Lee Weldon’s weekly round-up from the wicket…
Saturday 16th April – NYSD Division 2
Saltburn 2nd XI v Newton Aycliffe 1st XI – weather was sunny and mild. Saltburn won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Newton Aycliffe 1st XI 170 for 9 after 50 overs
Chris Palmer 53, Adam Gittins 42 and Luke Telford 26
Saltburn 2nd XI 133 for 8 after 50 overs
Sean Morgan 4 for 14, James Layfield-Carroll 2 for 45 and Matty Greaves 1 for 17
A much changed Aycliffe first XI began their new season with a frustrating draw away at Saltburn 2nd XI. New captain Chris Palmer (sponsored by Vanila Design & Print, pictured above) top scored in the Aycliffe innings with an excellent 53 off 93 balls and he hit seven boundaries.
In the Saltburn reply, Sean Morgan bowled brilliantly taking four wickets for just 14 runs from his 9 overs, but Aycliffe unfortunately couldn’t take the last two wickets and had to settle for the draw.
Saturday 16th April – NYSD Division 4
Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI v Sedgefield 2nd XI – weather was sunny and mild. Sedgefield won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI 109 all out after 34.1 overs
Dan Weldon 57 not out and Ramzan Hussain 13
Sedgefield 2nd XI 110 for 8 after 30.4 overs
Will Dearden 3 for 24, Leo Mercy 2 for 20 and Ramzan Hussain 1 for 17
Aycliffe’s 2nd team, which contained eight junior players and had an average age of just 17, played fantastically well against pre-season promotion favourites Sedgefield 2nd XI and were unlucky to lose a terrific game by just two wickets.
Aycliffe vice captain Dan Weldon, who missed nearly all of last season due to an overseas posting with the RAF, made a superb comeback when he got the game’s top score of 57 not out. His chanceless unbeaten innings was made from just 60 balls and contained two huge sixes and eight boundaries when he ran out of partners.
13 year old Will Dearden also had a good game finishing with 3 for 24 from his 5 over spell with the ball when Aycliffe took to the field.
This week’s senior cricket fixtures:
Saturday 23rd April at 12.30pm – NYSD Division 2 – Newton Aycliffe 1st XI v Great Ayton 2nd XI
Saturday 23rd April at 1.30pm – NYSD Division 4 – Preston 1st XI v Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI