Match Reports

Saturday 5th July 2003

Newcastle 1st XI vs South Northumberland (Home)

Newcastle welcomed back Matt Hynd, Alex Brown & Danny Law to the team as Zimmer, Baz & Hurfs returned to the seconds. With Ritzy still on holiday the "dolphin trainer" was in charge, teaching us to jump through hoops, for the second time.

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Newcastle lost the toss and were inserted on a pitch that looked good in overcast conditions. Killeen and King made early inroads into the Newcastle batting order, Matty and Nick consigned to duck corner, neither batsman troubling the scorer. This brought Danny & Ryan together and they managed to steady the ship before Danny was caught behind off Killeen just as he was getting going. Joel came in and hit a quickfire 20 before being harshly adjudged LBW on the sweep in the over before lunch. Kingers went soon after the interval and Big Will joined the dolphin trainer who was concentrating hard and building an innings. However just as Ryan started to accelerate he was bowled for 64 playing an over-ambitious slog-sweep. Will followed caught at slip for 16 and the Newcastle tail crumbled and we were bowled out for a disappointing 169.

South North's chase got off to a good start and they were looking set at 25 for 0. However Angry received a generous decision and removed their opener & hairdresser Jimmy Miller LBW for the second time this season. Danny joined in and soon had one of their danger men LBW and their captain well taken at slip by Joel, leaving South North 56 for 3. This could have been worse when their No4 shouldered arms to an off cutter from Danny that looked to be hitting middle but the umpire claimed that he could not see and warned Danny for running on the pitch! This proved to be a crucial decision as South North moved into pole position at 100 for 3. However 3 quick wickets meant that the game was back in the balance with South North needing 40 to win with 4 wickets in hand. 10 more runs and two wickets meant that the game swung just towards Newcastle. Danny & Alex were probing but couldn’t get the next wicket, Reon King playing and missing 6 times in one over from Danny. South North scrambled home with 2 wickets in tact, Danny returning fine figures of 5-70 from his full 20 overs.

Once again Newcastle lost a close game which could have gone our way, but should be proud of their persistence and tenacity in the field. Next weeks double header against Philadelphia becomes more important as we need a couple of wins to keep the season alive. However next week sees the return of Ritzy and school-boy so we should be back to near full strength.

Newcastle 2nd XI vs South Northumberland (Away)

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