DETERMINED 9TH WICKET PARTNERSHIP & RAIN RESCUE DRAW AGAINST CHESTER

6th Jun 2018

NEPL Premier Division. Sat 2nd June  SNCC v CLS at Roseworth Terrace.

SNCC 162-9 (58o) Tindale 83, Graham 31, Wightman 30*: McGrath 4-22, Hughes 2-43, Simpson 0-36, Burgess 2-36.

CLS 52-1 (10o) Davis 21*, McCann 16*: Tindale 1-27, Wightman 0-15......rain, abandoned at 1835.

SNCC 5 points, CLS 9 points

Invited to bat in bowler friendly, atmospheric conditions, the Bulls slumped to 20-4 as the left arm seam of student Alex McGrath, from the Grove end, & the spin of vastly experienced Quentin Hughes exerted a stranglehold in the first 18 overs. Birtwisle( 1) was lbw to McGrath, Dale (8) bowled by the same bowler & after a mix up with Graham, Trevaskis run out for 0, sent back at the striker's end. From the next ball, his first , Cragg was lbw to Hughes. !

Retrenchment was necessary &, eschewing all risk, John Graham & Sean Tindale batted patiently against the consistently accurate change bowling of Simpson, 5 consecutive maidens in 7, & Burgess's slow left arm, which gave nothing away. At 70 Graham was held very well held left handed by Hughes in the gully off McGrath for a valuable 31 (5x4,71balls). Peyton was caught by w/k McCann for 0 & then Burgess also trapped Weetman (0) lbw, 77-7. Craigs was caught by w/k McCann for 5 standing up to McGrath to leave the home side 84-8 with 15 overs remaining. Alex McGrath 4-22 from 15 overs with 7 maidens, a very good spell, accurate & probing.

Enter Jonathan Wightman, hero of a long 9th wicket partnership at Newcastle in 2017 with James Ruddick. Sean Tindale had been batting very well, defending stoutly with good footwork but not missing many chances to score, & he & Wightman steadily increased the tempo. To their enormous credit the score rose to 162 with Tindale caught on the deep mid wicket boundary for a match saving 83 (11x4, 141 balls), from the last ball of the 58th over. An outstanding knock under pressure. Wightman, reverse sweep intact, finished 30*(3x4, 45balls) to frustrate the CLS bowlers. He can bat!!

Kyle Davis & George W Harrison opened for the Cestrians & were quickly into their stride before Harrison (6) was very well held at second slip by Birtwisle, driving Tindale, with the score at 14. Jacob McCann  then stroked 4 boundaries & Davis 3 to bring CLS to 52-1 after 10 overs, before the drizzle became more persistent & the players left the field. Sadly there was no break in the cloud & umpires Warne & Whitehead abandoned the match as a draw at 1835. SN 5 points, CLS 9.

The result left these teams tied on 120 points at the top of the NEPL Premier Division.

Next week the Bulls entertain third place, by a point, Hetton Lyons at Roseworth Terrace. Should be another cracker.

Duncan D. Stephen.