McCafferty delight as Ashington make it six of the best

Ashington Cricket Club’s 1st XI skipper Sean McCafferty was delighted on Saturday after his side had extended their winning run to six matches in the North East Premier League’s first division, writes Brian Bennett.
Ashington CCAshington CC
Ashington CC

The defeat at Seaham Park on the opening day of the season is still a sore subject for McCafferty but his outfit have bounced back in style.

And after the Wansbeck side had ran out victors by a convincing seven wickets margin at Washington, McCafferty said: “It was the first game back in ‘whites’ and also with a red ball but we haven’t had much of a chance to practice because we played a 20 overs game on Friday night (which we won against Blaydon). However, I thought the lads adapted to the change really well on a difficult pitch and it’s another win to add to the tally.”

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Ashington – who included Durham bowler Matt Salisbury for the first time this season -won the toss and McCafferty chose to put the home side into bat: “I think the fact that Matt Salisbury was available for us gave everyone a bit of a lift,” he said, “Having a first class cricketer coming into your side is terrific and he’s a fantastic bowler. We started off really well with the ball and it continued. Once the new ball wore off, it got a little bit easier to bat but we kept at it really well and the spinners bowled really well especially Cam Nichols whose figures of 15 overs, 6 maidens, 3-13 were unbelievable.”

Washington were seven wickets down when a masterstroke by McCafferty saw him bring Younas Ahmadzai into the attack – and the right arm spinner finished the innings off: “The wicket flattened out against the seamers and Younas (Ahmadzai) is something different with the ball and he managed to pick up the last three wickets.”

The skipper knew his side would face a test when they replied: “It was a case of being patient batting wise but it was tough early on,” he added, “I got a half decent ball for my dismissal and Jack McCarthy’s got one which had cannot really do much about but apart from that, Jack Jessop (42 not out) stuck to his task well and Younas Ahmadzai (55) batted well.”

The result - coupled with defeats for Philadelphia and Shotley Bridge - saw Ashington go second in the table.