Stocksfield Too Strong For Middleham Side

A strong Stocksfield side soundly beat Bishop Middleham in a 35 over match at the Trimdon Community College ground. At the end of the match Middleham fell short of victory by 63 runs.

The game commenced with Stocksfield batting and there were no restrictions in the numbers of overs bowled by each bowler. This allowed captain Hugh Boorman to give his best available bowlers a long spell. Opening bowler Stephen Ball took a wicket in his very first over and during the game bowled 12 overs finishing with 5 wickets for 62 runs. This included the opportunity to complete a hat trick but just missed completing it. This no doubt will be a relief to David Shaw (absent playing golf at Stocksfield, the irony of it all) who is Middlehams only current hat trick holder. Captain Boorman bowled Ball wisely and was left to bowl the final over in which he took two of his haul of five. The bowlers did well with respectable figures against a strong batting line up. The honours going to batsmen Russell who completed his 50 before retiring and McArthur who scored 42.

Mention must be made of Mark Alderson who playing in his first game showed a mature bowling style and finishing with one wicket for 20 runs off five overs.

Potential injuries in the filed included Keeper Hutton who had his fingers badly bruised whilst keeping to Ball (the speed of his deliveries must to blame) and Paul Wetheridge who took a groin strain whilst running in the field (this will never happen to Mike Smith). Smith told to field at a specific place on the boundary did not move more than three yards from the spot. Having said that he did come up with some very reasonable bowling figures.

At tea Stocksfield had made 173 off the allocated 35 overs.

Middleham went into bat with Hugh and Michael Boorman as openers and had made five runs before Michael was unluckily caught by a slip fielder off a ball that had bounced off the wicketkeepers thigh. This brought Phil Woods to the crease. Woods who had been pilloried by this reporter for his previous innings set out to put the story right and made a glorious 29, which included five fours and one six. (Phil is now re-categorised as a batsman again)

Hugh Boorman also went on to score 32 and once he left the crease a classic middle order collapse occurred. The next five wickets fell for a total of twelve runs and it seemed that Middleham were not even going to make 100 runs. The last wicket partnership of Wetheridge and Connelly who score 13 and 4 not out respectively gave the innings a little credibility with the game finishing with Middleham 111 all out of 32 overs. The Stocksfield bowling was accurate and fast on the whole and proved to be too good for the Middleham batsmen.

Overall Stocksfield clearly deserved victory but the game was a good experience for the Middleham side and sets them a standard to reach for.

Stocksfield

A.Wood	Ct bowled Ball	0
R.Coles	Caught bowled Alderson	25
D. Castleow	Bowled Wetheridge	12
A. Mcarthur	Cught bowled Ball	42
S.Balloch	Bowled Davison	9
J. Reed	Caught Hutton boweld Ball	0
R. Brown	Not out	3
A.Williams	Bowled Ball	13
Number ten	Bowled Ball	2
Number eleven	Not out	2
Extras 14	Total	173 for 7 (35 overs)

 Bowling

S.Ball 12-0-62-5, P.Wetheridge 3-0-12-0, M.Smith 6-0-19-0, M.Alderson 5-0-20-1,

M.Connelly 3-0-21-0, H.Davison 6-0-28-1 

Middleham

M.Boorman	Caught slip	Bowled Robinson	2
H.Boorman	Caught	Bowled Russell	32
P.Woods	Bowled	McArthur	29
D.Hutton	Caught and bowled	Wood	4
M.Alderson	Caught and bowled	Wood	2
D.Hutton	Not out		15
M.Smith	Bowled	Russell	1
S.Ball	Caught and bowled	Balloch	1
H.Davison	Caught	Bowled Robinson	1
G.Winn	Caught	Bowled Balloch	3
P.Wetheridge	Caught	Bowled Russell	13
M.Connelly	Not out		4
Extras 19		Total	111 all out (31.2overs)