Newton Aycliffe’s 1st team, sponsored by Lift Right Fork Lift Training made the long trip to Whiteleas in South Shields for their North East Durham League first division match and were handed a 59 run defeat. Batting first the homeside rattled up an impressive 219 for 3 declared after 41.3 overs with Sean Morgan the pick of the bowlers taking 3 for 42 from his 12 overs. In reply Aycliffe captain Chris Palmer smashed his third half century of the season’s before being dismissed for 80 and with useful contributions from Ross Dixon (17 runs) and John Gledhill (18 runs), Aycliffe reached a respectable 160 when their last man was out in the 44th over.
The second team played only their 2nd game of the season and lost an excellent match by just 16 runs in their third division home game with Coxhoe. Playing with only 10 men due to late “cry offs”, Aycliffe bowled and fielded superbly to restrict the visitors to just 91 for 8 in their alloted 40 overs. Dan Weldon lead the way for Aycliffe with the outstanding figures of 3 for 14 from his 10 overs and was given good support from Joe Hodgson who took 2 for 17 from his 10 overs.
In reply Aycliffe got off to a flier with opener John Wardle smashing a typically robust 18 runs. When he was dismissed, Dan O’Connor took over and batted brilliantly finishing unbeaten with 32 runs, but unfortunately he ran out of partners despite almost 20 overs of the innings remaining as Aycliffe were bowled out for 75.
Newton Aycliffe’s under 18’s made the short trip to Shildon for their final game of the season and came away with a fantastic nine wicket victory. Batting first the home side made a challenging 124 for 4 in their alloted 20 overs, despite some good bowling from Aycliffe’s Sam Telford who finished with 3 for 26.
In reply Aycliffe lost a wicket in the 2nd over, but a magnificent unbroken 2nd wicket partnership of 118 between captain Michael Howe (60 not out) and Sam Telford (49 not out) saw their side to a memorable win with 2.1 overs still remaining.
The club’s under 15’s lost at home to Evenwood by 24 runs as they failed to chase down a victory taget of 88, despite Ben Nicholson top scoring with 18 runs and Tom Wickins chipping in with 13 runs as Aycliffe finished on 63 for 8 after 20 overs. The u11’s team were well beaten by 46 runs at home to Hartlepool, but the under 13’s had a great win by 23 runs at home to Seaton Carew thanks to good performances from both Usman Abbasi, who took 3 for 8 with the ball and captain Josh Pearson, who top scored with 10 runs.
