Comment

WITH the season now getting into full swing following a spluttering start, Richmondshire have established a small lead at the head of the Darlington Building Society NYSD League.

And they are the only side in the top six to have home advantage this weekend as clubs head into the fifth round of matches.

Marton, showing signs of gathering momentum themselves after back-to-back wins, are the visitors to Hurgill Road this weekend. Jamie Stead is working through his final exams at university and misses out for the home team, 19-year-old Adam Hilary stepping up, whilst Marton expect to be unchanged.

Normanby Hall are enjoying their status as front-runners and will fancy their trip to winless Blackhall. They have a settled side with the only possible change being the inclusion of ex-Ayton player Henry Blackett if he is back from university. The Colliers have Mark Cushlow returning to their line up.

Middlesbrough, after completing the registration process to bring in Mitch Claydon as their English pro, find he has been selected for Durham's current game at Old Trafford so they only have one change for the game at Redcar as Raf Rashid jnr replaces Dave Burton.

Ryan Lazenby and Ben Parker play for the Seasiders, who need to get some points on the board soon.

Guisborough have plumped for experience to solve their keeper crisis and have signed Gary Veazey from Marton. He will debut at Great Ayton who are becoming ever more frustrated by the Riaz Afridi situation, the latest news being that he is expected to arrive by the end of this week - in that circumstance he would, of course, go straight into the team for the local derby.

Marske have enjoyed a solid start and, amazingly for them, have an unchanged side for the trip to Hartlepool who have some key absentees in skipper Ian Palmer, Richard Lloyd and, perhaps crucially, Michael Gough, who is umpiring on the County circuit.

Northallerton's overseas man had not arrived yesterday - the official line is the club are "hopeful" he will be in their side to entertain Bishop Auckland.

David Wake and Mark Cowell are playing against a Bishops team that has hit the buffers since their euphoric opening day win over Boro.

In the final game of the weekend, Darlington bring in Simon Lee for the match against Billingham, although it looks unlikely that Agarkar will arrive in time as the paper chase continues in India.

The Synners will be without skipper Dave Fairley and Craig Symington will captain a team that includes 18-year-old former Norton player, Adam Watson.

The Bank Holiday double programme saw Richmondshire defeat Marske and then get the better of a draw with Hartlepool to move back into pole position, while Normanby Hall forfeited their 100 per cent record while hanging on for a draw at Great Ayton, and then in a role reversal had Redcar battling to hold them at bay on Monday.

This allowed Middlesbrough to move ominously into joint second with Hall following two convincing victories over Billingham and Ayton.

Last Saturday, two nail-biting finishes provided the major talking points. Richmondshire were among two clubs to win from the last ball of their respective games. Marton were the other side who triumphed in an identical climax at Redcar.

It was a fine skipper's innings by Clive Layfield, which took Richmond to victory over Marske after Rob Nicol (66) and Steve Chapman (33) shared in an opening stand of 71 to set a target of 177 to win. The home batsmen all contributed well, including Jamie Stead (24), to leave 25 runs needed from the last 21 balls.

Layfield (41 not out) held his nerve even with nine runs required from the last over. He got seven of them including a crucial two runs from the last ball.

Marton's last ball victory was engineered by Chris Lane who batted throughout for an unbeaten 78, and when six runs were needed from the last five balls, with his final partner at the wicket, became doubly determined to win the day. Redcar's Tariq Aziz could count himself unlucky to finish on the losing side after scoring a fine century.

Middlesbrough took full advantage of Billingham's nervous start to life back in the premier division by bowling them out for just 118 and then powering their way to an eight-wicket win. Craig Symington (73 from 130 balls) did his best to put the Synners on top, but James Beaumont (4-16) turned the tables. Then after sharing an opening stand of 51 with James Lowe (32), newcomer Paul Johnston, hit an undefeated 59.

Normanby Hall's Keith Martin found his batting skills were needed to stave off defeat at Great Ayton. He had to play out time as the Hall faced the last two overs of the innings with nine wickets down and Chris Batchelor (6-60) looking for victory.

Martin (4-60) had put Ayton in trouble on 88-6 before Anthony Doyle (54 not out) rescued them to reach 159-8.

Skipper Liam Botham hit a half century to rally Northallerton when they might have plunged to defeat against Guisborough.

They were on 44-3 when he came to the wicket and, although they then dipped to 119-6, he saw them to safety on 152-8 before he was last out.

Richard Bentley took two wickets in two balls, but missed out on the hat-trick. Guisborough also struggled at 85-5 before Will Wyatt (36) helped them reach 162-8.

Blackhall's new professional, South African Warren Swan, was the day's second century maker, sharing in a second wicket stand of 142 with Masood Mirza (45).

His 128 included 15 fours and four sixes and came from 143 balls. Responding to the Colliers' 239-3, Hartlepool had Michael Gough (76) and Jack Wilkinson (62) in partnership for all but three runs of their reply of 160-3, the scoring rate being kept in check by Mirza who bowled 18 overs and conceded just 47 runs.

Darlington celebrated a first win of the season after Doug Mulholland (42 and 4-32) proved their star all-rounder against Bishop Auckland. Despite four run-outs, the Quakers totalled 141-9 and then bowled out Bishops for just 103 with the last four wickets falling for four runs.

On Monday, Sharni Dissanayake's century and Chris Layfield's four wickets earned Richmond enough points to keep them at the top, despite Hartlepool holding on in a highscoring draw. Middlesbrough overpowered Great Ayton in an identikit repeat of their Saturday win, Chetnya Nanda being Ayton's undoing on this occasion as his five wickets meant the visitors only made 116, a target that was of no concern to the freeflowing Paul Johnston (61no).

Sri Lankan Duminda Perera continued his great start to cricket in this country - 66 runs and three wickets had Redcar in all sorts of trouble, but Hall were just unable to force victory.

Guisborough are sticking doggedly to the leaders' coat-tails but they, too, had to settle for a draw after posting 191-7 against Billingham. Neil Russell (66 and 4-59) was outstanding f but Synners held on with new pro Nisal Randika hinting at riches to come with a five-wicket debut.

Marske became the latest team to upset the Bishop Auckland apple-cart. Despite only posting a score of 117-8 in their 50 overs, they were able to bowl Bishops out for just 83 with Kiwi Rob Nicol proving his worth with 47 runs and four wickets.

In the other two games, John Sample's 60 helped Northallerton to the 200 mark against Darlington, who were then happy to play out time, while Marton gained their second victory of the weekend as they bowled Blackhall out for 95, Mo Zahid (5-33) and Ben Hutchinson (3-17) proving to be the spin kings.

2:47pm Friday 9th May 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login