SOLID 1864 BATTING DISPLAY SETS UP WELCOME HOME WIN V BENWELL HILL

21st Jul 2022

          Sat 16^th July 2022, West Tyne League Division 1 1864 v Benwell Hill (h)

SNCC 1864 241-6 (40o) Ben Sidney-Wilmot 73, Jan Ozmen 62, George McConnell 45, Josephine Nkomo 20, Patrick Hatcher 26*: Chris Pounder 3-30, Warren Poxon 0-33, Taylor Matthews 2-59, Zain Ahmad 1-46, Nick White 0-45, Rory Mustard 0-24.

Benwell Hill 3^rd X1 187-9 (40o) Richard Shah 36, Zain Ahmad 48, Andy Dawson 53:PatrickHatcher 2-30, David Cragg 0-20, Josephine Nkomo 2-43, Oliver Clark 1-41, George Gray 1-23, Will Young 2-14, Varun Gudipati 1-12.

SNCC won by 54 runs - 19 points, Benwell Hill 8.

Winning the toss at Greenside & batting, the 64's lost Belinda Wewalage (0) to the second ball caught by w/k Jayaneera off Pounder. Ben Sid hit two boundaries in overs 3 & 4 but at 22 in the 7^th Oliver Clark (3) was lbw to Pounder. Jan Ozmen joined Ben & the pair advanced the score to 40 in over 12 before bowling changes introduced Matthews, 2 overs, Ahmad 4 overs & White 2 overs. Hitting the bad ball & running well, the rate rose by 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 10, 4 & 2 so that the score after 20 overs was 102 -2, Ben 49* Jan 44*, going at 5's.

The rate continued at 6's until Ben (73, 80b, 9x4) was adjudged caught by w/k Jayaneera off Ahmad, an excellent innings at a good rate & an outstanding partnership of 120 with Jan for the third wicket, 142-3 in the 26th. George McConnell joined Jan & stroked two nice boundaries but, 4 overs later, Jan fell, c & b by Matthews for 62 (66b, 8x4) another fine innings in an impressive season for Jan, 157-4 in the 30th.

Josephine & George pressed on, 14 off Mustard in the 33^rd to Josephine, 9 off Matthews in the 34^th to George who repeated the dose taking 18 off Matthews in the 36, before falling, caught Pounder at long on off Matthews, for 45 (42b, 6x4, 2x6), lots of attacking intent to applaud, from the first ball of the 38^th over, 212-5.

Enter a determined Patrick to go large; 4,4,6 off Matthews in the 38^th before Josephine (20, 23b, 2x4, 1x6) was c & b by Pounder, 230 -6. 11 off the last over, 10 to Patrick as the innings closed at 241-6, Patrick 26* George Gray 1*, defendable.

Shah & Ahmad faced Hatcher's medium pace & David Cragg's sla & progressed nicely. Josephine began a spell in the 7​th but the partnership had reached 78 for the first wicket when Shah (36,44b, 5x4) was lbw to Josephine from the 5^th ball of the 24^th over; next ball she bowled Matthews (0), 78-2.

Ahmad had taken a liking to Clark's off spin, 2,4,6 in the 12th, 9 in the 14th, Dawson took 8 off Josephine then 9 off Oliver but at 15.5 overs Ahmad (48,43b, 4x4, 3x6) was caught by Belinda at deep mid wicket off Clark's flight ,106-3 after 16, an important breakthrough, the plan worked.

Mustard & Dawson took the score to 141 in the 24^th when Mustard (9) was bowled by Hatcher, 141-4,; Poxon (0) fell almost immediately to George Gray, caught by Patrick at mid wicket, 142-5. Gray & Hatcher gave way to Varun Gudipati & Will Young in the 28^th & in the 29^th Jayaneera (9) was bowled by Young, 160-6.

The prize wicket of Dawson (53, 48b, 7x4) who was going well, fell to Will Young, caught by Josephine at long on in the 31st, 163-7. Gudipati & Young continued & it was Gudipati who caught & bowled Laura Pearson (5) in the 34th, 174-8. Josephine & Patrick bowled the last 4 overs & White (11) edged behind to be caught by Ben Sid at 186 in the 38th. Pounder was content to deny the 64's full points, two runs only coming off the last two overs, 187-9 at the close.

A good time for the 1864's to bounce back after a run of reverses to teams beginning with H. Sat 20^th July sees a visit to Wylam, with the 64's keen to avenge a defeat to the home team in the third game of the season. We wish them well.

Duncan.