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Richmondshire recorded three wins out of three in cup matches during the week.
First up on Wednesday were the 3rd team at Barnard Castle, with Clive Layfield scoring 83, Julius Glasgow 40 and Jordan Moss 34 not out in a total of 177 for 3.
With a required run rate of almost 9 an over, despite 59 not out from Andrew Toulson, Barnard Castle never looked like reaching the target and fell 32 short.
Then on Thursday Richmondshire and Darlington played out a thrilling 20:20 match, with the result in doubt down to the last over. Have won the toss and chosen to bat Richmondshire got off to an excellent start through Gary Pratt and Mike Layfield.
The first wicket fell on 95 as Gary was eventually stumped on 40 as he attempted to push on the scoring.
Mike followed on 116 having scored a fine 66. From there the scoring slowed and Richmondshire closed on 148 for 4 after twenty overs, a total that looked as if it could be ten or twenty short of what would be needed.
The first Darlington wicket fell with no score when Sam Winter made a difficult catch on the boundary look easy from Sam Woods bowling. From then on it was Darlington who looked on top with professional Muhammed Saad in great touch hitting a series of sixes into Victoria Road.
It took the introduction of Alston Bobb into the attack to bowl a fine spell and restore some control, taking 1 for 15 in his four overs. Keeping the pace off the ball restricted Darlington’s scoring and the run rate needed started to climb, but with the dangerous Saad in it always looked possible. Darlington entered the final over needing seven to win when a piece of quick thinking led to Saad’s run out. Going for a quick single to put him on strike the Richmondshire fielder ignored the easy run out at the nearer end to throw to the other end to narrowly run out Saad.
That effectively ended Darlington’s challenge as he was the one batsman likely to be able to make the required runs. The remaining batsmen did their best going for big hits but only to offer easy catches. Darlington ended on 143 for 9 six short of the target.
This puts Richmondshire through to the MacMillan cup finals day where they will play Hartlepool, with prospect of a final against Stokesley or Barnard Castle to defend the trophy they won in 2016.
Finally, on Friday Richmondshire U17s played Barnard Castle, these two being generally accepted as the strongest U17 sides in the NYSD. Despite 20 from Sam Winter, 22 from Tom Dowson and a final flourish of 32 from James Kelly it was feared that 107 for 5 wouldn’t be a big enough target. However, some really tight bowling and good work by George Spink behind the stumps had Barney struggling to keep up with the rate.
A good opening spell from Harvey Websdale and Sam Winter followed by an excellent spell of James Kelly spin left the batsmen scrabbling for runs resulting in a couple of run outs and a stumping. Sam Winter then brought himself back on to mop up the tail to end with 4 for 13.
On Saturday Richmondshire 1sts host Guisborough for whom ex Richmondshire pro Shani Dissanyake is currently in fine form. The ever-popular Shani is always welcome at Richmondshire but with the wicket on the bouncy side at present, it is hoped that he doesn’t enjoy his return too much. The only likely change to the Richmondshire team is Shaun charlton coming back in to replace Justin Pretorious leaving to take up a post in Derby.
The 2nds visit an in form Normanby Hall hoping to be back to near full strength with last week’s absentees returning. Only Joe Shields is missing due to football commitment. The 4ths are at home to local rivals Aldbrough St John and the 5ths away at Rockcliife, both largely unchanged.
The 3rd team will have captain Dave Moffat back for their visit to Marton on Sunday.
