Donaldson smashes seven sixes in Berwick defeat

The big-hitter strode out of the pavilion adjusting his helmet and tugging at his gloves with his bat tucked under his arm – then wielded it with great efficiency hitting 84 off 73 balls.

Donaldson had watched on as opener Liam Thompson walked back from the crease, dismissed for a duck, then peppered the boundary at Gateshead with six fours and seven sixes before finally being caught by Mohammed Hamid from Sadiq Amin.

Donaldson has chalked up 161 runs in his three appearances for the club and says it’s ‘been a blast’ so far.

“I am thankfully surrounded by a great group of lads at the cricket club that have made me feel welcomed and made adapting to the conditions a breeze,” he said.

“The weather has impacted the league very much with a lot of games being cancelled and some teams not playing a single game so far. Thankfully however, we have played every weekend and whilst all the other games this past weekend were cancelled, we managed to get a game in and more importantly score some points,” continued Donaldson.

Berwick remain on top of the Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League Third Division despite going down to a 62-run defeat at GEMS.

They were 147 all out from 34.2 overs with skipper James Patterson’s 21 the second highest score as the lower order collapsed in single figures with Amin taking 3-18.

Declan Mark led the Berwick bowling as he took 4-47 in response with GEMS being 209 all out from 45.4 overs.

James Thompson was 3-40 and Jordan Woodcock 2-27 with GEMS skipper Syed Hassan Raza top scoring for the Kibblesworth outfit with 58 and Amjad Khan making 38.

“Although we did not win, the points we got have put us on top of the league which is very pleasing because at the end of the season that’s all that matters,” said Donaldson.

“The wickets themselves due to the rain have suited the slow bowlers as it can be hard to punish their bad balls. They can be very unpredictable with some acting as tennis balls and others essentially rolling along the ground however, for the most part, they have not been as bad I would’ve thought and knowing it will only get dryer and the pitches will only get better is a big positive.

“We have a cup game against Tillside away on Wednesday and on Saturday we are back at home on the Pier Field against Wickham 2nd XI.”