BULLS OVERPOWER EPPLETON BEFORE THE RAIN - KYLE DAVIS MASTERCLASS IN VAIN

22nd Aug 2022

               NEPL Premier Division, Sat 20th August 2022, SNCC v Eppleton (a)

Eppleton 154ao (40.3o) Kyle Davis 92*, Colin Mann 18, Andrew Ebdale 17: Jonny Wightman 3-36, Simon BIrtwisle 1-26, Calum Fletcher 1-26, Gavin Paton 2-28, Oli McGee 3-34.

SNCC 156-3 (19.3o) Sol Bell 65, Simon Birtwisle 2, Rob Peyton 36, Chris Hewison 29*, Alvin Dithole 2*: Dean Musther 0-31, Edward Brown 1-31, Max Whinskill 0-15, Connor Whitelock 0-26, Andrew Ebdale 2-20, Colin Mann 0-25.

SNCC won by 7 wickets - 20 points, Eppleton 3.

A fast outfield & a wicket more towards the Pavilion than hitherto greeted the Bulls. Missing Cragg, Crozier & Tindale, Chris Hewison skippered, Parth Mannikar (w/k), Nathan Gough & Gavin Paton came in. Eppleton pro, Taj Wali had been recalled to the Pakistan A squad.

Kyle Davis & Colin Mann faced Jonny Wightman (houses) & Simon Birtwisle (Church Road). Full value for attacking shots as 8x4 were scored in the first 7 overs until at 39 in the 8th Mann (18) was bowled by one that nipped back from Cal Fletcher in his second. Kyle Davis was joined by namesake Bradyn; Gavin Paton began a tidy spell up the hill, from which there was occasional steep bounce, & Cal bowled a maiden.

Oli McGee then bowled in tandem with Gavin between overs 13 & 21. In the 19th Bradyn Davis (4) was lbw to Gavin, 67-2. In over 20 Kyle Davis reached a well deserved 50* (9x4) but in the next Sam Dinning (4) defending, edged Paton to w/k Parth who took the catch, 79-3.

The game turned in over 21 as, switching to the road end, Jonny Wightman took three wickets in 5 balls. Dean Musther (4) was bowled by ball one, a dot, Max Whinskill (0) was bowled by ball 3, a dot, Connor Whitelock (0) was lbw to ball 5, all straight & full, 84-6.

Davis & Ebale put together a partnership of 42 for the 7th wicket, Birty replaced Jonny at the road end & in his 3rd over persuaded Ebdale (17) to mistime in the air towards mid off where Nathan, moving in smartly, took a simple catch. Davis moved into the 70's & then the 80's as in the 34th he hit Birty straight for 6 onto the road.

Scurr (6) took a boundary off Oli but 2 balls later swept hard & flat to deep square leg in front of the Pavilion/Bar where Sol took a very good catch, chest high, 145-8. White (1) drove back to bowler McGee in the 40th, 151-9 & Brown (0), surviving a chance to mid on 2 balls earlier, chipped Oli to Gavin at mid wicket, 154 all out in the 41st over. The bowling changes worked & Hewi seemed to enjoy himself.

Kyle Davis 92* (128b,13x4,1x6) a masterful innings, driving straight & taking the scoring opportunities offered.

Sol & Simon faced the right arm medium of Musther & Brown. Sol took 6x4 in the first 3 overs as both bowlers dropped short & had got to 26 before Birty opened his account with 2. Two balls later, Birty (2) played back & was undone by very low bounce to be lbw to Brown, 34-1 in the 5th.

Rob joined Sol who continued to prosper taking 3x4 off Brown in the 8th, 70-1. Whinskill (rm) & Whitelock (ob) took over, but 3 wides + 2 in the 9th. Sol reached an impressive 50 in the 10th & Rob took 9 off the 11th bowled by Whitelock, then plundered another 9 in the 12th, including a straight 6.

Sol took 11 off Whitelock in the 14th but missed a big drive against Ebdale in the next to be stumped by K Davis, for an excellent 65 (55b, 12x4,1x6), 115-2 in the 15th.

Hewi joined Rob & his 4th scoring shot off Colin Mann's leg breaks disappeared over the Pavilion. Rob (36, 32b, 3x4, 2x6) repeated the dose off Ebdale straight but in attempting another next ball, skied to long on where Musther took the catch, 134-3 in the 17th. 

Alvin joined Hewi, 7 came from the 19th bowled by Ebdale & Hewi finished in style by dispatching the first & third ball of the Mann's third over, the 20th, for 6, over the bar, to win the game. Hewi 29* (22b, 1x4, 3x6), Alvin 2*, a 7 wicket win. The expected rain arrived 20 minutes later.

Later, news filtered through of a tie between CLS & Burnmoor & a defeat for Hetton Lyons to Newcastle which leaves the Bulls 29 points clear at the top of the Premier Division with three tough games left.

To date in the 2022 NEPL Premier Division: 

Runs- Sol 700 runs, Birty 331, Rob 449, Hewi 629, Sean 293, Oli 134, Adam 339, Alvin 155.

Wickets: Jonny 37, Sean 30, Lee 20, Oli 40, Cal 11, Simon 8, Gavin 5, James 3.

Catches: Adam 14, Sean 8, Oli 8, Hewi 7, Rob 10/2, Parth 7/3, Jonny 5, Alvin 4, Sol 4, Birty 3, Lee 2, Cal/Nathan/Ru/James 1.

Sat 27th August Benwell Hill (a), Sat 3rd Sept Sunderland (a), Sat 10th Sept Hetton Lyons (h). History tells us that a lot can happen in three games. We must continue to aim to be the best we can be. 

Onward  mes amis!

Duncan.