Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club’s 1st team, sponsored by Franks the Flooring Store, suffered their sixth successive defeat when they were well beaten by six wickets away at Hartlepool 2nd XI in the NYSD 2nd division. After being asked to bat first Aycliffe were skittled for just 78 after 35.5 overs, their lowest score of the season, with only Sam Telford (14 runs off 14 balls) and Owen Smith (sponsored by Eileen Quinn) (11 runs off 51 balls) reaching double figures. In reply, the homeside hurried to victory after only 17.4 overs despite some good bowling from James Layfield-Carroll (2 for 20), Matty Greaves (1 for 7) and George Slatcher (1 for 25). Aycliffe now sit in tenth place in the table, just one place above the relegation zone and next up host bottom of the table Stokesley 2nd XI in a must win game.
The second team fought hard at home, to promotion hopefuls Darlington RA 2nd XI, but were still well beaten by 74 runs in the NYSD 4th division. The visitors chose to bat first and powered their way to an imposing 227 for 5 declared after 35 overs. 16 year old Leo Mercy (sponsored by Joint Design Direction) was the pick of the Aycliffe bowlers taking 3 for 57 and 15 year old Harrison Pearson chipped in with 1 for 51. In reply, all of the first eight home side batsmen made double figures but no one went on to make that important big score. Jai Sander and Leo Mercy jointly top scored with 24 runs and Dan Craggs and Ben Nicholson, also batted well, each scoring 18 runs as Aycliffe were bowled out for a respectable total of 153 after 36 overs.
The club’s u13’s put in a spirited performance but were still defeated by seven wickets at home to Richmond in the semi-final of the Lowery cup. Aycliffe chose to bat first and scored 97 for 5 in their allotted overs, thanks to good innings by Alfie Spensley (23 runs off 34 balls), Will Dearden (15 off 23 balls) and Will Moffatt (14 off 23 balls). In reply, the visitors comfortably reached their winning target after only 13.5 overs despite some superb bowling from Tom Norman who took 3 for 17 from his 3 over spell.
The u11’s team were well beaten by 53 runs at home to Richmond in the NYACC League. However Trent Telford had an outstanding game for Aycliffe, firstly top scoring with 24 runs off 17 balls and he then took three wickets for just eight runs in the Richmond innings. Special mention must also go to Joey Hayman, who scored 17 runs and took 1 for 12, Miles Telford, who scored 12 runs, and Daisy Grainger, who took 1 for 24.
Photo: Second XI bowler Leo Mercy in action.