Ashington cricketers win by five wickets against Shotley Briodge

The 1st XI skipper voiced his frustrations after his side only collected 14 points from a ‘winning draw’ against Philadelphia the previous week – but he had a smile on his face on Saturday night when he said: “Yes I’m happy after what was a brilliant win.”

Shotley Bridge were 184 all out with Ashington making 185-5 in reply.

"Before start of play, I think Shotley Bridge were third in the table 20 odd points behind us so following our win, it makes the gap between us even bigger. I knew they (Shotley Bridge) were missing a few players today but they are a good side – certainly their bowling attack.

"The two opening bowlers, one lad (Oliver Gibson) plays for Durham and the other (Jon Hinrichsen) has come across from South Africa and plays first class cricket.”

He continued: “I thought we were excellent apart from letting them get away at the start. We looked a little bit rusty with the new ball but then the two spinners came on – Cam Nichols and James Harmison – and were superb as they pegged the score right back and put the pressure back on them.

"The pair didn’t really give much away – so much so that I thought Shotley Bridge maybes had to force things a little bit and that brought us wickets.”

He went on: “In the field I thought we were good and held onto our catches and with the bat we saw off the two opening bowlers with Jack Jessop and Jack McCarthy doing really well.

"Then everyone chipped in and Younas (Ahmadzai) was brilliant, smashing the ball to all parts of the ground whilst Ben Harmison played a very sensible innings at a tricky time.

"After Younas was out, James Harmison came in to partner Ben and he too was solid at a time where things could have been difficult had we lost a few more wickets.

"I have seen us lose games from being in that position before but everyone realised how important it was to get stuck in; make sure that we finished the job off and it means we stay second from top of the league.”