NEPL Junior Presentation Night a Success

The night hosted by Burnopfield Cricket Club celebrated the achievements of young cricketers based on NEPL Cup performances during the summer.

It included a quiz and question-and-answer session with Durham County Cricketer bowler Chris Rushworth. Rushworth who has been awarded a testimonial with Durham for the 2019 season spoke about his career as a cricketer and how being released from Durham Academy made him work even harder at his game.

Each club nominated three players at under-11, under-13 and under-15 level based on their performances in NEPL cup games.

From the nominations, an overall player of the season for each age group was chosen along with 2nd and 3rd place awards.

Gateshead Fell (Under 11s), Chester le Street (Under 11s), Burnopfield (Under 13s), Gateshead Fell (Under 13s), Blaydon (Under 15s Plaque), Willington (Under 15s Cup) and Tynemouth (Under 15s Shield) all picked up trophies for winning their respective age-group cups.

Third place at under-11s went to Scott Reay from Eppleton Cricket Club, with the runner up award going to Toby Bell of Chester le Street. The overall under-11s player of the season went to Sam Goodliffe of Gateshead Fell Cricket Club for scoring 99 runs in the competition including taking 12 wickets for 36 runs in 15 overs.

Benwell Hill’s Haydon Mustard took the third place award at under-13s level with the runner up award going to Alex Thompson of South Shields Cricket Club. Gateshead Fell also took the honours for the under-13 player of the season award which went to Harvey Wake after scoring 103 runs and bagging 11 wickets.

In the under-15s section it was Luke Husband of Hetton Lyons who claimed third place award for scoring 110 runs in three games taking 6 wickets in the process. Willington cricketer Will Beanland was runner up after he scored 111 runs including 82 in the final. The overall under-15s player of the season was Joe Defty who had an all-round impressive campaign. Defty scored 235 runs in three innings, including an unbeaten 100*, 75* and 60*, in addition to taking 5-51 in 12.4 overs.