BULLS EMPHATIC DEFEAT OF SUNDERLAND - JAMES LUNN SHINES.

8th Aug 2025

              BULLS EMPHATIC DEFEAT OF SUNDERLAND - JAMES LUNN SHINES.

 Sat 2 August 2025: NEPL Division 2: SNCC v Sunderland (a) 105o win/lose/draw.

SNCC 291-6 (45o) Ru Fletcher 24, Jan Ozmen 29, Andy Doig 78, Will Carr 53. James Lunn 64: Haseeb Yaqoob 2-67, Michael Cooney 0-30, Finn Cole 1-38, Abel Sunny 0-6, Freddie Collins 2-77, Matthew Dowell 0-48, Tom Bowman 1-25

Sunderland 135-9 (44.2 o) Michael Cooney 52, Louis Dinsdale 35: Allan Davidson 0-30, Danny Collins 0-19, Will Young 0-15, James Lunn 5-38, Ru Fletcher 2-12, Jacques Graham 2-5, Andy Doig 0-0.

SNCC won by 156 runs- 30 points, Sunderland 3.

An emphatic win for the Bulls at Ashbrooke. Half centuries for Andy Doig, Will Carr & James Lunn then a 15 over spell from Lunny, from over 14, to take 5 wickets for 38, tumbling the hosts all out for 135-9 in the 45th over. Abel Sunny unable to bat having badly injured a hand in attempting a caught & bowled as Andy smashed a full toss, baseball style, back at him at the end of the 22nd over. Thereafter, a substitute fielder from the visitors throughout the innings was gratefully accepted.

Invited to bat on a sunny day with a gentle breeze & a wicket cut towards the bank with the Pavilion just at long on, Angus Southern & Ru Fletcher faced the seam of Yaqoob & Cooney. Success in over one as Angus (0) top edged to Dinsdale at second slip off Yaqoob. As Yaqoob & Cooney bowled the first 9 Ru & Jan took the score to 29 before Cole replaced Cooney.

4x4 in 3 overs but in the 11^th Ru (24) left a Yaqoob delivery which bowled him, 47-2. Three overs later Jan (29) cutting, edged to w/k Winlow off Cole, 54-3. Will Carr Joined Andy Doig & the pair put together a splendid partnership of 110 in only 19 overs. Andy driving straight, pulling, cutting & clipping to leg took 17 off Cole's 4^th over. Will hitting the bad balls but also rotating as his confidence grew, the pair ran well until at 164 in the 30^th Andy (78, 54b, 12x4, 1x6) was yorked by 5^th change Bowman, 4 down.

Will & James  continued to be positive & the total rose to 193 in the  34^th when Will reached 50 ( 6x4 1x6) cutting, driving through cover & mid wicket off the spinner Collins until he was bowled by Collins for 53 (62b, 6x4, 1x6) in the 37^th over, an important  maiden 2^nd X1 50 for Will. Lunny struck 4x4 off Dowell & Bowman then 7 from Dowell in over 39.

He reached 50 in over 43 as Yaqoob returned then hit consecutive boundaries before driving to mid wicket for a more than a run a ball 64 (54b, 8x4) in the 44th, exemplary! Ben was joined by Danny & the pair took 13 from Collins, then 11 from Yaqoob in the 45^th before the declaration at 291-6; Ben 27*  Danny 10*, 5x2 in the last over.

In reply Dinsdale & Cooney faced the seam of Davidson & Collins. Two maidens in the first 10 but no wickets & a tendency to drift towards leg stump. Will Young began a 6 over spell, a maiden in his third & Lunny began with two maidens. The total had reached 85 when Ru began in the 23rd but at half way drinks after 25 the total was 89 without loss.

Remarkably, 9 wickets then went down for 46 runs in 19 overs ! First ball Cooney (52, 82b,7x4 1x6) edged Lunny to Ru's right at slip. 3 balls later Sanderson (1) edged to Ru's left at slip 91-2.

Lunny & Ru bowled unchanged for 15 overs. In over 31 Collins, driving, was caught at mid off by Lunny off Ru, 112-3. Two overs later opener Dinsdale's obdurate innings (35, 93b, 6x4) ended as he was adjudged lbw to Ru, 113-4. In Lunny's next Yaqoob (0) edged to Ru at slip. The ball was turning & Ru was catching !

Two more maidens followed & the score inched forward to be 122 in the 40^th when Bowman (5) was bowled by Lunny. Jacques Graham began a spell & in his first Vigneshwaran (3) was caught by Ben Sid off his chest. In the next Winlow (4) was adjudged lbw to Lunny. An Andy maiden then Cole (6) looped a catch off Jacques to Will Carr at mid wicket. 

Sunny unable to bat so all out for 135. Lunny 5-38, 15 consecutive overs of consistent length & line getting the rewards, Ru 2-12 from 9, another consistent spell giving the batters no respite making them play, & Jacques 2-5 from 2.2 overs, a 30 point win

The 2's remain second in Division 2 on 300 points behind leaders CLS on 362, 6 games to go.

Onward to: 

Fri 8^th August SNCC v Benwell Hill (a) 100 Banks Bowl 1/4 final, 1800, 100/100.

Sat 9^th August NEPL Div 2 SNCC v Hetton Lyons (h) 105o win/lose/draw, 1200.

We hope you can be there to cheer the team on.

Duncan.