On Bank Holiday Thursday, 2nd June, Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club’s 1st team, sponsored by Franks the Flooring Store, put in an excellent all round performance to win by 119 runs away at Middlesbrough 2nd XI in the NYSD 2nd division. After finally winning the toss in a league game for the first time this season, Aycliffe decided to bat first and scored a reasonable 193 all out after 48.5 overs. Captain Chris Palmer top scored with an aggressive 52 from 45 balls and other major contributions came from Luke Telford (44 from 84 balls) and Adam Gittins (32 from 82 balls). In reply, the home side were skittled for just 74 from 18.3 overs thanks to superb bowling by both James Layfield-Carroll (sponsored by Yvonne and Bob Wood) (5 for 18) and George Slatcher (4 for 54).
Two days later, the first team followed up their win at Boro by defeating promotion chasing Norton 1st XI at home by 33 runs. Electing to bat first, Aycliffe scored a challenging 205 for 6 in their allotted 50 overs thanks to another superb batting display by 15 year old Tom Dearden (sponsored by Kevin Burton), who followed up last week’s century for the second team by top scoring with an unbeaten 65 from 101 balls faced. Adam Gittins (37 from 117 balls), George Slatcher (37 from 44 balls) and Sam Telford (25 from 12 balls) all made major contributions with the bat for the home side. In reply, Norton battled hard and the game looked to be heading for a draw thanks to some dogmatic batting by ex Aycliffe players Joe Haines (49 runs off 97 balls) and Jack Slatcher (27 not out off 70 balls), despite good performances with the ball by 16 year old Leo Mercy (3 for 26), 17 year old Matty Greaves (2 for 33) and George Slatcher (2 for 34). However, in a dramatic finale, Ryan Patrick held onto a stunning catch on the boundary to remove the stubborn final wicket with only ten balls of the game remaining to help Aycliffe to a memorable victory.
The previous week the first team lost away at Darlington by 107 runs despite good individual performances with the bat for Aycliffe by Owen Smith (33 from 33 balls), Dan Weldon (22 from 28 balls) and Sam Telford (21 from 12 balls) and a couple of wickets for James Layfield-Carroll with the ball.
Newton Aycliffe’s 2nd team, containing eight juniors, won their first game of the season, defeating Bedale 2nd XI in the NYSD 4th division by 143 runs, thanks to one of the best ever all round performance’s by an Aycliffe player. 15 year old Tom Dearden (sponsored by Kevin Burton) became the youngest player in the club’s history to score a senior hundred and was finally out off the last ball of the innings for a magnificent 128 from 97 balls faced, including 20 boundaries. He then followed up that by taking 6 for 26 from 11 overs of leg spin bowling to become the first player in the club’s history to achieve the extraordinary double of scoring a century and taking five wickets in the same game. Dearden’s career best innings along with 44 from captain Ryan Patrick and 23 from Dan Bowmer helped Aycliffe to their highest total of the season when they declared on 251 for 8 from 35.5 overs. In reply, the visitors were skittled for just 108 off 35.1 overs thanks to Dearden’s career best bowling figures and a couple of wickets from his younger brother, 13 year old Will, who chipped in with 2 for 17.
Newton Aycliffe’s u17s put in a tremendous performance but still lost by seven wickets away at Richmond in the NYSD Plate competition. Aycliffe scored an impressive 151 for 5 in their allotted overs thanks to good innings by Tom Dearden (52 retired off 55 balls), Jai Sander (28 off 15 balls) and Ramzan Hussain (19 off 12 balls). Richmond timed their reply perfectly reaching their winning target of 152 with just two balls remaining.
The u15’s continued their unbeaten start to the season with their fourth consecutive victory, this time coming out on top by just six runs away at Norton in the NYACC League. Aycliffe were asked to bat first and scored 133 for 6 from their 20 overs thanks again to another unbeaten half century from in form captain Tom Dearden, who finished 51 not out from 45 balls faced and an unbeaten 19 from 21 balls from AJ Wild. In reply, the homeside were restricted to 127 for 3 from their 20 overs thanks to some tight bowling and fielding from Aycliffe.
The u13’s were comfortably beaten by eight wickets away at Norton in their NYACC league game. Asked to bat first Aycliffe scored a respectable 92 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs thanks to an excellent career best innings by Danny Wild (30 retired from 47 balls) and an aggressive late order 19 not out from 17 balls by Joey Hayman. In reply, the homeside reached their winning target after 15.1 overs for the loss of just two wickets.
The u11’s team lost by 52 runs away at Richmond in the NYACC but there were still some very encouraging individual performances by the Aycliffe youngsters. All rounder Joey Hayman had an excellent game taking 2 for 12 with the ball in the Richmond innings then top scoring when the visitors batted with 21 not out. Trent Telford (13 runs) and Daisy Grainger (10 runs) also deserve credit for performing well with the bat for Aycliffe, as does Edward Dougan who took the only other Richmond wicket to fall.
Photo: 15 year old all rounder Tom Dearden after scoring his century for the 2nd team at home to Bedale 2nd XI on Saturday 28th May.