Barnard Castle CC
WITH the 32nd six of an extraordinary match, in which only five balls remained, Richard Stanwix thunderously propelled Barney into the record books on Saturday. The decisive blow by the 2nd XI captain, his own ninth six in a breath-taking innings, took his team to 349 for 9 and victory by one wicket against Northallerton.
It was the highest chase in the history of both the club and the league. Since the former is 190 years old and the latter 131 it is some achievement: no team have successfully pursued such a high target, precious few have been asked to.
The monumental task seemed helpless at most stages. Not least when Barney were 8-2 with both openers gone and then, after the most defiant of efforts led by Adam Bainbridge and Cameron McKnight, at 271-9 with 76 still needed from 66 balls and only one wicket in hand.
Stanwix and his tenth wicket partner Shane Mullery, whose contribution should never be underestimated, nervelessly assessed their team’s position. Their improbable partnership was as noteworthy for the balls from which they did not score runs as for those which were summarily dismissed.
Mullery took 34 balls over his unbeaten 11 which included two fours, three singles and 29 which were stolidly defended. His mission was not to get out while his captain did the rest.
Once they decided that victory was indeed attainable, Stanwix was unstoppable. The pattern of the partnership was bizarre: 18 runs came from the 44th over, none from the 45th, 16 from the 46th, four from the 47th, three from the 48th, only one from the 49th.
The 50th had to be a big one and Stanwix duly hit two sixes and a four with 20 coming from it all. It meant Mullery could carefully play out the 51st. Stanwix then immediately ended the match from the first ball of the 52nd and final over. His unbeaten 81 came from 48 balls and contained three fours as well as the sixes.
Barney had been gifted those two invaluable extra overs because Northallerton declared their innings at 347-6 after 48 overs. They have scored heavily this season and Sam McCullagh made his fourth century of the summer in rousing style.
All Barney’s bowlers were made to suffer on a perfect pitch on the edge of the square and the boundary on the Mayfield side invitingly close. Northallerton’s first wicket put on 207 before Joe Clarkson was out for 85 from 88 balls and they must have assumed their total was impregnable.
That feeling will have multiplied when both Barney’s openers had gone by the sixth over. The damage was thrillingly repaired by Bainbridge, who was in rampant mode, and McKnight.
Bainbridge fell five short of a deserved century 76 of his runs having come in boundaries. Daniel Watson plundered 39, Ross Hutchinson blazed 19 but there seemed simply too much to do. Stanwix and Mullery thought otherwise and they made history.
Northallerton 347 for 6 dec (48 overs, S McCullagh 130, J Clarkson 85, J Shanks 31no, N Wilson 31no, J Toulson 2-35); Barney 349 for 9 (51.1 overs, A Bainbridge 95, R Stanwix 81no, C McKnight 55, D Watson 39, R Hutchinson 19, S Mullery 11no, J Rabdle 4-61, H Bartlett 3-90)
Barney won by 1 wkt
NYSD Premier Division
Richmondshire v Barney
MEANWHILE, in the upper echelon there were no heroics. Barney were simply pulverised by Richmondshire in a match that may go some way to deciding the eventual pecking order in the NYSD League Premier Division.
In the parlance, Barney were never at the races. They were out-batted, out-bowled and out-thought by their opponents and if the fielding honours were shared it barely bridged the gap.
Richmond’s dominance was born of knowing how a much-used pitch should best work to their advantage. Runs were not easy to come by but they scrapped for them, hurried their opponents and realised early that hard-run singles and twos were as important as boundaries.
Barney’s spinners never quite got to grips with the surface and after the usual hectic start by Richmond – 70 runs added by the 15th over – they were undone by their nemesis, Gary Pratt. Since spending a season with Barney in 2011, Pratt has enjoyed nothing more than piling up runs against them.
His league average against Barney is ten runs per innings higher than his career figure. This was his eighth fifty in 19 innings against his former club (there have been two hundreds as well) and was typically shrewd.
He bedded in for an age, kept company by Mike Layfield who has returned to form in high style, careful to keep the board ticking over, taking no risks. It was high-class stuff.
Had Layfield been caught after offering a tough return catch to Finn Usher when still in single figures the fortunes of both player and match might have been transformed.
The Robs, West and Dixon, both bowled accurately and Richard Watson, finding his groove, took five wickets as Richmond tried accelerated towards the end. It was a tough day at the office for the reliable performers, Karl Carver and Josh Bousfield.
Having seen how Richmond went about their business Barney might have duplicated the method. Instead, there followed a litany of ill-conceived and poorly-executed shots against the turning ball. Mistaking aggression for vigilance, all duly perished. Only Samarth Seth was exempt, receiving a spiteful lifter which he could only steer into slip’s hands.
The chase was over soon after it had begun. All Barney’s top five reached double figures, none went beyond 33.
The Afghan leg spinner, Shafiqullah Ghafari, was allowed to cast a bewildering spell through this carelessness.
Barney were bowled out in the 42nd over. They remain in third place but this was their fourth defeat of the summer, their second in succession and there is much work to do. It will have to start against leaders Middlesbrough this Saturday.
Richmond
R Carr c Carver b West 22, T Dowson, lbw Dixon 46, M Layfield, c Dixon b Watson, G Pratt 86 no, S Ghafari, c P Merryweather, b Watson, S Winter c Bousfield b Watson 4, S Wood, c T Merryweather, b Watson 3, M Price, c Dixon, b Watson 6.
Bowling; J Bousfield, 10-0-54-0, K Carver 15-1-77-0, R Dixon, 6-0-21-1, R West, 7-0-20-1, F Usher, 6-0-41-0, R Watson, 6-0-37-5
Barney
J Quinn, c Ghafari, b Brooks 17, F Usher, c Carr, b Brooks 26, S Seth, c Layfield, b Ghafari 28, K Carver, c Layfield, b Brooks 33, R Borrowdale, c&b Ghafari 15, J Bousfield b Ghafari 3, R West lbw Ghafari 3, R Watson, c Carr, b Ghafari 4, T Merryweather lbw S Ghafari, R Dixon not out 24, P Merryweather, lbw b Pratt.
Bowling: S Ghafari 15-2-51-6, J Dowson 6-1-16-0, S Wood 6-0-25-0, T Brooks 14-0-71-3, G Pratt 0.3-0-1-1
Richmond Won by 86 runs
Barney III v Sedgefield III
THE 3rd XI found the imposing total set by Sedgefield a little too much. After making a solid start they fell well short. Joe Toulson was again the side’s top scorer, though for once was not able to go on to a century.
As usual, Barney used seven bowlers who had varying degrees of success. Their cause was not helped by fielding errors. Matt Porter’s unbeaten 150 from 118 balls led the way for Sedgefield but he was dropped before scoring and five times subsequently.
Sedgefield 246 for 4 (40 overs, M Porter 150no, D Bill 42, O Welsby 2-54); Barney 111 all out (J Toulson 41, O Welsby 21, A Gedye 14, G Hampson 3-33)
Sedgefield won by 135 runs
Darlington and District Cricket League
THE A division reached the half way point on Saturday and once again, the struggles of teams to get 11 players on the field affected things.
For the second time this season, leaders Haughton were handed 20 points after a concession, this time from East Cowton.
It means after nine of their 18 fixtures, Haughton have a maximum 180 points, but have played just seven games.
Lands could only muster nine for their game at Middleton St George and having been put into bat were bowled out for 66. MSG knocked the runs off in 7.3 overs with skipper Dale Johnson taking out his frustrations by blasting 59 off just 25 balls.
Raby Castle suffered few alarms in claiming the points against Eryholme.
Matt Dent (83) and brother Joe (45) shared a century opening stand as Raby piled up 223-6.
Angus Potter hit 56 in Eryholme’s reply, but they were always behind the run rate and closed on 182-5. Elliott Davis was the pick of the Raby bowlers with 3-42 from his ten overs.
The best game of the afternoon came at Cockerton. The home side were held to 156-7 by visitors Cliffe, Antony Rawlings top scoring with 88.
In a nailbiting finish set up by Chris Heron’s 72, Cliffe were bowled out just a boundary short of victory.
In the division’s other game, Barningham’s 298-7 was far too many for struggling Aldbrough St John.
In the B division, Middleton-in-Teesdale’s Anth Coatsworth hit a century – but ended on the losing side after visitors Catterick Village posted 256-5 in their 40 overs after being put into bat.
Opening the batting, Coatsworth made 106 not out for 88 balls, but could call on little support – the next highest scorer was 20 and Middleton closed on 190-9.
Raby Castle II, by contrast, completed an excellent run chase to take the points at Richmondshire V, who had closed on 191-7 from their 40 overs.
Young Finlay Kirkup bowled beautifully to take 4-53 for Raby.
In reply it was the turn of his dad Rob to take centre stage. Opening the batting he hit 114no as Raby won with nearly eight overs to spare.
Other B division results
Spennymoor 212-9, Cliffe II 83; Middleton Tyas 304-1, Haughton II 294-5; Aldbrough St John II conceded their fixture to Oxbridge; Witton le Wear 197-7, Barton 186-9.
In the C division, a good all-round batting effort from Etherley’s top order ensured a competitive 188-5 was set for hosts Barton II, with Kevin Hazell’s 41 the top score.
Four bowlers then shared the wickets as Barton were held to 133-9 in reply.
Elsewhere, Cockerton II won by seven wickets at Northallerton III closed on 129-9 in their 40 overs.
Durham and North East League Division 2
Evenwood… 352-6
Hunwick…… 246
EVENWOOD are up to second in the table after an absolute run-fest at the Randolph Social Welfare ground.
After winning the toss and batting first, openers Luke Bannister and Thomas Teesdale put on 147 for the first wicket in double quick time.
Teesdale was out for 74, but Bannister went in to complete a chanceless century before he was removed for 108.
Owen Pedelty (67) and Regan Goundry (41) continued where the openers had left off as first the 300 was past and then the 350 was brought up in the final over.
Hunwick made a decent fist of the chase. There were half centuries for Stephen Hill and Aaron Proud, but in the end the visitors just ran out of steam.
In such a high scoring match, Kieran Petch bowled much better than his figures of 2-52 suggest.
Evenwood face a tough-looking challenge this coming Saturday with an away trip to Tudhoe, who sit fourth in the table.
