Guisborough seek rivals draw (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Guisborough seek rivals draw

11:10am Friday 3rd July 2009

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WITH the season’s clock beginning to tick down, this weekend’s game between in-form Marton and champions Middlesbrough takes on additional significance in the Darlington Building Society NYSD Premier League.

Just three points separate the top three clubs with Guisborough currently on top of the heap. But Marton, with the Macmillan Cup already tucked safely away in the trophy cabinet, will not be short on confidence against the pre-season title favourites as they had the better of the first league meeting at Acklam Park, and then dumped Boro out of both major cup competitions.

And Marton go into the game with an unchanged line-up, although they will be holding their breath to see whether Yorkshire’s Lee Hodgson will be fit enough to bowl. Hodgson did not turn his arm over in the cup final last Sunday after being advised by the County to go steady with a side strain, but given that he is probably the quickest in the division now it would be a blow if his bowling potency was lost to the home side.

Boro are once again entangled in a professionals dilemma with Kyle Coetzer, who turned out in Durham’s championship match against Worcestershire this week, unlikely to be released by the county, and Mohammad Siddiq sidelined by illness for the immediate future.

Guisborough will be hoping their two rivals stop each from winning and thus provide them with the chance to extend their lead over both of them. They travel to Feethams to take on a Darlington side just beginning to gather momentum. After going the first 11 matches of the season without a win the Quakers have won two of the last three to effectively banish any relegation fears.

Skipper Garry Moody comes back into the home side in place of Paul Raine, while the Priorymen welcome back Chris Murray for this one match – he comes in to replace his unavailable brother Colin. Gary Veazey also returns behind the stumps.

At the opposite end of the table, Billingham had a confidence boost in midweek when they easily defeated Boro in a cup tie – their second victory in a couple of weeks over the champions. But with time running out they need to transfer that confidence to the league arena if they are to make up the yawning 40 point gap on the teams above them.

They have home advantage this weekend when they entertain Blackhall, but the bad news is that Neil Killeen will turn out for the former colliery team and could prove quite a handful on the Synners ground. Billingham show just the one change with Dave Nesbitt stepping up to replace Danny Nowell.

There will be a new face in the Marske line-up to play Northallerton at Windy Hill Lane. Jon Nicholls, brother of Chris, has signed for the Seasiders from NEPL outfit Gateshead Fell where he was their leading amateur bowler in 2008.

His arrival is timely with Col Haslett missing through work, and Ben Walker sidelined by a hamstring injury. Town’s only doubt is Ian Gill.

Elsewhere Mike Gough misses the next month of Hartlepool fixtures to fulfil his county umpiring duties, but John Cannon is back for the Park Drive match with Thornaby who include Richie Rennard, but miss James Roberts and Andrew Emmerson.

A full-strength Normanby Hall entertain a similarly-endowed Bishop Auckland, and Richmond have Clive Layfield in the team to face a Great Ayton side missing the injured Tom Waters, with 14-year-old Ryan Tuck deputising.

With Guisborough grabbing back top spot in one of the tightest championship scrambles for many a year, the highlight of last weekend was the intriguing individual battle to see who will be the first batsman to reach the distinguished 1,000 runs landmark.

Three players: Middlesbrough’s Paul Johnston, Northallerton’s Teddy Parida and Great Ayton’s Chris Batchelor – are all in the running with 2,182 runs scored between them, each with 13 innings completed.

Johnston is the favourite with 804, having boosted his rating with a superb unbeaten 151 against Marske. Parida is 65 runs behind despite inspiring ’Allerton to their second win of the season, and Batchelor, with 639 runs, might have been better placed if his team’s match hadn’t been abandoned when rain closed in earlier than anywhere.

Johnston’s sizzling knock came at Acklam Park from an amazing 99 balls with 22 fours and two sixes as Boro totalled 274-4 before a 36-over declaration.

Rain and bad light cut the game short after Marske had at first crawled to 31-2 from 15 overs and then accelerated to finish on 102-2 with a stand of 91 between Gary Lynch (44 not out) and Chris Allinson (41 not out).

The top of the table clash at Guisborough saw Marton concede the league leadership to their opponents after just six days of elevation. The Priory club posted 232-7 with Tariq Aziz hitting a splendid 135 with ten fours and five sixes.

Marton’s reply was hit by a shaky start, losing four wickets for just 63 runs before Chris Veazey (56) and then Graham Shaw (50 not out) made sure they saved the game.

Billingham were beaten by Bishop Auckland by 89 runs after Gary Pratt hit a whirlwind 117 with 86 in boundaries. His first 50 runs came from 27 balls and the century from 82. He shared in a stand of 128 with Dan Conway, who made 63.

Bishops (236-7) then bowled out the Synners for 147, but of these Nisal Randika hit an exceptional century. Dan Conway (5-36) and Chris Sawyer (4-45) shared the bowling success for Bishops.

Northallerton’s worries at the foot of the table eased with their first win in ten games against Normanby Hall. Parida’s 63 provided the excellent backbone to a successful run chase after Normanby had been unable to score freely from the offerings of Jon Barnes (3-37 in 25 overs).

Hartlepool won the derby with Blackhall in which Warren Swan made 80 of their modest total of 159. Marc Symington (6- 63 from 19.2 overs) and Janaka Gunaratne (3-38) became Pool’s bowling stars. Chris Fawcett (69 not out) top scored as Hartlepool won by eight wickets.

The game between Richmondshire (214-7, including 88 from Shani Dissanayake) and Thornaby (81-1) was badly hit by multiple stoppages for rain, and Darlington’s visit to Great Ayton (87-1) was completely washed out after only 20 overs.

In Division One, Barnard Castle took back the lead from Stokesley to spoil a week in which they had beaten two premier league teams in the Kerridge Cup. Stokesley’s game was washed out by the rain, while Barney grabbed a vital victory to give them a ten-point advantage.

In Sunday’s Tall Trees Hotel Macmillan Cup Final Blackhall managed to throw away the most splendid of starts.With 102 without loss on the board in just the 18th over, a massive total looked possible, but the departure of South African Warren Swan for 70 heralded an epic collapse to 141 all out.

Graham Shaw (67no) and Jonny Spillane (44) then enabled Marton to coast to an eightwicket victory. Shaw, who also took 2-17 in eight overs, collected the man-of-the-match award.

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