2nd XI - Poxton century eases Morpeth home
 

A belligerent century from Andrew Poxton saw Morpeth record their second success of the new campaign on a fantastic afternoon of cricket down in Durham. The left-hander was at his imperious best on his first appearance of the season to ease Morpeth past Greenside’s total of 209 with 10 overs to spare. Chasing an impressive total set by the home team Morpeth’s number 3 was ably supported by Loz Brown who put in another fine knock to continue his own impressive early season form.

After losing the toss Morpeth were unsurprisingly sent out to field for the second week in a row, and despite being unable to penetrate the Greenside top order, Morpeth openers Wright and Maxted again bowled with good discipline to keep the run rate down in the early exchanges. Only one wicket fell in the opening 20 overs, with Wright striking early in his spell to clean bowl the opener before a period of consolidation for the home team. Opener Turnbull, who had batted with great patience, eventually provided a self-inflicted breakthrough when he slogged across the line to Jones.

With wickets at a premium the home side were pegged back by some good fielding, and 2 run outs in the middle order, including one exceptional piece of work by Brown, saw Greenside reduced to 100-5 with only 15 overs remaining. However, the home side rallied and a wonderful partnership from Robson and Murray saw them take the total above 200 with some fantastic clean hitting, with a number of sixes being despatched around the ground. Both batsmen hit deserved half centuries, indicating the quality of the pitch for batting. A flurry of late wickets, including another 3 for off-spinner Kurran Dhugga, managed to stem the tide and see the innings finish at 209-9.

With the sun beating down on the field Morpeth started their innings at a blistering pace with Jonny Wailes finding his form with a quick-fire 20 before receiving a jaffa to be clean bowled. This brought Poxton to the crease and from ball one he looked completely dominant, punching drives through the off-side with regularity. As his innings progressed he was joined by Loz Brown after Clark was adjudged lbw and the two blonde bombshells hit the ball to all parts of the ground in a wonderful batting display. Poxton brought up his 50 with a monstrous 6 to mid-wicket and continued in that vein by quickly moving towards his century with a number of maximums over the leg side. His ton eventually came up off 65 balls, and when he was clean bowled the following ball the game was virtually won. A standing ovation from both teams and supporters then followed, and the formalities were completed by Brown and Jones who saw the side home for a 7 wicket victory. Brown just missed out on a half century but his knock was a great dig, providing fantastic support to the man of the day.
 

Man of the match: Andrew Poxton

Match Report: Tom Wright

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