ACADEMY DEFEAT SACRISTON TO MOVE UP THE TABLE

30th Aug 2022

                   NEPL Sunday Division 1, 28th August 2022, SNCC v Sacriston (h)

Sacriston 99 all out (30.5o) Matthew Brown 46, Callum Dodds 21: Ben Hobbs 0-12, Mo Arabi 1-15, Simon West 0-27, Sree Kanakala 5-27, Jenny McDowell 1-6, Oliver Clark 2-5, Sadiq Khan 1-5.

SNCC 103-5 (23.2o) Angus Southern 16, Jan Ozmen 18, Ben Sidney-Wilmot 16, Oliver Clark 19*, Jenny McDowell 15*: Alfie Hart 1-24, Jake Atkinson 1-7, Will O'Brien 3-12.

SNCC won by 5 wickets- 20 points, Sacriston 2.

On a warm day at Roseworth Terrace, the visitors won the toss & chose to bat. Matthew Brown & Lucas Waggott faced the right arm seam of Ben Hobbs & Mo Arabi. A straight & consistent spell from Ben 0-12 in 5, Mo a little more varied but opened the wicket taking by bowling Waggott (9) in the 6^th over, hitting the top of off.

Simon West returned (from the away venue !) & his 3 overs were unsuccessful, both Brown & Dodds punishing variations of length. At 71 in the 15^th Dodds edged Sree Kanakala to leg & w/k Ru, standing up, took a smart catch, low down, 71-2.

Sree's top spin & googlies seemed to bemuse the batters &, once he had settled into a rhythm, 4 more wickets fell to him in 7 overs, with one to Jenny. At 80 in the 17^th, Matthew Brown 46 ( 50b, 8x4) a good innings featuring positive straight driving, was 'yorked' by Sree, 81-3. One run later in the 18^th, Hart (0) was well caught at point by Ben Hobbs high to his right, off Jenny. 

At 82 Sree got two in two balls as first Lumley (0) was bowled through the gate by a googly & then O'Brien (0) leaving, was lbw on the crease. At 83 in the 21^st, Lowes (7) was also bowled through the gate by the googly, 83-7. Sree 5-27 in 6 overs, awesome!

A pause as Atkinson & Jackson battled until at 98, Atkinson (7) was lbw to Oliver Clark's off spin on the crease. At the same score Jackson (8) slog sweeping, under edged off Sadiq's leg breaks for Ru to take another smart catch, 98-9. One run later Ian Bestford (0) playing back, was bowled by Clark, 99 all out.

 Angus Southern & Sadiq Khan faced Hart & Atkinson. At 3 in the second Sadiq (0) aimed to cut a wide delivery but edged to w/k Bestford. Southern & Jan Ozmen pushed on, Angus (14) hitting three nice boundaries until at 23 on the 7^th he got a good one from Hart & edged behind for Bestford to take the catch. Atkinson had bowled well, his 4 overs going for only 7 with two maidens. 

A handy partnership of 29 between Jan & Ben Sid ended when Ben (16), having also hit 3x4, was bowled by the inswing of O'Brien, 52-3. Two overs later, Jan (18, 3x4), another valuable innings, was also bowled by an O'Brien in swinger, 62-4. 4 runs later in the 16th, Ru (1) playing too soon was taken by Lumley at mid wicket off O'Brien, 66-5; did the ball stop a little? Will O'Brien a very tidy 3-12 in his 5 overs. 

Oliver Clark was joined by captain Jenny McDowell & the pair advanced the score steadily, Oliver picking up runs to backward point & off his legs & Jenny striking three glorious boundaries, one straight first ball, an extra cover drive & in the 24^th a square cut to secure the win at 103-5, a very important, undefeated partnership of 37* for the 6^th wicket.

This victory pushes SNCC to 5^th in Sunday Division 1 on 148 points, having played 13 with one game to go v Newcastle. Chester-le Street, who have played 12, have 136 points. Newcastle, having played 13, have 134 points. 20 points for a win,  one bonus point for each of 100/120/140/160/180 runs & 2/4/6/8/10 wickets, so the final game v Newcastle (h) on Sunday 11^th September is crucial.

We hope you can join us to cheer the Academy on.

Duncan.