The 1st's recorded an excellent home victory against fellow promotional hopefuls Seaham Harbour, and a very young 2nd team secured an excellent victory away to Newcastle, an even young 3rd team put up a very good fight away to Matfen in the NTCL, and on Sunday our young NEPL 3rd team were defeated by an experienced Chester le Street academy side, read on for all the info :
NEPL Division 1 - 1st XI v Seaham Harbour (h) - Won by 5 wickets - Match Report by Phil Haves
The last of the win/lose/draw set of fixtures saw Seaham Harbour visit NBMS Denton Bank of a warm but breezy day.
Belly once again won the toss & as has been the case in the majority of the red ball games he inserted the visitors. Winnie opened from the West Road end & had a huge LBW shout & a caught behind appeal turned down in an eventful first over. With Callum operating from the Countess Drive end the pair offered very little for the batters to score off. Winnie claimed the first wicket with the score on 44 & with TK introduced to the attack a second wicket fell on the same score. Max then replaced Winnie after a frugal spell of 1-24 off 11 overs & took the huge wicket of Jack Burnham caught by Abu. Both spinners took wickets at regular intervals on a helpful pitch & only Micky Allen offered much resistance either a well made 40. A 27 run 9th wicket partnership helped the visitors pass the 150 mark before they were eventually bowled out for 160. Max was the pick of the bowlers with 5-38 taking his tally to 36 in the League so far whilst TK took 3, Winnie & Safi grabbed 1 each.
Rory & Belly opened up & Rory hit a quick 24 before being dismissed with the score on 40. Adam was dismissed cheaply but with the skipper looking confident Pete & Belly moved the score along to 96 before Phill was adjudged LBW for 41. Pete followed in the same manner for 33 & with Rohaan dismissed without troubling the scorers we slipped to 114/5. This proved to be the last success for Harbour as TK (25no) & Abu (26no) saw us home to a 5 wicket victory.
Win/lose (coloured cloithing) cricket returns next weekend when we visit Harbour’s neighbours Seaham Park.
1st XI NEPL Scorecard v Seaham Harbour (h)
NEPL Division 2 - 2nd XI v Newcastle (a) - Won by 18 runs - Match Report by Matty Hynd
A depleted 2nd XI secured a superb 18 run victory over Newcastle at Jesmond.
Winning the toss and electing to bat the Hill started cautiously against a swinging ball as we fought our way to 79/3. The returning Mark Wilson went on the counter attack hitting some big 6s as the wicket started to deteriorate as the roller wore off. Mark and Andy put on 75 before Mark was out for a run a ball 98. Andy Dawson started to accelerate before injuring his hamstring and was next out for 30. Aaron and Matt Hynd pushed the score over 200 and we declared on 216/9 in 51.
Newcastle looked to utilise the pitch at the start and were aggressive and put on 73 for the first wicket. However the introduction of the skipper Jake Robson changed the momentum as he got one to lift and removed the opener well caught behind by Liam Hynd. Jake wasn't finished removing Phillips first ball and Pereira and Miller in quick succession leaving Newcastle 123/4. Aaron then picked up a wicket well caught by debutant Oli Smalley. Newcastle then consolidated and looked favourite at 163/5 with 2 batters set. However Warren returned and removed Walker for 25 and in the next over Pinnington was stumped for 83 as Newcastle stumbled to 163/8. Another partnership of 30 pushed Newcastle closer before Oli Smalley removed the number 10 again caught by Liam. Jake then completed the win and took his 5th wicket, taking 5/48 as we won by 18 runs!
2nd XI NEPL Scorecard v Newcastle (a)
NTCL Division 5 West - 3rd XI v Matfen (a) - Lost by 57 runs - Match report by Barry Pearson
In what was always going to be a difficult game with so many unavailable throughout the Club on Saturday, the 3s made a fantastic effort against a good Matfen side. In his first game as captain, Jamie Fletcher Woods led the young side really well and got his reward with an early wicket. It was then tough going as Matfen made 238/7 in their 40 overs with Toby Pilkington the mainstay with 68, but the guys never gave up with 13 year old Adam Hasan getting another senior wicket, one for Ibrahim, two run outs and two more wickets for new guy Nadeem Safi who had the impressive figures of 2 for 29 in his 9 overs.
In reply, Tom Hewson and Ibrahim Ahmed battled really hard against some good opening bowling making 20 and 16 respectively before Nadeem made an impressive 46, youngster Haashir Khan also making 18. It is great to have Hassan Ahmed back playing again, and he scored 11 after keeping very well in the first innings. Skipper Jamie then guided us to maximum batting points with an accomplished unbeaten 26 together with new guy Aaron Archibald and the innings finished on 181.
Eight points from the game was a decent reward with such a young and inexperienced side and they deserve great praise for their efforts. Special thanks to Matfen for the spirit in which they played the game on Saturday and for putting up a fantastic tea!!
NTCL 3rd XI Scorecard v Matfen (a)
NEPL Sunday Division 1 - 3rd XI v Chester le Street (a) - Lost by 130 runs - Captains Report by Matty Hynd
The NEPL 3rd XI lost a strange match away to champions CLS. CLS won the toss and elected to bat.
The CLS opening pair added 150 in 15 overs before one of the openers retired on 100 after having a testimonial type innings and attacking the youthful bowling attack. College also passed 50 before being excellently ran out out by Naveed Safi.
The real game resumed and the Hill battled hard knowing that we were playing for pride and points and the whole team did so with a smile and enthusiasm. Naveed Safi 2-60, 12 year old Oliver Smalley 2-50 and Seb Fletcher-woods 1-56 picked up the wickets. Seb bowling really well in his second spell after the brutal opening spell he endured. CLS declaring on 300/6 in 38 meaning we pulled CLS back to 140 in 23 overs. The team came off battered and bruised but in high spirits and aimed to score as many points as possible. Liam Hynd 15, the returning (and departing) James Moody 25, Naveed Safi 19, Hassan Ahmad 35 (from 29) and Seb Fletcher-woods 21 all showed character scoring double figures as we were eventually all out for 170 in the last over, picking up 12 points. I was proud of the efforts and spirits of the team as we could easily have folded under the pressure.
There are a few other matches to play and look like we will finish a creditable 3rd or 4th. I would like to thank everyone who has played and Barry Pearson for helping woth everything! I am pleased to say weve stuck to our guns and played at least 5 (usually more) under 16s in every match who have all "played" and not made up the numbers and I am sure will benefit from the experience of longer senior matches.
NEPL 3rd XI scorecard v Chester le Street
