Scorecard

Consett & District Cricket Club Consett CC 3rd XI v Bill Quay Academy on Sun 21 Jul 2013 at 1:45
Consett & District Cricket Club Won by 95 runs

Match report Sunday saw Bill Quay as the visitors and the only other team who had so far lost only 1 league game and were on an unbeaten run of 8 games in both league and cup play. Regular captain Cox was left out of the side in light of him being called into captain the 2nd X1 on Saturday, a debut was handed to new recruit Andy Bennett and there was a last minute change to the team which saw Ben Clarke replace Philly Huntsman amid some confusion over the return of Phil from his holidays. He was however to play his part later in the day. Southern took over captains duties for the second time this season hoping to preserve his 100% record.

A warm and muggy, yet cloudy day greeted the players but due to the recent hot and dry weather the pitch looked an absolute belter for batting and so this was to prove as the day wore on. Bill Quay's skipper was to call incorrectly at the toss and Southern had no hesitation in asking the visitors to have a bowl. Before the commencement of the match both teams respectfully observed an impeccable minutes silence in memory of the late Phil Williamson after the club had received the tragic and unfortunate news of his passing away the week before.

Scott and Bainbridge were given the duty of opening the innings for Consett and were faced with an opening combination of seam and spin from the visitors. They were to add 58 for the first wicket in 14 overs through some good running and good shot selection to get the innings off to a solid start. Bainbridge was first to go after skying a catch that was well held at midwicket after making a patient 29. This brought Clarke to the crease as he and Scott took the score along to 78 before Scott was caught after a well constructed 31 which took his weekend aggregate to 97. A recent run of good form saw Johnson promoted to No. 4 and he and Clarke started to up the run rate taking advantage of some wayward deliveries but pushing hard between the sticks at every opportunity before Clarke mis-timed a drive after a bright and breezy 38 and was caught at cover. Turnbull joined Johnson at the crease but before any further runs had been added Johnson attempted a suicidal single after the 'keeper fumbled the ball and was run out for 17 having looked in no trouble whatsoever (moron). This left the score poised at 129/4 after 27 overs leaving the home team needing to quickly rebuild from the loss of quick wickets in their search for an imposing total but knowing that quick scoring players were still to come. Wilkinson (pro) who has been in superb form so far this season was next to to the crease and was immediately into his stride with his usual range of strokes and energetic running but was to lose partner Turnbull for 7 after he feathered one behind attempting to force off the back foot off the impressive Covell meaning the score was now 147/5 at the end of 31 and memories of the recent capitulation against Backworth still strong in the memories of most. However this was not to be the case today as Southern who had tactically moved himself down the order came to the crease. He was soon into his stride striking some of his trademark blows including one towering 6 which easily cleared the pavillion and almost caused Susan's car a second visit to the repair shop in a fortnight! Together they added 78 runs in only 9 overs but despite the high scoring rate they were never reckless. During this partnership Wilkinson was to reach his 4th half century of the campaign before finally playing his first reckless shot across the line a little. He failed to get on top of a slog sweep and top edged it to square leg after making an impressive 52 in double quick time. The score was now 225/6 with 6 to go and maximum batting points had already been achieved. Cook was next to come in and provided more entertainment with some big hits for 6 as he and Southern added a quick 24 before Southern was bowled by a full length delivery attempting to hit out after making a more than useful 33. Some late quick running and big hits eventually saw Cook to for 18 also bolwed off a full length delivery attempting to hit out before late caameos from debutant Bennett and Marshall who laughed in the face of his usual 'Athers' tag to smash an unbeaten 9 from only 4 balls which would see the home side post an imposing total of 265/8 and in the process bat out the full 45 overs for the first time all season. The two Bill Quay spinners Cox and Covell were the standout men as they bowled 17 of these overs going for only 60 and managing 5 maidens between them meaning that 205 had been scored from the other 27 overs. Perhaps this was a sign that was spin was to play a vital part later in the day, much to ponder for both sides at the tea interval!

The sun eventually made an appearance at the start of the second innings, probably not something the home side wanted to see when faced with defending a total against a side that have regularly scored around the 250 mark this season (albeit their ground is about the size of our square).

The innings started in the worst possible fashion for Consett. Regular opener Cook took the new(isn) ball and saw opening batsman Hayden(thankfully not Matthew) shelled first ball at gully. He made them pay by setting the tone and taking 10 from the first over. This appeared to work well in the favour of the home side however as it gave them an immediate wake up call that this was going to be no walk in the park despite their imposing total which required the visitors to be scoring at 6 an over throughout. Clarke took the ball from the other end and immediately settled into a good rhythm and found a consistent line and length as was needed and made the batsmen work for their runs. At the 10 over mark the visitors had reached 45/0 which is just the start they would have hoped for. However by this point Consett had already dropped 3 relatively simple chances and missed a tight run out. Maybe it wasn't to be the home sides day? The opening pair extended their opening stand to 62 before Hayden was the first to depart after Johnson happily accepted his chance to atone for his earlier drop and this time complete the catch off the bowling of the relieved Cook who should be now have had 4 wickets rather than 1!! the scoring had begun to slow somewhat as Cook had found a tighter line and the introdcution of Southern saw Consett begin to get on top. Unfortunately bad news was to follow as Turnbull dived for a sharp chance at gully to dismiss opener Bell he spilled it and landed awkwardly on the ball in his ribcage area, the 4th to go down so far from the bolwing of the despairing Cook. Despite the home support suggesting he maybe were not made of stern enough stuff he was to retreat to the dressing room to be replaced by the ever keen Huntsman in the field (it was later revealed that a couple of hours sleep to cure his hangover had eased the pain somewhat). The experienced Covell came in at 3 and joined the much younger bell and through sensible and steady accumulation they progressed the score past 100 at the halfway point. The teams paused for drinks with Bill Quay still very much confident of chasing down their total by scoring the remaining 165 in the final 21 overs. Maybe they had forgotten how vast the Consett ground is or were just that confident. The game was restarted and now effectively took on the look of a cup tie as far as the visitors were concerned. The hosts were in no hurry to panic however as they knew a run rate now above 8 an over would still be a considerable achievement. They did an excellent job as Wilkinson and Southern maintained excellent tight lines around off stump and were soundly backed by some excellent and athletic fielding, something their much younger team has to benefit them over their much older opponents. In this space of time they went close on several occasions as the visitors set about their own game of wacky races as their desperation for runs became more apparent. Covell was next to depart with the score with the score on 121 as he aimed a mighty heave at Wilkinson and saw the furniture rearranged after he had made a useful 24. This brought C Malley to the crease who must have been in some sort of form having made 113 the previous week. He was quickly into his stride easing 3 quick boundaries with minimal of effort. At 31 overs the visitors had reached 135/2. Their ask was now almost at 10 runs per over as they required 131 from 14 overs. At this point Consett were just hoping to contain the runs and close out victory rather than worry too much about gaining all 10 wickets. However they introduction of young leg spinner Bradley was about to turn the game on its head. After a steady opening over in which he conceded just 4 runs his second over was to be the one to get the ball rolling. First up he had opening batsman Bell well held at midwicket by Cook after he had made an excellent 58 for his team, 2 balls later he had the key wicket of Malley as he was caught and bowled attempting to work the ball to leg against the spin having scored only 12. The visitors were now 142/4 after 33 and needed in excess of 10 runs per over with their top 4 all gone. Cosnett sensed the chance was now theirs to capture all 10 wickets as they knew the visitors remaining batsmen had to come to the wicket swinging(no keys or fruit bowl jokes needed thanks). A couple of big hits from Coleman and Cox saw 12 taken from Bradley's 3rd over but he was to have the last laugh. Once Wilkinson had finished his spell (1-37) the second young spinner Scott was brought into the attack with his flighted left arm off spin. Given a combined age younger than only 1 or 2 of the opposing teams players the two bowled with maturity beyond their years. They were more than happy to 'give it some air' in a bid for turn and bounce and were duly rewarded. Several batsman were to completely misjudge bit heaves against the turning ball and wickets fell at an alarming rate. Scott did well to grab a caught and bowled chance but the star of the show was undoubtedly Bradley as with the help of catches from Marshall, Bennett, Cook, Bradley himself, a stumping from Johnson and an lbw he recorded sensational figures of 7/24 from only 6.3 overs. I believe that this are the best figures in the league so far this season and eclipse the clubs current best of the season previously held by Cook who had 5-22 in the first game of the season at Wearmouth.
The visitors appeared somewhat shellshocked at what had happened after their earlier arrogance and confidence had been proven to be completely false.

Big thanks as ever go to Susan in her preparation of the teas, Alan for getting the stuff, Will for manning the bar(and testing the cider), Jonny for scoring and all those who came along to show support!

After Fenham's loss and the fact Backworth have games in hand Consett's lead is now extended to 46 points again as they had 143 compared with Fenham and Backworth's 97. Consett have 3 games left to play, one of which is against Fenham whose title challenge appears to have faded after yesterdays defeat. The battle would now appear to be realistically appear to be between Consett, Backworth and maybe Bill Quay Academy have an outside chance. Consett can guarantee promotion with 2 more wins and know that 55 out of 60 points from their remaining 3 games will mean that no other team can catch them and that a first piece of silverware since the Bob Langford Trophy in 2002 is most certainly within their grasp!! Depending on how results go in next weeks games they could even theoretically do both of these in their next and final home game against Littletown on August 4th so everyone get up there and cheer the lads on for what will be a vital game!!

Consett & District Cricket Club Consett CC 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
6nb 4w 12b 5lb 
for 8 wickets
27
265		        
Chris Bainbridge ct C Malley b P Cox 29 3
Dominic Scott ct unknown b M Malley 31 5
Ben Clarke ct unknown b C Lingard 38 6
Tom Johnson run out K Gibson 17 2 1 2 1
27 - Stephen Turnbull ct J Hayden b E Covell 7 1
00 - Simon Wilkinson ct N Robson b L Bell 52 7 1
David Southern b C Malley 33 4 1
30 - Nicholas Cook b C Lingard 18 1 2 2
Andrew Bennett Not Out  4 1
17 - Jack Marshall Not Out  9 2 1
90 - Jamie Bradley  

Bill Quay Academy Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
N Robson9.004600.005.11
P Cox9.0328128.003.11
C Malley5.0139139.007.80
M Malley5.0125125.005.00
C Lingard7.0059229.508.43
E Covell8.0232132.004.00
L Bell2.0017117.008.50

Bill Quay Academy Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 4w 2b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
9
170 (41.3 overs)		     
j Hayden ct T Johnson b N Cook 36 7
l Bell ct N Cook b Jamie Bradley 58 9
E Covell b S Wilkinson 24 4
C Malley ct + b Jamie Bradley 12 3
P Cox ct N Cook b Jamie Bradley 13 1 1
L Coleman ct A Bennett b Jamie Bradley 9 1
I Donaldson ct J Marshall b Jamie Bradley 7 1
N Robson ct + b D Scott 0
K Gibson st T Johnson b Jamie Bradley 2
C Lingard lbw Jamie Bradley 0
M Malley Not Out  0

Consett & District Cricket Club Consett CC 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
30 - Nicholas Cook9.0238138.004.22
Ben Clarke5.012200.004.40
David Southern9.003600.004.00
00 - Simon Wilkinson9.0037137.004.11
90 - Jamie Bradley6.322473.433.69
Dominic Scott3.0010110.003.33

  • Umpire :
    Mark Laidlaw and George Oliver
  • Scorer :
    Jonny Bradley