Having finished fourth in B2 last season we began this year hoping that with a little luck we may have a chance of promotion to B1. However, this proved a 'bridge too far' and we ended up finishing fifth.
Once again it was the juniors who provided us with the resources to turn out eleven players on Saturdays. No fewer than twelve juniors from U18 and U15 played in the second team, some more regularly than others. Phil Ottaway, Mike Barlow and myself, the return of Keith Crerar and Ron Fairweather when available, provided the experience to help the youngsters through the games. Valuable contributions were made by Neil Pinnock and Mark Wheldon. Whilst Chris Barlow's improving bowling saw him end up as the leading wicket taker (33) with a best of 5-35 v Corbridge and 4-23 v Whitley Bay. Roger Bell came to us during the season and added strength to batting and bowling, scoring 213 in six innings and taking 13 wickets. The spin attack of Phil Ottaway and Mike Barlow claimed 38 wickets whilst Mark Wheldon chipped in with 19.
On the batting front we relied on Phil Ottaway to make our runs; if he failed we struggled to make any score of note. Unfortunately injury struck again and we lost Phil for the second half of the season. In nine innings he scored 352 including 114 v Belsay, sharing a stand of 123 with Neil Pinnock (65) out of a total of 294 for 9. Philip Barlow also scored 31. We played Belsay five times last season and in the later games, Philip Barlow scored 56, Chris Barlow 32 n.o. and John Moller 82. The fifth match was in the Enid Farmer Cup, which we won scoring 130 to Belsay's 119. John Ferrier and Jonathan Appleby putting on 44 in the last five overs with 'Little Black' hitting two sixes, one of which put a hole in Belsay's tea room door. Belsay 3, Ponteland 2.
John Ferrier continued to improve, developing into a sound wicket keeper and reliable middle order batsman. He took 15 catches, two of which were outstanding, and five stumpings. Richard Jackson scored a very good 25 n.o. in the league victory over Belsay, and another junior, William Featherstone scored 43 n.o. in his debut against Monkseaton. Ollie Edwards, in his annual second XI appearance, scored 106 against the same team earlier in the season. Andy Roberts scored a good 40 against Northern Social, and Ben Chappel 27. Hopefully these two will be available more next season. Richard Jennings continued to improve as an opening batsman in spite of his reputation as the 'Run Out King'. He scored 215 runs with a highest score of 42 as well as making his debut for the first team. James Ottaway also scored 215 runs, most of which came after his eighteenth birthday when he did not need a helmet. His best was a match winning 50 n.o. against Stobswood. Roger Bell hit three fifties in his short time with us; the best of these was his belligerent 76 v Clara Vale. His fifty came in 32 balls, and he hit 14 fours and 2 sixes in his score of 76.
Next season provides a new league and a new challenge for the club. Hopefully if we have everyone available and juniors continuing to come through, we shall hold our own and have some enjoyable games of cricket.
