Villagers end season with a draw
WHITBURN'S season ended with a draw against champions Hetton Lyons in the Warmseal Durham Senior League on Saturday.
This result, together with Burnmoor's victory over Horden, left the Villagers in third position, their fifth successive top-three finish.
The top four of the table reads Hetton Lyons (379 points), Burnmoor (349), Whitburn (339), Boldon (314).
It is a sign of the high standards that Whitburn have set themselves under David Bell's captaincy in recent years that the immediate reaction to third place was dissapointment.
But, on reflection it is clear that the club is moving in the right direction.
The Universal Sealants-sponsored side finished the season with 10 victories, a tally only matched by the Lyons, and lost only one game compared to the two suffered by the two sides that finished above them, and the four by long time leaders Boldon.
However, it was the Villagers' inability to pick up bonus points by batting first and then bowling out the opposition that ultimately cost them the title.
Only three of their 10 wins came when batting first, and the home victory over Durham City was the only game where they achieved the maximum 30 points.
Batting first on Saturday, Neil Ayre (52) and Andy Turns (34) helped them to a score of 190 before they were bowled out off the penultimate ball of the maximum 55 overs.
For the Lyons, Surappulige Malinga and Ian Male both picked up three wickets.
With only 43 overs available to them, Hetton were happy to settle for a draw in a game that lacked the intensity that would have been guaranteed had Whitburn beaten Marsden on Monday to keep the title race alive going into this game.
Some attractive strokeplay from David Lowther in the final hour took the home side to 153-3, with Lowther unbeaten on 64, but it never looked like either side would claim victory.
With Lyndsay Cullen and Chris Wood both returning to Australia, the Villagers will need to rebuild over the winter.
Hopefully they can find the missing piece of the jigsaw that will secure their first title since 1964.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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