Teesside University SHLS North Yorkshire South Durham ECB Premier League - Round One Review

Perhaps the shock of the day came at Park Drive where newly promoted Marske overcame the much-fancied Hartlepool side in a run laden encounter. Pools decision to bat first saw young debutant Luke Symington underlining his enormous potential with a brilliant century as he shared a 151-run third wicket stand with England U19 international James Minto (59) that set up a home total of 232-9, John Mains (4-43) the key man for the visitors in keeping the score within bounds.

But Marske’s reply was measured to perfection, and despite Minto’s three wicket blast Imran Qureshi (77 from 80 balls) and Reyan Nadeem (78no) spearheaded the successful run chase which culminated in a 5-wicket victory with one over to spare.

Three of the six matches featured large swings in fortunes with teams appearing to be in trouble and then recovering to secure victories.

At Feethams Darlington, back in the Premier, had the powerful Marton line-up in trouble at 40-4 but a patient 96 from Ryan Gibson lifted his team to a respectable 207-9 and then Dan Moriarty (3-10), Sam Berry (3-16) and John Woods (3-18) swept the home team away for just 88.

At Stokesley the home team were in dire straits at 131-8 against Bishop Auckland before skipper Fin Morris cracked 5 sixes on his way to 76, with new signing Alan Titus (51) also shining in the final total of 229. Bishops slumped to 77-8 in their response and though late resistance took the final total up to 136 it was too little too late as James Weighell bagged 4-31.

Triple crown winners Barnard Castle had Eddie Barnes (70 from 63 balls) and Rich Borrowdale (43) to thank for a sixth wicket partnership of 121 that lifted the champions to a respectable 261-9, but this total looked under real threat when Stockton reached 130-2 at the halfway stage of their reply. Skipper Karl Carver, coming on fourth change, then changed the dynamics as he made key breakthroughs and with Sri Lankan Suminda Lakshan picking up a five-wicket haul Barney secured a 49-run victory.

Meanwhile Darlington RA’s trip to Acklam Park featured a 76-ball century from Matt Pillans – but that was about it in an RA total of 189 as Boro’s new pro, Ankur Malik (5-43) shone on debut. Despite losing the key wicket of James Lowe in the first over of the reply, Rhys Ditta (79no) and Joe Gaudie (69 from just 49 balls) swept the home team to an impressive victory with almost 20 overs to spare.

Former champions Richmondshire were outdone on home soil by Saltburn’s close-season signing Sachithra Serasinghe who’s 54 was the main ingredient in the Seasiders score of 173, something he then followed up by bowling a 15-over spell of 4-35. But the real drama came as Serasinghe claimed the final wicket from the very last ball of the match after the Dalesmen’s tenth wicket pairing had defied the visitors for four overs.