Lee Weldon’s weekly round-up from the wicket…
Saturday 28th June – NYSD Division 3
Newton Aycliffe 1st XI v Thornaby 2nd XI – the weather was warm with sunny spells. Thornaby won the toss and chose to bat first.
Thornaby 2nd XI 109 all out after 25.2 overs
Tom Dearden 5 for 25, Matty Greaves 2 for 21 and Will Dearden 2 for 22
Newton Aycliffe 1st XI 112 for 2 after 22.3 overs
Chris Palmer 43 not out, Tez Smit 28 and Tom Dearden 14 not out
Aycliffe’s first team continued their promotion push with a very comfortable eight wicket win at home to Thornaby 2nd XI.
Tom Dearden (sponsored by Kevin Burton, pictured above) took the honours with the ball finishing with a seasonal best 5 for 25 from his excellent 6.2 over spell of leg spin bowling.
When Aycliffe replied, captain Chris Palmer (sponsored by Vanila Design & Print) top scored with an unbeaten 43 off 55 balls and his well paced innings included six boundaries and a six.
At the half way stage of the season, the first team sit handily placed in third position in the division three table with 178 points from 11 games played.
Saturday 28th June – NYSD Division 4
Bishop Auckland 2nd XI v Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI – the weather was warm with sunny spells. Bishop Auckland won the toss and chose to bat first.
Bishop Auckland 2nd XI 225 for 5 declared after 35 overs
Dan Weldon 3 for 33 and Shashank Garg 2 for 47
Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI 164 for 8 after 45 overs
Shashank Garg 55, Matty French 24 and Tony Travis 15 not out
The 2nd team put in an excellent performance to earn a another very good draw, this time away at Bishop Auckland 2nd XI.
The home side chose to bat first and scored a respectable 225 for 5 declared, despite some excellent bowling from Aycliffe captain Dan Weldon, who finished his seven over spell with three wickets for 33 runs.
In reply opener Shashank Garg batted superbly, top scoring with 55 from 82 balls and his classy innings included eight boundaries. Credit must also go to both Tony Travis (15 not out off 44 balls) and 13-year-old Addison Jones (5 not out off 11 balls) for surviving the last 26 balls in a tense finale to take their team to 164 for 8 at stumps and help earn their team a morale boosting draw.
Sunday 29th June – Hambleton League
Newton Aycliffe Women v Bedale Women – the weather was hot and sunny. Newton Aycliffe won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Bedale 104 for 5 after 20 overs (net score 279)
Tina Masterman 2 for 15, Helen Winpenny 1 for 6 and Louise Jackson 1 for 10
Newton Aycliffe 83 for 5 after 20 overs (net score 258)
Amanda Norman 9 not out, Louise Jackson 8 and Anneliese Myers 7 not out.
Aycliffe Women hosted joint leaders Bedale Women in the Hambleton League and were defeated in a close game by 21 runs.
Tina Masterman took a couple of wickets when the visitors batted and Amanda Norman (sponsored by Rite People) top scored with 9 not out when Aycliffe replied.
With just one game left to play, Aycliffe still have an outside chance of winning the league, but will be heavily reliant on other results going their way.
This week’s senior cricket fixtures:
Saturday 5th July at 1.00 pm – NYSD Division 3 – Whitby 2nd XI v Newton Aycliffe 1st XI
Saturday 5th July at 1.00 pm – NYSD Division 4 – Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI v Darlington RA 2nd XI
Sunday 6th July at 1.00 pm – Hambleton League – Newton Aycliffe Women v Northallerton Women