Darlington Cricket Club 3 rd team Year Book 2012

Darlington 3 rd XI would be an interesting season as we all watched to see if this team could create history and retain their Sunday Division 1 Championship title for a third successive season. Once more there would be a mixture of experience and youth in the squad make up. As usual it would be a proving ground for young cricketers eager to test themselves at this level of NYSD cricket.

April Showers....and the rest! 3 The first three Sundays of the 3 rd team season were lost to flooded pitches and it wasn’t until Sunday 6 th of May that the third team could begin the defence of their crown with a good old derby encounter to start! Darlington RA came to Feethams and we sent them back to Brinkburn Road on the wrong end of 166 run defeat! 2 nd team captain Lee Craggs (58) and Callum Lethbridge (60)both scored half centuries as we posted Oliver King seemed to have grown at least a foot over the winter and his extra height, pace and bounce caused havoc amongst the RA batters. Ollie finished with 4 for 14. Michael Lunn, Alex Simpson and Danny Carr all took 2 wickets a piece and the RA collapsed to51 all out in just 27.2 overs Ollie King below and left Callum Lethbridge and right Lee Craggs.

Ton up Cal ! 4 Callum Lethbridge scored his maiden century against Northallerton in the next game. Ably supported by Matty Wheeler(48) Callum played beautifully to score 118 out of a team total of Ollie King again spearheaded the Darlington bowling attack taking three wickets as Northallerton collapsed to 81 all out in 29 overs

3 rd successive win 5 Wolviston were the next team to suffer at Feethams. They found run scoring difficult against a talented Quakers attack and stumbled along to 123 for 5. We also lost five wickets as we passed the required total for victory in just 35 overs. Harwood, Wheeler and Sowerby scoring twenties. The following week we had to be content with a winning draw against Barnard castle. Nigel Whaley score 66 in our total of 197 for 4 and Tom Sowerby hit his maiden third team half century with 50. The old and young bowling attack almost won the game for us. Ollie King had another four wickets and Alan Harwood took 3 but Barney held on to survive on 152 for 8 at the close. A first 50 for Tom Sowerby

Oliver’s Army defeat Ayton 6 Another 4 wicket haul for Ollie King and a half century for Adam Baldwin were the highlights of our victory at Great Ayton. They were bowled out for 124 in 34 overs and we passed their score for the loss of 5 wickets with 5 overs to spare. The weather claimed yet another game the following Sunday as we were denied a chance to entertain Richmondshire. Thirties from Steve Lethbridge and Dan Lee enabled us to post 149 at Acklam Park against Middlesbrough in the next league encounter. We then had nine of the Boro batsmen out for 117 but could get the vital last wicket Shaughn Russell making a rare appearance for the thirds took four wickets. Oliver King and Adam Baldwin

Another winning draw but Dan’s day. 7 Redcar were next at Feethams and they looked decent outfit. They scored 167 all out with Dan Lee (pictured) being the star bowler with 4 wickets. We struggled a bit in reply. Dan Lee was having a good day scoring 31 to go with his 4 wickets. Wickets fell at regular intervals but a masterful innings from Oliver King (43*) enabled us to finish on when rain called a halt with ten overs left. A winning draw for DARLINGTON

Rare Defeat! 8 A trip to Marton always provides a good contest and this occasion was no different. A very closely fought contest saw us fall to a rare defeat. Chasing 166 to win we fell 3 runs short with one ball left! King (3-42) and Dan Baldwin (3-21) had taken the wickets along with a brace for Lunn and Evans. Alan Harwood then held our innings together with 41 but we just ran out of steam on the penultimate ball. Alan Harwood 41 runs

Bouncebackability! 9 The arrival of Guisborough at Feethams saw us bounce back with a victory. Callum lethbridge put in a man of the match performance taking three wickets as the Priory men were skittle out for 115 and then scoring 73 unbeaten runs as Darlington won by 6 wickets. Another home game saw Normanby hall provide the opposition. 15 year old Alex Simpson(55)(Pictured right) scored a maiden half century and Adam Baldwin 85 as we posted 189 for 4. Ollie King took 4 wickets but Hall survived on at the close. This was followed by another winning draw against Northallerton. Steve Lethbridge hitting half century and Adam Baldwin 44 as we posted we removed 8 Northallerton batsmen for 133 but couldn't budge the tail enders. Alex Simpson

July ends with a draw at Brinkburn Road 10 July ended with a tame draw at the RA. An Alan Harwood unbeaten half century was the highlight of our innings of declared. The RA finished on 149 – 6 after a good start. Harwood had an all rounders day picking up three wickets! We visited Wolviston next and came back with twenty points. 3 Oliver King wickets helped us restrict the home side to in a restricted over game due to wet conditions. We lost five wickets getting the winning runs. Adam Baldwin scoring a half century which he followed up with 48 the following week in our victory at the seaside against Redcar. We posted and Michael Lunn 4- 20, David Evans 3 for 26 and Mark Stainsby 3 for 13 skittled out the seasiders. The next game was abandoned as Great Ayton visited Feethams only for rain to come after 23 overs when they were 65 for 3 All rounder Alan Harwood Without a game the following week it would be September before the thirds played again

Batting Fest at Richmondshire 11 Darlington thirds now need 18 points from their remaining games to succeed in defending their championship trophy for the third year in succession. they amassed 257 for 6 sat Richmondshire on Sunday with Steve Lethbridge,(61) Matty Wheeler (52) and Dan Lee (65*) (pictured right) being the main run scorers Richmond struggled against the pace of Michael Lunn (4 for 19. David Evans with his spin and George Heron 2 for 18 with his pace took the other wickets along with Alan Harwood who bowled 1 ball one for none!. Richmondshire with only ten men were bowled out for 110

Title retained! 12 Heroes, every one of them, including those that weren't in the photograph above. The third eleven won the league title on Sunday with one game remaining. The lads kept their celebrations on hold until they receive the trophy next week at Barnard Castle in their final game of such a brilliant season. Middlesbrough were the visitors to Feethams yesterday and struggled to match the Quakers in every department. On the bowling front, all our bowlers put in good shifts with Dan Lee bowling a lively spell. Ollie King, David Evans, Shaughn Russell, Steve Lethbridge, Danny Carr and Alan Harwood also put in good shifts. As Boro were bowled out in the 44 th over for 174 Lethbridge and Baldwin opened the innings for Darlington and both looked capable of steering the side home. Unfortunately Baldwin fell and lethbridge took over the job of seeing the side home. He too went but for 71 and the game as good as won The title was ours! Sensibly the team agreed that next week after the last game of the season would be the time to celebrate. Hopefully they will receive their trophy and we can help the celebrations start

Champions! 13 Back row l to r; T Sowerby, S Lethbridge, S Russell, D Lee, O King, D Carr, A Harwood Front Row l to r : C Lethbridge D Evans, A Baldwin and M Wheeler

Final game – Barnard Castle away 14 The Thirds final game was at Barnard Castle. A game with little significance as the league title had been won the week before. The weather thought so too. On and off for rain and with howling bursts of wind coming off the hills it was not the day to close such a successful season. The game ended at tea with the elements prevailing. Barney had scored 207 for 1 in just 35 overs with Parkinson scoring a ton. David Evans complained about the standard of tea time refreshments and the game was called to a halt due to rain! We were Champions....who cared? Back to Feethams to celebrate! Well done boys!

End of season table Sunday Division 1 15 Pwwd8wd6d4ld2ld0lnrBatPBowlPPenPts Darlington CC Redcar CC Marton CC, Yorks Barnard Castle CC Guisborough CC Richmondshire CC Great Ayton CC Northallerton CC Normanby Hall CC Middlesbrough CC Darlington R A CC Wolviston CC