By Mike Latham
The Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League covers a
vast area, from Berwick-upon-Tweed in the far north-east to Hexham (home of
Tynedale CC) and Allendale west of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The league has an excellent Play Cricket website and operate
six divisions, divisions five and six being split into north and south.
Despite recently losing several clubs, including Ashington,
Shotley Bridge and Lanchester to the North-East Premier League the league
continues to offer a fine range of opportunities for cricketers of every
ability. The top two divisions, from my experience, provide some good, competitive
cricket played in fine spirit. The further down you go the standard of play
drops, as you’d expect, but it’s still fun to watch and there are some glorious
grounds to enjoy.
This year division one, the top division, operates with 11
clubs after Leadgate CC stood down after the fixtures were compiled. Happily,
their Second XI competes in Division 5 South and they still run junior teams so
hopefully they will build up again. Newcastle City currently head the league
with Tynedale in second and recent champions Alnmouth & Lesbury and Consett
in mid table.
On a day of very windy and mixed weather I chose to go to
the division two game at the Pier Field between Berwick and Bedlington. Cricket
has been played here since the 1840s and it’s a great ground for spectators,
who can watch from the comfort of their cars should they so desire.
Some spectators brave the strong wind, others watch from their cars
Having two Collies, I always try to choose a dog friendly
ground, and this ticks all the boxes for them. The Pier Field is located high
above the sea and there are glorious views down the coast to Tweedmouth,
Spittal, and towards Holy Island and on a warm and sunny day there are few
better places to watch cricket.
The famous painter LS Lowry spent many holidays in Berwick
and there’s a Lowry trail around the town that features some of the landscapes
he painted. The distinctive red and white lighthouse, which can be seen from
the cricket ground, features on the trail.
LS Lowry’s lighthouse
To the north of the cricket ground the Magdalene Fields Golf
Club is situated, then a large caravan park that recently featured on a
television programme featuring Julie Walters, the famous actress. As part of
his series on railway journeys the former MP Michael Portillo also featured
Berwick in some detail.
The town walls run just inland from the cricket ground and
within them a charity football tournament operates during the summer. This
attracts many entrants and provides excellent entertainment. I was mindful that
a game was due to kick off at 6-30pm, so had a ‘Plan B’ should the cricket end
early.
On two sides of the football pitch are sheer drops from the
town walls, at the top of which spectators perch looking down on the action. It’s
a remarkable sight to behold. Known as the Stanks, the tournament has a long history,
and its excellent Facebook page provides a lot of information on fixtures and
results. For football enthusiasts it’s not to be missed.
Despite threatening weather, the cricket started on time at
1pm, Berwick batting. I was keen to see how they were adapting to life in the
second tier after promotion last season.
Bedlington bowled and fielded keenly but Berwick got a
lightning start from their overseas amateur, Lakhvir Singh, who comes from New
Zealand and is known in these parts as Lucky. He hit 36 of the opening 39 runs
before he was run out. The home side eventually were bowled out for 200, just
short of their 46 overs, four having been lost to a heavy downpour.
Jordan Woodcock, who I saw score a fine century last season,
top scored with 56 and skipper Elliott Keenan made 41. There was a famous name
in the Bedlington line-up, young Charlie Harmison, son of Ashes hero Steve, who
bowled impressively in his six over spell.
Jordan Woodcock acknowledges his 50
It was great to see the Bedlington team give lots of
encouragement to their younger players and plenty of opportunities to be
involved in the action.
The wind, if anything, got even stronger as Bedlington
batted and dark cloud built up in the southwest. With one eye of the weather
the visitors went for quick runs and left-handed opener Connor Leason looked in
fine nick, making 29 in quick time before he was caught behind.
The Berwick bowlers mastered the tricky conditions well and
the fielding was sharp. The opening bowler James Thompson captured wickets of three
of the top four and when Singh replaced Michael Shearer from the golf club end,
he quickly made light work of the match.
Michael Shearer bowling from the golf club end
Bowling a lively medium pace he took five for 25 off only
4.3 overs and Bedlington’s innings concluded on 96 in the 22nd
over. I got the impression that
Bedlington had some talented players in their ranks but hadn’t really done
themselves justice on this occasion. Berwick’s win lifted them to fourth in the
table and was accomplished just before the heaviest and most prolonged downpour
of the afternoon.
A glorious rainbow out to sea
Berwick’s ground looks immaculate, their scorer maintains
live scoring on the Play Cricket website, and they are a friendly and welcoming
club. If you’re in the area I’d recommend a visit to the most northerly cricket
ground in England. Thanks too to the umpire, not named on the scorecard, who
officiated at both ends while the batting team provided the square leg umpire.
He was an unsung and anonymous hero of the afternoon.
Football at The Stanks
The match had finished in time to catch the football at the
Stanks between Longamble from down the coast and a team from Prudhoe. Despite
the heavy rain and continuing wind, the standard of football was excellent but,
wet to the skin, and weary of braving the wind I called it a day and soon
headed homewards.
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