2nd XI - Masterful Wailes Harpoons Seaton Burn
 

Morpeth went into their final home game of the season sitting pretty on the top of the league having beaten rivals Lanchester the previous week to seal their promotion to the top tier of the second team league for the 2010 season. With a slender lead at the top of the division, however, they were determined not to slip up in their bid to win the title to round off a fantastic year for skipper Chris Maxted’s outfit. The six wicket hero from the previous week, Paul Jackson, had returned to the rugby field, and his accomplice Kurran Dhugga, with 4 wickets, had been drawn back to the floor for his rhythmic gymnastics debut. Therefore, Morpeth turned to David Harbottle and Ben Jones to bolster the bowling attack.

After a terrible week of weather the sun was shining on Saturday morning, and despite a slightly damp outfield the wicket still looked good prompting Maxted to show no hesitation in batting first. Jonny Wailes and Stephen Cowell resumed their opening partnership looking to continue the fine form they have enjoyed over the course of the season, but no-one would have been expecting the ensuing onslaught Morpeth’s premier pair would serve up. A year on from the infamous flooding of the town, the floodgates would open again, but this time it would be the Seaton Burn bowlers rather than the residents of the Low Stanners and Middle Greens who would be suffering.

The opening overs were somewhat difficult to negotiate for the batsmen. The ball was doing a little bit in the air and off the pitch for the bowlers, and Wailes was put down twice in the early exchanges from an uppish shot to point and a regulation nick to slip. After the early let-offs the opener seemed determined to make the opposition suffer, and began to latch onto a couple of short balls, including a remarkable Kevin Pietersen/Roger Federer style pull shot straight back past the bowler. Cowell at the other end was complimenting well, with a number of tickled singles to keep the strike rotating and not allowing the bowling to settle. The run rate began to increase, but Wailes was offered another reprieve when his powerful shot through the off side was put down by the Seaton Burn captain, who broke his thumb in the process of spilling the catch requiring Morpeth to provide a substitute fielder for the remainder of the innings.

By the mid-session drinks interval Morpeth had progressed passed 100 without loss, with Wailes bringing up his 50 and was beginning to look increasingly dominant against a bowling attack that was beginning to become demoralised, and looking increasingly lacking in depth. After the resumption the pair continued where they left off, with the field spreading out and a sluggish outfield there was a lot of 2’s and 3’s being ran. Wailes was now playing the ball all around the ground, with some wonderful shots on the front foot through the off side, and picking up on anything short to dispatch the ball to leg. As the partnership passed the 150 mark, the crowd were soon on their feet again to applaud a magnificent century from Wailes with a sharply run 2 to register his 3rd ton of the campaign. With over 10 overs left there was a real sense that a mammoth total could be posted, and the landmarks kept on coming with Cowell reaching his 50, another fine supporting knock from the consistent opener.

The last 10 over really saw Wailes playing at his most expansive, with every ball seemingly coming off the middle of the bat, and bowlers unsure of how they could stem the flow of runs. With 3 overs to go in the innings, Wailes was again raising his bat to acknowledge his 150, with the partnership now well in excess of 200. It wasn’t until the 44th over when the first wicket finally fell, with Cowell’s vigil ending in slightly disappointing fashion, chipping a ball to cover. Meikle, with a serious case of pad-rash, eventually got in a saw through the final couple of overs with Wailes to take the score to 263-1 after 45 over. Wailes received a standing ovation as he departed the field with a magnificent 163* to his name.

After a 10/10 tea prepared superbly by Mrs Chris Maxted, Morpeth took to the field hoping to match their high standards with the bat in the field. It was almost a dream start as Wright caught the outside edge of the openers bat only for the hero Wailes to put down a difficult chance at 2nd slip to prove he was human today after all. The breakthrough wouldn’t take long however, with Harbottle took 2 early wickets from the other end including a fine caught behind by the diving Sandy Meikle. A soft run out meant that after 12 overs Seaton Burn were really struggling at 30-3 and with only 6 more wickets to take due to the opposition skipper’s broken thumb Maxted rotated his bowlers to great effect in order to wrap up the innings as quickly as possible.

Rose came on and bowled with good precision and got a fantastic wicket with a brilliant one handed catch by Maxted in the gully, and Ben Jones produced a jaffa from the other end to clip the top of off-stump with a venomous delivery. Rose got a second courtesy of a skied catch out to Harbottle at mid-off. The game was then wrapped up in fine fashion with off-spinner Brown enticing a clip to Wailes at mid-wicket who took a sharp catch diving forwards, while Maxted took the final two wickets in two balls with a catch to cover and a comprehensive ball which crashed into the stumps to round things off. Seaton Burn were bowled out for 85 which meant Morpeth had unbelievably taken the maximum of 20 points and the opposition registered nil.

With the final game of the season away to Backworth this Saturday Morpeth know that any victory will see them lift the title and head into next season full of confidence of performing well in the league above.

Man of the match has undoubtedly got to go to Jonathan Wailes for his 163*
 

Match Report: Tom Wright
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