After an initial early foray into
the midweek cup competiton which saw two defeats it
came as a surprise towards the end of the season when
the news came through that we were second in the league
behind New Hartley. After beating them at the beginning
of August we then won all remaining games to win the
league by having beaten them, we'll get to that later
however.
We continue to stick to the midweek
policy of using players who are unavailable to play
regularly at weekends, and ended up with a consistent
core to the side which was rarely disrupted with 10
players playing in at least 8 of the 12 games.
The cup early in the season saw some
good individual performances, and a first appearance
for Ben Chappell and a comfortable victory against Hebburn
where the opposition score was overhauled in just seven
overs, with 3 sixes from Graham Irvin in an 18 ball
innings of 39*. These rapid early scores became a characteristic
of the season. D.S.S saw Chris Barlow's best return
for the side.
The St.George's game saw Graham's first
50 for the club, and the skipper's first wickets. The
first game in this league against Warkworth saw a narrow
defeat, with 14 being taken off the final over to give
them victory. Alan Varley's first wickets of the season
at Hebburn at the end of June coupled with Roger Bell's
41 gave the team another win. This was followed by 50
against D.S.S in a 96 partnership with Stuart Taylor.
Defeat a week later against Stobswood proved to be the
last of the season despite 44 from Roger, who proved
prolific throughout the season, being given the opportunity
to open the innings.
A victory at Heaton, an unusual occurrence
in recent years followed in a vicious gale that took
the antipodean contingent by surprise, not to mention
the rest of us, it didn't however stop Alan Varley collecting
a 5 wicket haul. Gosforth saw what was probably one
of the biggest stands for Ponteland, an unbeaten 130
in 17 overs, with Roger's 58* being outscored by Russ
Nixon's 63, both better than a run a ball. The reply
was restricted with Ron Fairweather, Alan and Chris
all conceding 15 or less from 5 overs, the skipper let
it slip somewhat, giving away 31, although the 5 wickets
probably make up for this!!
What proved to be the pivotal match
of the season was the game with New Hartley, they arrived
as league leaders with us second, two points behind.
We were completely unaware of this until they told us.
Games were reduced to 16 overs as light was in short
supply in the evenings. Stuart's 43 in 29 balls set
up a total of 105. Andy Morgan opened the bowling for
the only time in the season they totalled 94 in their
16 overs, a narrow victory that put us to the top of
the table with 3 games to go.
Northern Electric racked up 127 in
16 overs in the next game, but with light closing in
Roger (48*) and Andy Crawford (55*) put on a century
for the second wicket to win in the last over.
The last game of the season was at
Bates, this was the night of the Newcastle v Sunderland
game and some regulars chose to go to this instead.
Nearly all of the North East was engulfed in torrential
rain, except a tiny section of land near the coast.
Our game took place in this area, and so did New Hartley's,
by a quirk of fate we still had the chance to win the
league. In dark conditions we lost the toss and they
scored 55 in the first 8 overs. Jonny Appleby playing
his first game of the season then bowled superbly taking
3-20 alongside Alan Varley 3-22 to restrict them to
99, with excellent fielding all round, two superb catches
by Carl Gamble stick in the memory, in one of his last
games for the club. 100 in 16 overs in barely existing
light looked tough, but Roger and Russ again saw a commanding
10 wicket win in the 14th. The title was ours, and 5
minutes later the heavens opened.
Throughout the season we stuck to the
Wednesday principles of enjoying playing the game of
cricket, winning the league was an unexpected, but welcome
bonus, and hopefully we can continue our principles
into the new century. Roll on the year 2000. |
