‘Jack’s the best opener’ says Ashington skipper McCafferty

Jessop smashed his first century of the season as he led Ashington to 226-6 before the rain came - and it prompted McCafferty to say afterwards that he hasn’t seen anybody better this season.

McCafferty said: “It was the Jack Jessop show today and he was a joy to watch.

"To be honest he should be scoring around six hundreds a season – he’s that good a player. I’m his biggest fan but probably his biggest critic in that I think he has got so much talent - and this innings has been coming.

"Jack was excellent against Seaham Park the previous week but today he was really positive with his intent to try and score runs at all times. He punished any bad ball and I haven’t seen anybody better open the batting in our league or above – for me he’s the best around and it’s only himself that stops him scoring the runs.

"We have travelled a long way today - but it was more than worth it to watch Jack’s hundred.”

He continued: “Credit to the ground staff at Willington who did a great job to get the clash on in the first place. Every other game finished so obviously Willington was the unlucky ground which got a lot of rain.

"We lost the toss and they put us in – we would have done the same – and we declared on 226-6 after 35 overs so we were in a good position. We knew it was going to be difficult to bowl Willington out even if the game had kept going and although we’ve been unfortunate with the weather, I thought we did as much as we could in the circumstances.”

He went on: “We now go into a block of three home games – against Gateshead Fell, Washington and Sacriston - and the target is to come out with three wins. If we can do that then we’ll be in a good position.”

*Meanwhile Ashington Cricket Club are delighted to announce that Chris Tame - a former contestant on Pop Idol - will be the star attraction when he performs at their Langwell Crescent clubhouse on Saturday August 13. Tickets are available from the cricket club.