WEETMAN & EWART 'GO LARGE' IN EMPHATIC WIN OVER LEADERS WHITBURN

6th Jul 2022

.                                 NEPL Division 2 Sat 2^nd July 2022 (h)

SNCC 260-5dec (52o) Angus Southern 27, Alex Weetman 138*, Sam Ewart 60:Ewan Jenkins 1-37, Ben Kennedy 2-43, Anthony Chambers 1-78, Harry Kennedy 1-52.

Whitburn 83ao (41.4o) Ben Markham 19, Ewan Jenkins 10, Dan Quinan 21: Gavin Paton 2-23, Nathan Gough 0-7, Sadiq Khan 4-15, Ben Hobbs 1-5, Will Harris 1-9, Nick Tomlinson 1-15, Ru Fletcher 0-0.

SNCC won by 177 runs - 29 points, Whitburn 2.

On a pleasant day at Roseworth Terrace the Bulls won the toss & chose to bat. Early overs suggested the surface was helpful & the accurate seam attack of Jenkins & B Kennedy reduced SN to 24-3 after 16 overs. Mannikar (10) aiming to leave, but caught by w/k Mallaby off an insufficiently raised bat, Tomlinson (7) lbw to B Kennedy & Fletcher (7) edging behind off Chambers. 

Angus Southern & Alex Weetman repaired, 72-3 at the 25 overs, halfway drinks, Angus 20* Alex 23*. Gradually building, the partnership had reached 80 & the total 104 in the 33^rd over, when Angus (27) edged behind off Jenkins, an important innings in the circumstances.

Sam Ewart joined Weetman, the latter going to 50 with a pulled 6 off H Kennedy. Ewart seemed to survive two lives, one to slip & one to cover & thus emboldened struck 18 (4,2,6,2,4) off the luckless Zak Smith's only over, straight or over mid wicket. The run rate quickened & between overs 41 & 50 the pair put on 100, the leg side boundary peppered if anything a tad short.

Sam (60, 6x4, 4x6) finally fell caught by w/k Mallaby off H Kennedy, the partnership worth 133. Alex had already reached a deserved 100 in the 46^th & his plunder continued with drives, pulls, cuts all evident ending 138*when the declaration came after 52 overs at 260-5. 17x4, 4x6, a magnificent innings, carefully crafted when conditions were not easy, before accelerating when they eased. Nathan Gough 3* at the end.

Whitburn began cautiously against the seam of Paton & Gough. At 10 in the 5^th Mallaby (10) edged to w/k Mannikar off Paton. At 22 in the 8th, a bit of quick thinking by Parth as he moved swiftly to his right, threw off a glove, picked up & in one movement turned & threw down the striker's stumps with non striker Jenkins (10) stranded.

This became 30-3 when Markham (19) was lbw to Khan's leg spin in his second over. At the same score, Hearn (0) was very well caught by Southern, moving forward & diving at mid off, Ben Hobbs the bowler. Zak Smith (0) drove Khan to Ewart at short extra, 34-5 then B Kennedy (4) drove Khan to cover where Weetman took the catch, 35-6.

50-6 at drinks, but at 63 in the 28^th Chambers (7) edged to Mannikar off Will Harris's brisk left arm seam, a good, straight, 5 over spell from Will. Quinan (21) looked to attack Tomlinson's off spin, but at the same score was bemused & bowled by Nick. Craig Smith, once of this parish, resisted, but at 67 in the 34th, was caught by Weetman, going to his left at second slip off Paton.

The left-handed last wicket pair of Ramsay & H Kennedy battled putting on 16 before the returning Khan bowled Kennedy (3), 83 all out in the 42^nd over. Sadiq a lovely controlled spell of leg spin, 11.4-5-15-4 albeit against a defensive batting mindset. A comprehensive victory which propels the Bulls to third place on 200 points in Division 2. Fielding generally good but two straightforward catching opportunities squandered, concentration vital !

Tough games coming up, Tues 5^th July NEPL T20 group A v Gateshead Fell (a), Thurs 7^th July Roseworth Trophy v Whickham (h), NEPL Division 2 Sat 9^th July Newcastle (a) who are 4^th on 185 points. We hope you can be there.

Duncan.