Ashington's losing streak continues with defeat against Tynemouth

And afterwards, the all-rounder – who had been ruled out of the first six matches with a broken thumb sustained the week before the start of the season – said the key word was frustration.

Nichols came into a side which had lost its previous four matches and after the coast outfit had won the toss, they put Ashington into bat.

Openers Jack Jessop and Jack McCarthy added 45 for the first wicket.

However, in the 12th, Jessop fell lbw to Bishworjit Konthoujam and in the next, Avishka Perera completely misjudged a delivery from Matthew Brown, electing to leave the ball which clattered into his stumps.

McCarthy and Ben Harmison negotiated a tricky period as they put on 49 but just ahead of lunch, the former – on 43 – drove a ball from Martin Pollard straight to Faizan Ghumman at mid-wicket.

After the dismissals of Sean McCafferty (19) and Dan Gardiner, the Harmison brothers, Ben and James looked set to boost the total but Ben holed out in the deep for an excellent 73 which included 11 boundaries and one six.

Ashington eventually declared on 220-8 after 54 overs.

In reply, Tynemouth found runs hard to come by but, after opener Ben Debnam was pouched at first slip by Ben Harmison off Alex Nice, Ashington came up against a brick wall.

Nichols commented: “I’m extremely frustrated. It was a tough pitch to bat on first half and the openers did pretty well to get through the majority of it. The pitch seemed to flatten out a little bit in the second half but we simply just didn’t do enough to be honest.”

Nichols had thought his side would come out on top: “Going off the way the pitch played in the first half, I thought the total of 220 was alright.

“I spoke to vice-captain Ben Harmison and we broke it down in stages of 45 and 50 overs to see where we were at and we decided 220 would keep Tynemouth interested because you don’t want to set a high total where the opposition just block. However, it turns out there obviously wasn’t enough runs and bowling wise – including myself - it didn’t really click today.”

Nichols was pleased to get a game under his belt following his injury: “Batting wise I felt okay although I could still feel it, (the thumb) even catching the ball,” he said, “I was happy to get back out there but things didn’t turn out the way I wanted.”

Ashington 2nds chalked up their sixth win from seven games with a crushing eight wickets win over Tynemouth seconds at Preston Avenue.

There was a really sharp spell at the start from Harry Parkinson (2-19) and then Matty Potts bowled 12 tight overs in a row and took 3-21 as Tynemouth were all out for 65. In reply, Alexander Charnley chipped in with an unbeaten 39.

On Saturday (June 7), Ashington 1sts are away to Castle Eden. Ashington seconds are at home to Castle Eden.