Rain again ruined the weekend’s games but unlike last week did no damage to the Richmond teams league positions.
On Saturday with no league programme for the NYSD teams both the 4ths and 5ths were reinforced by 1st and 2nd team players only to see their games abandoned.
The 4ths played away at against Raby 1sts, who were already confirmed as Darlington & District A Division champions, almost a hundred points ahead of the rest.
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Winning the toss and choosing to bat Clive Layfield (23), Matty Cowling (43) and Dion Wood (31) got them off to a strong start after which the innings stalled to finish at 138 for 8.
Raby had reached 32 for 0 after five overs when the game was abandoned, leaving Raby champions and Richmond 4ths in lower mid table but well clear of the relegation places.
The 5ths at home to Raby 2nds piled on a massive 326 for 4 in their 40 overs thanks to 185 not out from Steven Mather and 84 from Sam Wood. Rain then spared Raby the effort of chasing this massive total and as it turned out the five batting points for Richmond weren’t needed in the relegation battle as they finished nine above the drop zone.
On Sunday, the weather was no kinder for the 3rds playing at home to Middlesbrough but it didn’t prevent them confirming the title in the NYSD Sunday League Division 1. Middlesbrough won the toss and elected to bat but with Owen Kelly taking 5 for 36 and father Andy taking 3 for 40 they were all out for 139.
At that point, the rain arrived again but with six points for the abandonment and five bowling points the eleven were enough to seal the title as they ultimately finished twenty three points above Darlington R.A.
The team under the captainship of Dave Moffat has held top spot for most of the season and is further evidence of the pool of junior talent emerging in the club supported by a few experienced veterans.
Overall then a pretty good season for the club, with the 1sts taking the Kerridge Cup and second in the league, the 2nds taking the salver for best second them in the first division and the 3rds the Sunday title. The 4ths and 5ths avoided relegation, which was probably the limit of their ambitions this season.
The junior section remains the envy of the rest of the league with the Under 17s taking all five trophies and many of their players appearing regularly at 1st and 2nd team level. At the other end of the junior age range the Under 9s took the Hambleton League trophy.
