At the weekend, first played second (Richmond v Barnard Castle), and third placed Shildon, played fourth placed Marton, in the North Yorks & South Durham Premier Cricket League Division 2 top of the table clashes, reports John Brennan.
At Marton, Shildon won the toss and openers Greg Upton (98) and Loyd Horner (45) soon showed why they chose to bat, as the pair put on 116 for the first wicket. Jacob Dinger (76 not out) then added to the home side’s misery, as Shildon declared their innings at 274 for 6 in the 48th over.
It was obvious that Marton were not going to give up the game easily, despite Shildon’s large total, and when injury to opening bowler Carl Crabtree prevented him continuing, the Railwaymen were suddenly up against it, as the home side progressed comfortably to 145 for 2 in 29 overs. Then Shildon staged a great fightback and Marton were rocking at 222 for 9 when this excellent match finished as a draw.
Shildon felt very aggrieved by one decision, which certainly makes no sense to this reporter, or to other umpires to whom I have posed this scenario. Marton’s top scorer, Croft (74), was given out l.b.w. As he was leaving the field of play, the square leg umpire called over to the standing umpire, that he THOUGHT that the batsman had hit the ball. On the strength of this, the batsman was recalled to the crease and went on to make another 35 runs, effectively saving his side from almost certain defeat.
Although Barnard Castle lost to Richmond on Saturday, both sides played extra league fixtures on Sunday, these were the games which were wiped out on the opening day of the season. Shildon’s game will not be played until next Sunday, as Redcar are unable to host the game this weekend. The top of Division 2 now looks like this:
1st Richmond. Pld.11 Pts.191, 2nd Barnard C. Pld.11 Pts.177, 3rd Shildon Pld. 9. Pts.154
In the Darlington & District Cricket League Division B, Shildon, without skipper Matty Summerbell, entertained Barton at the Hackworth Road Ground and fell to their first league defeat of the season. Barton made batting look easy, scoring 234 for 5, with Daniel Nelson, despite not taking a wicket, being the best of Shildon’s bowlers with an economical spell of 0 for 25 from 9 overs. Dhanesh Dharmarathnam top scored with 24 not out, but six other batsmen could only muster 22 runs between them, as Shildon collapsed to 99 all out in the 31st over. Despite the defeat, Shildon remain top of Division B, but their lead has been cut to 3 points.
This week has seen a busy schedule for the club. The 1st team played at Barnard Castle on Wednesday (26th) in the N.Y.S.D. 100 Competition, and face Rockcliffe Park at home on Saturday (29th), before travelling to Redcar on Sunday (30th) in their next league fixtures.
The 2nd team visited Haughton on Tuesday evening (25th) in the Cec Leece Cup where they lost an exciting tie when the Divion A Champions reached their target with one ball to go. Shildon made 174 for 6 from their 20 overs, as Chris Young top scored with 58. Despite Joe Knowles taking 5 for 26, Haughton won with 7 wickets down. The 2nd team face Cockerton in the Fenwick Cup, at home, on Thursday evening (27th) and rounds the week off with a visit to East Cowton, on Saturday, in the next league fixture. Details of all these games in next week’s issue.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
