It seems an
age since I last wrote about cricket. Indeed, two whole months beyond the
boundary and at fairly deep mid-on have passed in blissful serenity following
my last missive, during which time I’ve seen 17 games, 14 of which involved a
Tynemouth side, and played for the Bad Boys on 6 occasions. Of course, I’ve
sadly had to miss a few Saturdays because of other commitments; May 5th
saw Tynemouth claim their first win of the season, away to Sacriston, but I was
still on Benfield duties back then, attending our creditable 0-0 at Marske
United that saw the Seasiders crowned Northern League Champions and therefore
gain promotion to the Unibond League. This was a great occasion to be at, but
who is to say in the sporting pantheon that it will be of more historical
moment than Polly’s 4 for 3 at Sacriston?
On the
Sunday, I assumed my volunteer gatekeeping duties at Jesmond as Northumberland
took on Lincolnshire in a Minor Counties 20/20 double header. All the
Northumberland committee, especially Alan McKenna, Brian Wilkin and Gordon
Halliday were most appreciative of my efforts. I was even treated to a pair of
custard creams to go with my complimentary coffee. Seriously, I was delighted to
be afforded the opportunity to help out and even more delighted to see a
thumping 971 runs scored; 286 of them by Lewis Kimber (162* and 124) of Lincs,
who also bagged 4 for 16 in the first game, which the visitors won fairly
easily, chasing down Northumberland’s 200/3 for the loss of 4 wickets. However,
the second game thrillingly went the way of the home side; Lincs made an
impressive 237/7, but Phil Mustard, now of Felling but who I remember most
fondly as the goalkeeper of Seaham Red Star who let 6 in against Ashington in
December 2004 (“eee that’s shit” he said when the first trickled between his
knees in the opening minute), got well involved, smiting 17 maximums into the
graveyard adjoining. Tynemouth’s Matty Brown also contributed to the
afternoon’s entertainment with an unbeaten pair of half centuries, much to the
delight of his parents, who I watched the second game with. It was not just a
wonderful advert for Minor Counties cricket, it was a simply brilliant day in
boiling sunshine and there was more fun to come on May Day Monday.
First up,
Benfield completed our league season with a classy 3-1 win over Whitley Bay. Basking
in the glory of a well-played season, I cycled down from Hillheads to Preston
Avenue for Tynemouth’s Banks Salver game against South Shields. We closed on
233/9, which looked a decent total from 40 overs. Shields tried hard and
reached 45 without loss, but Polly got involved again with 4 for 4 and they
found themselves 99/9, before being dismissed for 108. During the general chit
chat in front of the pavilion over a post-game pint, it became obvious there
was a staffing problem for the Wednesday following. The first team had
Newcastle City in the Charity Bowl, but couldn’t find anyone to work the bar.
Cometh the hour; cometh the man… Having recently found myself rehearsing the
role of a neophytic gig economist, I’ll do anything legal for money (within
reason). More importantly, my sense of community means I understand when duty
calls. Also, getting hired as a bar tender by Tynemouth Cricket Club is as near
to a professional sportsperson as I’ll ever be. Additionally, it’s considerably
more professionally satisfying than the last 4 years of my teaching career.
By
Wednesday, the weather had turned; it was freezing and understandably there was
nobody there to watch. Bear in mind Newcastle City are an Asian team, so they
didn’t want anything to drink and as it was during Ramadan, they didn’t want
any snacks either. Consequently, I saw almost all of our 70 run victory. In
fact, I enjoyed myself so much, I was back in harness on the Thursday to see
the 2nds beat Felling by 90 runs in the Roseworth Bowl. At least Anthony
Trotter was there that night, supporting the lads from NE10, meaning that I
sold a few pints at any rate.
It was good
to catch up with Hebburn’s most devout adherent to the Holy See, as I’d been
unable to take in Tynemouth’s win at High Heworth Lane on May 12th,
or indeed the home draw with Chester le Street the week after, on account of my
duties at the two Tyneside Amateur League cup finals. However, I was back on home turf for the
opening NEPL 20/20 group game against Eppleton on Friday 25th May,
having eschewed the chance of seeing the Duckworth Lewis curtailed Durham v
Worcestershire one day game at South North. The weather at Tynemouth was
clement though, as Peter Brown would testify, somewhat windy, allowing Eppleton
to post 125/3. I have to say it was genuinely exciting watching Barry Stewart
and Andrew Smith, though the meat haze emanating from the barbecue, chase the
runs down, but even more important was the fact that 96 tiny bairns were on the
back field doing All Stars cricket. This is the sort of thing the ECB should be
prioritising, not tomfoolery like the 100 ball game. What an amazing turnout
and hopefully enough to reassure the doom merchants who think cricket is
finished as a mass participation sport. Hey, I’m 54 next month and I’ve just
started playing regularly.
Of course,
I’m still watching regularly and, having fulfilled an obligation to take in
Wideopen 1 Spital Rovers 2 in the final Northern Alliance fixture of the
season, I turned up to see the second half of the South Northumberland home
game. The perennial favourites and champions elect had set a decent total,
declaring on 228/9. The chase, as is often the case on occasions like these,
was not straightforward. At 57/3, the pendulum was swinging towards the
Gosforth galacticos, but Sean Longstaff and Mark Watt dug in; at first it was
dogged occupation of the crease, but then runs began to flow and an unlikely home
victory seemed possible until the two of them were out in rapid succession.
Time for entrenchment; we ended on 188/8, which was a decent effort.
Sadly, the
need for money meant I had to pass up the chance of another Northumberland
20/20 double header at Jesmond, home to Staffordshire on the Sunday, to graft
behind the bar at a christening. It’s 35 years since I regularly worked in a
pub and while many things are easier for bar staff these days (computerised
tills, glass washing machines, specific glasses for specific drinks for
instance), you can still get run off your feet. Goodness I was busy, so I saw
little of the 2nds slaughter of Brandon in the Banks Bowl; 334/5 beat 108 all
out. Niall Piper’s 178 not out, including an all run 6, is in the mix for the
highest ever score in living memory by a Tynemouth player. Brandon are
desperate to gain promotion to the NEPL top division and are throwing money at
the first team, at the expense of the rest of the club. In one of those
vagaries of the fixture list, they were back at Preston Avenue the following
Saturday for a league fixture, in which they won the toss, batted first, got
bowled out for 30, lost by 9 wickets and were on their way home by 2
o’clock. In the afternoon that is; on
Whit Bank Holiday Monday, it seemed many of the first team had been out until that
time in the morning, as a tough trip to Chester le Street in the Banks Salver
produced a depressing loss by 97 runs as we were bowled out for 138.
That defeat
opened the box on a week of cup failures. South North, with Adam Cragg’s dad
taking 4 wickets, ended our interest in the Charity Bowl, which we’d won in
2017. Then, on the Friday, any realistic chance of progressing in the 20/20 was
snuffed out with a bizarre loss to Durham Academy. The first ball flew off a
length and hit Mike Jones on the helmet, proving batting wasn’t going to be
easy and so it proved as we only managed 86/9, though it got no easier for the
Academy, who crawled home by 2 wickets. I pondered whether the sizeable crowd
felt satisfied by a contest that was always on a knife edge, but that saw the
ball dominating the bat.
The next
day, the first Saturday in June, I took a trip to Ayrshire to assuage my love
for Scottish Junior football, attending Cumnock 2 Auchinleck Talbot 2, while
Tynemouth gained a losing draw in a rain curtailed game at Hetton Lyons. On the
Sunday, grafting behind the bar at a quieter Christening do, the Academy side
lost to South North by 3 wickets. In need of first team action, I made the
last-minute decision to watch the final 20/20 group game away to Burnopfield on
Friday 8th, partly because it was the chance to visit a new ground.
Burnopfield may only be a few miles south west of Newcastle, but it’s the
sticks without question. Getting off the bus, massively delayed by insane
traffic caused by Ed Sheeran playing SJP, I had to use my phone’s sat nav to
find the ground, which involved navigating a vertiginous park. It was worth it
though, as Burnopfield’s ground and facilities are brilliant; a huge outfield,
with landscaped viewing platforms and a massive clubhouse, with much Colin
Milburn related memorabilia. It’s like a massive Swalwell. As I was heading to
see The Wedding Present at the Academy the same night, it was only possible to
see the home side’s innings. They made 119/5, though we chased it down it 13
overs, around the time David Gedge was recalling a time when he was probably
dressed in corduroy. A real shame I didn’t see the outcome, especially as I
missed our 4 wicket win over Benwell Hill the next day as I was back in
Scotland for Glasgow Perthshire 1 Pollok 2 and a literary evening in Falkirk,
but important to be there. If I’d not bothered, Di Brown would have been the
sole Preston Avenue ultra in attendance.
On the way
back from Falkirk on the Sunday, I entertained the thought of attending the Scotland
v England 50 over contest at the Grange Ground in Edinburgh, because of the
import of the occasion, but also to support Mark Watt in his endeavours, not to
mention Kyle Coetzer of Benwell Hill and former South North man Callum MacLeod.
Sadly, rather like the England v Australia game at the Riverside, the
announcement of ticket sales had passed me by and all tickets had been sold.
I’ll regret this forever; Mark took 3/47, Coetzer scored 79 and MacLeod was man
of the match with 140 not out, as the NEPL beat England by 6 runs. Honestly,
the pride I felt in seeing lads I’ve watched and drank with at local clubs
making Sam Billings look very foolish, is almost impossible to put into words.
The frustration felt by a wasted evening on the Wednesday when Kimblesworth
never showed for a cup game with the 2nds was almost at the same level; at
least they had the good grace to eventually concede the potentially rearranged fixture
a few days later…
Saturday 16th
June was a bit wet. I didn’t fancy the lottery of a trip to Stockton with the
firsts, so I stayed local for the 2nds against Gateshead Fell. Shame really, I
ought to have explored the chance of a double header at Brandon and Willington,
to help me tick off the grounds I’ve yet to visit, but you couldn’t trust the
weather, as had been forecast. Needless to say, the threatened monsoon season
didn’t materialise in NE29 and the game reached a pleasing conclusion. Gateshead
Fell made 167 and we won by 3 wickets after an on/off innings that ended in
glorious evening sunshine.
The last 2
Saturdays in June saw the contrasting sides to Tynemouth’s batting. On June 23rd
Eppleton, who have proved to be tetchy opponents in the past, such as the
nonsensical unpleasantness at last season’s Banks game at Church Road, were the
visitors. In a simply unbelievable show of dominance of bat over ball, Ben
Debnam and Nick Armstrong, centurions both, amassed 265/0 from 50 overs; the
declaration giving us 60 overs to bowl them out. As could be anticipated in the
face of such a huge total, Eppleton didn’t get near, ending on 134 all out,
with Wesley Bedja getting 6 for 34. It was about as comprehensive a win as
could be imagined and one of 7 victories for every club side that weekend,
including a 20-run win for the 2nds in a Banks Bowl game against Hetton Lyons
at home on the Sunday. However, fortunes fluctuate, as can be demonstrated by
events a mere 7 days later when, having been inserted by Durham Academy on a
cloudy morning with a green looking pitch, Tynemouth tumbled to a 9-wicket
loss; after dismissing us for 131, the young opposition charted a rapid and
untroubled course to victory.
Thus, at the
halfway point of the season; Tynemouth firsts are fifth in the Premier Division, 56 points behind leaders South North and 79 ahead of bottom club
Felling. The seconds, still unbeaten, are top with a 27-point lead over Benwell
Hill. They’ve also a home 20/20 quarter final at home to Chester le Street and
an away Banks Bowl semi-final against the same opposition to look forward to.
The third team are second in the table to Cramlington 2nds in Northumberland
and Tyneside Division 6 South. A reasonably encouraging set of statistics at
this time of the season, though disappointing that the firsts have no cup
interest remaining. Next week is a trip to second placed Whitburn; a picture
postcard perfect ground.
Now you’ll
recall I mentioned the half dozen games I’ve appeared in for the Bad Boys;
well, here’s what has gone down. During these games, resulting in 4 victories
and 2 defeats, I’ve only needed to bat once. After dismissing the 9 men of
Bates Cottages for 87, having had them 12/5, we were 30/0 in reply and
cruising. Then suddenly we were 77/8 and I had to go in. I faced 3 balls, allegedly
scoring a single down leg side from the first, though despite what it says in
the book, I don’t think I got a touch, before nervously playing the second
about 5 yards on the offside and finally getting a ridiculously top edge from a
hideous swipe across the line that gave an easy caught and bowled to the lad
who’d belted my 2 overs for 28 in their innings. In my defence, I was bowling
against the wind and the conditions kept dragging the ball wide of leg stump
for their lad to clout away. Excuses mean nothing; we totalled 84 and lost by 3
runs. I got so bladdered that night; I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up with
my lenses in at 3.00am. It’s tough at
the bottom…
With an
immensely important pair of fixtures to come in the next week, at home to North
East Tamils in the Midweek Plate and away to Mitford in the League, I can
safely say, regardless of the outcome, playing for the Bad Boys has made the
last couple of months some of the happiest of my life. Seriously. I may not
have the confidence to bat as yet, but I’m loving the chance to bowl again.
First up, in the home game against Mitford that we won by 80 runs, I got the
last over when it was clear we were safe. Alright so my first ball in 28 years
was loose, wide and clouted away for 4, but I only conceded 4 singles after
that and almost had their bloke, when the ball ran along the deck and he was
forced to jab his bat down to keep it out. It was a start and I finally stopped
feeling a fraud. Just a shame I couldn’t build on that, as we conceded the next
game away to Mitford because we couldn’t raise a team, then I wasn’t called on
to bowl as we lost to league leaders Sparta by 22 runs on May 24th,
before the trip to Beamish and East Stanley to play High Stables was postponed
for some arcane reason I haven’t yet divined.
You’ve got
to keep the momentum going though and in a Plate game against Park House that
we won by 80 runs, I took a wicket. In fact I took 1-0-1-1, with a single from
my first ball and some excellent help by the lads in the field to keep things
tight. And then, the last ball of the over… I could lie and say it was my
googly that did him, but I think he just got pissed off at this portly, ageing,
rubicund Rastafarian bowling at 2 miles per hour to him and tried to hit me
over the Linskill Centre. He missed and the keeper whipped the bails off.
Sean
Longstaff will have many stellar moments in his football career, but I’m sure
he’ll treasure the time he kept wicket to me. Indeed, Dave Hull Denholm will
obviously remember those occasions he played to sold-out City Hall crowds at
Lindisfarne Christmas gigs, but he also stood behind the timbers, watching in
anguish as two successive catches from my bowling went to ground as Park House
were defeated for the third time this season. The latter drop was on captain
Matty’s watch. He’d done the same the week before when we thumped Whitley Bay;
at least then there was the mitigating factor of the torrential downpour we
insisted on ignoring to complete a win by 90 runs.
So, it’s 1
run and 1 wicket for 54 so far; I’ve a bit of catching up on Sean (102*, 101*
and 53*) to do. However, and this is the serious bit, the enjoyment I’m getting
from this is almost incalculable; unlike the unforgiving blame culture of
football teams, even in the Over 40s, cricket provides a civilised and
supportive environment. If you make a mistake, people don’t start haranguing
you. It’s just an enormous amount of fun and the only regret I have is the
wasted 30 years when I didn’t play. Never mind; at least I’m doing so now. With
7 league games to go, we’re in third place, but that’s of secondary importance
to the joy gained from taking part.
As I
approach 54, cricket enables me to believe that this summer will be endless.
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