Derby draw keeps Boldon on top
BOLDON remain top of the Durham Senior League despite being unable to force a result against Whitburn on Saturday, writes RICHIE MARTIN.
The league leaders' preparation for the match was severely hampered, with skipper Chris Ellison being handed a four-week suspension on Thursday evening for his reaction to being given out LBW against Burnmoor a fortnight ago.
In Ellison's absence, Geoff Sargon took over the captaincy, with the gap in the batting order being filled by Andy McCord, the second XI's leading run scorer by some distance.
Batting first, Boldon's progress was slow, thanks to outstanding opening spells from Tony Greaves and Ian Elliot.
Whitburn's new-ball partnership reduced Boldon to 33-5, with only Matthew Sampson-Barnes (19) passing double figures.
Greaves (3-15) and Elliot (2-29) conceded just 44 runs from the 27 overs they shared, with the Boldon top order struggling immensely to force any impetus into the innings.
The fall of the fifth wicket brought Andy McCord and Andrew Doherty together, and the pair shared a partnership of 78, with Doherty compiling an obdurate 25.
His dismissal, at 111-6, represented a recovery of sorts for Boldon, but the departure of Geoff Sargon and Sura Malinga, both for ducks, left Boldon languishing at 111-8.
McCord dominated the scoring for the remainder of the innings, scoring an excellent 81 from 101 balls, including 10 fours and one six. Just nine more boundaries were struck in the whole match.
McCord was smartly stumped by Ross Carty to eventually dismiss Boldon for 145.
Whitburn's run chase began with Stuart Walker and Neil Ayre crawling along at less than one run an over.
This was, however, mainly due to an extraordinary bowling spell from Phil Shakespeare, who sent down 11 consecutive maidens, dismissing both openers, and No3 Aden Bannister in the process.
Michael Bittlestone then took the wickets of Andy Turns and Peter Marshall to reduce Whitburn to 26-5 after 27 overs, but Paul Shields and Ross Carty held out for 13 overs, taking Whitburn through to the 15th over of the last hour.
Shields was clean bowled by Sura Malinga to leave Whitburn 54-6, and Dave Bell edged behind to Doherty three balls later, leaving Boldon fourovers to take the final three wickets to clinch victory.
Ross Carty was caught behind by Doherty with the score at 73-8, but Paul Cook blocked out the final overs to secure a draw for Whitburn.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for South Shields
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -3 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South west
