Lee Weldon’s weekly round-up from the wicket…
Saturday 2nd August – NYSD Division 3
Sedgefield 2nd XI v Newton Aycliffe 1st XI – the weather was mild with sunny spells. Newton Aycliffe won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Sedgefield 2nd XI 249 for 6 after 40 overs
Joe Teasdale 2 for 33, Matty Greaves 2 for 58 and Ramzan Hussain 1 for 12
Newton Aycliffe 1st XI 203 for 9 after 40 overs
Tez Smit 88 and Tom Dearden 66
Aycliffe’s first team hung on for a draw away at Sedgefield 2nd XI after the tenth wicket pair of Matty Greaves (7 not out) and Leo Mercy (0 not out) safely survived the last 13 balls of the game in a tense finale.
Chasing an improbable victory target of 250, Aycliffe’s prolific opening pair of Tez Smit and Tom Dearden got their team off to a flier, putting on 132 for the first wicket after just 22 overs.
Dearden was first to be dismissed for an excellent 60 off 69 balls including 11 boundaries and a six. Smit batted on superbly and was eventually dismissed for his seasonal best score of 88 off 102 balls and he reached the boundary on 13 occasions.
The draw drops Aycliffe down a place to fourth in the NYSD third division table with 221 points from 16 games played.
Saturday 2nd August – NYSD Division 4
Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI v Preston 1st XI – the weather was mild with sunny spells. Newton Aycliffe won the toss and chose to bat first.
Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI 152 for 5 after 40 overs
Dan Weldon 63, Matty Thompson 18 not out and Matty French 16
Preston 1st XI 155 for 4 after 27 overs
Ethan Cooper 2 for 37, Tom Norman 1 for 10 and Shashank Garg 1 for 56
The young Aycliffe 2nd team lost by six wickets at home to a very experienced Preston 1st XI.
Aycliffe captain Dan Weldon (sponsored by Midland Structural Services, pictured above) led from the front and was in excellent form scoring his second half century of the season when he top scored with an impressive 63 off 85 balls and his innings included 11 boundaries.
Fifteen-year-olds Ethan Cooper (2 for 25) and Tom Norman (1 for 10) both bowled well when the vistors replied, but couldn’t stop them from easing to a comfortable victory.
This week’s senior cricket fixtures:
Saturday 9th August at 1.00 pm – NYSD Division 3 – Newton Aycliffe 1st XI v Normanby Hall 2nd XI
Saturday 9th August at 1.00 pm – NYSD Division 4 – Skelton Castle 1st XI v Newton Aycliffe 2nd XI