BULLS UNDERPERFORM AGAINST YOUTHFUL BENWELL HILL IN FINAL LEAGUE GAME OF SUCCESSFUL 2026 SEASON.

12th Sep 2026

Sat 12 Sept 2026: NEPL Div 2: SNCC v Benwell Hill (h) 50/50, win/lose.

SNCC 151ao (42.5o) Nick Tomlinson 13, David Edwards 38, Hamish Barrie 29, Ben Hobbs 22: Naz Habibi 4-43, Gabriel Mellor 0-17, Jayam Patel 1-34, Peter Jones 4-20, Seb Fletcher-Woods 1-14, Nirmit Singh 0-18

Benwell Hill 154-4 (35o) Andy Dawson 85*, Jayam Patel 26, Sukhveer Bhinder 15: Joseph Dresser 0-21, Will Young 1-32, Nicky Phillips 0-27, Ru Fletcher 1-24, Hamish Barrie 1-25, George Gray 0-12, Nick Tomlinson 1-10.

Benwell Hill won by 6 wickets- 24 points, SNCC 3.

After the Bulls cup successes of previous weeks perhaps it was understandable, but to watch it was frustrating to see a rather lacklustre performance against a youthful Benwell Hill who fielded & bowled well having been asked to, on a sunny morning after earlier rain & with showers expected at some point.

Tomlinson & Edwards faced the seam of Habibi (Grove) & Mellor (Park). Nick stroked a full toss to mid wicket & drove straight for 4 in over 1. Six more from over 2 & 4 from the third before Nick (13) drove an Habibi away swinger to backward point, 18-1.

Two overs later Olly (0) was completely undone by an in swinging  Habibi yorker losing off & middle stumps, 22-2. David & Ben Hobbs both drove pleasingly through cover in over 7 & the total reached 40-2 after 10 overs, a Mellor maiden.

A rain shower did not deter the umpires who stuck at it for 4 more overs but then came off at 1235 as the rain persisted, 65-2. David 29* Ben 19*. After a delay of 10 minutes play resumed & the next 19 overs were bowled by Patel (ob) & Jones (sla), conceding only 54 & taking 5 wickets. The surface a tad stickier & the ball turned.

At 72 in the 17^th Ben (22) advanced, went through with the attempted drive but succeeded only in lobbing to cover. Singles were the order of the day as both Ru & David struggled to get the ball away.

At 86 in the 22^nd over David (38) pushing forward was lbw to J Patel struck on the back pad. Three overs later Ru (10) on the front foot was lbw to Jones, 95-5. Sadly George (5) drove back to Jones who took a good low catch in over 27, 102-6.

Then one ball before the end of Jones's 10 over spell Ben Sid (6) drove to extra cover, 114-7. Nicky (0) was bowled by Fletcher-Woods in the next over, 118-8. Hamish (15*) had batted sensibly & together with Joseph put together a partnership of 26 for 9^th wicket. This included a lovely straight drive for 6 to the Grove End sightscreen.

Joseph (11) drove to mid wicket for 4 & then to extra cover for 2 in over 37 but four overs later, as Habibi returned in over 41, looking to drive, he was bowled, 144-9, Hamish 28*.

Hamish (29) also looking to drive Habibi was bowled in over 43, Will Young 3*. 151 all out, the Hill had fielded & bowled well but this was not a convincing batting display & left 7.1 overs unused.

In reply the experienced Dawson & H Patel faced the seam of Dresser (Grove) & Young (Park). A wicket from the second ball of over 2 as Patel (1) edged Will to see w/k Ben Sid to take a smart catch, low to his left, 3-1.

Jayam Patel joined Dawson & the pair looked to take advantage of width & length stroking boundaries in overs 4,5,6x2,9 & then 3 wides as Nicky (ob) turned the ball down the leg side, 49-1 after 10 overs.

Ru (rm) began a 5 over spell in the 11^th but Nicky was again bedevilled by wides & gave way to Hamish (ob) in over 16. In Ru's third over J Patel (26) drove to point where Joseph took a neat catch. In the next over Hamish gained an lbw verdict against Fletcher-Woods (0), 72-3, Dawson 42*.

With no pressure of time Dawson waited for the too frequent  bad ball, driving straight, over mid wicket or cutting behind square reaching 50* in the 23rd over. Bhinder was content to defend. George  began a spell in the 22^nd & drinks were taken after 26 overs at 121-3.

There seemed a certain lethargy about the Bulls. Nicky returned in over 28 & was unlucky that a regulation catch to long off from Dawson (69*) was unable to be taken. 

Nick (ob) bowled over 33 & presuaded Bhinder (15) to pull to Nicky at mid wicket, 140-4. Dawson swept to square leg & then in Nick's next drove to long on & then long off to win the game by 6 wickets after 35 overs. Andy Dawson (85* 105 b, 13x4), job done, 23 wides a helping hand !

A shame that the season had to end with such a downbeat performance after the heroics of the three cup successes.

Do come & join us at the Awards night from 1830 on Sat 19^th Sept in the Indoor Centre to celebrate the season. The 2^nd X1 with three cup wins in a single season, the first time this has ever been achieved.

Duncan.