WINNING DRAW FOR BULLS AS RAIN CURTAILS WHITBURN REPLY. Sat 11 July 2026: NEPL Div 2: SNCC v Whitburn (h) 110o win/lose/draw.

11th Jul 2026

SNCC 238-9dec (54.5o) Sam Ewart 75, Nick Tomlinson 25, Ru Fletcher 13, James Lunn 13, Hamish Barrie 58*, Ben Hobbs 25: Phil Shakespeare 2-83, Elliott Hearn 4-44, Adam Sneller 2-35, Mark Elliott 0-62.

Whitburn 127-5 (reduced to 42o) Paul Shields 38, Toby Whelan 19, Fin Hearn 41*, Dan Quinan 12*: Sam Lee 1-14, Ben Hobbs 1-29, Ru Fletcher 1-28, Nicky Phillips 1-16, James Lunn 1-30, Hamish Barrie 0-1, Angus Southern 0-4.

Match drawn: SNCC winning draw 15 points, Whitburn losing draw 9.

After overnight rain a warm, slightly overcast day at Roseworth Terrace. The wicket was towards the Moor Road side, the visitors won the toss & chose to field. Sam Ewart & Angus Southern faced the right arm seam of Shakespeare (Grove) & left arm swing of Elliott Hearn (Park).

Three maidens in the first 5 accurate overs as the ball seemed to both swing into the right handers from the Park end & seam from the Grove end. At 10 in the 6^th Angus (1) forward, edged to w/k Mallaby off Hearn. The total had risen to only 26 after 10 overs as Hearn bowled 4 consecutive maidens.

Nick Tomlinson had been patient in waiting for the ball to attack & he stroked 3x4 to point, straight & cover. Sam was watchful but in over 11 launched Shakespeare for 6,6,4 to leg & to backward  point, 42-1 after 11 overs. Sneller (rm) began a spell from the Grove end in the13th & he & Hearn bowled to over 30.

At 58 in the 16^th Nick (25, 31b 5x4) aimed to force Hearn on the offside but edged to second slip where Markham took a good, low catch diving to his left. Olly Alexander joined Sam but in the over after drinks Olly (3) was bowled off a pad by Hearn, 64-3.

A boundary to Sam off Sneller took him to 34*. Then in the 23rd Sam hooked & clipped 4.6.4 off Sneller to the legside. Ru (13 ) hit 3x4 in a short stay but then got one that popped a bit to edge to w/k Mallaby, 98-4 after 24 overs. 

Some more watchful batting from Sam & Ben Sidney-Wilmot as both Sneller & Hearn bowled accurately. Then in over 30 Hearn's 15^th consecutive over, Sam drove 4.4.2 to long on & square leg, 119 after 30 overs; Elliott Hearn 15-5-44-4, exemplary inswing bowling from the left handed seamer.

Sneller was in the same consistent mode making scoring difficult. Just enough in the pitch to make batters cautious. At 119 in the 31^st Ben (2) was lbw to Sneller & lunch was taken at 122-5 after 32 overs.

Sneller & the off spin of Elliott bowled the next 10 overs & in over 35 Sam (75, 99b, 9x4 3x6) aimed to dab Sneller but edged to w/k Mallaby, 134-6. A steadfast innings from Sam, recognising the conditions & showing patience. As Hamish Barrie & james Lunn were watchful, Sneller & Elliott bowled 5 maidens in 8 overs Sneller finishing with the outstanding figures of 15-8-35-2, 140-6 after 41 overs.

Mark Elliott (ob) & Phil Shakespeare bowled the remaining 13 overs. After due reconnaissance, Hamish & Lunny moved the score on quickly, Hamish striking 6 's in three consecutive overs to long on & Lunny doing likewise taking the score to174 in the 47^th when Lunny (13) drove Shakespeare to be caught at long on. 

There followed an exhilarating 8 overs which added 65 with only 7 dot balls in the last 7 of them as Hamish & Ben Hobbs scampered. At 186 Nicky (8) was run out when Hamish chose to watch the ball to gully & not respond to Nicky's call. Nicky found it impossible to retreat 18 yards fast enough & was run out at the non strikers end, 

No matter, the attacking shot selection & running of Hamish & Ben H (on his birthday !!) took the score to 207 after 52 overs. Hamish reached a pleasing 50* with a 6 then a single in the 53rd. The final two overs yielded 21 as Ben drove attractively through cover 4.4.2 & Hamish reversed. Another boundary to Ben in the 55^th before he charged & missed to be stumped for 25 (14b 4x4), an innings of momentum, leaving Hamish 58* (73b 1x4 4x6) when the declaration came.

Starting at 1510 Paul Shields (rh) & Ben Markham (lh) faced the seam of  Sam Lee (Grove) & Ben Hobbs (Park). A boundary to Markham in Hobbs' first but three balls later an attempted pull skied to mid off where Lunny, retreating, took a tumbling catch, 6-1.

May (0) joined Shields but at 23 in the 7th, aiming to drive Sam Lee, he edged to w/k Sam who took a good low catch to his left, 19-2. Whelan was positive, Shields patient, both punishing variations of line or length. Ru Fletcher & Nicky Phillips bowled overs 13-22. 

At 53 in the 15^th Whelan (19, 20b 4x4) aimed to pull but skied to mid off where Lunny again obliged, 3 down. A partnership of 29 ensued as batters found Nicky's accuracy difficult to attack. Lunny replaced Ru in over 22 & he & Nicky bowled the next 12 overs.

At 83 in the 25^th Shields (38, 80b, 5x4) pushing forward, edged Lunny to Ru at first slip who took a sharp, low catch. Two overs later Elliott (3) swung Nicky to Hamish at mid wicket to take the catch, 89-5, a window. Slow progress thereafter to tea at 1715 when the rain became heavier. Tea was taken & there was a delay to 1855, a loss of 9 overs, a winning draw of 183. The umpires wanted to get the game on. The light had improved, the rain had stopped.

Nicky finished an accurate 11 over spell with 1-16. Finn Hearn 32* & Dan Quinan 4* were in no hurry, 13 runs only in 7 overs included 3 maidens as Hamish twirled & Lunny returned. Then to achieve a further batting point at 125 Hearn struck 2x4 to the legside & in Angus Southern's only over, the 42 second & last, a straight driven 3 ensured the batting point.

The umpires deserve credit for sticking with the possibility of a finish, Finn Hearn 41* (78b 5x4 1x6) & Quinan 12*, Whitburn 127-5. A winning draw for the Bulls 15 points, a losing one for Whitburn, 9 points.

The Bulls stay in third place in NEPL Div 2 on 239 points behind leaders CLS on 295 & Newcastle on 257 in second.

Onward to

Thurs 16 July SNCC v Lanchester (a) Roseworth Trophy 2nd rd from 1800, 20/20

Sat 18 July SNCC v CLS (a) NEPL Div 2 110o win/lose/draw from 1100.

Mon 21 July SNCC v Benwell Hill (h)  Div 2 T20 from 1800.

We hope you can be there.

Duncan.