BRAVE BULLS BEATEN IN LAST OVER IN SMITHSON COUNTY CUP

26th Aug 2022

                        Bobby Smithson County Cup semi-final Thurs 25^th August 2022 

                                                       SNCC v Tynemouth (a)

SNCC 108-1 (15o) Oli McGee 34*, Adam Cragg 65*: Esam Rahman 0-24, Martin Pollard 1-13, Barry Stewart 0-11, Owen Gourlay 0-33, Richard Hay 0-22.

Tynemouth 111-3 (14.3o) Matthew Brown 54*, Stuart Poynter 13, Joseph Snowdon 21, Ben Debnam 21*: Gavin Paton 1-22, Oli McGee 0-11, Ben Hobbs 1-13, Alan Roskilly 0-9, Sadiq Khan 0-7, David Cragg 0-22, Simon West 0-15, George Gray 0-12.

Tynemouth won by 7 wickets.

Losing the toss, the Bulls were invited to bat. Ben Hobbs, Alan Roskilly, George Gray, Woody Wilson & Pavan Korlapati made their 1^st X1 debuts & all performed well against a primarily full 1^st X1 for the home team, fielding with the intensity needed with only minor blemishes.

Oli McGee & Sadiq Khan faced the seam of Rahman & the spin of Pollard. The wicket had bounce & Sadiq (1) edged Pollard behind in the second, 11-1 after 3, 12-1 after 4 as the batters got used to the wicket. 30-1 after 6 as Gourlay conceded 14. Stewart bowled tidily for his 3 overs conceding only 11.

Running well & taking advantage of the opportunities, the score had reached 62 after 11 overs. 12, 10, 10 & 14 were taken from the last 4 as both scored freely. Cragg plundered 12 off Rahman's last to see the Bulls to a creditable score of 108-1 after 15o, Adam 65* (48b, 8x4,1x6), Oli 34* (37b, 2x4)

In reply, Gavin Paton's third ball induced professional Esam Rahman (0) to play on, 0-1. In over 3 Ben Hobbs's first delivery in 1^st X1 cricket bowled ex Durham & Ireland w/k batter, Stuart Poynter leg stump for 13, 17-2. Brown was joined by Snowdon. The score had reached 50 in the 8th when Snowden (21) was stumped by Adam Cragg off a David Cragg wide! The fielding in the ring & the deep showed maximum effort.

Ben Hobbs 1-13 in two, Sadiq 0-7 (1), Alan Roskilly 0-9 (1), Debnam joined Brown, David Cragg's second went for 16 straight 75-3 after 10. Oli (0-11 off 3) leaked only 5, then, in over 12,  George was unlucky to see a deep square leg chance from Debnam spilled & next ball an unfortunate miss field concede 4, 92-3 after 12o.

Overs 13 (Oli) & 14 (Gav) went for 6 leaving only 5 to win off the last. A second ball 3 was followed by a pulled 4 to win the game, Brown 54* (37b, 8x4,1x6), Debnam 21* (20b, 1x4). Tynemouth play Newcastle in the final.

A brave effort to take the game to the last over. Some important bits of experience about the intensity & alertness of fielding required at 1st X1 level & three wicket celebrations to remember. Hoping the experience will feed into the remaining games of this 2022 season.

Tynemouth play Newcastle in the final.

Duncan.