Match Reports

Saturday 14th June 2003

Newcastle 1st XI vs Sunderland (Home)

The sun shone warmly on another glorious day at Jesmond for the visit of top-of-the-table Sunderland who brought a near full strength side including two ex test bowlers and a Durham contracted player. Newcastle managed to field an unchanged side as the previous week, once again without a Durham player available, and Tim "School Boy error" Stonock playing for school pride. A confident Ritzy again won the toss and took the bull by the horns and elected to bat on a Jesmond pitch that appeared to have a bit more grass than usual.

Image: Brown returns to his mark...

Newcastle made a steady start against Brown and Rose who both bowled impressive spells. However, the Newcastle openers managed to survive before losing Hyndy LBW to the 2nd change bowler for 18. Nick 'slick' Tomlinson came in at number 3 and scored 16 before being bowled not offering a shot to Brown. This brought in Ryan the dolphin-trainer who together with Ritzy accumulated runs at a good rate with Ritzy in particular bullying the mid-on fielder who decided the best way to stop the ball was to trap it like a football! Ritzy then set about smashing one past him to his right and then one to his left! Ryan was out after tea for 34, caught at point after hitting two consecutive fours. This brought in Big Will to partner Ritzy who was getting closer to the magic three figures. Image: Soaking up the rays! However bad luck again prevailed as Ritzy was giving out LBW for 99 to a delivery which he struck the cover off! In the final overs Big Will cut loose, hooking Brown for 6 into the covers, and finished on 31 not out with Joel being run out in the last over for a quickfire 19. This meant that we had posted a very reasonable 251 for 5 in our full allotment of 65 overs. We knew that the hour or so session before tea would be crucial and it started in the best possible fashion with Paul Lyndsay and Alex bowling with distinction from the outset. They claimed big early wickets and when Alex claimed his fifth on the last ball before tea we were firmly in the driving seat leaving Sunderland struggling at 45 for 6. The pattern continued after lunch with Alex removing Rose and Paul Lyndsay getting a run out with a direct hit from mid-off. The Sunderland number 10 hung around for a while before Paul removed him with a good one leaving Sunderland on the edge of defeat at 95 for 9. However, as we all know cricket is a funny game, and with the Sunderland number 3, Lee Rushworth, still in and Simon Brown at the other end the Sunderland batters took a gung-ho approach and started dispatching the ball to all corners of the Jesmond outfield. A few tantrums later and quite a few overs Sunderland started to look like they might win the game! However Mad Dog Lindsey returned to the attack and removed Simon Brown with the score of 208 on the board, Newcastle victorious by 43 runs. Alex 'Angry' Brown returned with outstanding figures of 6-79, and Paul Lindsey was also impressive with 3-47.

Just to show how bizarre a game it was, of the 198 runs scored off the bat for Sunderland, 176 were scored by the last pair! Overall the Newcastle lads can be very proud of their 2nd win of the season and our first at home. Next weeks game against the well placed Durham Academy will be another good test, but the Newcastle team will travel to the Riverside confident of a positive result!

Newcastle 2nd XI vs Sunderland (Away)

Having had two disappointing draws last year against Sunderland, the poorest side in the 2002 league, we were up for a win in 2003, despite knowing that they are a stronger outfit this season. Having won the toss, Sunderland were inserted and made slow progress despite not losing a wicket until the 20th over, with the score just above 40. Nick Humble made inroads into their line up removing both openers, before the Sunderland middle order made decent contributions. Again we failed to have the bowling power to destroy the opposition's tail and poor fielding and too many captains on the field allowed them to reach 192, rather than the 160 which was all they deserved. We wont mention Rowdy's two dropped catches in two balls!

Tea brought the very very very sad news of the break-in to the skipper's pride&joy boy-racer Clio - Cd player stolen along with his much loved Val Doonican and Des O'Connor CDs - he is still grieving and coming to terms with the sad, SAD loss...

Having performed extremely well recently, Legend #2 was promoted to open the batting with Hurfio. After loosing the duck-cornered Hurfio without scoring and the in-form Clarky for a dozen, Rowdy and Ports steadied the ship with a partnership of 70. Ports was then to fall for a gritty 43, out to a loose leg side shot caught by their legend Chris Young. Sam then made his batting debut at No 5 and looked very correct. Rowdy fell to a good catch from their legger, and Sam lost head and was stumped for 12. This brought in two of the teams cleaner, lustier hitters, BDS and BBB with the score on 145-5 with 10 overs remaining. A steady rate was achieved including two lusty maximums from BBB, whilst the more reserved BDS pushed the ball into gaps and nurdled it. Some good running (I know, it is hard to believe with the two batsmen being "the headless chicken" and "travelator boy"!) we passed their target with two overs to go, BBB finishing on 23* and BDS on 17*.

A well deserved 21 points against an improved but inferior team on the day....