Ashington cricket - promotion 'in their own hands'

Previous leaders Castle Eden went down to a nine wickets defeat against Philadelphia and with three Saturdays left in the programme, McCafferty’s side travel to face Castle Eden this weekend (August 27).

McCafferty said: “It was a brilliant win. With the weather kicking around, we knew it was going to be tough and it was a case of trying to put it out of our mind that it was going to rain. We went on; we came off; went back on again and the way we batted was excellent.

"We set it up for later on in the innings and Younas (Ahmadzai) and Ben (Harmison) were destructive at the end to get us up to 294.”

He continued: “With the forecast we had to maximise the time available to us. I think we got our 25 overs in – and not many more - before it poured so it made a big difference.

"Cam Nichols opened the bowling with Cam Skinner who only bowled two overs down the bank then I brought James Harmison on and we skipped through our overs.

"We were desperate to win and be at the top end of the table. Everyone bought into it and there will be some tired legs amongst the group.

“Promotion was in our hands last week - and it’s even more so now. With Castle Eden losing plus Shotley Bridge winning, it bunches us up a little bit again. This Saturday is going to be a massive day.”