Stanhope vs, Medomsley

With the British summer at last doing what it does best, hot and clear blue sky's, well all except for the Sunderland Air Show. The closely fought Division 2 title chase continued. Both Stanhope and Coxhoe needed wins to keep the league table finely poised. In the end both did not disappoint, as they both won well keeping the top two teams separated by no more than 2 points. At this point in the season any bonus point is a must, for those that are unaware of the points system it is as follows. 20 points for a win, 5 points each for a drawn game, 1 point for reaching 75 runs and then another point every 25 above 75 and finally 1 points for every two wickets taken.

This week our gallant men in white travelled to Medomsley, who were keen to make amends for the first round defeat at Unthank Park, ultimately it was not to be their day. Stanhope was able to roll out a strong side containing some good stroke players as well as boasting a reasonable bowling attack.

Opening for Stanhope was R. Hanlon ably supported by P. Fitchett, scoring quickly Stanhope were soon off the mark. Unfortunately Hanlon was dismissed early to the bowling of R. Grant who caught Hanlon's edge forcing a solid catch in the slips. It was C. Wearmouth who walked out at number three and decided to stay at the Crease for a while.

Between them Fitchett and Wearmouth put up a display of team work and batting skills to the delight of the spectators and Stanhope players alike. Wearmouth is edging closer to posting a century every week, this week he scored 74, with Fitchett posting a very respectable 47. The 112 put on by these two formed the back bone of Stanhope's total of 155 all out. The only other Stanhope batsman to make over 10 runs was A. Robinson who posted 13. The whole of the middle order and tail added 13 to the Stanhope total, I guess this is an area where the team needs to look at itself in some depth. All to often they are letting themselves down by players trying to make runs only to loose their wicket or simply not playing aggressively enough. By that I mean scoring runs at a faster rate.

It must be stressed that the bowling of Medomsley was good, after 44.1 overs they had only conceded 7 extras, taking 10 wickets. It is a fact that good bowling, i.e. making batsmen play the ball at every delivery will produce results. 7 of the 10 wickets taken were either clean bowled or LBW dismissals. R. Grant and P. Dixon were the undoing of Stanhope, taking 5 and 4 wickets respectively.

After tea Stanhope took to the field and set about the Medomsley batsmen, it wasn't long before they claimed a victim. C. Wearmouth in quick succession removed batsmen 2, 3, & 4 for a total of 15 runs. Robinson removed the opening bat of G. Shaw for 38. Simon Campbell was the other wicket taker for Stanhope taking 4 including a fine caught and bowled.

Stanhope were unable to take all the Medomsley wickets but as the game progressed towards the 45 overs, the bowlers of Campbell, Kitching and Robinson changed emphasis to containment. Most games are now getting very exciting as the winning line gets very close towards the 45 over limit. This game was no different, as the number of available overs gradually diminished so did the required number of runs, however Medomsley simply could not up the scoring rate and ran out of time only 14 runs shy of the winning line. Stanhope were not helped by number of extras conceded (34) which turned out to be the joint second highest total for any Medomsley batsman.

Still a win is a win, and a valuable 20 points. The team are in action once again this Saturday at Unthank Park were they take on Belmont. First time around Belmont the team from Weardale were victorious in a low scoring game, whilst Coxhoe play Simonside. Two games that, on paper, should go with form but you never can be sure.