3 games in 3 days meant that there were plenty of changes for both sides as Littletown met Belmont looking to make it a hat trick of wins. The bowling heroes of Phil Randle and Ross Thubron from the win over Coundon the previous day were unavailable, so in came Steve Sorrell and Chris Ledger. In the batting department, club Capt. Gregg Arundel was missing along with the inform Chris Pringle, Martin Grey was drafted in to fill the opening slot while Kieran Hill took up the mantel of all-rounder. With the weather, pitch and outfield looking like a batsmen’s paradise, stand in skipper Phil Bennett won the toss and elected to bat.

Tight early bowling and some seam movement made life difficult to start with and Belmont got an early breakthrough bowling opener Martin Grey. That brought to the crease Dan Pearson fresh from his match winning 77no the day before and from that moment Littletown were in complete control. Phil Bennett started to find the boundary and work the ball for 1’s but this was the Dan Pearson show. Right from ball 1 with a huge 6 to get off the mark Belmont had no answer to his array of shots, the sheer power and timing. Wickets fell regularly at the other end but all the batsmen made telling contributions, chipping in with a few runs and building a partnership while Dan continued his batting master class at the other end. From 50 he raced to the 90’s and in typical fashion brought up 3 figures with consecutive boundaries. His innings eventually brought to a close on 134!!

Belmont might have thought that was the end of the destructive hitting but they had not counted on Chris Ledger who hit some impressive straight 6’s while Ben Storey played a very cultured innings at the other end. Littletown were eventually all out in the last over for 293 just 3 short of their record high score of 296 achieved at Beamish CC during 2013.

Belmont’s batsmen might have been hoping to cash in on the top conditions and bat long as well, unfortunately they hadn’t counted on coming up against Steve Sorrell. From ball 1 he had the new ball swinging and was bowling the perfect line and length. If the game was not already over as a contest it was after 3 wickets in 3 balls removed the Belmont top order. Steve firstly pinned the left handed opener absolutely plum before clean bowling then new batsman. The third dismissal although it didn't bring about the hat trick will be talked about for a long time to come. Another swinging delivery thundered into the new batsman’s pads and although going down leg the batsman was like a rabbit in the headlights under the huge appeal and pressure from 10 close fielders. Unsure what was happening or where the ball was he froze and with a brilliant piece of alertness and quick thinking Chris Ledger threw down the stumps.

Although as good as beaten the remaining Belmont batsman showed real fight and made Littletown work hard for their wickets. Steve Sorrell who produced a magical spell deservedly claimed all the plaudits and finished with a “Michelle“, but Ben Storey also bowled well with the new ball, while Chris Ledger added wickets to his earlier runs and the impressive Jordan Siddell did not get the wickets his bowling deserved. It was left to all-rounder Kieran Hill to wrap things up claiming the final wicket.

A brilliant end to a tough 3 days, great to see so many players wanting to play for the badge and puting themsleves on the line for the club, great to see!