It was a weekend of mixed emotions for the 2nd XI, as they went down heavily to local rivals South North on Saturday, but recovered 48 hours later with a victory against Ashington to progress through to the Quarter Finals of the Banks Bowl. Thanks to skipper Andy Dawson for the match reports below.
Saturday the 29th saw the 2nd XI continue their woeful run of form away to rivals South North. Electing to bowl first, the game began well with Anth Hunter and Winnie bowling well in tandem - Anth picking up two early wickets meant the hosts were 18-2. However South North fought back and were in a dominant position at 156-3 when Winnie returned to the attack to take a hat-trick. Unfortunately this would prove to be the highlight of the day for the 2s. South North recovered again to post 200-8 and due to some good bowling The Hill response never quite made it out of second gear. The Hill were eventually dismissed for 126 with only Ben Mussett (39) offering much resistance. Another disappointing result, which included the mother of all tantrums from the skipper - an incident I'm sure will not have escaped the attention of The Lipper Award Judges' Panel, left the second team needing a miracle to qualify for the final stages.
The South North scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4443326
Monday saw a long awaited return to form at home to Ashington. Something most would have regarded as being too little too late (but more on that in a moment). Batting first the 2nd XI posted 229-6 from their 40 overs - Joe Anderson the chief tormentor with 75 runs. The Ashington reply never really made it out of the gate as they were reduced 25-5 in the first 10 overs - Winnie with another great bowling performance returned figures of 3-16 and he was well supported by 'his holiness' Joe Torre (2-20 from his 8 overs). Ashington eventually limped to 140-9 with some good lower order resistance/blamming! Despite a good performance, The Hill left the field disappointed to have 'turned it on' too late to qualify from the group stage only to be handed a lifeline by the great folks of Felling (shoutout to The Goose!), who, against all odds, managed to overturn Newcastle. As a result, the 2nd Team managed to sneak into third position by a single point. Hopefully, with this slice of luck, a change in fortune and some reinforcements arriving next weekend, this might inspire the 2s onward and to produce a better standard of cricket in the coming weeks.
The Ashington scorecard is available here https://benwellhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/4443315
Next up is Washington away in the Quarter Finals
