Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club’s 1st team, sponsored by Franks the Flooring Store, finally got back to winning ways and significantly eased their relegation worries with a dramatic six run victory at home to bottom of the table Stokesley 2nd XI in the NYSD 2nd division. In a game badly disrupted by the weather, Aycliffe were asked to bat first and scored 228 for 8 declared after 42 overs. Opener Sam Telford (sponsored by the Thomas-Fairhurst family) got the innings off to a flyer with an aggressive 51 from just 29 balls, including six boundaries and 3 sixes. Other major contributions came from Matty Greaves (39 off 42 balls), Adam Gittins (31 from 57 balls) and an unbeaten 24 from 32 balls by George Slatcher. In reply, the winning target for Stokesley was reduced to 199 in 33 overs by the Duckworth/Lewis formula because of the time lost due to the rain. The visitors went for the win from the start and were always up with the required run rate, despite some excellent bowling from Luke Telford (4 for 50) and James Layfield-Carroll (2 for 42). The game seemed to be edging towards a victory for Stokesley but a stunning catch in the deep by 17 year old Matty Greaves, to remove the visitors star batsman, put Aycliffe right back in the game. In a very tense finale, and in near darkness, the introduction in to the attack of 15 year leg spin bowler Tom Dearden had a stunning impact as he took the last two wickets to help bowl out Stokesley for 193 with just seven balls of this memorable game remaining.
The second team suffered an eight wicket defeat away at promotion chasing Billingham Synthonia 2nd XI in the NYSD 4th division. After being put into bat, Aycliffe scored 132 all out after 37 overs thanks to good innings by 16 year old Ramzan Hussain (39 off 35 balls), Ben Nicholson (24 off 33 balls) and Matty French (13 off 46 balls). In reply, Billingham hurried to victory in the persistent rain reaching their winning target after 15.1 overs with Aycliffe’s Dan Weldon taking the only two homeside wickets to fall.
The club’s u13’s had a narrow victory by eight runs away at Darlington RA in the NYACC league. Aycliffe scored 135 all out in their 20 overs thanks to an excellent innings of 27 not out by Trent Telford and a very useful 21 runs by Alfie Spensley. In reply, the home side were restricted to 127 for 8 in their 20 overs with Elliot Myers, the pick of the bowlers, taking a couple of wickets for Aycliffe.
Photo: Before the start of the first team game at home to Stokesley on Saturday, 15 year old Tom Dearden was presented with the NYSD Junior Performance of the Month award by league President Chris West, after his extraordinary performance against Bedale on 28th May 2022 when the talented youngster scored 128 with the bat and then took 6 for 25 with the ball to help Aycliffe to victory by 143 runs.