Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club, who are sponsored by Franks The Flooring Store, have won the Spennymoor Leisure Centre Winter Indoor Cricket League after beating title rivals Spennymoor CC by a massive 114 runs. Both teams went into this important final game of the season, sitting jointly at the top of the table, so the match became a winner takes all to be crowned league champions. The Aycliffe team, which is made up predominantly by their second team players, batted first and they got off to a flyer when the opening pair of Tom Wickins and Matt Capper smashed 59 runs during their allotted 4 overs at the crease. The momentum continued when the next pair of Jack Slatcher and James Brown added 44 runs and then Sam Telford and captain Adam Gittins blasted 58 runs during their innings. The last pair of Danny Weldon and John Wardle also batted well and 3 sixes from Weldon towards the end of the innings helped push their team’s score to an almost impregnable 192 after 16 overs.
In reply, Aycliffe’s Tom Wickins took early wickets and leg spin bowler James Brown also chipped in with a couple of wickets to put Spennymoor on the back foot. Aycliffe’s fielding has been the stand out feature of the campaign and so it proved again in this game as outstanding catches by both Matt Capper and Danny Weldon helped restrict Spennymoor to just 78 runs to give Aycliffe the title in their first season in this league.
The victorious team is: (left to right), top row: Matt Capper, Sam Telford, Tom Wickins and Danny Weldon, bottom row: James Brown, John Wardle, Adam Gittins and Jack Slatcher.