BULLS DEFEAT BURNOPFIELD  BUT BURNMOOR PREVAIL IN T20 FINAL.

16th Jul 2025

    BULLS DEFEAT BURNOPFIELD  BUT BURNMOOR PREVAIL IN T20 FINAL.

   Sun 13^th July 2025: NEPL Banks 1st X1 T20 finals day (Ropery Lane, CLS)

               SNCC v Burnopfield (CLS) 20/20, second semi final (1330)

SNCC 185-7 (20o) Chris Hewison 30, Sol Bell 33, Oli McGee 38, Rob Peyton 42, Nathan Gough 10, Andrew Doig 14: Jonny Bushnell 0-53, Matthew Oswell 2-33, Harry Crawshaw 1-25, Ross Whitfield Jnr 1-36, Amaan Ulhaq 2-36.

Burnopfield 156 ao (18.5o) Jonny Bushnell 29, Matthew Oswell 30, Harry Crawshaw 30, Amaan Ulhaq 32: Jonny Wightman 3-27, Cody Hoffmeister 2-23, Gavin Paton 2-29, Will Alexander 1-20, Oli McGee 1-34, Nathan Gough 0-18.

SNCC won by 29 runs- to final v Burnmoor (1700)

A second consecutive day at Ropery Lane, the Bulls chose to bat, Hewison & Bell faced the right arm seam of Bushnell & Oswell. A fast start as Hewi & Sol took 63 from the first 5 overs driving & pulling with abandon, 7x4 & 3x6.

In the 6^th Hewi (30, 19b, 5x4 1x6) drove a catch back to bowler Whitfield. In the next Sol (33, 18b, 3x4, 2x6) advanced to Crawshaw's sla & was stumped, 67-2. An outstanding partnership of 78 between Oli & Rob built the total culminating with 22 from the 15^th bowled by Whitfield; shots straight, to mid wicket, a ramp & over long on.

In the next Oli (38,30b,1x4,3x6) edged a slog sweep to w/k J Oswell. Next ball Adam (0) cutting, also edged to J Oswell145-4. Rob's attacking innings of (42, 29b,5x4,1x6) perished in the 17^th caught at cover by Weston off M Oswell, 157-5.

Nathan (10, 1x4) followed, bowled by M Oswell at 170 in the 19th. Andy Doig (10) ramped Bushnell for 4 & Gavin stroked a 6  (7*), then Andy was run out from the last ball.

In reply Bushnell & J Oswell faced Wightman & Hoffmeister. 16 from Jonny's first to Bushnell but in the second Oswell drove hard & flat to mid off where Gav took a good catch, 25-1.

In the third Whitfield was lbw to Jonny, 27-2 & in the 5^th Bushnell (29) drove to cover to be very well caught by Adam to his right, 40-3. Gavin & Will entered the attack; Crawshaw & Matthew Oswell put on 43 for the 5^th wicket until in the 10^th M Oswell (30) paddled Will to short third man where Jonny made very good ground in from the boundary to take a splendid diving catch, 83-4.

In over 12 Crawshaw (30) skied Gavin to Cody at mid off, 106-5. In the 13^th Potter (2) was lbw to Hoffmeister & 4 balls later Purdy (1) was stumped by Rob from a Paton leg side wide, 114-7. He did it again !

In the 15^th Brown (7) drove Oli hard & high to long on where Andy timed his jump well to take the catch above his head not quite on the rope. In the same over Weston (1) was run out,129-9.

Ulhaq stroked Will for 16 in the 16^th but his bold effort ended in the 19^th caught by Rob off Jonny, Ulhaq (32 17b, 2x6 1x4), 156 all out after 18.5 overs...onward to the final !!

BULLS BATTLE BUT BURNMOOR PREVAIL IN WELL CONTESTED T20 FINAL.

SNCC 151-8 (20o) Chris Hewison 48, Sol Bell 22, Rob Peyton 16, Adam Cragg 20, Will Alexander 10, Gavin Paton 20*: Waqas Maqsood 1-30, Sean Tindale 0-24, Josh Coughlin 0-22, Ryan Pringle 2-34, Graeme Bridge 2-15, Craig Stephenson 3-24.

Burnmoor 153-7 (19o) Marcus Brown 35, Josh Coughlin 17, Sean Tindale 38* Waqas Maqsood 30*: Jonny Wightman 0-33, Cody Hoffmeister 5-17, Will Alexander 1-33, Oli McGee 0-36, Gavin Paton 1-34.

Burnmoor won by 3 wickets.

A remarkable final saw another fast start by the Bulls, 72 after 7 overs, reined in by the slower bowlers, who took 7 of the 8 wickets to fall; then, facing a competitive 151 total, Cody produced his season best 5-17 to leave Burnmoor at 45-5 after 6 overs, only to see the depth of Burnmoor's batting prevail as first Brown & then Tinners & Maqsood took 56 runs from 4 overs ending with a straight 6 from the last ball of the 19^th over. Breathless !

Hewi & Sol crashed 70  from the opening 6 overs from seamers Maqsood , Tindale & Coughlin & Pringle's off spin. In the 7^th Sol (22,19b 3x4) advanced to Bridge & was stumped. Hewi (48, 24b, 7x4 2x6) followed identically in the next bowled by Stephenson, 74-2.

Then nine overs of spin yielded 40 runs for the loss of  4 wickets. Oli (7) swung Stephenson to deep mid wicket in the 10th. Rob (16) was stumped by the chest of w/k Poynter in the 14th. Nathan (1) was caught at long on off Bridge in the 15th, Andy (0) was bowled by Pringle in the 16^th 116-6.

Gavin stroked Stephenson for 11 in the 18^th then Adam (20, 25b,2x4) drove Stephenson to long off in the 18th, 123-7. Will (10, 9b,1x6) edged to w/k Poynter off Maqsood in the 19^th & Gavin launched Pringle for a 6 in the last. Would 151 be enough? Was it 20 short?

After 6 overs there was hope. Cody produced his best spell for the season bowling quickly, with movement & bounce, from the houses end accounting for Pringle (1) caught by Gav at mid off, then two balls later Worthy (4) played on, 6-2. In over 3 Jonny suffered but in the next Greenwell's (16) leading edge was taken by Gavin & next ball Killeen cutting, edged to w/k Rob, 28-4 all to Cody.

In over 6 Poynter (9) edged low & hard & was very well held at slip by Chris, 42-5. Cody bowled a fourth & finished with 5-17, outstanding !

A partnership of 34 between Brown & Tinners developed as Oli & Gavin probed but ended at 76 in the 12^th when Brown (35) hit a Gav full toss to Adam at cover, 6 down. Coughlin (17,9 b) was positive striking 1x4 + 1x6 but in the 15^th he was caught by Andy at long off above his head preventing a 6 off Will, 97-7.

5 overs to go Tinners 14*, Maqsood yet to score. Jonny's 16^th conceded 12, Maqsood 2x4. Oli's 17^th went for 21 as Tinners straight drove 2x6 & Maqsood another to mid wicket, 130 with three overs left. Two boundaries to Maqsood & 3 singles from Gavin's 4^th over raised the total to 141. In the 19^th bowled by Will a single, a Maqsood 4, a single & last delivery another straight 6 by Tinners to win the game.

So close for the Bulls but the strength in batting depth & composure of Tinners & Maqsood prevailed.

Onward to part two, Sat 19^th July, NEPL Premier Division: SNCC v Burnmoor (h) 1130 110o win/lose /draw, but before that

Wed 16^th July, Tyneside Charity Bowl ¼ final SNCC v Shotley Bridge (h) 20/20 from 1800, we hope you can be there, it should be exciting.

Duncan.