YOUTHFUL1864'S TAMED BY EXPERIENCED BUT RESPECTFUL LIONS.

16th Jul 2025

YOUTHFUL1864'S TAMED BY EXPERIENCED BUT RESPECTFUL LIONS.

                             GEORGE MCCONNELL STARS WITH THE BAT,

                         ARCHIT UPADHYE & ELLIOTT MEE WITH THE BALL.

      Sat 12^th July 2025:NTCL Div 5 Central: SNCC 1864 v Lions (h) 40/40

SNCC 1864 111 ao (38o) George McConnell 64, Elliott Mee 15 , Tom Young 7*: Lakshmi Gudipati 1-23, Varun Goyal 0-17, Sree Rajesh Ganne 6-20, Vamsi Sarikonda 0-21, Anuj Gupta 2-9, Sandeep Betapudi 0-2, Suhas Prakash 0-7.

Lions 115-7 (20.3o) Anuj Gupta 27, Rahman Mg 20, Sandeep Betapudi 14, Suhas Prakash 29: Will Oliver 0-25, Tom Hunter 0-12, Archit Upadhye 4-35, Elliott Mee 3-38.

Lions won by 3 wickets - 27points, SNCC 1864 5.

A sunny day at Belsay, a green wicket, led again by Aadi Bethanabatla, the eternally youthful 1864's, with Tom Hunter (lm) making his debut, chose to bat.  George McConnell (lh) & Aadi faced the seam of Gudipati & Goyal.

Some movement off the wicket did not deter George from clipping to leg, driving behind point & through mid wicket for 4 boundaries in the first 5 overs. At 24 in the 7^th Aadi (4) forcing off the back foot to a wide ball, found gully off Ganne. Jack Patterson (0) followed in identical fashion from the next, 2 down.

In over 11 Belinda (0) forward was lbw to Gudipati & in the next Will Oliver (0) drove Ganne to cover, 34-4. There followed an important & vital partnership of 48 between George & Elliott Mee, the pair running well. George pulled Ganne to mid wicket for 6 reaching 38* in the 16th, at 48-4.

20 singles were run & Elliott (15) stroked 2x3 but at 82 in the 25^th he edged Gupta's off spin to w/k Kasparaju, 5 down. Archit joined George & was resolute in defence. Gupta, Sarikonda & Ganne were hard to get away & so it was in trying to up the rate that in the 32nd George (64, 90b, 8x4,1x6) swung but missed to be bowled by Ganne. A very good innings from George showing patience as well as power on both sides of the wicket.

In the 36th over the obdurate Archit (3, 34b) was caught by Betapudi off Ganne 101-7, Tom Hunter (0) edged to the w/k next ball, 108-8 but 12 year old Tom Young drove delightfully through cover for 4 in the 37^th over.

Dominic (0) as non striker, was run out as he could not beat the throw from mid wicket & two balls later David Cragg (1) was lbw to Gupta from the last ball of the 38th over, leaving Tom Young 7*, 111 all out.

In reply Gupta & Mg faced the seam of Will Oliver (rm) & Tom Hunter (lm). Variations of length & width bedevilled Will who conceded 5 x4 in his 3 overs. Tom had better control but a double bowling change at 39-0 after 6 overs saw Archit & Elliott bowl tidy leg spin for the remainder of the innings.

In his first Gupta (27) drove a catch back to Archit, 38-1. In his second Mg (20) was caught by Dominic Johnson, 52-2. Elliott's first had gone for 11 but he settled & both leg spinners found a good rhythm which the Lions batters were respectful of.

At 73 in the 14^th Elliott trapped Betapudi (14) lbw. In the next over Archit bowled Kasparaju (2) who missed a sweep, 80-4. Two overs later Belinda stumped Thangallapally (2) off Archit & in the next, the 18th, Prakash (29) was lbw to Elliott, a quicker ball getting the wicket, 101-6.

At 107 in the 20^th Sarikonda (1) drove Elliott to Will at cover, 107-7. Goyal struck a boundary from the 3^rd ball of the 21st over to seal the three wicket win. The fielding was tidy & no chances were dropped.

Another 40 runs would have made the chase harder. Boundary cover to the short square sides might have prevented the fast start but nonetheless, as in the first game between the sides, the experienced Lions were respectful & encouraging of the 1864's efforts. 

5 points leaves the 1864's in 9^th place with 163, Annfield Plain on 148 are 10^th but both are well clear of Belsay (74) & Tynemouth (33).

Onward to Sat 19^th July - SNCC 1864 v Leadgate (a) 1300 40/40. We hope you can be there to cheer the team on.

Duncan.