BATTLING 1864 BULLS DEFEATED BY MONKSEATON.

30th Jul 2025

                                BATTLING 1864 BULLS DEFEATED BY MONKSEATON.

                            IMPRESSIVE MAIDEN SENIOR 50 FOR OLLY ALEXANDER.

SNCC 1864 166-8 (40o) Aadi Bethanabatla 23, Olly Alexander 61* Jacob McCord 31, Olivia Miller 12: Jake Lindsay 3-28, Jamie Wills 1-38, Chris Beever 1-27, Jon Ainsley 2-44, Tony Lion 1-28.

Monkseaton 168-1 (29.1o) Richard Ord 85, Stephen Nicholson 64*, Tom Revell 8*: Varun Gudipati 0-31, Tom Oliver 0-21, Jacques Graham 0-28, Jacob McCord 0-24, Archit Upadhye 0-25, Liv Miller 1-26, Jack Patterson 0-6.

Monkseaton won by 9 wickets - 29 points, 1864's 6.

A sunny day at Belsay, the 1864's chose to bat,  George McConnell & Aadi Bethanabatla faced the seam of Lindsay & Wills. In over 1, an early boundary for George but one ball later a leading edge was caught at mid on. Batting at 3, Olly Alexander joined Aadi & 39.2 overs later he finished undefeated with 61* from 122 balls with 4x4, a remarkable innings by a 13 year old.

40-1 after 10 overs but in the 12th Aadi (23) cut Ainsley hard but was caught at deep cover by Reevell: Olly 13*. Jacob McCord (31, 23b, 3x,1x6) was positive against the seam of Ainsley & leg spin of Beever, driving straight & pulling but at 104 in the 24th he was bowled by Lion: Olly 33* including 2 x4 with many singles steered to third man or fine leg.

Jack Patterson's innings (2) was brief as he was stumped by w/k Nicholson advancing to Beever, 108-4. In over 29 Belinda Wewalage (8) was lbw to Wills, 114-5: Olly 38*. A partnership of 24 between LIv & Olly followed until LIv (12) played on to the returning Lindsay, 140-6.

In over 38 Olly reached his 50 with a slog sweep for 4 off Lion & followed up with a repeat in the same over. At 152 Varun (3) was caught by Turnbull at cover off Lindsay, 7 down. In the last over Jaques Graham (5) lofted Ainsley to long on where Turnbull took the catch, leaving Olly 61* from 122 balls with 4x4, a remarkable feat of technique, composure & stamina, very well done!! The innings closed at 166-8 from 40 overs.

In reply Ord & Nicholson faced the seam of Varun Gudipati & Tom Oliver. A good start by the bowlers only 12 from 5 overs, an unfortunate dropped chance in the second, but then a lost 'new' ball which was swinging & having to use an old one that did not, saw 30 runs in the next 4 as Ord hit 5x4. Variations of lengths were attacked & change bowlers Jacques & Jacob were similarly treated as the total rose to 101 in 15 overs.

Archit began a good spell in the 16th & his 7 overs yielded only 25 & in tandem with Liv, 5 overs for 26, kept the scoring in relative check but bad balls were punished & the total had reached 144 in the 25th when Liv's flight deceived the advancing Ord who was stumped by Belinda for 85 (68b,12x4 2x6).

Revell joined Nicholson & the pair completed the 9 wicket win from the first ball of the 30th over as, with the game gone, Jack's first delivery was struck for 6, Nicholson 64* (96b, 4x4 3x6) Revell 8*.

The 1864's fielding & spirit were good but hoping to achieve greater consistency of length & line & shot selection in the coming weeks. A day to remember for Olly, may  there be more to come for everyone.

Onward to Sat 2nd Aug 1864 v Civil Service (a) 1300, 40/40 please be there to cheer the team on.

Duncan.