THREE IN A ROW FOR THE ACADEMY WITH WIN AT PHILADELPHIA

12th Jun 2023

    NEPL Sunday Division 1: 11^th June 2023: SNCC v Philadelphia (a) 40/40

SNCC 229-6 (40o) Jacob McCord 71, Charlie Wilson 105, Gregor Pearce 17, Ben Sidney Wilmot 16: Sam Hughes 1-28, Elliot Turnbull 3-47, Flynn McQueen 1-56, Luke Melvin 0-25, Logan Barton 1-45, JD Caris 0-27.

Philadelphia 124 ao (26.1o) Logan Barton 20, Chris Simpson 54, Luke Melvin 18: Ben Hobbs 2-22, Josephine Nkomo 3-12. David Cragg 4-32, Jen McDowell 1-40, Jack Netts 0-9.

SNCC won by 105 runs - 20 points, Philadelphia 5.

On a bright, sunny day, the Bulls won the toss & chose to bat with a short boundary on one side. An outstanding, rh/lh opening partnership of 173 between Jacob McCord & Charlie Wilson, set the Bulls on the way to a convincing victory.

Going at 4's, then 5's, the total had reached 114 at drinks, Jacob 45 Charlie 66. Seemingly rigid field placings, with boundary cover, meant that good running & placement offered many twos & threes. At 173 in the 31^st Jacob (71,85b,9x4,1x6) missed a leg break from Barton & was bowled. Charlie pressed on in company with Gregor but at 189 in the 35^th he hit Turnbull high to square leg & was caught by Macknight . A splendid innings 105 (106b, 14x4,2x6) of power & placement, his 100 coming up in 102 mins from 102 balls with 13x4 2x6. Left & right-hand combinations do work.

Ben Sid joined Gregor & the pair ran well until Gregor (17), attacking, was caught at mid-on by Barton at 202. At the same score Ben Hobbs (0) was bowled first ball. Varun (9) was caught by Barton at 220 & Ben Sid (16) by w/k Marriott off an inside edge at 225. Jack (3*) & Jen (4*) hit the last ball for 4 through the covers. 229-6 after 40... defendable !

Ben& Josephine opened against Barton & Caris. In the 4^th Caris (0) hit to mid-wicket where he was caught by Charlie off Josephine,11-1. 24 -2 in the 7^th when Walshaw (5) was lbw to Ben; 29-3 when Ru made good ground into short cover to catch Hughes off Josephine in the 8th. 35-4 as Barton (20 4x4) chopped on to Ben. 39-5 in the 12th, when Marriott's (4) heave saw his off stump clipped by Josephine.

Simpson & McQueen battled but at 52 in the 15^th McQueen (4) defending was bowled by David Cragg. Jen took some punishment as Simpson targeted the short boundary. At 72 Macknight (0) was smartly stumped by Ben Sid off David who then bowled Turnbull (0) first ball, 72-8.

Simpson continued to trust his eye & swung, Melvin (18) drove through the off side well but at 100 in the 20^th he was stumped by Ben off Jen. Simpson reached a creditable 50 but in going for one more leg side hit, was caught by a precisely positioned, Jacob at long on off David for 54 (39b,5x4,2x6) leaving Simm (6*); 124 all out after 26.1 overs, David 4-32, Josephine 3-12, Ben 2-22 Jen 1-40.

A comfortable win by 105 runs, the Academy remain top of the table on 66 points & look forward to the next game against 2^nd placed Chester le Street (a) on Sun 25^th June, knowing that 6 of the remaining 8 games are at home.

We hope you can be there,

Duncan.