2nd Annual NE Cricket Match

After the roaring success of last years inaugural test match between Durham and Yorkshire, the final NE Team Days of 2012 saw the 2nd Annual test match take place.
With changes to both line-ups after Durham's rampant victory last year, Yorkshire, led by captain Simon Oatridge, were determined to avenge their defeat.

Once again the scheduled number of overs was 7 per innings with 2 innings for each side.

Durham opened the batting in ominous fashion as their star player and captain, Hamish Sneddon, slogged new boy, Paul Oatridge for 6 from the first ball. The match then settled into a steady rhythm with with the runs ticking over. In the 3rd over things took a turn for the worse for Durham, a lack of communication cost JJ Wyatt his wicket for no score and soon after, from the bowling of Zach Taylor, Sneddon surprisingly hit his stumps! Yorkshire sensed this was their big chance with an unexpected breakthrough and although there was some healthy resistance from Andy Barker, Durham were all out with 2 balls to spare for a modest total of 49. Mike Durant clearing up the tail.

Due to technological problems, the first innings from Yorkshire was not noted down and so apart from the excellent innings from captain Simon Oatridge, who reached his personal run limit of 25, it suffices to say that they survived their 7 overs and scored 67 in the process, giving Durham a mountain to climb in their second innings run chase. There was an incredibly controversial moment when the most stunning of catches was taken by JJ Wyatt behind the stumps, off the bowling of Sneddon, but the snick-o-meter didn't pick out an outside edge from Simon and he survived the review.

Durham began steadily once again, reaching 17 for 1 from 2 overs. In amongst that a boundary from Emma Best who, although her fielding left a lot to be desired, played her part admirably in the run chase. Sneddon once again was the main run scorer, but this time he was more the ably helped by JJ Wyatt who didn't make the same mistake as the first innings. By the end of the 5th over Durham were 42 for 2, Sneddon had gone due to a sliced 6 which went out of bounds. With nothing to lose Durham went all guns blazing attacking the bowling of Peter Dray and Mike Durant in the last 2 overs hitting 24 runs and losing 2 wickets. 66 for 4 from 7 overs left Yorkshire with a very manageable 49 to win.

Yorkshire opened in confident fashion reaching 15 with no lose of wicket. Lewis Green and Paul Oatridge doing most of the damage. Paul reached his maximum 25 and retired, but then Matt Oliver final made a meaningful contribution after dropping two catches and only scoring a couple of runs in the first innings by taking Green's middle stump. With two wickets down JP Wright the took out Dave Guy's middles stump as Durham sense the great escape may be possible. The biggest moment of the evening followed shortly after with Zach Taylor bowling brother Jonah in a moment which Simon Oatridge believes will be talked about for years to come at Outwood House. Simon then came in with Mike Durant, and with light fading fast, saw Yorkshire through to a dramatic and fully deserved win reaching their target with 9 balls to spare.

1-1 it now stands. I will be handing over the commentary mantle, but look out for next years test match, much rides on it!

Durham: Sneddon, Oliver, Wright, Wyatt, Barker, Best, J Taylor (with special guest E Taylor).
Yorkshire: S Oatridge, P Oatridge, Dray, Guy, Durant, Green, Z Taylor.

Planning fun but serious thinking done

A quick post featuring some of the things Sunderland and Teesside got up to on our planning day at the end of April.

Gathering pictures and phrases from newspapers and magazines to build a profile of the type of students they are seeking to reach with the good news of Jesus on their campus. Also at the same time getting a feel for the university culture as a whole. You need to know who you are reaching in order to most effective relate to them.

One of the profiles, along with a map of the university campus with coloured dots indicating where students spend their time studying, hanging out in both the day and the night and also where most students live. The aim of this was to get them to think about where they run events, what time of day they run them as well as practical ways they can really care for those on their campus.

Honesty and humility was required for this section. The CU health-check. Not to make them feel proud or despairing, but in light of the gospel analyse where they feel their CU is doing well and other areas where work is needed. They also spent time praying, thanking God for His work in and through them and for the Spirit to help them change in the areas where they are weakest.

Here we have the stadium model which helps CUs to see where the balance of their outreach has been. It has 5 sections: 1.Hospitality tents where the aim is to introduce people to Christians to show that we are normal human beings and not weird! 2. Back of the Stands. This type of event is aimed at answering questions people may have which are really far back, may question like "Could thee even be a God?" or "Isn't Christianity totally irrelavant?" 3. Front of the Stands. These are events answering deeper questions which the gospel speaks into: "How could a loving God allow suffering?" "Is Jesus the only way to be saved?" 4. On the Track. At this point people believe the gospel is true, but need to be challenged to respond to Jesus and hear what is means to follow Him. 5. In the Race. Opportunities for people to begin studying the Bible, meeting with other Christians and getting support as they take the first steps in their walk with Jesus.
We don't emphasise events as the only ting to do, we wholeheartedly believe that evangelism is a way of life and that we must live distinctive and integrated lives building real friendships and loving people. But we do also know that events help people along the way and are key for reaching those without any Christian contact.

This is just a bit of fun. Post the planning and dinner together, a couple of the students were testing their logical skills using my daughter's toys! The concentration was etched all over their faces and provide much entertainment for the rest of us as we observed.









Suffice to say it was a very enjoyable and productive day. I pray the Lord will use is for the furthering of His Kingdom and that the Spirit would bring many to know Jesus through the CUs next year.

The Inaugural UCCF NE Cricket Trophy

This years end of year team day at Outwood Oval saw the first annual (hopefully) cricket match between Durham (north of the region staff and relays) vs Yorkshire (south of the region staff and relays).

Here's the review of the 2 tests (only 6 overs per innings!):

Teams:
Durham: Hamish Sneddon (C), Andrew Simmons, Chris Simons, Edwina Thorley, Matt Oliver, James Meredith
Yorkshire: Simon Oatridge (C), Ed Preston, Chris Burrows, Andrew Beattie, Naomi Locke, Hannah Dean

In the opening test Durham chose to bat first. Which looked like a very wise decision as Hamish Sneddon and Andrew Simmons began to find a steady rhythm and score some runs. Durham were looking pretty comfortable but a few sloppy mistakes lead to some nervous tension, but Chris Simons came up trumps with some helpful late run scoring before he was eventually all out for 48.
With nothing to compare that total to (this being the inaugural match) no one had any idea if it would be enough.

Yorkshire, lead by captain Simon Oatridge, took to the crease. Durham's bowlers seemed to have their eye in early and took a couple of crucial wickets in the opening two overs which left Yorkshire floundering. They recovered a little, but were bowled out for just 18 meaning that Durham could force the follow on. They duly did.

As Yorkshire psyched themselves up for for some high run scoring they were in for a huge surprised. Wickets tumbled left right and centre due to some excellent bowling and a fantastic hat-trick of run outs by the returning James Meredith. He hit the stumps directly from the field each time. Unfortunately for Yorkshire that meant they were all out for just 4 runs meaning Durham won the first test by an innings and 26 runs.

As the first test finished quickly, a second test was immediately declared and so Durham once again headed out to see if they could improve on what turned out to be an excellent first innnings score in the first test.

They continued their good form and reached 47 all out. The whole team contributed well.
Now it was Yorkshire's turn to see if they could get within striking distance. They acquitted themselves very well and reached 35 all out.

So it all came down to the final innings.

Durham began batting with a 12 run lead and the innings couldn't have started more brightly. Sneddon and Simmons setting and new opening partenrship record of 25 runs before the former was caught out by a slower ball which bounced twice and removed the bails. Another wicket fell almost immediately as Simmons went for a slog only to be caught. This gave Yorkshire some hope but Simons and Oliver steadied the ship and were aided wonderfully by Thorley and Meredith as Durham reached 59 all out.

Needing a mammoth 72 to win Yorkshire faced an uphill battle. Runs were hard to come by as Durham kept their bowling and fielding as tight as possible. But, Simon Oatridge persevered and turned in a captains performance leading his side well. With deliveries running out Yorkshire went for it. A great catch from Oliver saw Oatridge finally removed and some late session aggression from Simmons in the bowling attack saw the tail swiftly removed leaving Yorkshire 37 all out.

Bring on next year! Do you think you can do it Yorkshire?