1864'S FALL AT LEADERS HAYDON BRIDGE BUT GAIN 6 POINTS ON THIRD PLACED HUMSHAUGH

15th Aug 2023

Sat 12^th Aug 2023: West Tyne League Division 1: SNCC v Haydon Bridge (a)

SNCC 78ao (28.3o) Belinda Wewalage 8, Rohan Singh 9, Arif Alam 9, Gregor Pearce 19, Patrick Hatcher 7*: Tom Waugh 3-5, Liam Stephenson 1-23, M Elliott 2-10, G Boyd 1-11, Alex Martin 0-10, J Taylor 2-4.

Haydon Bridge 81-1 (15.2o) N Kendrew 25, Rob Gibson 33*, Dale Leadbetter 21* : Gregor Pearce 0-20, Finlay Pearce 1-26, Jack Netts 0-21, Patrick Hatcher 0-12.

Haydon Bridge won by 9 wickets - 20 points, SNCC 1864 1.

Given an availability nightmare with holidays & the Toon competing claims, (two other games in Division 1 were conceded), Patrick's herculean effort to get 11 players looked to have succeeded late on Friday night only to suffer a lunchtime withdrawal which left the away trip to leaders Haydon Bridge with a team of only 10.

A grassy wicket with uncertain bounce & a grassy outfield running slowly, the home side invited the 1864's to bat. Belinda Wewalage & Rohan Singh faced the experienced seam of Tom Waugh & Liam Stephenson. Rohan played some nice shots but the long grass of the outfield prevented full benefit.

At 10 Rohan (9) got one that kept low to be lbw to Waugh. Soon after, another Waugh delivery moved in, kept low & bowled Finlay Pearce (0), 15-2. Belinda (8) top edged a pull which skied back to bowler Martin, 3 down.

The uncertain bounce was difficult to counter, as Will Carr (0), playing a little early in defence, saw the ball lob to short mid-wicket off Waugh; his opening spell, 3-5 from 5 overs almost settled the game.

Jacques Graham (0) edged behind to w/k Leadbitter off Elliott, 5 down. Arif Alam batted patiently & Gregor (19) played some nice shots to raise the total but succumbed to a delivery that rolled along the floor, bowled by Boyd.

Arif (9) had to press on but got into a tangle & was bowled by Taylor. Jack Netts (0) was palpably lbw to Stephenson & Eamon Banerjee (0) bowled by a straight one from Taylor, leaving Patrick 7* & an all-out total of 78.

Kendrew & Gibson faced the leg spin of Gregor Pearce & the left arm seam of twin Finlay Pearce. Going hard from the off on the unpredictable surface clearly was the chosen method. They batted well until Kendrew (25) edged Finlay Pearce to w/k Belinda.

Leadbitter joined Gibson & the attack continued. Despite Gregor's 5 overs going for only 20, & Finlay's 6 for 26 & a wicket, the batters continued to hit hard if length & line varied. Jack Netts, 3 overs for 21 & Patrick 1.2 for 12 suffered & the target was reached after only 15.2overs.

News of Humshaugh's concession meant that 6 points were gained on the now third placed team on 207 points, SNCC 4^th on 202, Stamfordham 2^nd on 212, after 17/22 games; everything to play for to maximise a Division 1 league position.

Looking ahead:

Sat 19^th August  SNCC 1864 v Wylam (a) 1330 40/40

We hope you can be there to support the 1864's.

Duncan.