Last ball defeat leaves Ashington in relegation trouble

For the neutral it was a fantastic game of cricket with over 450 runs scored; for Tynemouth it was sheer delight but for the Mighty Acorns it was utter dejection.

Following the reverse – their third in a row - vice captain Ben Harmison admitted that the Wansbeck side are locked in a relegation battle.

“Naturally, we’re all devastated after the defeat but with four games of the season to go, we’ve got dragged right back into it at the wrong end of the table because other results have also gone against us,” he said.

“We think we are only one game ahead now on points so we need to turn it around quick and start on Saturday against Castle Eden - but again it’s going to be a hard game. They are all hard games in the league and we are losing against all the bottom teams. It’s got to hurt the lads - but you can’t switch off. We’re in a relegation fight and we’ve got to turn up otherwise it’s going to be a long month.”

Ashington made an horrendous start losing Jack Jessop and Jack McCarthy from consecutive deliveries in the first over. They were 0-2 and later 51-5 and Harmison said the toss played a significant part.

“I was happy at half time for us to get up to 225 from where we were,” he said. “But after winning the toss and putting us in, Tynemouth got the better of the conditions.”

Sean McCafferty and Cam Nichols (41) put on a stand of 62 for the sixth wicket before being removed LBW by Konthoujam.

McCafferty was at the forefront to steer Ashington through the 200 barrier and after smashing the first ball of the final over out of the ground he moved onto 97.

But as he looked to complete his century, McCafferty lobbed a gentle catch into the hands of Matthew Brown at point.

Nevertheless his knock enabled the visitors to close on a very respectable all out score of 225.

Matthew Kimmitt and Ben Debnam got the hosts reply off to a good start with fifty on the board after 11 overs.

James Harmison came on at the scoreboard end and broke the deadlock with his fourth delivery when Debnam (14) glanced the ball into wicketkeeper Jack McCarthy’s gloves.

And a couple of overs later, it was the right arm spinner who snapped up the wicket of Kimmitt (39) as the left hander played on after going for a reverse sweep.

At the half way point, Tynemouth were 92-2 then after a break for drinks, they lost Matthew Brown who was brilliantly caught by McCafferty at cover.

The pendulum dramatically swung back in Ashington’s favour when Nichols took the wickets of Jack Roys, George Stewart and Z Larner in quick succession, the hosts on 155-6 and requiring more than eight runs an over.

But, last ball, Pollard and Konthoujam scampered through for a leg bye to win the game for their side.