Darlington Building Society NYSD League
Perera shows his class for Normanby
A FIRST century at Normanby
Hall, a masterful opening partnership
at Richmond and a number
of excellent performances at
Hartlepool made the second
weekend of the new season in
the Darlington Building Society
North Yorkshire & South
Durham Premier League extra
special.
The maiden hundred turned
the spotlight on new professional,
Duminda Perera and lifted
Normanby Hall top of the championship
table with their second
victory against newly promoted
Billingham Synthonia.
The Sri Lankan all-rounder
reached his ton from 140 balls
with 12 fours and four sixes but
it needed a great deal of patient
support from his bowling partner,
Keith Martin who came to
the wicket on 137-9 when Perera
was some way from his target.
Together they faced 15 overs to
put on 47 more runs with Martin,
playing against his former club,
contributing just three.
Then the partnership showed
off their bowling skills to destroy
the hopes of the Synners
making a decent start on their
return after two seasons in the
lower division.
Martin (5-19) and Perera (3-10)
had them back in the pavilion for
just 51 runs after Chris Witherley
(2-13) started the collapse.
Earlier Craig Symington impressed
on his debut as Billingham's
professional, taking five
wickets while Steve Purcifer (3-
51) gave steady support. The
ever reliable Steve McNicholas
(45) set the batting tone for Normanby.
At Richmond, Mike Layfield
(69) and James Clarkson (52) featured
in an opening stand of 128
- one of the best in recent seasons
- against Blackhall and
looked like giving the home side
a formidable second victory. But
the Colliers hit back with professionals,
Warren Swan (4-48)
and Masood Mirza (3-54) grabbing
seven wickets as only another
28 runs were scored. Richmondshire
ran out of overs with
13 runs still needed.
Their drawn finish put them
second as early front runners
jointly with Guisborough, who
enjoyed a hard-earned win
against Bishop Auckland who
had started the season with victory
on the opening day.
Ryan Murray (59) and Neil
Russell (38 not out) led the Priory
club to a four wicket success
after new professional, Greg
Todd (4-44) and Stuart Mackay
(4-36) had shared 26 overs to restrict
Bishops to 142. It didn't
stop Richard Hawthorne, who
has just returned to the club,
maintaining his great form with
another 70 runs. Dan and Jack
Conway took five wickets between
them as they made Guisborough
fight for the win.
The wicket at Hartlepool's
Park Drive, where Redcar were
visitors, seemed to hold early
perils for batsmen from both
sides. The Seasiders, batting
first, slumped to 57 for 9 before
tail-enders, Mick McCabe (35)
and John Davis (23 not out)
staged a comeback to reach 110.
Ian Palmer (4-29) and Ian Jackson
(3-22) did most of the damage
before Pool found themselves in
almost as big a mess with three
wickets down for just eight runs
and five batsmen gone for only
23. They recovered to win by two
wickets with Chris Harrison (57
not out) leading the fightback
with four fours and three sixes.
Middlesbrough beat
Northallerton with Chetnya
Nanda (7-49) the hero before
James Lowe (74 not out) made
sure of the 148 runs needed to
win. They did it with ten overs
and seven wickets in hand.
Jonny Spillane (34) and Paul
Johnston (29) played their part
but Northallerton's Richard
Bentley had his moment of glory
with two wickets in two balls.
Great Ayton and Marton,
third and fourth respectively
last season, enjoyed an absorbing
battle with Ayton just coming
out on top.
The hosts were 70 for 0 when
Ian West was introduced to the
attack and he celebrated his
debut in style with five wickets.
With David Grainge grabbing
four Marton fell short of a winning
score, bowled out for 126.
Only Martin Hood (60) hit form.
Marske enjoyed the day's
biggest victory - by eight wickets
- against Darlington. Professional
Rob Nicol's unbeaten 60
from 87 balls with 11 fours came
after the Quakers managed just
108. Teenager, Jonathan Pickard
(3-23), impressed for Marske.
In Division One, relegated
Saltburn's hopes of starting the
new season with a morale boosting
win were thwarted by Guisborough's
second string. Thornaby
had a ten-wicket success
over Darlington RA to confirm
them as favourites to go up this
time around.
2:21pm Monday 28th April 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
