SATURDAY, JUNE 6 2009

ALNMOUTH & LESBURY 256-8 BEAT KIRKLEY 254-5 BY TWO WICKETS

IT was a run feast all week at Alnmouth and great credit to their groundsman John Bound and apprentice Richard Lillico, who make it possibly the best batting wicket in the league.

Five hundred runs last Saturday and this, plus 330 in a 20 over game on Tuesday does not lie.

Alnmouth won the toss and put Kirkley into bat.

They got off to a good start with Howey and Smith playing and scoring freely. In fact, Howey played a superb shot through gulley, hitting captain Hodgson's left shin – a great shot judging by the size of the bump on his shin.

This meant the skipper disappearing to hospital for close examination to see if there was anything broken. He did return to make a real mess of the scorebook though.

In his absence, Oliver took charge. A second disaster befell – all-rounder Pearson again pulled his famous groin. This left him limping and he was eventually helped to the pavilion to watch the cricket on TV.

On the pitch, Nick Denton was making his mark, removing Smith.

At the other end, a bag of all-sorts was being thrown by Oliver. In fact, he eventually gave up trying to bowl and put on Search and Rescue pilot Shaw to rescue a now desperate situation.

He nabbed two wickets and when not bowling, he managed to take two catches, which was more than can be said of the hapless Poole.

Suffering from an attack of wine from the Friday night, one of the league's finest fielders put in a disastrous display, dropping three catches and, on top of the four others that were spilled, it proved a costly afternoon in the field.

When Kirkley had finished smashing the bowling attack around, with the majority going for over 50 runs, Alnmouth trailed off for tea facing a daunting 254-5 to attack.

Injured captain Hodgson followed them into the changing room for some 'hair-dryer treatment'.

The harsh words proved to stop some of the sulking that appeared to be going on. After all, they had scored 190 in a 20-over game on Tuesday.

With Pearson batting along with Vickers, they got off to the perfect start, 42 with out loss until Pearson was out lbw, debatable but in the book.

Denton and Vickers set about the attack, taking the score well over 100, until the Rennington run machine was caught behind.

Others, along with Denton were out, until pilot Shaw came to the scene of the crime. He witnessed the carnage and after a couple of shots, left again.

However, the batsmen were on course for the target hitting some wonderful shots to all parts of the ground.

Oliver, a man among boys and often the saviour, had it all to do.

He was joined by his skipper, who was not much use, but hung around for a bit to watch Ben Oliver start his siege.

It was all too much for Hodgson, he joined the rest in the pavilion, to be passed by Nick Denton, a young batsman with a lot to prove – and he did.