BULLS ADVANCE TO T20 ¼ FINALS AFTER HIGH SCORING ENCOUNTER WITH ASHINGTON.

12th Jun 2025

BULLS ADVANCE TO T20 ¼ FINALS AFTER HIGH SCORING ENCOUNTER WITH ASHINGTON.

Fri 6^th June 2025: NEPL Banks T20 Group A: SNCC v Ashington (h) 20/20.

SNCC 167-6 (20o) Sol Bell 15, Sam Ewart 15, Adam Cragg 25, Chris Hewison 36, Simon Birtwisle 50*, Angus Southern 20*: Avishka Perera 0-10, Alex Nice 0-29, Harry Parkinson 0-20, James Harmison 3-23, Cam Nicholls 0-34, Dan Gardiner 1-27, Alex Storey 1-24.

Ashington 158-7 (20o) Sean McCafferty 28, Jack Jessop 34, Cam Nicholls 58, James Harmison 14*: Oli McGee 1-24, Cody Hoffmeister 2-15, Gavin Paton 1-41, Tom Jones 1-33, Simon Birtwisle 0-9, Nathan Gough 2-36.

SNCC won by 9 runs, 6 points, advance to ¼ finals as winners of Group A.

A game of 15 x 6 & 28 x 4 & an identical scoring rate after 14 overs, the Bulls final total was indebted to a partnership of 62 between Simon Birtwisle (50*, 29b, 7x4,1x6) & Angus Southern (20, 11b, 2x4, 1x6) in 5 .1 overs as the ball

disappeared to all parts. In reply the 6x6 by Cam Nicholls, some a long way over mid wicket, saw the visitors get close but after a torrid over 18 in which Goughy's radar was awry, he caught Nicholls on the boundary from the first ball of the 19th & then held his nerve to bowl the last, take a wicket second ball & concede only 6 to leave Ashington 9 runs short. Breathless !!

Sam Ewart & Sol Bell began well but in the 6^th James Harmison accounted for both. Sam (15) bowled & 4 balls later Sol (15) caught by Perera at mid on, 34-2. Hewi & Adam put together a partnership if 38 until Adam (25, 22b, 4x4) was bowled by Harmison.

Nicholls next over went for 17 as Hewi smote 6,4,6,1 but after another boundary mistimed to mid wicket for 36 (21b, 2x4 3x6) off Gardiner, 95-4. Nathan (2) was caught by Nicholls off Storey at 105 in the 15^th but that set the scene for the explosive 6^th wicket partnership between Birty & Angus. Birty scoring all around the wicket & Angus striking a marvellous maximum over deep extra cover.

Oli & Cody opened the bowling & it was Cody who took two in two in over 4 as McCarthy (9) was caught by Adam & Perera (0) first ball by Sol in the gully, 18-2. Gardiner (1) edged to w/k Sam off Gavin in the 7th, 31-3.

McCafferty then struck 28 in 11 balls (2x4, 3x6) as Gav & Tom Jones suffered before he was caught off Tom by Oli at deep mid wicket, 65-4. Cam Nicholls & Jack Jessop took the score to 101 in the 14^th before Jessop (34) edged to w/k Sam in Nathan's first, 5 down.

Nicholls had already hit 6's off Oli & Tom & repeated the dose off Gav in the 15th, 116-5. Cody was not spared in the 17^th & then 20 from the 18^th as 3 wides & a no ball unsettled Nathan. Important to have the resilience to bounce back & from the first ball of the 19^th Nicholls was caught by Nathan on the Grove boundary off Oli, a barnstorming 58, (31b, 3x4 6x6), 152-6. In the last Nathan caught & bowled Woolley (1) second ball leaving James Harmison 14* & Alex Nice 5*, but 9 runs short of the target.

Entertaining but tense for Bulls followers !! Onward to a ¼ against opponents to be determined on Fri 27^th June. We hope you can be there, excitement guaranteed !

Duncan.