1864'S DEFEAT BLAYDON:VARUN GUDIPATI 60 & 5 WICKETS. Sat 15 Aug 2026: NTCL Div 5 South: SNCC 1864 v Blaydon (a) 40/40

15th Aug 2026

SNCC 187-6 (40o) Belinda Wewalage 18, Aadi Bethanabatla 15, Matty Rathbone 12, Varun Gudipati 60, Aadhav Sahadevan 31: Tom Bullerwell 0-21, Fraser Stephen 1-33, Iain Richardson 1-43, Kevin Noon 1-24, Holly Spoors 2-30, Ben Lamb 1-34,

Blaydon 173ao (27o) Kevin Noon 33, Luke Gamsby 31, Tom Bullerwell 34, Iain Richardson 30: Varun Gudipati 5-38, Arjun Godse 0-35, Archit Upadhye 4-52, Finley Birtwisle 0-40, Manas Kakkar 1-1

SNCC 1864 won by 14 runs - 30 points, Blaydon 8.

At sunny Blaydon on what looked like a bowler friendly wicket, the 64's chose to bat. Belinda & Aadi faced the seam of Bullerwell & Stephen.  A fast start as Belinda (18, 14b 4x4) pulled 3x4 in the first two overs, but then in over 4, after despatching a no ball for another boundary, he top edged a pull to be caught by w/k Holt off Stephen, 20-1.

Varun entered at 3. He & Aadi added 38 for the second wicket when Aadi (15 38b 2x4) cutting nicely, had the misfortune to dislodge a bail as he swivel pulled a delivery for '4' off Richardson, 58-2.

Varun & Matty raised the total to 82 at drinks & then again to 107 in the 27^th over when Matty (12) on the back foot edged to w/k Holt off Noon, 3 down. Varun had been patient, putting away the bad ball, stroking 7x4 pulling, driving through cover & sweeping the spinners, 47*.

Varun reached 50* in the next over off Richardson. & the partnership with Aadhav blossomed as the total reached 147 in the 34^th when Varun (60, 94b 8x4) missed a sweep off the spin of Lamb to be lbw. A pivotal innings for the team.

The last 6 overs of the innings saw 40 runs scored as Aadhav & Paddy attacked. Aadhav (31, 36b 3x4) swung a catch to square leg at 163 in the 37^th of Lamb (ob). Finley (4) drove to point at 173 off Spoors (rm). Paddy (25*, 21b 3x4) finished strongly with Manas taking the total to 187-6 after 40 overs.

In reply Blaydon got off to a flier as Noon & Gamsby plundered Varun's opening over for 18 & Arjun's for 16. The total raced to 66 after only 6 overs with Noon pulling & cutting anything remotely short of a length & both he & Gamsby struck 6x4.

Then in the 7^th Noon (33, 21b 6x4) mistimed a drive off Varun to mid on where Archit took the lobbed catch, 66-1. This became 72-2, two overs later, when Gamsby (31, 26b 6x4) was bowled by Varun through the gate. Three balls later J Bullerwell (0) drove Varun to Aadi at extra cover, 73-3, back in the game.

Archit had begun a spell in over 8 & Finley in over 13. Both suffered if length was awry. A partnership of 38 between Norman & T Bullerwell ended at 110 when Norman (2) drove Archit to Paddy at mid off, 4 down. Two overs later T Bullerwell (34, 29b 6x4) was bowled by Archit as he aimed a big legside shot, 116-5.

Undeterred by the attack Archit & Finley continued to probe & at 153 in the 22^nd over Lamb (14) was beaten by a lovely leg break from Archit which hit off stump, 6 down. Two overs later Richardson (30, 24b 3x4 1x6) advanced to Archit, missed & was bowled, 165-7, getting tense.

Varun returned in over 23 & in his next bowled Holt (1) with a slower ball which the intended pull missed, 177-8. Manas then took a wicket with his 5th ball getting Spoors (0) very well caught at point by Varun diving to his right. The end came in the next as Varun got his 5^th wicket when Stephen (5) missed a straight one to be bowled.

After a torrid start this was a heartening come back by a young side which did not wilt, earning 30 points. The fielding had been good, supporting the bowlers well & taking 4 catches as Varun got 5 wickets & Archit 4.

Onward to 

Sat 22 Aug NTCL Div 5 South SNCC 1864 v Gosforth Strikers (h) 40/40 from 1300.

 We hope you can be there.

Duncan.