Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club’s 1st team, sponsored by Franks the Flooring Store, were well beaten by four wickets at home to Great Ayton 2nd XI in their NYSD division two match. After being asked to bat first, Aycliffe were thankful for a gritty innings of 56 from 140 balls, including five boundaries, by in-form batsmen Adam Gittins and, in the process, he moved up to fifth in the Aycliffe all time aggregate run scorers list. Other notable contributions came from Dan Craggs, who smashed 38 from just 23 balls, including seven boundaries and a six and a more sedate, but equally important, 30 runs from 59 balls from 15 year old Thomas Dearden, which helped push the Aycliffe total to 178 all out after 48 overs. In reply, some good bowling from George Slatcher (3 for 47) and Sean Morgan (2 for 27) briefly gave Aycliffe hope, but the visitors still comfortably reached their winning target with a massive 22 overs in hand.
The club’s 2nd team, which again contained predominantly young junior players, came away from their visit to Preston 1st XI in the NYSD 4th division with their heads held high despite losing by five wickets. Asked to bat first on a very difficult wicket, Aycliffe struggled to get any real momentum with only captain Ryan Patrick (sponsored by A Star Bathrooms), who hit a superb unbeaten 63, which included five boundaries and two sixes, Dan Weldon (15 runs) and Matty French (15 runs) reaching double figures as the visitors were dismissed for 118 after 38.4 overs. In reply, the Aycliffe youngsters bowled and fielded excellently, making the more experienced home side batsmen fight for every single run. 13 year old Will Dearden (2 for 19), 14 year old Harrison Pearson (2 for 25) and Dan Weldon (1 for 26) took the honours with the ball, but Preston eventually crawled over the line taking 37.4 overs to reach their winning target.
Photo: Aycliffe 2nd XI batsman Ryan Patrick in action.