In a dramatic weekend of cricket Richmondshire won two rain interrupted games.
This is only the second season in which the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method has been applied to NYSD games and it had to be applied in both games. The complicated statistical formula is used to set a target for the team batting second when their were long rain interruptions in both games. This resulted in some puzzlement for the spectators but worked out well for Richmondshire in the end.
On Saturday playing at home against Thornaby Richmondshire batted first with an eye on a possible twenty five point win.
With 227 for 6 on the board in 46 overs (Matty Cowling 72 not out) the decision was made to declare as the rain arrived.
The rain interruption lasted a couple of hours resulting in the Thornaby innings been reduced to 33 overs with a target of one 177.
Thornaby lost two early wickets to be 19 for 2 but then recovered well to progress into the 60s.
There then followed a collapse with young James Kelly again impressing with 3 for 21. Thornaby ended on 99 for 7 and having failed to reach the target the 25 points went to Richmondshire.
With both Middlesbrough and Marton suffering unexpected defeats, this puts Richmondshire five points ahead of Middlesbrough and Saltburn (who also had a 25 point win).
Two games remain in the league season with Richmondshire away at Great Ayton next Saturday and with what could be a decider at home to Saltburn the following week.
The start time for the Kerridge cup had been brought forward by an hour to allow for interruptions and this was just as well as the game had just got under way when the rain came. After a four hour delay the Richmondshire innings resumed with 40 overs to set Barnard Castle a target.
A superb Gary Pratt innings of 103 saw the score reach 241 for 8.
The DLS calculation determined a target of 87 from ten overs for Barnard Castle and they therefore needed to score at nearly nine an over. With all ten wickets available it looked in their favour.
They made a confident start with scoring twelve in each of the first two overs, although perhaps crucially Craig Marshall bagged the wicket of top batsmen James Quinn.
With each bowler able to bowl two overs Rob Carr juggled his attack and Steve Reeves was able to stem the run flow with two overs for just seven runs and also a wicket. James Kelly then weighed in with two more wickets including dangerous professional Karl Carver. Sam Wood then took two wickets in an over and Barney were left needing twenty six from the last two overs and this was beyond them as they ended with 75 for 6.
Richmondshire will now play Thornaby in the final at Thornaby on Sunday 20th September with a 12.30pm start.
On Saturday the 2nds made the long journey to Whitby and an improved performance saw them lose by twenty two runs. Batting first Whitby made 216 for 6 (Adam Heseltine 3 for 59). A stand of ninety nine between Jordan Moss (92) and Joe Shields (30) put them in a good position but a couple of run outs proved expensive as they slipped to another defeat.
The 4th team were going well against Sedgefield 2nds on 150 for 3 after thirty two overs (Julius Glasgow 75, Clive Layfield 46) when rain brought the game to an end. The 5th team were forced to field a much weakened team at Haughton 2nds. They bowled Haughton out for one hundred and thirty two with Alex Nimmo taking 4 for 12. The weakened batting line up could only manage eighty eight with Alex Nimmo again leading the way with twenty one.
On Sunday heavy rain in Richmondshire stopped the 3rds from paying against Thornaby but out at the coast the weather was much better for the Ken Walsh Cup Final between Richmondshire 4ths and Redcar 1sts.
Put into bat Richmondshire lost an early wicket when big hitting Julius Glasgow attempted to put his first ball out of the ground and was caught behind.
This was a serious blow to Richmondshire’s hopes as Julius regularly gets a lot of runs very quickly.
Forced to rebuild, a typically solid innings from Clive Layfield (26) supported by flourishes from Richie Carruthers (17) and Marcus Griffiths (31) got the score after twenty overs to 112 for 8.
This looked as if it might be twenty or thirty short of a winning total.
Opening bowlers Clive Layfield kept things really tight and a couple of early wickets had Redcar on 9 for 2. A third wicket partnership built very slowly so that Redcar had only reached 35 for 2 at the hallway mark.
The later bowlers were unable to keep things quite as tight and with a couple of overs to go Redcar looked comfortable.
A couple of late wickets from Jake Percival cause some panic in the Redcar ranks and with two balls left four more were needed.
Unfortunately the Redcar batsmen managed to glance the ball into the one available gap for four runs, leaving them winners by four wickets.
