2s slip to defeats at Gateshead Fell and Whitburn ruing extras and fielding lapses

3rd May 2022

Sat 30 April NEPL Division 2 at the Fell.

Gateshead Fell 203ao (48.1o) Joe Mavin 50, Lochlann Young-Hall 44, Tom Lugsden 25, Rob Stacey 24: Will Harris 1-44, Allan Davidson 3-32, James Ruddick 1-21, Gregor Pearce 1-38, Ben Hobbs 0-28, Sadiq Khan 2-30.

SNCC 166ao ( 46.3o) James Ruddick 30, Angus Southern 25, Sam Ewart 19, Allan Davidson 18: Tom Lugsden 2-39, Archie Maxwell 1-14, Chris Elliott 1-16, Lochlann Young-Hall 1-19, Rob Stacey 5-24.

Gateshead Fell won by 37 runs, 20 points: SNCC 6.

A groin injury to captain Ryan Sidney-Wilmot, 25 extras (22w, 3nb) & 4 dropped catches on Saturday, 30 extras (20w, 10nb) & 3 dropped catches on Sunday gave the 2's an additional mountain to climb. Two lost tosses saw the Bulls field first.

Against a strong Fell team, the bowling effort was led by Allan Davidson, James Ruddick & Gregor Pearce supported by Will Harris, Ben Hobbs & Sadiq Khan, as 4 partnerships of 61, 35, 46 & 41 gave the home team a platform. Acceleration by Lochlann Young-Hall, Tom Lugsden & Rob Stacey was supported by Joe Mavin's steady 50. A feeling perhaps that this could have been 30 fewer.

The SNCC batting effort saw 3 wickets go down for 30 as Sadiq (11), Alex C (7) & Alex W (0) succumbed, before a partnership of 41 between James Ruddick (30) & Angus Southern (25) & then 40 between Angus & Sam Ewart slowly progressed the score. Despite Allan Davidson's resistance & a partnership of 27 with an injured captain, the lower order perished to the off spin of Rob Stacey (5-24) bowling to the short boundary.

Some good bits but frustrating in other ways. Work to do to eliminate errors in our control!

Monday 2 nd May Banks Bowl Round 1 v Whitburn (h) 40 overs/side.

Whitburn 196-8 (40o) Matthew Mallaby 20, Gareth Welsh 33, Jon Shakespeare 31, Will Johnson 27: Will Harris 2-40, Will Varley 2-39, Jacob McCord 1-22, Gregor Pearce 2-34, Sadiq Khan 1-26, Nick Tomlinson 0-27.

SNCC 177-6 (40o) Alex Charnley 42, Nick Tomlinson 35, Jacob McCord 21, Alex Weetman 17, Sam Ewart 16*, Aadesh Sahadevan 12*: Jon Shakespeare 2-25, Ewan Jenkins 1-33, Antony Chambers 1-34, Ian Elliott 1-43.

Whitburn won by 19 runs.

Deja vu! Winning the toss & batting, an opening stand of 57 between Mallaby & Welsh got the visitors off to a good start as wides & no balls again bedevilled the home attack. Mallaby (20) was bowled by McCord, Jenkins (7) & Quinan (18) were both bowled by Pearce, 103-3.

Welsh (33) was then lbw to Khan 107-4, a partnership of 44  ensued before Johnson was caught by McCord off Varley. At 180 Shakespeare was lbw to Harris. Elliott  soon followed bowled by Harris & at 189 Ramsey was caught & bowled by Varley. Overs 37,38, 39 & 40 went for 42.

The SNCC reply saw Sadiq attacking, lbw to Shakespeare, 2-1. Charnley was finding it hard to rotate the strike & it was left to Tomlinson (35) to provide the momentum with 6 x 4 until he was bowled by Shakespeare at 50. A partnership of 22 ensued until Angus (10) was caught behind. A nice partnership of 45 between Charnley & captain Alex Weetman, ended with Weetman (17), lbw to the experienced Ian Elliott, 117-4.

At 124 in the 32 nd over, Alex Charnley (42 from 92b) but aiming to accelerate, was run out. At 152 in the 37 th over, Jacob McCord (21) was caught behind. Aadesh Sahadevan, on debut, joined Sam & the young pair put on 25 at a run a ball, ending 19 short at 177-6 after 40 overs.

 A slowish surface saw only 25 boundaries in the game, 15 to Whitburn, 10 to SNCC, 6 of those to Nick Tomlinson.

We are capable but there is work to do in the elimination of bowling extras, taking the catches on offer & rotating the strike. Both games would have been much closer if we had done these things. Onward !