BULLS BEAT THE RAIN & THE HILL TO STAY TOP OF NEPL PREMIER DIVISION

3rd Jun 2019

After a frustrating week, a concession by Bates Cottages in the Tyneside Charity Bowl on Wednesday & an abandoned T20 at Eppleton on Friday, the Bulls faced local rivals Benwell Hill at Roseworth Terrace  on Saturday & came out on top in a rain affected game.

Benwell Hill 142-8 (47o - Luke Doneathy 50, James Schofield 28, Rory Hanley 23: Jonny Wightman 3-28, Lee Crozier 3-31, Michael Craigs 1-19, Oli McGee 1-29, Sean Tindale 0-27)

SNCC 143-6 (35.1o- Chris Hewison 42, John Graham 22, Rob Peyton 20*, Jacques Du Toit 16: Luke Doneathy 2-40, Luke Mussett 2-15)

SN win by 4 wickets, SNCC 22 points, BH 3 points.

With rain in the air & after a wet week, on winning the toss the visitors were asked to bat. James Schofield & Rory Hanley faced the pace of Jonny Wightman from the Park end & Sean Tindale from the Grove. Timing the ball seemed to be difficult & as such the scoring rate was a little more than 2.5 per over as Wightman's away swing, in particular, beat the bat regularly. 16 overs in the first hour unchanged saw the wickets of Hanley (23) in the 11th, miscuing to mid off where Crozier took the lobbed catch, 30-1, & Will Smith (0), after a watchful start, mistiming a hook off Wightman towards square leg which Michael Craigs made good ground to, taking the catch over his shoulder. 38-2 after 15o. (Little consolation to Will that he has the highest ever individual score on the ground of 293 for Notts A v Durham A in 2005!)

Scotland captain, Kyle Coetzer was equally watchful.  After 20 overs from the opening bowlers, Crozier & Craigs had bowled 4 in tandem for 5 when the rain became heavier & the players left the field at 1331. After a persistent drizzle had abated, a restart was agreed at 1515. A 47/42 over game. In Crozier's 4th over, the 27th, Coetzer (11) chipped to mid wicket where Chris Hewison took a tumbling catch. Schofield (28) continued to provide backbone but at 70 was lbw to Craigs. 70-4 in the 30th.

Doneathy & Anderson defended stoutly, with the former driving nicely when the occasion presented itself & at 94, after 37o, McGee's slow left arm took over from Craigs. Crozier then had Anderson (12) neatly caught by w/k  Rob Peyton & bowled a tangled Peter Halliday (1) at 115-6. Doneathy accelerated & reached a deserved 50 when hitting McGee for 3 consecutive boundaries in the penultimate over. William Archbold (3) was bowled by Wightman with the last ball of the innings, 

142-8. A workmanlike performance by the home team. Run scoring would not be easy.

Simon Birtwisle & Chris Hewison faced Callum Harding & Rory Hanley. A rather wayward Hanley conceded 17 off his first two & was replaced by Doneathy from the Park end. at 31 in the 6th Birty(12) edged Doneathy to w/k Halliday. Sean Tindale joined Hewison & the pair took the score to 75 with Chris in fine form on a difficult surface driving & pulling 5 x4 in 42 (61b, 61m), when he was adjudged lbw to Luke Mussett's first ball. 

A similar fate befell Tindale (12) 8 runs later when Coetzer gained the decision. 83-3 in the 22nd. There was still plenty of playing & missing as the ball deviated. John Graham was joined by Jacques Du Toit. At 104 Du Toit, after one imperious 6 & a straight driven 4, was also adjudged lbw to Doneathy for 16.

Adam Cragg (1) slapped Mussett to point to be caught by Callum Harding. Enter Rob Peyton to play his best innings of the year. With Doneathy & Mussett bowled out, Hanley returned but although bowling rapidly, lacked control & 18 were taken from his next 3 with Peyton lofting into the leg side & pulling stylishly. 

With the scores tied Graham was yorked by Hanley for a resilient 22 (57b,77m) Michael Craigs survived three balls from Hanley, the first headed to second slip ! Peyton  then took a single from the first ball of Anderson's over to finish 20* & complete a 4 wicket win after 35.1 of the 42o available. A true test of batting for both teams on a helpful surface for bowlers.

22 points gained means a lead of 9 over Tynemouth at the top of the Premier Division. A long way to go, tough games every week, we must continue to perform to the high standard set.

The fixtures this week are:

-- Friday 7th June       v Crook (h) NEPL Group C T20 3/5, 1800.

-- Saturday 8th June  v Chester-le-Street (a) Premier Division match 8/22, 1200.

-- Sunday 9th June     v Richmondshire (a) ECB Royal London Club Championship round 3, 1300.

We hope to see you there.

DDS.