Richmondshire firsts faced a stiff task against second in the table Saltburn, as they looked to recover from last week’s setback at Stockton.
They gave league debuts to Brandon Glover and Abhishek Paradkar, coincidentally both players who have represented their country.
Brandon is South African born but qualified to represent the Netherlands and signed to Durham to play in the T20. Abhishek is Indian born but qualified to represent the USA has been signed as a short-term replacement for the injured Gary Pratt.
Saltburn chose to bat after winning the toss and found the early going tough facing the 85mph pace of Glover. Restricted to bowling only five overs under the terms of the agreement with Durham he took one for 9.
The spin of Connor Blaxall-Hill claimed the next wicket to leave Saltburn on 49 for 2 but with opener Ainsley playing anchorman and More showing his attacking ability the score moved on to 105. Paradkar, signed principally for his batting then showed his bowling could be an asset as well, when he claimed the key wicket of More caught and bowled.
Ainsley then started to take a more dominant role and had reached 90 when he was leg before to Josh Dowson who claimed three more wickets in quick succession and ended with figures of four for 51. Saltburn reaching a final total of 225 for eight in their 50 overs.
Richmondshire got off to a disastrous start being reduced to 10 for two, as Bob Carr was out third ball and Sam Winter quickly followed. A partnership between inform Mike Layfield (58) and new recruit Paradkar (34) took the score to 82. This brought professional Dan Hodgson to the crease, yet to achieve a double figure score. There was confidence that he was too good a player not to come good and today was the day.
Having scored a classy 78 from 95 balls he fell to an excellent catch on the boundary going for what would have been the winning runs. This left Harvey Websdale with two balls to face and three runs needed for victory. He played and missed to the first but then steered the last ball to third man, only managing to sprint two runs for a tie.
This gave both sides 16 points, keeping Saltburn second to Middlesbrough and moving Richmondshire on to 57 in eighth place.
The 2nds played away at Marske 1sts, where having been put in they could only manage 94 in 35 overs. This almost proved enough when Marske were nine down when they reached 96 in 34.5 overs. Johnny Carr taking five for 34 and Dale Marshall three for 41.
The 4th team travelled to Norton 2nds. Batting first Norton made 218 for 7. Tom Gibbs taking three for 51 and Vittal Raj two for 40. Richie Carruthers scored 51 as Richmondshire held on for a six point draw with 157 for six.
The 5ths had a good win against local rivals Catterick Village. Electing to bat first 54 from James Cox and 27 from Griffin Bewell took them to 175 all out. James Cox then capped an all-round performance taking two for 26, while Sophie White took two for 12.
On Sunday the 3rds had a home fixture against Marton 3rds. Having been put in, Marton made 218 for 6. Jamie Stead, another player short of runs so far, was back to his best with 83. There were still 58 needed when he was dismissed and it was the junior contingent that made the winning contribution with Jake Percival hitting 40 from 18 balls.
In the junior section the Under 13s defeated Sessay in the ECB cup by 69 runs. Making 126 for five, Will Fudali retired not out on 30 and Bertie Morris made 24. Sessay were dismissed for 57 Sophie White taking three for six and Will Marshall two for none.
There were also wins for the Under11s, Under 13s, Under 15s and Under17s.
