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Ashington Rugby CC 1st vs Alnmouth 2^nd XI (H)

A couple of changes to the team this week. Colin Thornton was unavailable and we were a batter short. The selection committee called upon Owen Jarvis to fill the void. Jarv hadn’t cut his Hair since the outbreak of the pandemic and arrived looking like the lovechild of Jürgen Klopp and Robbie Savage, both glorious and horrifying in equal measure. Cory was the other change, welcomed back into the team following his romantic weekend away,

Captain David Dent won the toss and broke the clubs ‘always bat first’ mantra to have a bowl, the wicket had a lot of grass and there had been rain around most of the week so in fairness it seemed the sensible decision. Cory Milburn & James Richards took the new ball for the home side.

Milburn bowled with good pace in the opening exchanges and had both opening batsman backing away and looking uncomfortable. Shortly after however he soon begun to struggle with his run up and lost his rhythm, the scoring wasn’t significant by any stretch but a no ball full toss through gully for 4 was the cue to change things around. With the COVID regulations preventing saliva to shine the ball it’s especially important to make an impact while the ball is still new and no side can afford to waste overs.

The introduction of Dean Greaves sparked the home team into life and Richards was the first to strike removing danger batsman Robinson for 6, superbly caught by Lewis Tanney running in taking a low catch at mid-off. Both bowlers settled into a rhythm and hit consistent areas, Alnmouth were finding scoring difficult and a few more wickets followed as Alnmouth crawled to 30-4 off 20 overs.

Richards finished a fine spell with figures of 10-7-6-2, he had the ball on a string at times and his out swingers were simply too good on this occasion. He’s asked me to let everyone know it would have been 2-4 if Callum Milburn & Greaves due to a horrendous overthrow in his second over.  Fine for both players afterwards.

The experienced Ben Oliver (42 off 35) came to the crease and immediately took the counter attack to the home side, despatching Mark Lawrence & Greaves to all parts of the ground as Alnmouth accelerated to 75 off 25 overs. Lawrence was hit for 20 off his first 2 overs and was extremely lucky to stay in the attack as he struggled with a series of half trackers and full tosses, Dent being especially lenient on this occasion allowing him to continue. Greaves finished a solid spell with figures of 10-6-31-2, everyone very happy to see him back in form.

Number 2 spinner Lawrence was joined by Number 1 spinner Scott Maddison and the pair continued the theme of the season so far by taking control of the game as Alnmouth lost 3 wickets for no runs to collapse to 77-8. Adam Peacock took a fine catch in the process running back over his head at mid-on to help remove Elliot off the bowling of Lawrence. Peacock nearly had another catch moments later running in and diving full stretch, the ball landing in the webbing and bouncing out with applause and gasps from the watching crowd. A catch that only a few in the team would have got anywhere near.

Credit to Andrew McDonnell & James Anderson who added some respectability to the Alnmouth innings with some enterprising shot making and good running between the wickets to take the final score to 106. Lawrence & Maddison were both relatively expensive but took wickets regularly which will have pleased their captain. Scott claimed robbery of the day, removing the dangerous Rich Neil (4) to a half tracker caught by Jarvis at cow corner. Jarv deciding to catch it in his ribs rather than use his hands! Alnmouth 106 all out.

Captain David Dent shamefully decided to hide himself at 4 rather than Open in Colin’s absence, doing so to protect his early season record where he has yet to be dismissed. Callum Milburn was given the opening nod after his fine innings at Benwell in the previous game, Callum was seen visibly shaking as he padded up outside his 1994 Vauxhall Corsa.

The reply started patiently as the home side reached 10-0 off as many overs, Rich Neil & Declan Mark bowled well and gave very little away with the new ball. It was Callum who pressed his foot on the accelerator as he opened up with a number of crunching boundaries, topped off with a fine 6 over mid-wicket. That’s pretty much all she wrote as the game was soon over as a contest, the home side raced through knocking off the runs with 20 overs to spare.

Matthew Tanney finished 43 not out and looked very accomplished in both defence and attack operating as the traditional opener, complemented by the attacking intent shown from Callum. The only slight on the chase was that both batsman didn’t finish not out, Callum jibbed a 50 which forced Adam Peacock to go out and hit the worst 12 runs you’ve ever seen in your life.

Huge game next week as Ashington travel to GEMS who are one of the contenders to win the league this year. Fingers crossed that the weather holds and that GEMS have managed to locate some covers to put on the wicket, although this writer won’t be holding his breath!

Ashington Rugby CC 30 points

Alnmouth & Lesbury CC 2 points

Match Ball Sponsor David Dent

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Our 2nd team win by 3 runs in a tight games v Ulgham CC 1st team.

After losing the toss and being put into bat, we scored 221 for 1, with 49 from Stuart Rosser (Capt), 45 not out from Michael Adamson and for a second week in a row Chris Harwood hits a hundred with 117 not out. 

Ulgham ended up with 218 for 9, with wickets shared around, Craig Jobson struck early but a regular partnerships kept Ulgham in the game, a wicket from Ricky Gibson kept Ulgham in check but the tide turned when experienced Gary Mordey was brought into the attack picking up 3 wickets and also keeping the run rate in check.

Own <Mason picked up the key wicket bowling Ulgham's set batsman and Jonny Acaster held his nerve at the end to see the Rugger boys through to their third wion on the belt.

Ashington Rugby CC 29 points

Ulgham CC 5 points

Match Ball Sponsors Bernie and Ros Tanney

In the first two weeks of the season, our club has had 3 players hit the magic 100 number.

1st Team Adam Peacock 100 not out off 63 balls v Stobswood 1st Team 17/4/2021 at home.

1st Team David Dent 100 not out off 90 balls v Benwell & Walbottle 1st Team 24/4/2021 away.

2nd Team Chris Harwood 117 not out v Monkesaton 1st Team 24/4/2021 at home.

Well done boys great effort.

Ashington Rugby CC 1^st XI away Benwell Walbottle CC

Just the one change to the team who beat Stobswood in the opening fixture, Cory Milburn was on a romantic weekend away with his new Mrs, immediately incurring max fines in the process. In came Jay little who’s last outing at this ground was a match winning 50, a more than able replacement.

Captain David Dent won the toss and chose to bat first. Matthew Tanney & Colin Thornton opened up, Tanney in particular made a great start capitalising on some loose opening bowling with an array of cut and pull shots. A rush of blood enticed Tanney to call through for a tight second run down to fine leg, he managed to pick out the one Benwell player with a gun arm and was convincingly run out for a run a ball 26. Thornton followed soon after trapped on the crease by Stephen Reed and Ashington were 51-2.

Peacock and Dent started to rebuild until Reed struck again, this time a half tracker which skidded on and hit Peacock below the knee roll, no repeat of last week’s century and he was sent packing for a painful 5 off 32 balls. Reed was outstanding and he finished with 10-6-10-2, to bowl those figures in a total of 245 was incredible, we were very happy decided to bowl him through so early in the game.

Lewy Tanney arrived for his first bat of the season and together with Dent they started to press the foot on the accelerator. With Reed now bowled out the pair took the attack to the remaining Benwell bowlers. Dent carried on his momentum from the previous week with a number of crunching drives through cover and looked in great touch. Lewy not to be outdone was playing a fine knock, cutting especially well off the back foot through cover. Tanney was bowled by Ali for 43 (46). Ashington 173-4 with 9 overs left.

Thankfully for his teammates, this brought Callum Milburn to the crease, Callum had started to sober up after beers the night before. Despite a lack of practice Callum picked up where Lewy left off, hitting a couple of fine sixes over mid-wicket on his way to a fine 47 off 34 balls.

Despite hitting 16 boundaries and with minimal running involved, fatigue had set in and Dent was now struggling as he made his way into the 90’s. He was in danger of running out of overs to make his century, the penultimate over going for only 3 as Dent played and missed repeatedly. Thankfully he made it with a ball to spare and brought up his 3 figures (90 balls), a fine captains innings met with a chorus of well-deserved applause. All of our top 6 have now passed 40 within the first 2 games and it’s encouraging to see different batsman contributing. 249-4 at half way.

James Richards & Dean Greaves took the new ball, we made a poor start as both bowlers struggled to find their line and length. Despite looking suspect initially Ashraf Rahman began to find his feet and punished both bowlers, he was especially strong down the round hitting over the top with ease and with power. The heads began to slump and momentum was being taken away as Benwell made a good start 45-0 off 9 overs. Richards eventually took the big wicket bowling Rahman for 37 (39) as he shuffled across his stumps. Mark Lawrence earned himself the captains fine for a completely unnecessary send off for Rahman, Marks only involvement to this point had been to dive over a few at backward point with his retractable arm. Rahman looks a decent shot maker and he’s bound to ruin a few peoples Saturdays this year!

Spin twins Lawrence & Maddison put the choke on Benwell’s reply as the runs completely dried up, the game now looked to be a battle for bonus points. We were hoping to avoid a repeat of the previous week where the last 3 batsman blocked out the last 20 overs for 15 runs, and yes that actually happened! At Drinks Benwell were 80-1.

The skipper dished out a well-deserved dressing down at drinks to the lads for an ordinary collective bowling & fielding performance so far. The talk worked almost immediately as Lawrence struck twice in quick succession removing the Smith for a patient 43 and Bell for a short lived but entertaining 0. Bell possibly demonstrating his frustration at the lack of intent shown from his fellow batsman which had now made the chase near on impossible.

Maddison was bowling beautifully at the other end, hitting a perfect length and beating both sides of the bat regularly. Scott looked a completely different bowler, one suspects he’s had Jess padded up in the back garden over lockdown getting the overs in. He finished his spell with 2 wickets for 39, but it could easily have been a 5fer on another day. Not to take Mark for granted as he finished with 4-18 off his 10 overs and was once again excellent.

The game was somewhat petering out with Benwell 125-7 and only 5 overs remaining, so Dent decided to roll the dice and throw the ball to messers Tanney & Milburn for some part time filth. That’s slightly harsh on Lewy who can clearly bowl but has been used sparingly by a succession of captains in the last few seasons.

Well show them he did! Lewy somehow managed to swing a lifeless 40 over ball both ways, at a decent pace and quickly removed the tail with ease to wrap up a 10 wicket victory. The only slight on his bowling performance was a truly awful hatrick attempt bowling a drag down wide.

A great win and contributions all round, the fielding was poor and needs considerable work. Not to single anyone out but there was some questionable ground fielding. So still things to work on when we welcome Alnmouth to the rec next Saturday.

Ashington Rugby 30 points

Benwell & Walbottle 5 points

Match Ball Sponsor Ogon Fire Pits (Adams mate)

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Ashington Rugby CC 2^nd XI vs Monkseaton 1^st XI

24 April 2021 – ‘The Rec’

Match ball kindly sponsored by Michael ‘Midge’ Adamson

Skipper Stu Rosser shuffled his pack slightly with Jamie Parker making his seasonal debut in place of the unlucky Tom More.

Rosser lost the toss & was unsurprisingly invited to field by his Monkseaton counterpart Windass on what was a cool but bright day on a belting looking track.  The ground looked a picture as spectators began to drift into the ground, credit to groundsman Paul Milburn for maintaining his usual high standards.

Once again young duo Craig Jobson & Owen Mason took the new ball but found the going a little tougher this week against the Monkseaton opening pair.  Ord looked solid but it was the experienced Tony Lion, boasting an impressive resume, who took the attack to the home side.  Anything short he was quick to put away and over pitched adjustments were also timed nicely often to the boundary despite some excellent interventions in the covers by Owen Jarvis & Jonny Acaster.

Acaster himself was introduced early but was unable to stem the flow of runs, however despite going wicketless Jobson had managed to complete his 9 overs in economical fashion only going for 32.  This brought the evergreen Gary Mordey into the attack who immediately found his line & length and despite both batsmen passing 50 and the 100 coming up there was a growing sense of urgency from the Monkseaton batsmen.

With the home side committed in the field and Rosser’s field placings limiting scoring options both openers lost their composure somewhat looking for the big shot.  At this point with Acaster completing a wicketless 9 over spell for 45 runs Parker was introduced from the rugby club end and struck immediately dismissing both openers in his 1^st 2 overs.

With Mordey now squeezing the Monkseaton middle order with his accuracy picking up a wicket in the process panic set in slightly for Monkseaton.  Acaster’s superb chase and throw from the boundary brought a run out and Parker picked up another going through his repertoire of variations and though slightly expensive him & Mordeys’ styles complimented each other perfectly.

With Mordey completing his 9 excellent overs (1 for 26) Mason was reintroduced to bowl the death overs.  Having not been at his best in his 1^st spell he once again demonstrated a bit of fight and maturity belying his age to keep things tight picking up a couple of wickets in the process to finish with 2 for 18 off 5

Parker picked up another finishing with headline figures of 4 for 42 off 8 and the Monkseaton innings ended on 170 for 8 off their 40.  This was an excellent fightback from the Ruggaz after a score well in excess off 200 looked inevitable for long periods.  For Rosser it was good to find out that as well as having a reasonable side at his disposal this year, there is also a willingness to fight in difficult situations and he was confident that should his team bat to their potential they had a great chance to win.

Following tea during which a couple of players treated themselves at the now pitched up Greek Gyros vendor it was once again skipper Rosser & Chris Harwood who strode out the middle to face new ball pair Hewitt & Gowar.  A healthy crowd had built up taking advantage of the ‘largest beer garden in Ashington’ and the decent weather, the second half now set up perfectly with the result in the balance.

The opening overs were nothing to write home (other than an extravagant Goweresque waft from Harwood 1^st ball of the innings) with both openers happy to accumulate, get themselves ‘in’ and despite a couple of pleasing looking boundaries Monkseaton could be content they hadn’t taken any significant damage at a time when it seemed the pitch was at its best for batting.

This changed however as Harwood, once again profligate on the legside, received a heavy blow on the foot and from there decided to take the attack to the Monkseaton bowlers.  Hewitt over pitched a couple of times & was launched down the ground & through cover, then the shorter adjustments were smashed through point to the short boundary that was proving difficult to defend.  Rosser, usually the aggressor was un-characteristically becalmed but used his experience to hold up his end as a consecutive 50 partnership came and not long after Harwood brought up his half century from 46 balls.

With Ashington now ahead of the rate Monkseaton turned to Doyle who despite going for a couple of boundaries off short balls induced a healthy nick from Harwood which perfectly dissected the gap between keeper & slip, both looking accusingly at each other whilst performing plausible impersonations of ‘Christ the Redeemer’.  Not to be put off, to his credit, next over produced a beauty to Rosser that pitched and seamed cleaning him up for 7 and 2 balls later repeated the feet bowling Adamson for nought to leave the home side 64 for 2.  At this point it should be said, Midge despite falling for 0 2^nd ball had played a sumptuous on drive 1^st ball that stung the hands of the fielder and was perhaps a little starstruck attempting a repeat 2^nd ball.

Next to the crease was Paul ‘Mr ARCC’ Milburn a man for such occasions, a cool head with vast experience in successfully navigating such situations.  Indeed he and Harwood settled for quiet accumulation in the following overs as Doyle continued to bowl well but unfortunately (for them) in the main Monkseaton struggled to find a combination to contain Harwood who continued to peppar the offside boundary.

As the 100 came up then the 50 partnership, Doyle finished his spell and heads began to drop in the field as Milburn started to get in on the act with a couple of offside boundaries of his own.  A highlight of this spell an all ran 4 from 2 lads who are 100 not out between and not known for bringing salad for tea.

With the score on 134 having put on 70, Milburn who had batted beautifully for 27 aimed an ugly hack toward cow & was bowled by Varier.  As disappointing as it was to see a fine innings under pressure come to an end in this way with Harwood going well and new batsmen Kevin Hetherington settling immediately it was a fine match turning knock from the chairman in his 1^st hit of the season.  It should also be noted whilst others have practiced pre season Paul is seen working on the ground be it with one of his toys or helping get set up for practice, so credit to him.  

With the result seemingly in the bag all that was to remain was whether Harwood could complete a deserved century and see the game through which he did to finish 117 not out off 109 balls with 20 fours and it was left to Hetherington to hit the winning runs with a trademark square cut for 4.

A great win for the Ruggaz against a 1^st XI and one of the favourites for promotion Harwood rightly taking the headlines added to significant contributions from Jobson, Mason, Mordey, Parker and Milburn but the application and togetherness in the field particularly in the 2^nd 20 overs was the difference between the sides in the opinion of this writer.

Monkeaton 170 for 8 (6 points)

Ash Rug 174 for 3 (29 Points)           

1st X1 v Stobswood

We won the toss and elected to bat at home on what looked like a road.

Colin Thornton and Matty Tanney both opened the batting and scored 60 odd each.

Adam Peacock smashed a 63 ball 100 the quickest century in our clubs history as Ashington racked up 272/2 off 45 overs, Stobswood finished 89/8 in reply.

Ashington Rugby CC 29 Points

Stobswood 1 Point

Match Ball Sponsor David Dent

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2^nd XI v Rock Away

Skipper Stu Rosser won the toss and elected to bowl on a greenish but decent looking deck not hesitating to invite Rock to bat 1^st

Craig Jobson and Owen Mason took the new ball and it was 15 year old Mason who removed both openers inside the 1^st 10 overs with the pitch showing signs of uneven bounce.

Whilst Jobson bowled without luck and a couple of catches went down the Ruggers were on top and Mason was replaced by the legendary Gary Mordey after finishing with 2 for 15 from his 5 over spell.

Bottomley batting at 3 top scored for Rock with 39 but with Jobson picking up 2 wickets later in his spell to finish with 2 for 23 off 9 and Mordey finding the groove after an indifferent start wickets began to fall regularly.

Spinner Jonny Acaster picked up where Jobson had left off not giving much away finishing with 2 for 11 off 5 and Mordey cleaned up the tail finishing with 4 for 26 to leave Rock 79 all out off exactly 28 overs.

A good performance with the ball with wickets shared around and in the field despite the early dropped catches - notable contributions in the field by Tom More, Owen Jarvis & Chris Harwood.

Harwood & Rosser opened for the ruggaz and both found scoring difficult early on particularly Harwood against an accurate leg side line.

However they were able to successfully negotiate the new ball and avoid an early collapse (a fate that had befallen us on our last visit) and as the change bowlers came on, despite both being given lives off no balls, started to get on top.

Rosser was 1^st to break the shackles with a couple of nice drives through mid on & midwicket adding a six that sailed onto the road to his account and eventually Harwood followed suite with several boundaries through square leg.    

Harwood hit the winning runs in the 21^st over finishing 32 not out with his late acceleration probably costing Rosser (40 not out) a half century.

Overall however a 10 wicket win a very satisfying outcome for the 1^st competitive game since promotion with sterner challenges surely to come starting with Monkseaton 1^st XI on Saturday.

Rock 79 All Out = 0 points

Ashington Rugby 2s 83 for 0 = 30 points

Match Ball Sponsor Paul Milburn

This week's bulletin contains guidance from the ECB, a National Programmes Update and information about NatWest CricketForce.

We have been working closely with both the UK Government and the Welsh Government to provide clarity in what the easing of lockdown restrictions mean for recreational cricket across England and Wales.  We know that our communities, players and volunteers will have missed the social, physical and health benefits of participating in our great game and we believe we have an important role to play in supporting the nations recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Importantly, we also know that we have a collective responsibility to ensure the safety of our communities by ensuring compliance with both the latest Government guidance.  The aim of the accompanying documents is to share with you the information we currently know about what the return to cricket at the end of March will look like, in order to help your planning. This is based on our ongoing conversations with the Government and key partners to date and information published on Gov.uk.   For England, we have produced a Roadmap and accompanying documents in order to provide you with the headline information on what activities are permissible during each step of the Roadmap.  We will continue to update this document and will share those updates with you over the course of the season.   For Wales, we have worked closely with Sport Wales and Cricket Wales to provide the accompanying guidance.   We will continue to update the relevant information as and when we receive more information on the latest position across both England and Wales. Guidance National Programmes With the launch of the priority window for previous parents of All Stars and Dynamos Cricket on Tuesday we have seen an amazing response, with 13,000 sign-ups so far, which is an amazing response before we've even launched publicly. If you are yet to upload your courses to ClubSpark, then we'd encourage you to do this over the weekend to benefit from the surge of interest.   From Monday at 2pm we will be officially launching both National Programmes, with the start of our central paid media campaign and activity across both Communications and Digital, and we'd encourage you all to start your local promotion from Monday afternoon. Do visit the resource hub for lots of imagery and assets to help with your advertising.   We acknowledge that there are still some ongoing issues for certain clubs working through their Stripe verification, and we know that this is a difficult process. There are now over 1,500 clubs that are verified, and we'd encourage you to continue working through the step by step guide if you're having any issues. NatWest CricketForce Get Set Weekend For many years, NatWest CricketForce has been a focal point for clubs as you prepare your grounds and reconnect with your players and volunteers to get set for the season ahead.     Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, this year we will not be able to run NatWest CricketForce as a physical event. However, NatWest is running a new look virtual CricketForce with their Get Set Weekend.   We’d like to use this opportunity to invite everyone to join in and get involved on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th April. We’re asking you to gather together, reconnect and sign-up to the Get Set Weekend online; where you can register for the Big Quiz featuring legends and England stars, and a special Get Set Panel event, hosted by Michael Vaughan, to help prepare for the new season. There will also be Back Garden Training features for teams posted throughout the weekend.   For more information or to register click here.

Our club is looking to have a inter club game on Sunday 11th April starting at approx 1pm playing around 30 overs.

We would have had it on the Saturday however the Rugby Club has a golf day booked and quite a few of our members are attending that day.

We are also looking at booking a personal trainer to limber us up ready for the season starting blowing away the cobwebs as they say.

We will be also looking at a number of outdoor nets before the season starts on 17th April. That is all depending on the COVID-19 position.

Friday 26th February saw our groundsman give our cricket square its first cut of 2021 with a rotary mower.

Friday and Saturday both lovely sunny warm days we give our square a total of 8 cross over passes with our roller.

It is 7 weeks till the season starts. (fingers crossed)

In the 2021 season we are looking for match ball sponsors, it will cost £25 to sponsor a match ball. We are hoping to be able to get a sponsor for all 1st and 2nd team games. We have a total 44 league games. 

We already have two members who have made a £25 donation to sponsor a ball.

Come on members sponsor a ball and support your club, you can choose which match you want to sponsor.

All of the income will benefit our club financially and go towards the costs of the cricket balls.

If you want to support our club please do not hesitate to contact your Chairman.

After only 3 weeks Dan Hartshorn scooped the prize pot of £360.

There was only two left in Ricky Gibson selected Man Utd who drew at West Brom and Dan slected Chelsea who beat Newcastle in the midweek games.

Not bad for Dan he just joined 3 weeks ago.

We have a new round starting on the weekend if you want to join give Chris Harwood a ring.