CUP SUCCESS IN CHARITY BOWL & T20 QUARTER FINAL: BULLS MARCH ON!

25th Jun 2018

Tyneside Charity Bowl.

Swalwell 143-7 (20o) Hewison 22, Anderson 35, Meadows 45: Craigs 2-32, Whitty 2-17.

SNCC 145-4 (17o) Birtwisle 71*, Doig 45. Sinclair 3-37.

Winning the toss & batting, an opening partnership of 49 Swalwell's by Chris Hewison(22), returning to the scene of many famous innings, & Lloyd Anderson (35) threatened until Hewison picked out Doig at deep mid wicket in Matt Whitty's first over, the 7th.

At 74, in the 10th, Lee Crozier bowled the dangerous Anderson. Gray followed in over 11, lbw to Matt Whitty. Meadows (45) kept some momentum as Sinclair was bowled by Richard Brook, 89-4 in the 13th. The returning Simon Birtwisle ( 1-20), & Michael Craigs 2, took three wickets in two overs, 125-7 in the 18th & the innings closed on 143 with Nicky Phillips 17*. 7 bowlers used, including James Ruddick (0-16) & Simon West (0-17), rotated nicely.

Simon Birtwisle led the chase with a six to square leg from Sinclair's first ball. Peyton(3) was caught at mid off driving, 18-1 in the 3rd. An entertaining partnership of 93 ensued as Andrew Doig ( 5x4,1x6,32 balls) & Birty (71* 7x4, 2x6, 45 balls) took the total to 111-2 in the 13th when Doig was caught at deep square leg by Richard Shotton, another returning to his roots.

Craigs fell for 5 & Bobby Green, u14, making his 1st X1 debut, succumbed for 1, 124-4 in the 15th. The end came in a 4, 4, 4 leg byes sequence in the 17th over. A win by 6 wickets. Onward !

NEPL T20 1/4 final SUNDERLAND v SNCC (Ashbrooke)

Sunderland 98-8 (20o) Applegarth 21, Birtwisle 2-22, Tindale 0-14, Crozier 2-16, Stanyon 1-23, Trevaskis 2-23.

SNCC 101-3 (14.5o) Trevaskis 29*, Edwards 48*. Boatswain 2-18.

On the fastest wicket so far encountered in 2018 with pace & bounce & a fast, if slightly uneven, outfield, the bowling & fielding of the visitors was exemplary restricting Sunderland to 98-8 in their allotted 20 overs. Sean Tindale's second over maiden left it 2-0 in 2. At 23, in the 5th, Lee Crozier smartly c & b  Dan Shurben for 15. Applegarth, attacking, was bowled by Liam Trevaskis at 40 in the 9th.

Rammy Singh (18) pulling, fell to Stanyon's extra bounce, caught at mid wicket by Birty in the 12th. Youlden (8) was smartly stumped (& also caught!) by Adam Cragg off Trevaskis at 77 & at the same score, Crozier had Shabaz taken at long on by Tindale for 13. Two runs later J Shurben was lbw to Birtwisle for 1 & then Boatswain bowled by a BIrty quicker one, 83-7 in the 17th. Smith's run out at 98 concluded the innings Cragg throwing to the bowler's end after a mix up.

When SN  batted, Boatswain bowled with pace from the Rugby stand end. Sam Dale (4) was yorked at the end of over 1 with the score at 10. Birtwisle (12) was lbw in the third & Graham (5) run out in the 6th after seeing off Boatswain's third over, 24-3. David Edwards (48*) joined Liam Trevaskis (29* 5x4, 29 balls) & the pair, batting with intent & running well, put together a match winning partnership of 77, 101-3  & only 14.5 overs used.

A left & right partnership with both driving down the ground, through extra & pulling well, scoring opportunities were not missed as Edwards (7x4, 1x6, 36 balls) finished in style with three consecutive boundaries from Rammy Singh in the 14th. 

A very efficient, all round performance, bowlers again nicely rotated & ground fielding of a high standard. This takes the Bulls to T20 finals day on Sun 8th July, at a venue to be determined, where they are joined by Brandon, Chester-Le-Street & Benwell Hill. An exciting day in prospect, please come along.

Duncan D. Stephen.