2005 was yet again a Sunday season hampered by rain and cancellations with 10 matches not taking place. The season – bar a handful of fixtures – followed a pattern of thrash or be thrashed. Scores of over 200 in 40 overs were recorded four times while Blagdon (twice) Victorians and touring Leicestershire side Bitteswell handed out decisive thrashings.

In the opening two fixtures both sides struggled to field an eleven. The difference however is that when Ponteland are short of players we dip into the Saturday league sides for players and as a result Stuart Taylor (twice), Alex McLean, Richard Jackson and Tommy Barr all scored fifties in the first two games against Eglingham and Genetics, the team scores in each case being the highest scores ever in friendlies. The Genetics game in particular finished in a hurry after Andy Denyer took 4-9 in 1.4 overs.

The third game against Blagdon saw a complete role reversal and a comprehensive defeat. With the 1XI in action in the Foster’s Cup and requiring the presence of some Sunday regulars seven players made their first appearances of the season in a game made noteworthy only by the debuts of three under 15s.

In the home match with Davipart Mark Wheldon made his annual pilgrimage from Northallerton to play and despite dark and overcast conditions made the most of his trek. His maiden fifty from number six was vital and aided by two of the aforementioned under fifteens put together stands of 53 with Peter Nesbitt (7th wicket) and an unbeaten 60 for the last with Will Chilton and was able to convert the fifty into an undefeated 108. Mark then took 3-27 in his more regular role as a bowler. The match also saw Mike Storer return to competitive action for the first time, bar the President’s match, in nearly ten years. The following week John Ferrier made a brief appearance back from university to score his first half century for the club, his 69* at least prolonged the match as Victorians coasted to an easy victory.

The next couple of matches proved to be the most enjoyable of the season as the games were hard fought and close. The always enjoyable away fixture at Eglingham saw a respectable total of 200 for Ponteland, based on fifties from Simon Raw, who appeared to bat himself out of form during the innings and Alex McLean who set the tone for a belligerent innings when he hit his first ball for six. Yours truly then weighed in with a rapid and unexpected 28 before Richard Hopper finished the innings with a six. This last shot proved vital as in reply Eglingham entered the final over requiring 12 to win, having needed 20 off the last four. The skipper (for a change) held his nerve in a final over and two wickets and a run out saw an 8 run victory.

Against Kings School the third of the Under 15s who debuted at Blagdon had his moment to shine. With the side 19-3 and Stuart Taylor batting with a broken finger achieved before the game had even started, Michael Sharp accompanied Stuart at the crease until the final over of the innings. Michael scored 33 out of a partnership of 142, with Stuart finishing on an unbeaten 116. Once again the result was in the balance with ten overs to go but Richard Hopper’s crucial 3-33 saw Kings needing 12 to win with one wicket left. Stuart took a one handed catch at mid-off to end the contest with 5 balls to spare.

Touring side Bitteswell then arrived and thrashed a seriously under-strength side in a midweek fixture which also clashed with school results day. Two players debuted for the club, James Morgan and James Robinson, both of whom seem keen to return next season.

The home fixture against Genetics, despite defeat, was one of the most enjoyable contests of the season. Our biggest problem throughout the year was a shortage of regular bowlers. Genetics scored 254, despite the captain’s 3-20 off 8 overs. In reply however Simon Raw 48, James Morgan 43, Phil Barlow 42, Alex Tilley 38 and Richard Moller 29 kept the side in the match. With one wicket left and 12 needed in the final over Chris Barlow skied one with two balls left and we fell 6 runs short. The reason I feel it was the best game of the season? This was the closest we got to fielding 11 players who had not played the day before in the league and bar some careless dismissals would have registered a notable victory chase.

However when Blagdon turned up the following week the match was much less fun as their two opening batsmen (who were also their opening bowlers and ‘borrowed’ from South Northumberland) dominated the game. Having been bowled out for 130, despite James Ottaway’s battling half century we lost by 8 wickets with 22 overs to spare.

In a gap in our fixture list we shared the University Staff’s fixture at Riding Mill, providing more than half the players. Richard Moller was retired on 50 after 8 overs by the University Captain only to be back in 10 overs later as 9 wickets fell for 16 runs. In an old style time game Chris Barlow returned figures of 19-7-35-3 but the game was comfortably lost. Richard was, as ever, confident he would have got a century and the way he batted there was little to argue against it. Sadly the game against the University Staff was cancelled early because of bad weather as at that point they only had 9 players. At the time of writing this would have been their last game as the club is likely to fold during the winter.

The final game saw a trip to Kirkley’s ground to play Davipart. Once again short of players and a list of unavailables that was effectively a who’s who of Ponteland Cricket Club I turned to Stuart Taylor to play, as I already had none cricketers in the side (never has a 0* been enjoyed more!!) He was probably quite glad they dropped him on 10 as he cruised to 156 out of a total of 230, Michael Sharp once more accompanying him in a century partnership. After racing to 90-1 Davipart collapsed as 5 wickets fell for 30 runs to end the game as a contest.

During the season 36 players took to the field for the side and all batted while 27 bowled and 7 kept wicket. Stuart Taylor played four games and scored 2 fifties and two centuries, breaking several team records for highest individual score and most runs in a season in the process. Simon Raw scored 239 runs at an average of just under 30 and Michael Sharp a promising average of 17.6 from his debut season. Bowling wise only the captain with 17 wickets took more than ten although 14 year old Luke Johnson bowled well in the early part of the season and in particular impressed our Leicestershire opposition, Bitteswell, when he was willing to keep running in despite his second spell being despatched around the ground at twelve an over.

Overall results are irrelevant on a Sunday, all we look for is to have an enjoyable afternoon, uncover new players and develop the juniors at the club. There were 10 debutants this season, four of them from the under 15s and hopefully more to come next season.