In the view of the writer this group of players are better than they have shown as a group & individually during the season & they now have time to take stock, re-group & hopefully be part of a side that bounces straight back to the Premier League next season.
Next Saturday sees us visit Burnopfield for the last game of the season.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Ashington (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Ashington (a) - Captains Match Report by Pete Jones
Finally a victory against Ashington!
We were inserted on what turned out to be a pretty good pitch. Rory Mustard and Max Tidmash put on our second century partnership of the season with Rory the first to go for 78. Max followed shortly afterwards and 131-0 slipped to 208-7 from our 45, with Ashington pulling themselves back into the game as our middle order fell while trying to accelerate. Rohaan suffered his second run out in consecutive Saturday's. He made his displeasure known by putting his laces through his helmet whilst walking off and will be ending his season a week early courtesy of a level 1 ban!
Ashington began the chase well and were up with the rate despite another good opening spell from Poxon. Big tough Wazzle bravely soldered on despite a treacherous foot hole that almost ended his spell early. The introduction of Aaron Armstrong was the decisive turning point when he had the Ashington opener and captain excellently caught at deep midwicket for 58. Aaron then went on to claim career best figures of 6-30 from his 9 overs. It was a very good team performance, especially in the field against a very experienced Ashington batting line up.
Well done the youth.
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Ashington (a)
West Tyne - 3rd XI v Stocksfield (a) - Won by 8 wickets - Captains Report by Chris Pounder
Saturday saw the West Tyne 3’s visit Stocksfield IV to play the 2nd game of the end of season mini league winning comfortably by 8 wickets.
Winning the toss and electing to bowl Stocksfield would finish on 87 in 37th over with the opposition skipper hanging around for the majority of the innings too scoring on 27. 2nd top scorer were extras with 24 (10 wides).
Bowling would be shared around most of the 11 with Davey almost getting a look in but 3 wickets for Ben Robinson, 2 each for Fergus and Jayam and 1 each for the skipper Tom Hewison and Michael MacLauchlan.
In reply 3’s would see the game out for the loss of 2 wickets in the 17th over. Davey finishing on 27 not out and Jayam on an excellent 36 not out.
3rd West Tyne scorecard v Stocksfield (a)
