Match Reports

Saturday 7th June 2003

Newcastle 1st XI vs Blaydon (Home)

After being dumped out the league cup last Sunday by Blaydon it was nice to get the chance to seek revenge. The Newcastle team showed two changes; the Durham injury curse struck again meaning Danny Law was recalled to the Durham side and Tim Stonock was unavailable after being required to play for Durham school against Durham "combined harvesters". This meant a recall for the overs thief, Keith Brown and a debut for new recruit Joel Hughes from Durham City. Ritzy won the toss and elected to bat on a glorious day on a pitch that had been used for three days by the county at the beginning of the week; a generous move from the groundsman considering Blaydon are employing the services of a test quality West Indian spinner!

Newcastle set the pattern for a very bizarre match where wickets fell in batches after solid partnerships. Newcastle started off steadily on a pitch that was a bit two paced at times and lost the first wicket at 68 when Matty (28) was caught at fine leg from a full toss from their pro. As the saying goes "one brings two" but in this case brought 4! Ryan & Nick Tomlinson were both out bowled in quick succession and then Ritzy controversially just before lunch, leaving us 84 for 4. Big Will and Kingers quickly followed after lunch but Joel batted well on debut before being unluckily run out at the non-strikers end for 41. Newcastle were toiling at 150 for 9, to be saved by Mad Dog; surely the best no 11 in the league, who proved the point by smashing 34 not out including two sixes and taking the score to a respectable 196 for 9 from the full allotment of overs.

When Blaydon batted Newcastle once again tried to make things difficult and gave their opener 5 lives! However once he was finally dismissed caught behind off the spin of Johnny B, wickets began to fall steadily leaving Blaydon in trouble, collapsing from 80 for 0 to 90 for 5! Blaydon eventually fell well short of the Newcastle target, managing only 144 for 9. Jonny Bailey claimed an extrememly impressive 7-52, cheered on from the sidelines by his followers from Zimbabwe! Keith Brown & Angry Alex (who declined the Blaydon GK's offer of a private meeting at 7:30pm) took the other wickets to fall.

Once again Newcastle were left with a winning draw in a game that we could, and probably should, have won. Credit must go to Paul Lyndsay who gave us the respectable score with some mighty hitting and of course to Mr Bailey who claimed 7 of the 9 wickets to fall with a fine display of left arm orthodox bowling. Undoubtedly dropped catches cost us dear, but Newcastle must also react more quicky to the changing circumstances of the game and push hard to dismiss the opposition when in search of the final couple of wickets for an outright win.

Newcastle 2nd XI vs Blaydon (Away)

Team news for today's game was a second team debut for student dentist Sam Roberts, who had impressed in the third team game the week previous, and the 'sweaty-sock' Mr Moffatt making an appearance in place of the stressed out James Bailey. We knew that this game was an absolute must win, having not won in the previous two games. With the hangover from hell (aka the Riverside!) hitting most of Newcastle second team, it was left to two of our more sensible members of the team to star in this game. Having lost the toss, we were asked to bat, a strange decision to say the least. After loosing Hurfs, who mis-timed his drive straight to extra cover, and then Rowdy for 25, we were reasonably set at 78-2 from less then twenty overs. Then enter Christopher Clark esq. The chat from their fat, gay-boy, middle order batsmen was that he only had one shot! Well I wouldn't mind that one shot as Clarky creamed their poor bowling attack to all sides of the park and he constructed a chanceless 131 not out. Naturally, their chirper was left to eat his words and then some (looking at the size of him) . Chris was more than ably supported by Ports, who nurdled and smiled in awe of his partner's skills in the middle as he made a fine 69* - lets just say that tea was very enjoyable, as we amassed 272-2 declared from just 50 overs.

BDS and Village IV then took the new ball and BDS struck twice early on to reduce Blaydon to 43-2. Wickets then for Nick Humble (2), Sam Roberts brought in their Gay Exchange Dancer! He took a liking to Nick and Sam's bowling as he smurted 55 from just 26 balls, including 5 sixes, before the Snarling Poodle castled him on his way to picking up 4 wickets. We then had the tale of football mentality when their no 8 lost all head when adjudged LB Geoffrey to Sweaty - bat was thrown 30 yards, gloves were kicked on top of the cabin - naturally he was given a yellow card and reported by Mr Jackson. Muff was then in good form as he picked up another wicket as we had them 164 for 9 with 3 overs left - again, we missed out on the chance of a win, as we failed to get the final wicket. 16 points though wasn't too bad, considering the state of some of our players at 1pm!