The Richmondshire teams had a very good Bank Holiday weekend winning seven out of eight games.
Sadly, the only disappointment was in a very tight drawn game against Darlington in the NYSD Premier League.
Richmondshire had got off to what promised to be a good start with Andy Fleming and Gary Pratt putting on 48 before the first wicket fell.
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Unfortunately, wickets then started to fall at regular intervals, with none of the batsmen able to settle, Richmondshire ending on 156 for 9.
Darlington didn’t find batting any easier and with Justin Pretorius and Sam Winter both taking a couple of wickets on the debuts, Alston Bobb picking up two and Craig Marshall three the game ended with as a nail biting drawer.
With Darlington scoring 155 for 9 the game could have gone either way in the last over but ended in a drawer and 10 points for Darlington and 11 for Richmondshire.
Bank Holiday Monday saw Richmondshire back at Feethams to play Darlington again, this time in the 40 over Kerridge Cup.
This time Richmondshire crushed Darlington winning by 94 runs, 16-year-old Sam Winter starring with bat and ball.
Sam scored 40 not out as Richmondshire batted first, supported by Justin Pretorius in a final stand of 60, to give a Richmondshire a score of 179 for 7.
Sam then took 3 for 15, Craig Marshall 3 for 7 and Justin Pretorius 2 for 13 as Darlington were skittled for 85 all out in just 29 overs.
An outstanding performance by batsmen Owen Kelly and Mike Fleming was the basis of a big win for the 2nd team against Middlesbrough 2nds, continuing their excellent start with another 25 points.
Richmondshire won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a superb track for batting. Owen scoring a magnificent 160 not out from just 110 balls, his first senior hundred for the club.
He was ably backed up by Mike Fleming who scored 104 of 130 balls, allowing Richmondshire to declare 286 for 4 after 47 overs.
Middlesbrough’s run chase didn’t get off to a good start with Shaun Charlton and Craig Swainston ripping through the top order to have them on 70 for 6 after 20 overs.
With some defiance from the lower order the game was heading for a draw when Ross Whelpdale came on to get the dangerous Taylor out for 53.
Richmondshire looked like winning it from there on in but with 8 overs left and 3 wickets still needed Tom Stockton turned to Shaun Charlton to make the break through.
Which he did in his first over, leaving Craig Swainston to pick up the two remaining wickets to win the game.
Craig finished with stand out figures of 6 for 45 off his 14 overs and Shaun Charlton 3 for 53 from 16 overs.
On Sunday, the 3rds also continued there excellent start with a big win against Thornaby 2nds.
Winning the toss and batting first, the innings didn’t get off to a great start, with last week’s centurion Clive Layfield out for a duck and Jonathan Kellet for 6.
Tom Stockton (59) and Jordan Moss (48) then steadied the ship and with George Spink and Andy Kelly weighing in with 45 and 31 respectively they finished on 224 for 9.
This was far too much for Thornaby who were rattled out in quick time for 85. The wickets were shared around five bowlers but the pick of figures was Jonny Carr’s 3 for 11. This victory leaves Richmondshire top of the Sunday Division 1 table by five points from Barnard Castle.
The 4th XI won by 57 runs at home to Barton 1st XI, with a score of 187 for 6 owing much to an innings of 78 from opener Darryn Bancroft, whilst veterans Dion Wood and Mark Layfield also made useful contributions with the bat.
Barton were bowled out for 132, the wickets were shared amongst the bowlers, the return of the lanky Harvey Websdale from holiday giving captain Andy Dade the benefit of four fit and accurate bowlers, demonstrated by only one of the wickets to fall being from a catch and a reduction in the number of extras compared to the previous week.
The 5th XI made the short trip to Barton to play their 2nd XI and for the second week running won by eight wickets.
Barton batted first, danger man Mark Jobling was out early to an athletic catch at backward square leg.
Fellow opener D Macafee scored 41 before being the first wicket of a Griffin Bewell hat trick which sparked a middle order collapse, before an innings of 40 not out from Andy Percival took the score to 139 all out.
Griffin Bewell took 4 for 33 and Ted While 3-39, keeper Tom Ward had three dismissals and conceded no byes.
In the Richmondshire response, Mike Irving scored yet another undefeated fifty which was backed up by 32 from his son James. Barton tried a variety of bowlers but only Andy Percival had the control to put the pressure on the batsmen as the runs were knocked off with 4 overs to spare.
A total of 140 for 2 gave Richmondshire 20 points putting the top of the B division.
In Junior matches, there was clean sweep of victories. The U13’s recorded their first win of the season in the Hambleton League with a win against Bedale.
Richmondshire scored 133-3. Harry Laviolette 31 (retired) , Charlie Stephenson 31 (Retired), Bedale 61-4 from 20 overs, Zac Cleminson 2 for 10 Harry Laviolette 1 for 5. and only 12 extras from the 20 overs.
The Under 11s beat Blackhall by 85 runs.
Coach Darren Sydall reports:
Blackhall won the toss and elected to bowl. Joe Syddall and Jake Percival opened the batting with a solid 32 partnership, Jake getting 28 runs all the batting pairs were very solid and improving.
Maiden overs were bowled by Max Percival, Owen Wetherall, Isaac Bottomley, and Jake Percival. Andrew Ralph took 1 wicket for 8 runs off 3 overs and Finlay Clark 1 wicket for 5 runs off 2 overs again, there were good solid bowling contributions from everyone. Joe Syddall the wicket keeper took a good reaction catch from a slight edge late on in the game.
The Under 9s had their first game of the season, Coach Mike White reports
Richmondshireshire (273 net) beat Thornton Watlass (256 net)
On a sunny bank holiday morning, our U9 team played their long-awaited first game of the season against a developing Thornton Watlass side at Hurgill Road.
The U9s contained two players who were playing their debuts – James Cox and Emmy Raggett. After electing to field, Max Percival opened the bowling with a wicket maiden, setting the standard for some excellent fielding and bowling.
Other maidens were bowled by Raam Raj, Issac Bottomley and Joseph White as Richmondshire limited Watlass to only 15 runs off the bat in 16 overs.
The team backed up their confident fielding display with some solid batting; 23 runs coming off the first 4 overs – James Cox celebrating his debut with a top score of 13, including 3 fours, ably supported by his batting partner Eddie Player.
Further runs were added by Issac, Raam, Emmy and Maisie Forbes before the final batting pair of Joseph and Max (who were trying a little too hard to hit the ball into Nuns Close Car Park) finally saw us home.
