Shildon made the long journey to Whitby on what looked to be the worst forecast so far this season, with Whitby winning the toss and electing to bat.
Shildon opened up with Cordie McKendry and Ste Forster and it was the latter who made the first breakthrough with a high catch to Bret Upton on his return.
Loyd Horner then took a smart grab off Forster to get his second wicket.
After a rain delay Joe Knowles and Shane Rowley then took over the bowling.
Rowley could have had a couple of wickets on another day but it was Knowles who made the next breakthrough with Horner again catching at slip before clean bowling the number 3.
Another rain delay saw another change as McKendry came back into the attack where he ran through the middle order taking a 5fer, including 3 in 4 balls (despite a huge appeal for LBW for a hat trick).
At this point Shildon felt on the brink with the weather set fair for a bit, but number 5, Theo Clarke, had other ideas moving from 25 runs from 43 balls to 99 from 68 teeing off following the 9th wicket going down.
Eventually Knowles brought the onslaught to an end with the batter 1 run short of a hundred.
Only 3 overs were played in the reply before a deluge came and stopped any hope of victory.
The 2nds bagged their first victory of the season after a gritty display at the BR against Cockerton.
There was a feeling amongst the team that after two valiant efforts against top of the table sides in recent weeks, a win wasn’t too far away.
Fielding first, Captain Clegg had earmarked the game as one to really get after, and that’s exactly what the team did.
Despite some early chances going begging, Clegg (5-37) sent Watson back to the hutch with only 18 on the board and when new opening bowler Marquiss (3-31) got the crucial wicket of Stansfield, thanks to an acrobatic catch by Franklin at mid-wicket, Shildon tails were up.
Clegg bagged two more quick wickets, bowling Thakkar and then having Fry caught sharply by Lumley at slip and when Lumley was called into action again, catching Wakes off the bowling of Marquiss, Cockerton were on the ropes at 26-5.
The chat in the middle was to make sure there was no let up and to really get into the Cockerton lower order.
Marquiss bowled Weir and two more wickets from Clegg (claiming another career 5fer) left Cockerton 49-8.
With both Clegg and Marquiss bowled out, the skipper turned to Young (2-4) and the returning Lawson to mop up the tail.
Harris and Rowley managed to add another 21 runs before Young had the former caught behind by Moseby and he wrapped up the Cockerton innings when he made a mess of Barr’s stumps with the score on 84.
Despite a few drops in the field, it was a clinical performance from the team and they knew they had a huge opportunity to claim their first victory of the 2025 season.
Lumley and Marquiss played sensibly for the first wicket, accumulating runs via good running and some hefty blows. The partnership of 35 came to an end when Marquiss was caught for a swift 20.
A few quick wickets fell when Lawson, Lumley (22) and Moseby departed and a wave of panic set in with the BR suddenly 47-4.
The dependable Young strode to the crease, jaw set firm, and whilst Franklin and Richardson both fell cheaply, the feeling was, whilst Young was there, the game was there to be won, even at 52-6.
The telling over came when Young smashed the Cockerton spinner Wakes for 3 huge sixes and the finish line was in sight.
Both he and new signing Mctomney farmed the strike perfectly as Young (32no) hit the winning runs to see Shildon home to a 4-wicket win.
It was a fabulous team effort that brought Shildon their first win of the season and sees them beginning to reel in the sides ahead of them in the A Divison.
MOTM, sponsored by Haribo (sort of) was Rob Marquiss for his 20 and 3-31. The team can take confidence from the win and look to add another W when they visit Raby Castle this weekend.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
