Alnmouth and Lesbury pick up season-opening win as Warkworth suffer heavy defeat - cricket round-up
It was an opening weekend of mixed fortunes for the region’s cricket clubs.
Alnmouth and Lesbury CC got their new Northumberland and Tyneside Cricket League Division One campaign underway in fine fashion over the weekend, beating Backworth CC by 50 runs to ensure a winning start to the summer.
A solid 62 from Archie Elder and an admirable 35 from Jonathan Ridley provided the basis of an innings that ended with their side all out for 150, but an assured attacking display from the hosts saw Nick Denton take 3-23 and Harry Sutherland register 2-10 as Backworth were bowled out for 100.
Elsewhere, in Division Two, Alnwick CC were beaten by 40 runs as they lost their own curtain-raiser against Lintz CC. Chasing down a target of 115, Laurence Reeves and Andrew Scott posted 21 and 20 runs respectively, but the visitors fought back impressively to bowl their hosts out for just 75.
For their part, Warkworth CC were subjected to a hounding by Blagdon Park CC on Saturday, losing by 163 runs as they were bowled out for 166 on home soil. A 134 from Dan Thorburn and a 125 from Fuzzy Ahmed helped the visitors to a mammoth total of 329/6, and despite a spirited turn from Michael Phillips, who fell just three runs short of his half century, Warkworth were left facing an insurmountable target.
And finally, Tillside CC fared much better in their first fixture of the summer, beating Bates Cottages CC by 52 runs as Alasdair Skelly and Ben Brassell both took three wickets in a routine win.