Bulls crash at Newcastle in T20 but bounce back against Benwell Hill

15th Jun 2022

 NEPL T20 GROUP A ROUND 3/5, FRI 10TH JUNE 2022

Newcastle 220-2 (20o) Bobby Green 60*, Ben Robinson 70, Jesse Tashkoff 62*: Simon Birtwisle 0-20, Sean Tindale 0-44, Cal Fletcher 0-38, Oli McGee 0-43, Lee Crozier 2-30, Gavin Paton 0-37 

SNCC 108-9 (20o) Rob Peyton 37, Parth Mannikar 20: Jesse Tashkoff 2-26, Jacques duToit 1-19, Will Taylor 3-14, Charlie Robinson 3-26.

Newcastle won by 112 runs - 6 points, SNCC 0 .

Plans are not always executed as intended, wayward bowling & adventurous batsmen targeting short boundaries can have a significant impact & so it proved as Newcastle smashed 98 in 9.5 overs before Ben Robinson (70, 35m, 35b,7x4, 5x6) was caught by Birty off Lee.

Charlie Robinson (12) fell, also to Crozier, at 139 in the 14th. Tashkoff  joined Bobby Green, once of this parish, & the pair continued the assault as all the bowlers suffered with the exception of Lee Crozier who varied his pace & length well. The innings ended at 220-2, Green 60* (50b, 7x4) & Tashkoff 62* (25b, 9x4, 3x6). Sort of blown away !

Despite a maiden 1st over, the score had advanced to 41 in the 7th when Birty (12) was lbw to Tashkoff. Peyton was going nicely, but Hewi (4) fell, caught by Green at 46 off Du Toit in the 9th. Rob (37) had batted well but at 64 in the 11th was caught by Tashkoff off Taylor. Always behind the rate, the desire for quick runs led to losing wickets.

Between overs 12 & 16, the Bulls lost Tindale (2), Cragg (11), Bell (3), McGee (1), the Bulls 86-7, Will Taylor's sla & Charlie Robinson's leg breaks doing the damage as catches were taken. Parth hit 20 until bowled by C Robinson at 106 in the 18th. Paton (8) was bowled by Tashkoff in the 19th. Fletcher 2* & Crozier 8* fittingly defiant at the death.

The next NEPL Group A T20, 4/5, is at home to undefeated Ashington on Fri 17th June. We hope for a better display.

                 NEPL Premier Division 9th Sat 11th June 2022 V Benwell Hill (h)

Benwell Hill 174ao (54o) Kyle Coetzer 69, Angus Guy 32, Adam Heather 26: Sean Tindale 0-21, Calum Fletcher 1-26, Nathan Gough 1-19, Lee Crozier 2-37, Oli McGee 2-45, Simon Birtwisle 4-17.

SNCC 177-7 (40.5o) Rob Peyton 49, Chris Hewison 55, Adam Cragg 41*: Mohsin Mukhtar 3-34, Callum Harding 2-34, Kyle Coetzer 1-28.

SNCC won by 3 wickets- 30 points, Benwell Hill 4.

Important to bounce back after a difficult Friday night. The visitors won the toss & chose to bat. Guy & Mukhtar faced Tindale & Fletcher. From the last ball of Fletcher's first over, the second, Mukhtar edged to Hewi at second slip, 4-1. Guy & Heather were watchful & the score ticked along until Heather (26) was lbw to Gough's left arm seam in the 21st, 65-2.

Although Coetzer was attacking where possible, 3 more wickets fell before lunch. Guy (32) charged Crozier to be stumped by Parth, 69-3 in the 24th, Duneathy (0) was caught by Cragg at short extra off McGee in the 25th & McCreath (6) very well held down the legside by w/k Parth off Crozier, 97-5 in the 32nd.

Coetzer continued to attack when possible & in company with Mustard put on 41 until Mustard (15) was lbw to McGee in the 47th, 138-6. Birty had begun a spell in the 46 th & it was he who finished the innings. Halliday (5) was bowled attacking, at 161, Coetzer (69) hitting high to deep mid wicket to be caught by Tindale, 174-8. In the same over Williamson (0) was palpably lbw first ball & Harding bowled two balls later to end the innings at 174 in the 54th.

Birty & Sol faced sla Mukhtar & fast left arm Harding. Birty (9) took 2x4 in Harding's first but was bowled by Mukhtar in the 3rd. Sol (5) couldn't get going & was caught by Mukhtar at square leg off Harding in the 4th, immediately after one cover driven boundary,  15-2. Peyton & Hewison then put together an enterprising partnership of 79, attacking where possible but playing the bowling on its merits until, somewhat surprisingly, Peyton (49, 60b, 9x4) was lbw to Coetzer, well batted Rob.

Hewi continued & the partnership with Cragg had reached 50 when Harding produced a good delivery, Hewi (55, 77b, 6x4) edging to be taken one handed by w/k Mustard going to his right, 144-4 in the 31st. At 156 in the 32nd, Tindale (0) mistimed a slog sweep to be caught by Duneathy at cover. Parth (2) lasted but eventually was taken at slip by Duneathy off Mukhtar, 156-6, an optimistic call led to Oli (0) being run out in the 40th, 157-7.

Enter Nathan Gough for his first innings of the season, to face the off spin of Williamson. Two dots then a straight 6 to the Grove end eased the tension. Cragg, who had been as busy as ever, then finished emphatically, hitting Hanley through extra cover for 4,2,4,4 to win the game after 40.5 overs. Cragg 41* Gough 6*, a 3 wicket win against a good Benwell Hill side.

Third place in the Premier Division, 161 points, one point behind 2nd place Newcastle, the next NEPL league game (10) is v Sunderland (h) Sat 18th June. On Sunday 19th June, the 3rd round of the ECB Royal London Club Championship is at Roseworth Terrace, when York are the visitors. 40/40 1300 start, hope you can join us.

Duncan.