Scotland Under 17s lose to Northumberland

Following the victory over Cumbria the previous week, Scotland U17s fancied their chances against Northumberland in the ECB 2-day league. Rain wiped out day one of the match, leaving a 60-overs-per-side contest on day two, made possible only through the hard work of the excellent South Northumberland groundsman. The home side won the toss and Scotland found themselves batting on a wicket that kept low from the start. The early loss of Tom Barrett was soon forgotten as Thomas McBride (20) and Neil Smith (45) put on 73 for the second wicket. Sadly for the Scots, that platform was to amount to nothing as both players gave their wickets away softly, followed shortly by the dismissals of numbers four and five, Luthra and Bailwal, both of whom were out first ball in disappointing fashion.

A stand of 37 from Andrew Chalmers (24) and Matt Cross (30) threatened to regain the initiative, but a daisy-cutter accounted for Chalmers, and Cross soon followed, throwing his wicket away carelessly. Worse was to come as Smith, Ross and Sadler failed to see out the full 60 overs and Scotland were all out on a, frankly, miserably low 163 from 56 overs.

However, a strong Scottish seam attack fancied their chances of bowling Northumberland out and Paddy Sadler soon picked up the wicket of one of the openers. Some tight fielding and the occasional jaffa was not enough, however, as for the second week running, the seamers bowled far too many loose deliveries and an unacceptable number of wides. A stand of 98 brought Northumberland to tea at 105-1 and the young Scots looked tired and dejected.

A focused and frank team discussion at the interval helped the bowlers re-assess their strategies and what looked like a new team took the field. Immediately, Sadler, Bailwal and Ross picked up wickets cheaply and Northumberland were sweating at 149-6. A gutsy 22 from young wicket-keeper Taylor stopped the rot and the home side scraped past the first innings total. As bonus points were still at stake, Northumberland kept batting and Scotland kept plugging away to get them all out. A decent spell of maidens by Jamie Bowick and Andrew Chalmers was backed up by Thomas McBride's leg spin, which took care of the last couple of wickets. By the end of the match, Northumberland has scored 251 all out and Scotland were comfortably defeated.

Batters and bowlers will have a lot to mull over before they travel to Shropshire and Herefordshire on Saturday for two matches in five days. Despite the poor result and at times well-below-par performance, the youngsters will take heart from the solid opening batting platform and a 15-over period in the match when they looked aggressive and threatening with every ball. Thanks to Northumberland for their excellent hospitality throughout the two days.

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Alan Patterson