Retirement of a Northumberland stalwart

 By Mike Latham

I read with some sadness on the website of the Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League website (NTCL) that Brian Wilkin was stepping down from official duties with Northumberland ACO after many years of service.

Brian is a good bloke who I got to know over the past few years with his involvement as secretary of Northumberland CCC. Through him I gained an appreciation of the depth and variety of cricket in the north-east, as he outlined to me many of the grounds where he had umpired over the years, regaling some marvellous stories, and I found his enthusiasm for cricket was contagious.

People such as Brian, who devote their life to cricket as administrators and umpires are an increasingly rare breed and I wish him well in his retirement and hope he enjoys many more years of cricket-watching.

Brian Wilkin- a cricketing stalwart

The north-east is a cricketing hotbed and over the past few years I’ve tried to visit as many grounds in Northumberland as I can.

Cricket for a player, in my opinion, is about finding your level and then enjoying your game. You never know where that level will be until you push the boundaries. The NTCL enables you to do that with many opportunities for players and umpires.

In the truncated 2020 they ran eight divisions, all arranged on geographical grounds, divisions one to three played 40 overs per side instead of the usual 50; and four to six, the latter two sub-divided north and south and played over 30 overs per side.

Alnmouth & Lesbury, champions in 2019, had to settle for runners-up spot in division one behind Morpeth while the other two divisional winners of the top three divisions were Swalwell and Tynedale respectively.

Those three top sides, plus Alnmouth & Lesbury, champions in 2019 played off for the title, Swalwell (198-6) defeating Tynedale (72) in the final. Meanwhile, Blyth defeated Newcastle City Seconds by two wickets in the lower division play-off final.

The league runs from Berwick CC to the north to Allendale in the south and west, a distance of 92 miles, and hence covers a wide geographical area.

For the cricketing enthusiast there are some beautiful grounds to discover and wherever you go expect a warm welcome and a decent standard of play.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll aim to bring you a taste of a few of them.

In no particular order, here are a few that I’ve enjoyed visiting over recent years.

Alnwick CC- just off the A1 in a sports complex also including the town’s rugby union club, Alnwick CC is a relatively new ground on Weavers Way.

Bates Cottages CC- south-east of Seaton Delaval, the welfare ground is in the village of Holywell.

Morpeth CC- situated north and east of the town in the spacious grounds of Longhirst Hall, it is a former Minor Counties venue.

Ponteland CC- a vast ground, part of Ponteland Leisure Centre, north and west of Newcastle Airport.