1st XI - Morpeth take Lintz to the Wire
 

Morpeth looked to end their recent slump when high flying Lintz visited Longhirst on Saturday. With a green looking wicket the product of a rainy week, Lintz skipper Christie inserted the home side and the innings began in familiar fashion. Aussie duo Reynolds and Reagan were looking solid enough when Captain Reagan was bowled not offering a shot on 14. And Wailes soon following trapped in front by the experienced but lively Christie, who also sent Maxted back to the pavilion with a well disguised slower ball getting through the wicket-keeper’s defences in the next over.

Palmer then strode out to rebuild with Reynolds looking solid. The pair gradually began to turn things around, and after a watchful start the Western Australian began to branch out with shots all around the ground. At his graceful best, Reynolds produced masterful cuts and drove strongly, with anything too straight disappearing through the on-side. Palmer began to look his fluent best, looking especially polished through the offside. The level headed 19-year-old provided more than able support as Reynolds raced past fifty, and the pair showed no signs of letting up when Palmer was run out for an impressive and mature 43. The outcome had looked increasingly probable after some indifferent communication between the wicket.
 
Chris Horner continued the support, ticking the strike over, as Reynolds rampaged towards three figures. The left-hander brought up the landmark for a deserved and superb century. After a huge blow over long-on, Horner was caught behind for a valuable17. Kemsley came and went briefly, and James Craigs joined the fray but the Reynolds master class came to an end on 113, when Christie got his man with a thin snick caught behind. Craigs hit some clean blows down the ground before Christie bowled him off the final ball as Morpeth reached 221-8 at the midway stage.
 
Lintz began in shaky fashion as Horner and Craigs extracted movement from the wicket, with Horner looking particularly potent. T Hughes repeatedly played and missed, much to frustration of the home side. Both seamers remained somehow wicket less but the ‘Golden Arm’ of Stuart Hills again came to the rescue, getting the first wicket with a searing in-swinger Yorker, and a second followed next ball with a ball nipping away from a good length, with Maxted athletically springing to take an edge low to his right.
 
Slowly but surely Hughes and McVitie fought to avoid the distinct possibility of collapse and the latter looked solid as well as latching onto anything loose. Reagan’s off-spin changed the complexion of the game though, with flighted guile and deceptive arm-balls paving the way for a Morpeth resurgence. Hughes was beaten in the air on 40 and Ben Jones scampered across from mid-on for a cool catch and the wickets began to tumble at a rate of knots. Christie was caught behind cutting, as another snick was taken by Maxted. Horner also returned to pick up a couple of wickets that his sharp and accurate bowling more than deserved. When Reagan had McVitie stumped for 53 and trapped Clennell LBW not playing a shot, his five-for appeared to have taken the game and the points away from Lintz. But the final three batsmen showed unlikely resolve, with Morpeth missing chances galore to put the game to bed, with three chances for catches slipping through their fingers. So when Lintz stumbled to their target of 222, with only one wicket in hand, from the penultimate ball of the game, Morpeth could only wonder what could and should have been.
 
They will look to take many positives from the game and put an end to a three-game losing streak to an end on Saturday, away to Annfield Plain.

Jonny Wailes

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