CRAGG & BIRTWISLE PARTNERSHIP SETS UP BIG T20 WIN.

20th May 2025

             CRAGG & BIRTWISLE PARTNERSHIP SETS UP BIG T20 WIN.

  Fri 16th May 2025, NEPL 1st X1 T20 Group A : SNCC v Newcastle City (a)

SNCC 193-6 (20o) Adam Cragg 76, Simon Birtwisle 66*, Sol Bell 19, Rob Peyton 16: Asif Iqbal 1-31, Shahzad Gul 0-31, Eashan Mukhtar 2-53, Mohsin Mukhtar 1-31, Omar Ahmed 2-28, Muhsinhul Jazeem 0-16.

Newcastle City 118-8 (20o) Asif Iqbal 43, Mohsin Mukhtar 16, Hamza Amin 10, Eashan Mukhtar 12: Simon Birtwisle 1-19, Cody Hoffmeister 2-5, Gavin Paton 3-25, Oli McGee 1-37, Tom Jones 2-16, Will Young 0-4, Adam Cragg 0-2.

SNCC won by 85 runs -6 points, Newcastle City 0.

A scintillating partnership of 138 for the 4th wicket in 13 overs between Adam Cragg & Simon Birtwisle put the Bulls in a strong position which their bowlers backed up, having the home side 39-5 in the 7^th over of their reply & running out comfortable winners by 85 runs.

Led by Rob Peyton & giving a 1^st X1 debut to Will Young, the Bulls were asked to bat in this Group A match, which also features Benwell Hill & Ashington. Sol Bell & Sam Ewart faced the right arm seam of Iqbal & left arm of Gul. 13-1 in the third as Sam (1) skied & was caught by Gul at mid wicket off Iqbal. 

Boundaries to Rob & Sol in the next 2 overs but in the 6^th Rob (16, 3x4) chased a wide one & edged to w/k Salman Asif off Eashan Mukhtar. One over later Sol (19, 2x4) swung a full toss from Mohsin Mukhtar (sla) to deep mid wicket & was caught by Asif Iqbal, 45-3 after 7 overs.

There followed a batting master class by Adam Cragg & Simon Birtwisle which the Mukhtars, Ahmed & later Iqbal & Gul could not contain taking  10, 8, 15, 12,11, 7, 11,10,12 &16 runs in overs 8 to 17. Adam's first 6 into the car park damaged his Mum's car!!

Driving, pulling, sweeping & Birty reversing too, the score climbed to 164 at the end of the 18^th over. In the 19^th Adam hit 2x2 then 2x6 before holing out at long on off Eashan Mukhtar for 76 (47b, 7x4, 3x6) a magnificent attacking innings, 182-4. In the last Oli (1) & Nathan (2) were dismissed in pursuit of runs which left Birty 66* ( 38b, 10x4) another outstanding display in a final total of 193-6.

Newcastle's chase was undermined by some good bowling & fielding. Ahmed (1) skied to cover & was caught by Sam off Cody Hoffmeister in over 2, 2-1. In over 4, Amin (10) was very well caught by Will Young, juggling & clinging on as he fell, at third man, again off Cody, 21-2.

In the next Mohsin Mukhtar (16)  drove Gavin Paton to Oli at mid off, 31-3 after 5 overs. In the 6^th Salman Asif (6) was stumped by Rob Peyton as he pushed forward to Oli, 38-4, then Hamza Parvez (1) was bowled by Gavin, who changed his pace nicely encouraging batters to mistime, 39-5 after 7 overs, a wicket maiden for Gav, the only maiden bowled in the game.

Asif Iqbal then resisted by sweeping Oli 3x6 in the 8th over. The next 5 overs yielded 30 runs as spinners McGee & Jones attacked but in the 14^th Asif Iqbal (43, 25b 1x4 5x6) was bowled by Tom Jones missing another sweep, 91-6. Will Young bowled a nice over for only 4 but cut a finger in the process. Birty bowled Sundaravathan (1), pushing forward, in the 18th , 114-8 so Adam Cragg bowled one over for 2 & the innings closed at 118-8 after Birty's last over.

A comprehensive win.

Onward to T20 Group A games: 

Fri 23rd May SNCC v Benwell Hill (h) 1800 20/20,

Fri 30^th May SNCC v Ashington (h) 1800 20/20.

Sat 24th May: NEPL Premier Division SNCC v Hetton Lyons (h) 1200 45/45 win/lose

Duncan.