1864'S HUMBLED BY BENWELL HILL IN 9 WICKET DEFEAT. Sat 25 July 2026: NTCL Div 5 South: SNCC 1864 v Benwell Hill (a) 40/40

25th Jul 2026

SNCC 1864 132ao (40o) Olly Alexander 44, Varun Gudipati 23, Finley Birtwisle 12, Thomas Young 15, Arjun Godse 9*: Seb Fletcher-Woods 1-13, Sahel Malakzai 1-29, Hector Walder 0-18, David Walder 2-24, Jamie Fletcher-Woods 1-19, Injas Mohamed 0-23.

Benwell Hill 134-1 (24.4o) Seb Fletcher-Woods 70*, Adam Hasan 34, Naveed Safi 16*: Varun Gudipati 0-14, Finley Birtwisle 0-25, Olly Alexander 0-33, Archit Upadhye 0-22, Rayan Mohammed 1-28, Thomas Young 0-10.

Benwell Hill won by 9 wickets- 29 points, SNCC 1864 3.

A cloudy day at Newbrough the 1864's won the toss & chose to bat. After a couple of overs the wicket seemed slow with some uneven bounce & the ball was swinging. Will Carr & Olly Alexander faced the right am seam of Seb Fletcher-Woods & Sahel Malakzai.

In over 4 Will (1) aiming to drive, was bowled by an in swinging delivery from Malakzai. In the next Belinda (0) was adjudged lbw to Seb Fletcher -Woods, 12-2.

37 -2 after 10 overs, when a double bowling change saw Hector & David Walder enter the attack. Olly & Varun were batting well. Defending skilfully, rotating nicely, driving or pulling when possible. At the innings mid point the total had risen to 73, Varun 20* Olly 38*.

Then in the 22^nd over Varun's (23, 47b 2x4) optimistic call for a single was refused & a direct hit to the non striker's end saw him run out, an unfortunate ending to an important  partnership of 64, 76-3. Three overs later Dulanjan (1) swung hard at a slow full toss from Jamie Fletcher-Woods, missed & was bowled. In the next over from David Walder two wickets as Olly (4478b 6x4) who had batted with composure, driven through the offside nicely, rotated the strike well & been creative, checked a drive & offered a return catch to the bowler.

Next ball Rayan (0) was pinned lbw by a yorker, 82-6 after 26 overs. Thomas Young joined Finley Birtwisle & the pair defended well against the accurate D Walder & J Fletcher -Woods.

A boundary to Thomas in the 29^th then 4,2,4 driven through cover to Finley in the 30th as Mohamed's length & line was punished, 100-6 after 30 overs. Sadly Finley (12, 28b 2x4) was run out in over 32 defeated by a direct hit as a single was attempted, 102-7. Arjun & Thomas continued to resist, Thomas taking 4 then 2 from Jamie Fletcher-Woods in the 35^th & Arjun 4 in the last over which ended with Thomas (15, 55b 2x4) run out from the last ball. Arjun 9* (14b, 1x4), both had battled well.

In reply Seb Fletcher-Woods & Adam Hasan faced the seam of Varun Gudipati & slow left arm of Finley Birtwisle. Sadly, two chances in the first three overs gave Seb Fletcher-Woods lives. One to short fine leg when two players collided & the catch taken was spilled & then one to deep point off Varun.

After 10 overs the total was 34 without loss, only 3x4 as both Varun & Finley bowled with control. Olly Alexander (rm) began a spell in the 13^th & Archit Upadhye (lb) in the 16th. Olly struggled with his line, 6 wides in 4 overs & was punished to leg by Fletcher-Woods, twice being pulled for 6.

The total had risen to 91 after 20 overs. Then in the 21^st Rayan Mohammed persuaded Hasan (34, 46b 4x4) to cut to point where Finley took a neat catch, 93-1. Another chance in the next over to long on off Archit was unable to be taken & the last three overs leaked 35 as Fletcher-Woods & Safi played big shots 3x4 3x6, off Rayan & Thomas, winning the game by 9 wickets after 24.4 overs. 

Seb Fletcher -Woods (70*, 93b 8x4 4x6) Naveed Safi 916*, (16b 2x4, 1x6), lives notwithstanding, the batters had played fluently. Such a shame the chances offered could not have been taken. Fielding matters!!

The 1864's now in 6^th position in Div 5 South on 273 points behind leaders Annfield Plain on 332.

Onward to Sat 1 August SNCC 1864 v Newcastle Super Kings (h) 1300 40/40.

We hope you can be there.

Duncan.