Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club’s first team sponsored by Lift Right Fork Lift Training beat the weather, but couldn’t beat Whitby 2nd XI, as they lost their NYSD 3rd division home match by 4 wickets.
After being asked to bat first on a slightly damp wicket, Aycliffe struggled to get any momentum in their innings and despite a breezy 18 runs from captain Chris Palmer, the homeside found themselves in deep trouble with the score at 70 for 9.
However a club record 10th wicket partnership between Tony Travis, who finished on 31 not out and 9 runs from Ian Palmer, saw the pair add a superb 52 runs for the last wicket to push their teams total to a creditable 122 all out after 43.5 overs. In reply, the visitors got off to an excellent start and at 62 without loss, looked to be heading for a comfortable victory.
The introduction of bowler Luke Telford to the attack seemed to unerve Whitby’s batsmen as the left arm spinner took 4 for 26 in a marathon 17 over spell that almost brought Aycliffe an unlikely victory.
The 2nd team were well beaten away at Saltburn by 174 runs, when they were dismissed for 62 chasing a mammoth 237 for victory. The were some positives to be taken from the game, Tom Wickins took two wickets during Saltburn’s innings and Matt Capper, James Skerrett and Dan Weldon all batted well and each reached double figures during Aycliffe’s reply.
