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Choudry makes the difference

Kirkwood arrived early for a prompt start at sunny Ulgham. Rowlands batted first thanks to Alans dubious skills with the coin and he opened with Matt. The pair put on 23 for the first wicket when Alan on 8 (one 4) and going well surrendered to first slip. Matt punctuated his cautious, responsible approach with classy boundary 4s and scored four of these before leaving one that came back. Man of the Match Colin Tait and Ian Younger then batted through to belie fears of a full scale collapse with an array of bats being twidled near the pavilion. Colin scored 48 not out with seven 4s and a lost ball huge 6 over mid on. Ian gained momentum with 27 not out (three 4s). Rowlands thus made 127-2 against a very varied attack of seven bowlers with 20 wides being contributed to the score!

Kirkwood's reply was based around Shobir Choudry's 61. Robbie Burns and Keith Clark had little early joy as Kirkwood got off to a rapid start. Keith 2-0-21-0 was replaced by Ian Younger who became the man to take the wickets. His three cost 36 runs in a useful 4 over spell with two lbws and a clean bowled. Robbie bowled his third over and was replaced by Don. Still Choudry kept finding the boundary and the score mounted. After 3 overs Don was switched to the other end to allow two overs from Gary Hall. Don's first ball from the 'good end' brought Choudry forward and he was beaten and stumped by the ever alert Gowla. Don's finishing with 4-0-16-1 and Kirkwood needed 20 from the last 2 overs. Gary went for a few too many with 2-0-22-0 and Robbie had the difficult task to concede only 5 off his last over. The middle order batsmen completed their task with three balls to spare and Rowlands lost by 6 wickets. Robbie bowled 3.5-0-35-0 with too many wides. Rowlands 3 points, Kirkwood 7 from a good spirited game.

Davidson Disects Genetics

Alan won the toss at Swalwell vs Genetics on another blustery evening. Matt and Davo made a good start with runs coming mainly in boundary fours off Davo's flashing blade. The first wicket stand was 46 before Davo went caught behind off change bowling in the fifth over for 30 (five 4s and a 6). Matt batted sensibly for 56 not out (six 4s) & slow bowler Andy Goulding proved to be difficult to score more than in singles. Bob Tulip at number three hit a more rapid 16 with two 4s before his six hit attempt was spectacularly caught at head height on the long long off boundary. Roy survived some catching practice before being bowled for 12 (one 4) and then Ian Younger was run out for a useful six. New man in Phil Hornsey at 6 showed the full face of the bat with a 1 and a 2 to the deep fielders off his only two balls faced. Matt was thus the steady man in a good total of 138-4.

The Genetics reply got off to a fast start and it was game on! The opening attack of Bob Wilson and Robbie Burns conceded 49 runs off the first four overs, despite the running out of Bennet thanks to quick work by Robbie and keeper Alan and a missed chance off Bob. Very much game on at this stage! Bob continued to complete 4-0-38-0 with some improvement but a series of no ball calls for offending the umpire with his front foot placement. Man of the Match Davo then replaced Robbie and disected the innings with a superb 4-0-22-5; three bowled, one lbw and a catch by Matt. His low flying missiles were just too much for Genetics who capitulated. Davo's most important wicket was Mike Gardner bowled for 39. At the 12 over stage (of 16) Genetics were 100-6. Don and Robbie then bowled tightly enough to kill off any chance of a defeat. Robbie much improved his figures to 4-1-25-1, thanks also to another Matt catch, and Don took a useful couple of wickets, bowling Reynolds for 14 (after spilling a c&b) and inspiring a good catch on the square leg boundary from Roy to claim 4-0-12-2. With Genetics managing only 5 runs off the last four overs to reach 105-9, victory was by 33 runs.

Widows in a spin. As Rowlands Through in Cup!

Rowlands faced new team Black Widows in the first round of the cup. Stand in skipper Roy won the toss and elected to bat at Whitley Bay CC. Bob Tulip with typical aggression and Colin Thornton with typical caution started off for the visitors on a very suspicious pitch. Bob hit a 4 and then got caught picking out square leg for 5. In came Roy and with Colin they plugged away with good running against a varied attack. The pick was pacy Ian Dunn with 3-0-21-0. They moved the score from 17-1 to 96-2 when Roy, immediately following a big six was caught for 37 (4 fours and a six) in the 12th over. Next in was the born again Sunil who showed some classy shots for 19 (3 fours) before Robbie, in his enthusiasm for the suicidal, ran him out. Meanwhile, mainstay Colin had amassed 37 with 2 fours before being bowled by a straight one. Robbie scored a quick 13 not out with 2 fours and Ian Younger came in late for 1 not out with Gary Hall padded up. 154-4 was a good score on a dodgy wicket with Roy grateful for Bob Tulip's ice pack on the forearm!

In reply, the very keen Black Widows came out with guns blazing and six hit Robbie in the first over with both barrels! At the other end, new recruit Bob Wilson bowled straight and more economically. He took 2 wickets in each of his first 2 overs and completed with an impressive 4-1-13-4 - all bowled centrally. Robbie bowled on to take 4-0-27-2 as he improved and homed in on the stumps at least twice. Change bowler Don claimed the leg stump with his first ball, the arm ball that zipped through! Widows were realing but kept up the aggression with a big target in sight. Thanks to catches by Bob Wilson and Colin Thornton, both well placed at mid on and mid off, Don achieved 3-0-30-3 with Gary Hall taking the other wicket thanks to a catch by Bob Tulip and claiming a respectable 2-0-14-1 with Roy not needed this time. Behind the stumps, Bob Tulip left the scene with sore hands from Robbie's varied bowling but Ian Younger stepped into the breach well and stopped most of the traffic. Widows at 88 all out left Rowlands the ones in the black! Victory was by 66 well earned runs. All the Rowlands lads fielded well.

Rowlands Warded Off!

Alan put the visitors from Beamish and East Stanley in to bat. Michael and Banty took some early flack as Anthony Ward teed off from the start. He reached 97 before Roy had him caught by Ian. Michael's 2-0-18-0 and Banty's 4-0-40-0 were followed by 4-0-49-3 from Roy with further catches c/o young Adam and Craig but no wickets for Don with 4-0-42-0 as it rained sixes! Beamish amassed 150-3 off their 14 overs with Nick Young chipping in with 20 not out.

The banter was amusing as Rowlands took to the field with an onerous task ahead. Matt took only one off the first over, bowled by that man Ward! Colin Thornton returning to the side from the history books was unfortunate to be out first ball at the other end, caught off a hard hit drive to mid off. Roy came in at number three for a man of the match stint of sensible batting. After the early losses of Matt caught off Ward for 4 and then Craig bowled by his namesake for 6 (1 four), Roy opened up more. Ian looked good but went caught for 3 and then Colin Tait came in to steady the ship at 38-4 and an impossible target. Roy made 42 with 7 fours before being bowled by Deacon. Taity steadied the tail with 24 not out on his favourite well manicured square (3 fours). Alan was caught for 2, Banty for 1 and Michael still there on 2 with the keen Adam Tait well padded up and Don half prepared at No. 11! Rowlands finished on 90-7.

One batting point won and defeat by 60 runs.

Rowlands YAARS oo'd

Ten man Rowlands, after late illness call off from Lewis Bruce, lost the toss and YAARS batted aggressively! New recruits Dave Banty Moore and Micheal Brown had to contend with the legside swinging of the bat to every ball from the off as Naveed Ahmed and Billy Ahmed teed off. Matt took a good catch at deepish mid on off Banty to claim Naveed for 12. This brought in Omar Ahmed who seemed to be on the same sort of tablets! Banty bowel Billy for his quick 28 with the score on 70 after 6 overs! Michael had no luck with a couple of spilled catches but both the openers showed they are useful members of a new look Rowlands team. Matt called up Robbie Burns and Don to the attack and for a while the run flow slowed. With his third ball Don had Mansoor caught in the covers by Davo then Robby claimed Was Aslam (only 1) off another catch by Matt and Sunil caught Haji (21) for him. Omar maintained his assault with 65 not out including 5 fours and 3 sixes. Bobby Vedhara was 19 not out with a six and a four. YAARS amassed 152-5. Bowling was: Michael 3-0-37-0, Banty 3-0-33-2, Robby 4-0-50-2, Don 4-0-32-1. Gowla did well behind the stumps with only 4 extras and all the fielders ran and covered the gaps well.

Matt and Davo started the reply in steady fashion against the slow pace attack of Vedhara and Was Hashim. Davo got a beauty from Was which whipped through onto his stumps - out for 8. Bob Tulip came in and upped the anti with an aggressive display that was not far short of YAARS approach but more selective with his shots. From 18-1 the pair almost completed the innings but on 102 Matt was stumped when on 57 (5 fours and a six) off Surgh Singh after advancing down the wicket in a late runs chase. Bob made 45 with 4 fours and a six. YAARS bowlers had been turning the ball square and the incoming Roy got the wrong advice from Bob for a left hander but managed to deal with a ball that went 90 degrees the other way to that expected! He ended on 3 not out in his short visit to the centre. In the circumstances 121-2 was a decent reply; perhaps a faster start might have won the day? Matt was awarded Man of the Match.