First team Toppled from Top Spot Above, Gary Pratt on his way to an unbeaten 122*

The first team started the weekend top of the Premier B B NYSD Premier w w w ld ld ld o Pe league and despite not losing finished it in third place. P w l nr at Pts League d8 d6 d5 0 2 4 wl n P They won the toss at Richmond and inserted the Champions. P Richmondshire 15 6 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 36 27 0 240 Gary Pratt scored an unbeaten 122 in the home sides total of CC 220 for 3. He survived an enormous appeal for in the Marton CC, 15 8 2 0 0 2 1 1 1 0 24 20 0 226 first over which would have taken a third umpire some time Yorks to make his decision. His 122 came from 142 balls and in- Darlington CC 15 9 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 2 10 11 0 225 cluded 10 fours and a six. Great Ayton CC 15 7 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 2 19 17 0 210

Darlington seemed content to try and keep the runs down Hartlepool CC 15 7 0 0 0 2 0 1 4 1 21 20 0 191 and only used three bowlers throughout the Richmond in- Guisborough 15 5 2 0 2 1 1 0 3 1 29 25 0 188 nings. Mulholland had 1 for 84 from 16 overs, Barnes had 0 CC for 55 from 17 and Armstrong 2 for 79 from 17. Middlesbrough 15 4 1 1 1 0 0 2 5 1 29 29 0 171 CC In reply Watson and Wicling opened for Darlington and had Barnard Castle 15 6 0 0 0 1 2 0 5 1 14 20 0 164 reached 36 from 11 overs when Richmond made their CC fourth bowling change introducing Craig Marshall to the Saltburn CC 15 4 1 1 0 1 1 0 6 1 32 21 0 155 attack. Stokesley CC 15 3 0 0 1 1 3 0 6 1 33 31 0 141 The ex Darlington RA off break bowler dismissed both open- Redcar CC 15 1 1 3 0 0 2 2 5 1 36 37 0 137 ers with only one run being added to the score. Yorkshire Academy bowler, Lewis Stabler had Liam Coates trapped Sedgefield CC 15 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 8 1 25 24 0 128 LBW for a duck and Darlington found themselves in trouble Normanby Hall 15 1 1 2 0 3 1 0 7 0 41 29 0 112 at 37 for 3. CC Thornaby CC 15 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 11 1 27 25 2 76 Dobson joined the in form Brown at the crease and the pair shared a good stand of 38 before Brown was caught behind Barnes took the majority of the strike facing 63 balls for his by Forbes off Marshall for 16. Dobson had reached 23 from unbeaten 22. 50 balls when he gloved a catch off Marshall to Forbes. Peacock faced the last over from Stabler with only Armstrong behind Marton. Dissanayake dismissed Hutton for 12 and left to bat. He played circumspectly before the last ball which Linton fell for a duck giving Marshall his fifth . he square drove with aplomb off the back foot for 4 before Our two professionals were left at the crease with 15 overs walking off unbeaten as we finished on 135 for 8 taking only 3 remaining and 100 on the board. Mulholland scored 9 from points to Richmonds 17. They remain top and as Marton de- 41 and was caught by Layfield off Stabler. This brought Pea- molished Thornaby they overtake us as we end up in third cock to the crease. place, 15 points behind the leaders and a point Photographs of spectators enjoying the heat wave at Richmond CC on Saturday. It was The President’s day at Richmondshire and invited guests including NYSD club Presidents enjoyed a champagne reception and smoked salmon luncheon in a lovely marquee. The younger spectators seemed more interested in their own adventures however. A Real Aussie Ripper! The seconds made a better fist of their innings when high flying Whitby rolled into town. Morgans hit a fifty seven ball 43 and Sutton showed class in his innings of 36. Sam Gell making his seasonal debut as a batsman in the seconds nervously at first but showed great promise in his knock scoring 25 off 56 balls. We fin- ished on 181 –7 Whitby had an Australian, Wesley Ripper who opened the bowling and batting and looked to be of Premier league class. He took two with the ball but looked a different class with the bat scoring a magnificent match winning unbeaten 114* Whitby won by 6 wickets in46.5 overs. Tom Chapman was pick of the bowlers for us with 2 for 23 but Gell again showed promise with 1 for 21 from 6 overs. Paul Raine returned to the fold and bowled his first 11 over spell of the season taking 1 for 38 A good effort by the seconds but unfortunately another defeat.

Its Gell and Biglin again with the bat but Parker shines with the ball Veteran Brian Leach top scored with 68* for Normanby Hall in their total of 172-7 against our thirds. Najabat Ramzan also hit 59. The rest of the visitors batting crumbled against the bowling of Jack Parker who bowled 10 overs and took four for 39, his best return to date. David Evans also chipped in with a couple of wickets. In reply Sam Gell once again was the batting star with another unbeaten effort. This time he made an attractive 76 and Colin Biglin kept pace with the youngster scoring an unbeaten 66 as we passed the required total for the loss of Matty Wheeler(7) Our 175 –1 took just 28.1 overs.

Firsts 15/15 Campaign This year the Premier 15/15s group stages were played all together on one day on one ground. Darlington, Bar- nard Castle, Sedgefield and Richmond gathered early on Sunday morning at Richmond to fight their group out in the hope of reaching the knock out stage. Darlington’s first game was against Barnard Castle. We batted first and scored an impressive 159 for 3. Doug Mulholland top scored with 60 . Liam Coates scored 45, James Dobson 35 and Matty Brown 25. In reply Barnard Castle were restricted to 99 - 7 with Dan Baldwin the pick of the bowlers with the left armer taking three wickets. The next game saw Sedgefield demolished by hosts Richmond by ten wickets. Sedgefield were bowled out for 103 with the wickets shared out between their bowlers. Then in reply Shani Dissanayake ( 47*) and Gary Pratt (51*) knocked of the runs without loss. Next up Darlington faced Sedgefield . This was another emphatic victory for Darlington. Again batting first we posted an impressive 170 for 1. Liam Coates scored 74 and Doug Mulholland was unbeaten on 76. Sedgefield tried to match our firepower but all to no avail as they stuttered to 102 for 6 All our bowlers took a wicket but Baldwin took 2 again the star bowler of 15/15 .

The final game of the series was Richmond and Barnard Castle incredibly this ended in a tie. Richmond must have thought they would progress easily and didn't open with Dissanayake and Pratt. They came in 2 and 4 and helped post 156. Barney however had Che Usher to thank for earning a tie. He smashed a magnificent 96 in revo- lutionary style to help his side earn a point and a possible place in the quarter finals. Darlington definitely go through. DCC Fantasy League Standings. As at 08. 07. 13 Middleton-in-Teesdale U13s v Darling- ton U13s Darlington & District League - 8 a-side Pairs Tuesday 9th July

On an extremely warm evening, with the car thermometer reading 28 degrees as we ar- rived at the ground in Middleton-in-Teesdale, we were hoping to get back to winning ways. Darlington won the toss and chose to put Middleton in to bat first.

The bowling attack started well, with Andrew Naisbitt bowling 2 of the first 4 overs for only 1 run. The captain must have also sensed the opportunity to take an early wicket, bringing himself on to bowl and sending the bails fly- ing during his first over. Darlington continued to bowl very well against the second pair, who came off the field with only 3 runs, hav- ing also lost their wicket twice - Henry Wil- liams striking the stumps and Darlington were lively in the field to take a run out opportunity. A further wicket fell against the third pair as Nick Whiston took a good catch from Thomas Horniman’s bowling, who finished with very tidy figures of 3 overs, 4 runs and 2 wickets. The final pair helped Middleton to a total score of 260 for 4 wickets (net 240), giving Darlington something to chase.

Could we now stop the habit of losing too many wickets?

The first two pairs batted well, finding it diffi- cult to score runs from the bowling, but by the halfway point in the innings we were already ahead due to 33 extras and no wickets lost. In the final two pairs, whilst 3 wickets went down, Sam Butterfield top scored with a good 13 and Thomas Horniman helped to close the innings with 10 not out, at a time

when everyone was beginning to be attacked by the midges!

Man of the Match should possibly have been extras, top scoring for Darlington with 50!!! However, it goes to Sam Butterfield who kept well and top scored with 13 not out.

Michaela Horniman (Standing in for Man- ager Richard Horniman who was stuck at home on the CPM machine as a result of his knee operation!)

Photos; Tom Horniman (main) and Sam Butterworth man of the match (inset)