Whitaker and Webster whallop Hexham to first win of campaign

A boundary laden knock between opener Andrew Whitaker and Andrew Webster steered Hexham to an innings score of 301, seeing them to victory over a battling Newcastle III who had their opener Donaldson hitting an unbeaten ton in reply.

Whitaker was particularly expansive as he and Ben Thompson were asked to bat first by Newcastle’s stand-in captain Patrick McMorran, hitting boundaries at ease as he punished the many bad balls.

After Thompson departed, Webster joined in the boundary blitz and the pairing pushed the score beyond 200.

While Whitaker rarely gave a chance, although he was dropped in his 90s, before being caught 19 runs after his century, Webster was to be frustrated in search of his ton as he was removed just two runs short.

Raji Kingman and captain Dan Toward then contributed to see Leazes to an imposing innings total.

But with Donaldson in excellent form as he remained at the crease throughout, Newcastle were up with the run rate as they made a great game of it in reply.

Some shaky bowling was punished as the visitors put up a good challenge, forcing Toward in to giving Thompson a rare bowl in the search of somebody who could bowl stump to stump.

And he ripped through the bottom order to end Newcastle’s chase prematurely, making a big impact by claiming a hat-trick. With the first ball of his next over, he claimed the final wicket to make it four wickets from four deliveries!

Haltwhistle’s Joe Barber made the division’s only other century of the weekend as he and opening partner Dan Parker worked to inflict a first defeat on the season on Humshaugh .

The pair got their team off to a quick start as they peppered the boundary, Barber flying his way to a ton by hitting 15 fours and three sixes and Parker making 43 by hitting five fours.

The introduction of Ed Crawford as fifth bowler brought about the breakthrough as he had Parker caught at long by Nathan Byerley and then followed it up by trapping Micky Armstrong lbw for a golden duck.

At the other end, Barber kept on finding the boundary at regular intervals as he passed his 100, before going in the 19th over to a catch at cover by Jack Garrett off the bowling of Luke Parkinson.

Dan Kirkup’s typically aggressive style, which saw one four and two sixes hit, helped steer Haltwhistle past the target of 190 posted by Humshaugh.

The visitors had won the toss and chose to bat first, but lost Byerley early on to a Kirkup delivery.

Opener Allan Murray steadied the ship with a patient knock, while Rob Forster was more attacking as he quickly got to his half century before being caught by Kirkup off Philip Thompson.

The same combination saw off Nick Reid, while the in-form Jack Garrett was out to a quick piece of fielding from Barber who ran him out with a fantastic direct hit.

All the while, Murray batted well for a total of 88 to allow the previously unbeaten Humshaugh to post a challenging score of 190.

Allendale heaped more pressure on a struggling Wylam side as they thumped their way to a 10 wicket victory.

Ben Lloyd and Tim Raglan went for the jugular and ended the game within 17 overs, going for the big hits from the opening delivery.

They were both relieved to have survived early scares though, Lloyd dropped in the opening over and his captain caught from a no ball in the second. Making the most of the let offs, they made Wylam pay with Raglan’s 82 coming from just 48 balls as he hit eight sixes and four fours. Lloyd, who faced 52, hit six fours to push the score on.

Wylam, who are struggling for players this term, did manage to keep their innings intact as they denied Allendale maximum points by refusing to be bowled out.

David Teasdale was the main source of their frustration, digging in as he opened alongside brother James, his 26 runs coming from 30 overs in the middle.

Greg Brown, Chris Japes and Richard Opie similarly dug in and not even five quick wickets from Ross Laidlaw could earn Allendale all 20 points with Eddy Jackson and Scott Garrow seeing the overs out.

Haydon Bridge finished the day as victors by 10 wickets as they breezed to 20 points over a below par Benwell Hill III .

Sarwar Kabir, Karim and Sal Shah got them off to a decent enough start as they chose to bat first, but no-one else in the order could cope with Bridge’s varied bowling. With all four bowling well, it was Ian Watson who recaptured his form which saw him top the division’s bowling averages charts in 2016 as he finished with four wickets.

The low total of 85 was no problem for Bridge openers Chris Welton and Robert Gibson as they put their front feet forward from the start. Of the final score of 86, there was one single, one two and three extras scored, with the rest coming from boundaries as the pair made sure of an early finish.

After four games, reigning champions Stocksfield are the only team with maximum points after they returned from South Northumberland 1864 with all 20.

It was a close-run thing for the large part, but it was the away side’s total of 140 which proved the match winning number. With rain delaying the game by half-an-hour and reducing the game to 35 overs per side, Stocksfield lost their first three wickets cheaply to leave them on 48-4.

Captain Ali Thirlwell steadied the ship and was aided by a steady knock from Mark Jacobs, but it was the arrival of teenager Paul Brown at the crease which proved vital for the visitors.

He and Thirlwell pushed the score well beyond 100 to put up a challenging target for their hosts.

With Perry Hall enjoying an accurate opening spell, with Chris Patterson weighing in with two wickets, South North limped to 28-5.

But a seventh wicket stand from captain David Harbottle and Northumberland’s impressive ladies player Ami Campbell put the chase on track.

They both impressed during their 38-run partnership, but Stocksfield returned back on top with Jacobs cleaning up the tail with good pace and bounce.

Matfen Hall tasted defeat for the first time this season as they went down to Newton on Sunday afternoon.

The in-form side were off to a good start as they chose to bat first, Ian Pilkington and Mark Irving taking them to 36 in 12 overs. The former was in great form, hitting right fours and a six on his way to 45. Will O’Brien came in and hit a quick 28 and Max Stephens batted well for 31, but the rest of the order struggled with Aaron Tiffin the only other batsman to reach double figures.

The game was also notable for the first appearance of the season for Peter Armstrong, his 53rd consecutive year!

Amila Prabhandika and former Benwell Hill man Dave Archbold restricted Matfen’s score.

In reply, Tiffin, Alex Tait and O’Brien bowled tightly, but Newton opener Dinak Rawlley let loose and smashed some quick boundaries on his way to a quick 46.

He and fellow Chris Wilkie got the team off to a great start, before three quick wickets from left armer Jock McDonald and the stumping of Wilkie put the game in balance with the score on 98-4.

The returning Tiffin beat the bat countless times with no luck and Tait conceded just 11 runs from eight overs, but Jonathan Bennett and Andrew Jones stood firm and they hit the required 55 runs between them to secure a home win.