LACKLUSTRE BULLS SECOND BEST AT CHESTER.

6th Aug 2024

LACKLUSTRE BULLS SECOND BEST AT CHESTER.

                                       NEPL Division 2: Sat 3^rd August 2024.

                              SNCC v Chester-Le-Street (a) 105 0vers, w/l/d

Chester-Le-Street 270-6 (51o) Matthew Cranston 40, George Harrison 92, Luke Allen 76, Liam Cook 19*: Gavin Paton 4-52, Simon West 0-53, Missy Banks 1-41, George Gray 0-53, James Lunn 1-60.

SNCC 175ao (44.5o) Nick Tomlinson 13, Jacob McCord 19, Jan Ozmen 10, Angus Southern 39, James Lunn 59, Gavin Paton 18 : Bailey Milton 3-37, Connor Pattison 2-41, Josh Metcalfe 2-43, Harry Simpson 1-36, Andrew Summers 0-15.

CLS won by 95 runs - 30 points, SNCC 5.

A sunny day at Ropery Lane, a wicket cut towards the bottom end gave a long boundary to the Pavilion. The home  team chose to bat, Summers & Cranston faced the right arm seam of Paton & West. 

Two wickets in the 9^th when Summers (15) aiming to leg, was bowled by Paton. Two balls later Henderson (0) was lbw to a full & straight delivery, 29-2. Missy began a spell in the 12^th from the road end, George Gray (ob) from the houses in the 16^th & James Lunn (ob) from the road in the 18^th when Cranston (40, 57b 7x4) driving, was bowled through the gate by Lunny, 81-3.

Harrison (rh) & Allen (lh) then built an impressive partnership of 148 in 27 overs punishing variations of length & using their feet well to the spinners, driving down the ground. No chances were dropped but the bowling, good in parts, was unable to exercise any consistent control & build pressure.

A confident appeal for an lbw against Allen by George Gray when the score was 80 was turned down because the umpire's view was blocked by George's follow through from around the wicket; frustrating after being warned earlier.

Eventually Allen (76, 90b, 10x4 1x6) swung Paton to deep square leg where David Edwards took the catch, 229-4. George Harrison continued until at 257 in the 50^th Harrison (92, 105b 6x4 1x6) shuffled across, aimed to leg & was lbw to Missy, a deserved wicket ending an excellent innings. Cook (19*) & Metcalfe (12) attacked but the latter fell, bowled by Gavin, in the 51^st & last over before the declaration.

Gavin a whole hearted effort, 4-52 in 14 overs the pick, but good spells from Missy & James' first 10 went for only 30.

Nick Tomlinson & Jacob McCord faced the seam of Milton & Pattison. Sadly, at 19 in the 6^th an optimistic call from Jacob for a single to cover saw Nick fail to beat the throw to the w/k. 39-2 in the 12^th as Jan (10), aiming to leg was lbw to Pattison who then bowled  David Edwards (1) with one that seemed to keep low, 43-3 in the 14th.

53 -4 in the 15^th when Jacob (19) hit a Metcalfe full toss to mid on. A partnership of 29 followed between Angus & George but at 82, Angus hit to cover & George (6) was beaten at the striker's stumps when a refusal would have been in order. Ben Sid (1) was then lbw playing back to Simpson's leg spin, 85-6 in the 28th.

A promising partnership of 52 between Angus & Lunny ended at 137 in the 38^th when Angus (39, 70b 4x4) was lbw to Metcalfe's off spin. Gavin(18, 19b, 2x4) was spirited but at 166 in the 43^rd another kept low & an lbw appeal was upheld ; three balls later Simon West (0) was bowled, both wickets to Milton, 9 down. 

Missy joined Lunny but at 175 Lunny (59, 54b 10x4) drove Milton to Simpson at extra cover, 175 all out in 44.5 overs. A splendid captain's innings from James with 10 boundaries.

The Bulls remain 4^th in Division 2 on 202 points. Things to work on after a rather lacklustre display. We are better than this !

Onward to Sat 10^th August SNCC v Newcastle (h) 105o, w/l/d; the last one before the win lose format for the last 6 games, 90 overs, 1200 start.

We hope you can be there to cheer the team on.

Duncan.