1864's SPIRITED DISPLAY BUT SUCCUMB TO LEADERS ANNFIELD PLAIN. Sat 8 Aug 2026 NTCL Div 5 South: SNCC 1864 v Annfield Plain (h) 40/40

8th Aug 2026

SNCC 1864 170-9 (40o) Aadhav Sahadevan 13, Paddy Rathbone 13, Elliott Mee 56, Finley Birtwisle 19, Simon Birtwisle 33*: Dan Dryden 3-21, Matthew Liddell 2-26, Marcus Bowden 0-28 , Miguel Ribero 0-33, Dan Smith 2-13, Declan McKay 0-46.

Annfield Plain 173-5 (26.3o) Alfie Davison 33, Graham Carr 101*: Varun Gudipati 0-17, Simon Birtwisle 2-34, Sam Dresser 1-34, Elliott Mee 1-49, Finley Birtwisle 1-39.

Annfield Plain won by 5 wickets - 29 points, SNCC 7.

A warm day at Belsay the 64's won the toss & chose to bat. The outfield was flat the wicket looked good. Varun Gudipati & Belinda Wewalage faced the seam of Dryden & Liddell. From ball 3 Varun (0) edged Dryden to 2^nd slip. Two boundaries to Fraser Hall  (8) off Liddell but in his next, an away swinger was edged by Fraser to w/k Kyle, 14-2.

One over later Belinda (4) top edged a pull to be caught at square leg off Dryden, 14-3. Aadhav & Matthew took the score to 30 in the 11^th when Matthew (4) forward, but edged  Dryden to w/k Kyle. Two overs later Aadhav (13, 38b) drove early & bowler Liddell took the return catch, 39-5.

There followed some resistance from Elliott Mee & captain Paddy Rathbone as Bowden & Liddell probed. Elliott taking 4,2,1 off Bowden's first & Paddy 4,2 from Liddell's 9th. At 66 in the 21^st over, an optimistic call by Elliott, after a firm drive to cover left Paddy (13, 22b 2x4) stranded & beaten by the throw to the w/k 's end, 5 down.

There followed an enterprising partnership of 63 between Elliott & Finley Birtwisle. Elliott pulling anything short, & driving through cover off the back foot, Finley playing well off his legs, the pair called &  ran well. Elliott reached 50* in the 30^th with 4 then 1 off  the spin of McKay.

Then in over 33 at 129 Elliott (56, 59b 8x4,1x6) was caught by Dryden off Smith's medium pace. In his next over Finley's (19, 44b 1x4) leading edge was caught by Sandhu at mid on, 138-8. Two very good innings from young batters. Simon Birtwisle had joined Finley after the fall of Elliott's wicket & pulled his 5^th ball for 6 to mid wicket.

Tom Young (5) & Simon (33, 30b, 3x4 1x6) saw the innings to a close with a flurry of runs in the last three overs until Tom was run out in the last over. 170-9, a decent come back after the depths of 39-5.

In reply Sandhu & Davison faced the seam of Varun Gudipati & slow left arm of Simon Birtwisle. A slow start & then in over 4 Sandhu (1) edged Birty to w/k Matty Rathbone, 4-1. This became 19 -2 in his next as Kyle (12) was bowled by the inswinger.

24-3 in the 7^th Sam Dresser's first ever senior over on debut saw Edirisingha (7) caught by Fraser Hall on the deep square leg boundary, bravo ! Carr showed no mercy & took 24 from Sam's next two overs, 69-3 after 11 overs.

Simon Birtwisle's 7 over spell ended in over 14, 91-3, Elliott Mee taking over then Finley Birtwisle & the spin pair bowled the remaining 13 overs. In over 15 Davison (33) was lbw to Elliott sweeping, 96-4. Smith's (6) stay was brief & he drove a catch to point in the 16th taken by Adhav off Finley, 101-5.

Carr was resolute & gradually upped the tempo despatching anything too short or too wide though cover or square leg. 125 after 21overs quickly became 149 after 24. Carr finishing in style  with 4.6 from Elliott's 8^th to get to three figures ending 101*, the win by 5 wickets coming in the 27^th over.

The fielding had not wilted, energy was apparent, all played a role, perhaps the top order batters could take a look before attacking.

Onward to:

Sat 15^th Aug SNCC 1864 v  Blaydon (a) 40/40 from 1300.

We hope you can be there.

Duncan.