Bulls record 10th wicket partnership but unable to close out win against obdurate Lyons

27th Jun 2022

Sat 25th June 2022, NEPL Division 2, 11/22.                                                                      

SNCC 209ao (52o) Ru Fletcher 15, Sam Ewart 37, Sadiq Khan 16, Nathan Gough 59*, Jacob McCord 20, Gavin Paton 43: Oliver Watt 5-43, Ross Salkeld 1-29, Aaron Watson 1-36, Taylor Moulder 2-29, Jack Sellick 1-24.

Hetton Lyons 131-7 (53o) Matthew Tomys 40, Aaron Watson 27*, Taylor Moulder 14* Jack Sellick 14: Gavin Paton 1-31, Nathan Gough 2-18, Sadiq Khan 1-31, Jacob McCord 3-6, Ru Fletcher 0-21, Ryan Sidney-Wilmot 0-9, Angus Southern 0-5.

Winning draw for SNCC - 13 points, Hetton Lyons 7.

SNCC won the toss & chose to bat on a warm, sunny day. Fletcher & Charnley faced the right arm seam of the brisk Watt from the Grove & Salkeld from the Park end. After 16.2 overs the Bulls had subsided to 35-6, Watt taking 5.

Charnley (1) was bowled by Watt from around the wicket to the left hander which seemed to come back into him, the off stump pegged back. Mannikar (6) was unlucky to get one that bounced, took the glove & deflected onto the stumps, 13-2 in the 7th. Southern (0) reached to drive Salkeld without getting to the pitch & offered a catch to 2 nd slip, Lawson the fielder. At the same score in the 11th, Fletcher (15) feathered a catch behind off Watt. In the 15th Weetman (2) gloved behind off a Watt short ball to be caught by w/k Tomys & at the same score Sidney-Wilmot (0) was lbw on the front foot to Watt, 5-19 at that point.

Ewart was playing positively & when Watt resorted to the short stuff in the 21st,pulled him for 4,6,4 in consecutive deliveries. Sadiq & Sam had taken the score to 78 in the 28th when Sadiq (16) mistimed a drive off Watson skying to cover, 78-7. At the end of the next over, Ewart perished when he too lobbed this time to mid on off Moulder's off spin. Sam had batted well, 37, playing nicely off his legs, 47b, 6x4, 1x6, timing the ball sweetly & running well, 85-8 in the 29th.

McCord (20) upped the rate, 17 balls, 3x4 1x6 before finding deep mid wicket off Moulder's off spin, a shame. Gavin Paton joined Nathan Gough at 115-9 in the 35th. Both with 1st X1 experience, the pair produced a match defining partnership of 94 for the 10th wicket, a SNCC record in the NEPL period. Both driving down the ground, playing straight & running well. This only came to an end when Paton (43, 55b, 7x4) hit Sellick high & hard to wide long on, where Watt made good ground & took a diving catch, two handed, an excellent effort, 209 all out after 52overs.

Nathan left 59* (71b, 7x4) fluent driving, scoring at every opportunity, solid when necessary. 

The Lyons innings was almost a replica, 5-1, 7-2, 8-3, 24-4, 26-5. Paton (rm)  & Gough (lm but bouncy) opened against Worthy & Burbeck. Burbeck was the first to go, caught by McCord at cover off Gough in the 3rd. Errington (0) edged behind off Gough to give w/k Mannikar a regulation catch in the 6th. In the 7th Lawson was lbw to Paton, 8-3. In the 16th Worthy (12) was bowled by McCord in his first over. From the 1st ball of his next over McCord bowled Woodley (2). During this period w/k Parth repeatedly flung himself to off & to leg when the line bowled by the seamers strayed & saved many potential byes/wides.

Tomys & Sellick dug in. The combined wiles of Sadiq's leg spin, a good, accurate spell on a slow surface, & Fletcher's medium pace were thwarted until, in the 31st over, Sellick slapped a Khan leg break to backward point where Southern took a smart, low catch, 61-6. Moulder joined Tomys & they continued to be obdurate. After 40.3 overs, Tomys (40, 8x4), excellent 101 ball vigil ended when he was very well caught by a diving Weetman at cover off McCord, 86-7. Jacob 6o-3m-6r-3w.

Watson joined Moulder & showed attacking intent when possible, one wondered if chances were going to be created. They were, but not taken !! In the 49th Ryan Sid's gentle medium was launched toward long on where Ru misjudged the flight & failed to lay a hand on the ball as it dropped over his head inside the boundary. One over later Alex inexplicably failed to cling onto a pushed, low chance at cover off Paton. In the 2 overs remaining, no further chances emerged. A match saving partnership of 45* between Moulder & Watson.

Some good bits, the efforts of 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 (175 runs) to get to a defendable total, bravo, we must always battle, some good fielding, ...... & some things to improve, bowling straight please, moving in with the bowler not being static, keeping concentration levels high for 50+ overs, possibly more attacking field placings in front of the bat when it became apparent the draw was the only target the visitors had, not giving it away when going well with the bat. We can do this !

We can start next Sat 2nd July v Whitburn (h), who won comfortably in the 4th game of the season at The Village Ground. Onward please !

Duncan.