News

Time is running out to book seats for Presentation Night on November 4th and the chance to listen to Guest Speaker Ronnie Irani.

Tickets must be ordered before 21st October.

Please contact your Chairman ASAP if you want to attend.

Our Chairman gave a presentation on Tuesday 3^rd October in the council chambers and the Town Council agreed to support our cricket club.

It is fantastic news knowing that we have been supported by our own council and they also know who we are, what we do and that we have been playing cricket at the Recreation Ground since 1983, and that we are very proud to have Ashington in our club name.

It means a great deal to our small cricket club to have the councils support, it is hard to put it into words what this really means to us, the support also give us some reassurance financially, which is nice to have.

On the 25th November; Ashington Rugby Cricket Club host their annual presentation evening, it will double up as a "Race Night" to allow members to bring friends, family and children. This will support our club as its only fund raising event of the year.

The night starts at 7pm, your Chairman will ask members to buy and name 2 horses they are £2 each.

We are looking for a minimum of 6 sponsors to cover the 6 races and we would like a few more to sponsor the race card, event etc.  

Remember this is a night to enjoy, look back at the 2017 season and hopefully raise some much needed funds for our club. 

Saturday 19th August - 1st Home to Stobswood CC.

Harwood and Beefy were unavailable, again, although this time it was due to holidays. Parsons and Spike-El-Vaughan came into the side as replacements. Dent won the toss and we finally got to bat first on a good deck, the sun was out, a glorious and rare occasion. The changing room was noticeably buoyed, especially Peacock who always pulls a toddler tantrum every time we bowl first.

Denty gave a rousing team talk to get the lads going, the key message was that we were to try and take advantage of a relatively aged Stobswood side and put the pressure on with quick singles. There must have been a miss-communication as a few balls into the innings Callum Milburn hit one towards cover and charged through for the single. Denty was sat firmly in his armchair at the non-strikers end and Callum was comprehensively & hilariously run out.

Dent & Peacock batted well for a period, there weren’t many singles in their 50 runs partnership as the pair dealt almost exclusively in boundaries. The outfield was quick and anything that missed its line or length was put away.

We were racing along at 5 an over and looking all set for a big score, Stobswood replaced both openers in a double change for Beverley and Watson. The pace off the ball worked wonders and runs soon began to dry up. Peacock’s patience didn’t last long as he went for an ugly howk off Beverley and was bowled for 19.

Beverley struck again soon after as Paul Milburn was out the plummest LBW you’ve ever seen in your life, struck in front of all 3 offering no shot to a ball that swung in. It’s a good job we don’t have DRS at club level, with Paul ‘Shane Watson’ Milburn batting at 4, I’d be surprised if there would be any appeals left for the lower order.

Lewy Tanney passed the 300 runs mark for the season and raised his bat aloft, he is especially keen to beat Peacock’s run tally this year. The pair had a very drunken £50 bet in Prague.

Dent then claimed another dismissal to add to his tally as Lewy was out LBW for 14. Dent was plumb LBW a few balls before and got away with one.

Blocking grand master Matty Tanney joined Dent at the crease, led by Dent the pair re-stabilised things and Dent passed his fifty in the process. Dent has an incredible record at the recreation ground and seemingly scores runs each time he play, just a shame he goes missing every time we play away.

We threatened at points to go beyond 200, but as Cory Milburn & Matty Tanney were dismissed for 19 & 23 respectively our boundary hitting prowess disappeared and the tail had a little too much to do on their own, we were all out for 181. Dean Greaves with his 4^th 0 not out of the year.

Greaves looked a rejuvenated man as he steamed in for the KFC end, he had the ball on a string and was causing all sorts of problems. It’s not an exaggeration to state that he was swinging it in a set of stumps and then getting the ball to seam away from the batsman. He mucked out most of the top order for not so many and Stobswood were left reeling at 26-5.

In other news Greaves has officially announced that he has agreed to carry on playing for as long as Donald Trump remains president, ‘4 more years’ was the cry from the field.

Stobswood didn’t give in and recovered really well to reach 118/7 as the coach Dan Watson dug in and battled on against a good spell from Cory Milburn. Whilst erratic at times Cory always looked dangerous using the extra bounce in the pitch and managed to pin a few batsman with some short stuff in the process. The game was never in any massive doubt but as the score edged up towards 120 the game was looking to drag on to a full 50 overs and a long afternoon.

We were better in the field this week as Callum took a good catch at gully, showing Harwood how it should have been done from his drop last week. Lewy made a meal of one at mid-off, in true Tanney fashion he took a palms down catch at about knee height, fielding coaches everywhere wincing at the questionable technique! Spike-El-Vaughan came close with a mesmeric full stretch dive in the covers, however his technique left a little to be desired as he crocodiled it over the bar, a grand effort none the less.

Matty Tanney got an earlier bowl as his performance last week warranted; in an economic spell he got the prize wicket of Watson. The level 3 coach not following his teachings as he left a big gap between bat and pad, bowled for a belligerent 15.

That win puts a gap between us and relegation. Whilst not 100% safe we now sleep a little easier knowing we would have to lose all of our remaining games and others pick up 3 victories for us to go down. We travel to high flying Blue Flames next week in what will no doubt be a tough match.

Ashington RCC 29 points, Stobswood 6.

On the 4th November the Northumberland Cricket League host their annual presentation event at Newcastle Falcons ground. Guest speaker still to be announced, it is £30 per head for a 3 course meal.

We will be asking for names and payments before the end of the season.

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On the 25th November; Ashington Rugby Cricket Club host their annual presentation evening, it will double up as a "Race Night" to allow members to bring friends, family and children. This will support our club as its only fund raising event of the year.

The night starts at 7pm, your Chairman will ask members to buy and name 2 horses they are £2 each.

We are looking for a minimum of 6 sponsors to cover the 6 races and we would like a few more to sponsor the race card, event etc.  

Remember this is a night to enjoy, look back at the 2017 season and hopefully raise some much needed funds for our club. 

1st team 12th August away to Warkworth CC.

We welcomed Harwood & Beefy back into the side, both having now served their time away.

Harwood is off next week for yet another holiday, completing a 2 week Tour de France in his stupendous Caravan, so Denty retained the captaincy for the day to keep consistency. Bar Richards (torn ACL) we fielded a full strength side for the first time since June, a reflection of the extent of our extended injury troubles this year. All Millburn’s were present and available, all held together by various tape and super glue, but available none the less.

Expert coin flipper Dent won the toss and chose to bowl first, there had been rain around in morning hours and it seemed a reasonable choice in the circumstances. The rains had soaked the outfield so a late start was decided for 2pm, 40 overs a side.

Limbered up and fit again Cory Milburn got things going for us. Cory has recently recovered from a lightly bruised toe nail and is back after a 6 week lay-off. We got off to a great start, Cory was impressive and caused early problems both batsman. The movement away from the right handers stumps was proving too much as he quickly accounted for Robson (0) with a sharp ball that climbed and was on the batsmen too quickly, Dent taking a simple catch at slip.

Not to be left out, Greaves soon got in the action as 1 became 2. He removed Wilson caught behind (0) to leave Warkworth 13/2. This brought together Adam Hall & Scoot Gibson to calm home team nerves. Adam Hall was looking for the Mo Farah double double after scoring 50 runs and taking 5 crucial wickets in the reverse fixture earlier this season.

Erasing any worries the home crowd had at the slow start, the pressure quickly turned and boundaries began to flow as both batsman went on the attack. Gibson hit a number of eye catching boundaries through the off side whilst Hall was more measured in his approach manipulating the field to his advantage. Hall must particularly enjoy facing our attack as nearly half his league runs this year have been scored against us!

Warkworth quickly progressed to 87/2, this wasn’t helped by some very average fielding from us. Harwood dropped a simple chance off Hall at gully, he claimed not to see it, hard to believe when he was wearing his thickest spectacles. To be honest no-one covered themselves in much glory (including the writer) and we gifted them at least 15 runs in the field through simple mistakes.

Finger spinner Scott Maddison got the coveted breakthrough just before drinks, finally finding a useful fuller length he enticed Gibson into a heave over the leg side and bowled him, the ball clipping off stump and Gibson was out 36. Warkworth were 96 for 3 at drinks and about par on a kind outfield and small boundaries.

Batting at 5 Joseph Leddy recovered from a nervy start and began to up the pace for the home locker room and the scoreboard began to race along. He reached 50 off 60 balls with the leg side yielding the majority of his runs. It was fine knock, the highlights were a number of superb flicks through square leg, punishing any bowling too straight on his pads.

Home owner Lewy Tanney & Disney world enthusiast Maddison went for a few runs in that spell of the game, but given the situation of the game and the small boundaries there wasn’t a whole lot more they could have done. Matty Tanney bowled particularly well at the death and is pushing hard for an earlier bowl next week.

We took a couple more wickets near the death as Warkworth finished 217-5 off their 40 overs. We conceded a total of 40 extras which was a reflection of poor fielding and some poor bowling down the leg side, no blame on Beefy who stood no chance standing up to the stumps.

Our reply started poorly as Denty fell early door to Hall for 8, the ball swinging in and bowling him as he looked to step back and play through the off side. Callum Milburn fell soon after caught at mid-on off Clark, Callum driving at a ball that wasn’t quit there to hit.

This brought Peacock and Milburn Snr to the crease, in a carbon copy of Warkworth’s innings the pair then went on the attack. Peacock hit Clark down the ground for 6 to get things going and then Milburn hit a succession of quick boundaries to move the score quickly to 75/2.

Due to a shift in Momentum, the wily duo of Clough & Pringle were brought into the attack in an attempt to slow things down. The tactic worked wonders and the boundaries began to dry up. The vice lock soon told as Paul went for a last minute heave over cow only to sky a simple catch to the incoming fielder at mid-wicket. A disappointing end as Paul departed for a brisk 20 in a brief but destructive innings that could have been so much more.

Determined to find form, Peacock continued to grind it out, picking up singles where possible and eventually reached just his second fifty of the season off 56 balls, only to be dismissed on the very next ball as he played all round a straight one and was bowled off Pringle.

That was big wicket for the home side and the pressure began to mount as Cory Milburn & Matty Tanney struggled to score, a combination of clever bowling and intelligent field settings restricted our boundaries and the dot balls kept coming. We needed over 9 runs an over off the last 14 for us to win the game.

Cory was dismissed LBW ?? off Pringle for 17, this brought Storey to the crease and our hopes seemed to rest solely on his shoulders if we were to mount a serious attempt at reaching 217. And a fine job he did! Scoring got easier after Pringle and Clough had bowled out and Storey took a liking to anything full, dispatching a number of boundaries through the leg side.

Storey smashed 56 off 39 balls to leave us needing 9 off the final 2 delivers. With bums twitching and tensions in the filed clear to see Storey then smashed a 6 down the ground to leave us needing 3 off the final delivery, 2 enough for a draw. Unfortunately we were 9 down at this point and with Greaves at the other end we weren’t exactly best placed to run a quick-fire 2!!

Adam Hall bowled a good Yorker and Storey could only force a shot down to long on, we were all out trying for the second and Warkworth won by 1 run.

A tense end to a fine game of cricket and a great advert for the league. Hopefully under the new league structure there can be a minimum number of fielders required within an inner circle to make it more of an even contest in a chase. However no grumbles from us as if it was the other way round we would have done exactly the same and had 9 boundary fielders. I would even have drafted in me Nan to add another boundary rider if allowed!

We are only 30 points off the relegation places and have some important matches coming up against Stobswood & Cramlington in the next few weeks to secure our place In the premier league for next season.

Bomarsund home 12/08/2017

Bomarsund 2nds travelled to the REC in what was the start of a set of fixtures that would have a major impact on promotion to Division 1. With the normal Saturday morning rain circling which threatened to have a major impact on the league without a bowl being bowled, thankfully, with a change in weather, play eventually started late and a 30 over game was possible.

With conditions under foot a little tricky but the weather looking fair, Bomarsund skipper won the toss and elected to bowl first. ARCC 2nds batsmen once again set about the task of setting a score for the bowlers to defend and posted 154-7 in 30 overs with Jay Little top scoring with 48 not out along with useful contributions from Jonny Richards (35) C Jobson (17).

ARCC 2nds knew that they had to bowl well knowing that Bomarsund had some key batsmen that could score quickly and take the game away

from them. Again, the bowlers delivered the goods and restricted Bomarsund 2nds to 103-5 in 30 overs with Trevor Elliot the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5-0-18-4

This was an important victory which maintained the momentum especially leading into the biggest weekend of the season so far with a trip to 2^nd placed Whitely Bay which will have a major bearing on the promotion places and on Sunday 20^th August, ARCC 2nds travel to Blyth to play Whickham 2nds in the Enid Farmer Final.

1st Team v Blagdon Park CC Saturday 5/8/2017

Blagdon won the toss and unsurprisingly after the weather we've had and with a poor forecast asked us to bat first. Dent opened the batting with himself and Matthew Tanney. The score had moved to 18 when Matthew was caught behind for 1.

Dent and Paul Milburn took the score to 35 before Paul was caught behind for 9 which brought Lewis Tanney to the crease. The pair put on 71 for the 3rd wicket which was eventually broken by Blagdon captain Gibson after a rain delay when Tanney was bowled for a well made 35.

Dent carried his bat through the innings cautiously compiling a well-made 67 noy out from 115 balls including 5 fours and 1 six which was an excellent captains knock under difficult circumstances with several senior batsmen not available on the day.

Gibson 3-39 and Clark 4-32 were the pick of the Blagdon bowlers. 

Unfortunately the 2nd innings never got underway as just after the tea break the heavens opened, only after the covers had been on and off 3 times during the first innings. Both captains decided at 5:45pm after over an hour of heavy rain that there wasn't much chance of a result and shook hands on a respectful draw. 

Ashington Rugby CC 8 points Blagdon Park CC 9 points

1st team are away to Warkworth next Saturday looking to avenge a 20 run loss earlier in the season. 

After not playing in the previous weeks, ARCC 2nds travelled to Corbridge knowing that 30pts was a must if they were going to push for promotion to Division 1.

On a beautiful sunny day, ARCC 2nds won the toss and elected to bat first. With the plan to post a total over 200, the ARCC 2nds batsmen set about the task. Again Mr consistent Kevin Hetherington top scored with 64 not out supported by useful contributions from Jonny Richards (40), Dean Hardy (20) in posting a total of 204-8 in 40 overs.

In reply, Corbridge struggling to cope with the accurate bowling of the ARCC 2nds bowlers and eventually were all out for 60 in 25 overs. Jonny Acaster 6-2-10-4, Craig Jobson 9-3-17-3 and Davey Wanless Snr 10-1-33-2 all bowled extremely well.

This was the result that ARCC 2nds needed knowing that tougher encounters were coming, starting with Bomarsund 2nds @ home. 

Corbridge away Saturday 29/07/17

Having won the toss skipper David Dent had no hesitation in batting first on what looked like a decent day for it, on a green deck. We got off to a slow but steady start reaching 56-3 after 18 overs.

Openers Callum Milburn and Adam Peacock scoring 13 and 9 respectively. After losing Little for 1, Dent was joined at the crease by Lewis Tanney and both started to raise the scoring rate before Dent was caught behind for 34. Lewis eventually fell for a fine 67 which included 9 fours.

Parsons 11, Paul Milburn 8, Johnny Richards 9 and Ricky Gibson 13 all contributed to a competitive 196-10 in the 49th over.

A Dover was the pick of Corbridge bowlers with figures of 3-32off his 13 overs.
In reply Corbridge made a good start reaching 40-2 after 10 overs.

Although wickets fell at regular intervals our bowlers couldn't dislodge opener Chris Fowler who went on to complete a match winning century and finished 103 not out which included 10 fours from 130 balls.

Our wicket takers were Dent 4-60 and Lewis Tanney 4-56. Our bowlers did well to take the game into the 46th over but we ultimately fell short on the day. 

Ashington Rugby CC 7 points Corbridge CC 29 points.

With the weather looking fair, ARCC 2nds looked to get back into the grove after the postponement the previous week with a tough game against Embleton. Unfortunately Embleton conceded the fixture on the morning of the game due to being unable to field a team meaning that for the 2^nd week ARCC 2nds had no game.

Ashington Rugby CC 30 points