Academy triumph twice in Banks Cup at Whitburn and Sunday Division 1 at Newcastle

4th May 2022

A good weekend for the Academy saw an 8 wicket win at Whitburn in the Banks Cup first round on Friday 29 th April followed, on Sunday 1 st May, by a 193 run victory at Newcastle in the opening fixture of NEPL Sunday Division 1.

Banks Cup:

Whitburn 90-8 (15o) Matthew Downey 24, Jude Ramsey 23: Jacob McCord 0-22, Aadesh Sahadevan 1-12, Gregor Pearce 1-18, Sadiq Khan 1-12, Angus Southern 3-8, George McConnell 1-9.

Academy X1 91-2 (8.5o) Sam Ewart 41* Kush Agarwal 37*: Mark Trotter 1-27.

SNCC won by 8 wickets.

Winning the toss, captain Angus Southern elected to field. Whitburn reacted well to the loss of Hearn at 12, caught at point by Oliver Clark off Aadesh Sahadevan. Downey & Ramsey put on 38 before the dangerous Ramsey, 5x4 in 23, was bowled by the leg spin of Gregor Pearce. Wickets fell regularly thereafter, with the leg spin of Angus Southern 3-8 & Sadiq Khan 1-12 & left arm seam of George McConnell, doing most damage.

Chasing, the early loss of Clark, caught behind & Hameed, run out, could have been damaging, but a fluent partnership of 87 between Sam Ewart 41* (8x4) & Kush Agarwal 37* (7x4), both playing with intent, saw the target reached in only the ninth over.

The 2 nd round match is v Gateshead Fell (a) no later than 10 th June.

NEPL Sunday Division 1:

Academy 270-3 (40o) Sam Ewart 36, Jan Ozmen 54*, Jacob McCord 145*: Simon Tarbox 1-16, Charlie Darwood 1-45, Alex Sinclair 1-26.

Newcastle 77ao (24o) Simon Tarbox 21: Ben Hobbs 3-13, Will Alexander 3-13, Gregor Pearce 1-14, Jack Netts 1-19, George McConnell 1-1, Jacob McCord 0-2.

SNCC won by 193 runs: SNCC 20 points, Newcastle 1.

Winning the toss & choosing to bat, an emphatic victory was based on an outstanding, undefeated 200 partnership for the 4 th wicket between Jan Ozmen & Jacob McCord followed by an opening seam attack of Ben Hobbs & Will Alexander which reduced Newcastle to 24-6.

The loss of Alexander Charnley (4) at 5 & Oliver Clark (6) at 33, left Sam Ewart, batting with intent, stroking 5x4 in his 36 before being lbw, sweeping, 70-3 in the 19th. Jan had been watchful but the arrival of Jacob galvanised. All the bowlers were dispatched, often through mid wicket or mid on, as Jacob drove with certainty & power , clinically putting away the bad ball.

Jacob finished with a magnificent 145*, 10x4, 9x6, in 80 minutes, well supported by Jan 54*, 5x4, in 120 minutes.

The Newcastle innings could not cope with the accurate, off stump line, of the right arm seam attack of Ben Hobbs, bringing it into the right handers, 6-1-13-3, all bowled, & Will Alexander, taking it away & bowling particularly well at the left hander, 6-0-13-3, as Newcastle slumped to 24-6. This included an excellent slip catch by Alex Charnley to dismiss the experienced Stephen Pinnington off Will, to make the score 16-4.

Despite some resistance from Simon Tarbox (21), wickets for Gregor Pearce (1-14), Jack Netts (1-20) & George McConnell (1-1) & some tidy fielding saw the home team dismissed for 77 in the 24 th over.

An excellent win by a young side led by Gregor Pearce.

The next Sunday Division 1 match is Hetton Lyons (a) on Sunday 8 th May 1330 start.