1864s battle but fall short against Hexham Leazes

20th Jun 2022

Hexham Leazes 249-6 (40o) A Whitaker 35, L Holmes 36, A Brown 41, H Fitton 36, T Griffiths 50*: Mo Arabi 0-50, Will Harris 2-38, Patrick Hatcher 0-37, David Cragg 0-40, Varun Gudipati 0-32, Oliver Clark 5-43.

SNCC 1864 186ao ( 35.5o) Jan Ozmen 35, Oliver Young 23, George McConnell 20, Ben Sidney Wilmot 23, Patrick Hatcher 32: A Brown 1-32, T Mawson 1-33, R Davies 2-25, H Fitton 3-35, B Teasdale 2-43.

Hexham Leazes won by 63 runs - 20 points, SNCC 9.

Surveying a flat wicket & a fast outfield at Greenside, the visitors chose to bat & made a fast start, openers Holmes & Whitaker putting on 61 by the 10 th over when the prolific Holmes (36) was caught by Hatcher off Harris. Two overs later Davies (6) was caught by w/k Ben Sid also off Harris, 67-2 in the 12th.

Whitaker & Brown, hitting nicely & running well, put together a stand of 61, as Hatcher, Cragg & Gudipati toiled. The introduction of Oliver Clark's off spin in the 21st sparked a change, Whitaker (35) being lbw, 128-3. Kingman (6) went at 142, caught by Harris off Clark. Two overs later Brown (41) was caught by Hatcher off Clark 147-5. At 162 in the 27th Toward was stumped by Ben Sid again off Oliver who then completed his maiden senior 5 fer when Yeatman (2) was caught by Ben. 164-7 in the 27th, an opportunity. 

Sadly, this was not taken, the intensity was missing allowing Griffiths, sweeping avidly, aided by Fitton to push the score up to 231 in the 38th before Fitton (36) was run out. W/k Griffiths completed 50* (5x4, 2x6) & the innings ended at 249-6 after 40 overs. Oliver 8-0-43-5 only suffering in his last over. Given the conditions, more than was wanted but gettable.

Arabi & Clark opened against the seam of Brown & Mawson. Oliver (6) was run out at 13 in the 4th & Mo (8) caught at mid off by Whitaker off Brown in the 5th, 19-2. Tris (11) was caught by w/k Griffiths off Mawson in the 8th 32-3, bit of a mountain to climb, but Jan Ozmen & Oliver Young batted well to put on 50 for the 4th wicket before Young (23, 5x4) was caught at mid on off Fitton, 80-4 in the 18th.

At 97 in the 21st Jan (35, 43b, 6x4) was mortified to slap a short, wide one off Davies, hard to deep cover. George McConnell (20, 26b, 2x4) batted nicely before being caught by Brown off Davies at mid wicket, 115-6 in the 25th. Patrick & Ben Sid then put together an increasingly frenetic partnership of 52 running well, before Patrick (32) attacking, was bowled by Fitton. In the 34th Harris took 14 off Fitton but in the next over Ben Sid (23), attacking, was bowled by Fitton, 184-8. 

The 1864's brave attempt ended in the 36th when Harris (14) was caught by Yeatman & Gudipati (1) caught by Brown, both off Teasdale. "Not quite on it today" but kept going & a creditable 9 points in defeat. 

The next match is at 3rd placed Haydon Bridge (a) on Sat 25th June. 1864's 125 points, 6th place, level on points with Wylam, in WTL Div 1 after 9/22. The spirit is good. Onward !

Duncan.