Wait

The 2026 cricket season has started for Tynemouth, but not for me...

At every cricket club, from the start of March onwards, there is a sense of profound anticipation in the air regarding the imminent new season. Tynemouth CC is no different, though the first item on the agenda for 2026 was the Northern finals of the ECB Indoor 6 A Side competition. Having sailed past Blyth CC in the Northumberland final, we had a bye in the North Eastern final as no Durham sides had entered. This gave us a clear passage to Northern finals, which were held at Derbyshire CC’s County Ground on Sunday March 8^th. In recognition of the distance we had to travel, Tynemouth were placed in the second semi-final against Lancashire’s representatives, Liverpool John Moores University.

The team selected consisted of Dan McGee (captain), Ben Harland (w/k), Matt Kimmitt, Joe Snowdon, Barry Stewart and George Stewart. The support was me. I was supposed to be scorer, which I’ve never done before, but a Scouse boffin with a lap top did the honours and I only had to update the scoreboard. To get there, I scrounged a lift down with Dan and Snowy, who had already done nets at South North that morning, once they’d refuelled with an enormous Wetherspoons breakfast in The Job Bulman. I didn’t partake. The journey both ways was long but not arduous and we literally spent about an hour and a half in Derby. I’ve only previously ever been there for games at the Baseball Ground and Pride Park. I don’t think I’m missing much.

Anyway, Tynemouth batted first and scored about 120, with Kimmitt, who’d benefitted from a night in his own bed as he hails from those parts, top scoring with 44*, showing the importance of a good rest before playing. Despite trying our best, Tynemouth lost by 2 wickets with an over and a half to go. A quick coffee from a local garage and we were away back up the road, getting back just in time for Call the Midwife, importantly enough.

Despite the result, I was enthused enough by exposure to the most beautiful game to show up for nets the week after. Thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Obviously I didn’t bat, but I turned my arm over. Got hit all around the place, of course, but I did manage to take the wicket of the First XI captain, which will no doubt be my season highlight. Encouragingly, the work I’ve been doing in the gym over the winter meant that kit, which was previously far too tight fitted perfectly and, most importantly, the remedial efforts I’ve been doing on my right shoulder meant I could bowl without discomfort (badly, but at least it didn’t hurt) and throw the ball overarm for the first time in possibly three years. In retrospect, I really should have gone to more nets, but getting to South North by public transport with a cricket bag for 9.30 on a Sunday morning is a nightmare.

I did make the TCC AGM. Twice. The first attempt was on the night Newcastle played Barcelona away. I arrived with the score 2-2 in an Uber from town, so we all know how things went from that point. Perhaps the scheduling could have been different, but UEFA selfishly refused to move the game at Camp Nou, and our meeting was postponed for being inquorate. It went ahead on Wednesday April 1^st, and it was a pleasure, as always, to see so many old friends and acquaintances furiously debating irrelevant minutiae. Suitably fired up, I was so much looking forward to the season, especially having shifted 2 and a bit stone and rediscovering the use of my right arm, that I paid my subs immediately and began anxiously scanning the WhatsApp group for messages regarding the forthcoming fixtures.

And then I didn’t get selected for the 3s opening game at home to Kirkley so, having initially intended to watch Gosforth Bohemian Reserves versus North Shields Athletic Reserves at Kenton School in the Alliance Division 2, I accepted a last minute corporate freebie in the Magpie Room for NUFC v Bournemouth. We all know how that went. Mind, the smoked salmon was lovely.

Incidentally TCC 3s beat Kirkley by 9 wickets, so the decision not to play me was obviously the correct one. Let’s see what next Saturday at home to Benwell & Walbottle brings.

Black to Blue

Easter Saturday; Wrekenton Blue Stsr 8 Gosforth Bohemians Reserves 0, Northern Alliance Division 2 -:

In 1933 and 1935, Ludwig Wittgenstein, the Austro-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language, gave a series of lectures at Cambridge University, entitled Preliminary Studies for Philosophical Investigations. These lecture notes were published in 1958 as The Blue and the Brown Books, named after the colours, chosen for the respective covers. In 1976, The Rolling Stones released their thirteenth album, Black and Blue. I bought it after loving the track Crazy Mama played by John Coulson on the Metro Radio Saturday night rock show. Although, the album’s best cut is probably Memory Motel, the most famous is the single Fool to Cry and the most infamous would be Cherry Oh Baby, execrably covered by UB40 in 1984. In 1990, That Petrol Emotion included the track Blue to Black on their fourth album, Chemicrazy. On Easter Saturday 2026, I walked down Black Lane in Eighton Banks, skirting Brown Crescent, to see Wrekenton Blue Star host Gosforth Bohemians Reserves in the Northern Alliance Division 2.

The reason I chose this fixture was partly because both Percy Main and Benfield were inactive and partly because of the need to keep up my record of having ticked off every Alliance ground. This task, as I’ve mentioned before, is the ground collecting equivalent of painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, on account of the constantly changing membership of the league and the regular changes of home venues by constituent teams. Also, when you factor in the lack of lights at most venues, it means that from September to April, there’s no opportunity to tick off another ground, unless the fixtures fall kindly, as they did on this day. Consequently, in my 63^rd game of the season, I achieved my first Alliance tick of 2025/2026. Contrast this with my adventures in the Northern League that saw me experience new surroundings at Darlington Town, Durham United, FC Hartlepool and Grangetown Boys’ Club on midweek evenings.

Another reason for visiting this ground is that almost certainly Wrekenton Blue Star will be promoted and therefore, Percy Main will be required to play here next season. Hence, taking bus advice from my pal Neil Waite, who lives in the area, I found myself on the 28 from Eldon Square to Chester-Le-Street around 1pm on Easter Saturday. It was a quick, direct service; across the river, to Gateshead interchange, up the steep bank to the Queen Eliabeth Hospital and then across the top to Wrekenton. The ground is just beyond Wrekenton in the settlement of Eighton Bank, where the road, imaginatively called Long Bank (there’s nominative determinism writ large for you) begins a sharp descent towards the Angel of the North junction. The bus stop closest to the ground is at the end of Black Lane, leaving a 100 yard wander to today’s destination.

Arriving at the ground, I noticed facilities were basic but ideal at this level. A few shipping containers acted as changing rooms, toilets and a refreshment hut, from whence I got a coffee for the reasonable price of a quid. Like most clubs at this level, there was no entrance fee and so I took my place on the far side of the pitch, leaning against the green metal fence. Trees behind the far goal precluded ay sight of Anthony Gormley’s masterwork, sadly. A word of caution; as there’s no hard standing, I’d advise waterproof footwear in wet conditions. The rain held off on my visit, thankfully, despite regular volleys of thick dark clouds passing overhead in gusty conditions.

At kick off, Wrekenton, attired in white shirts and blue shorts, stood top of the table in Division 2. Of course one of the great imponderables in The Northern Alliance is not knowing how many teams will be promoted or relegated until after the campaign is over. Suffice to say, with the resignation of Whitburn from our division, there may be 3 teams promoted from Division 2. As there are still about 5 games left, it is difficult to predict exactly who will come up, but Wrekenton, North Sunderland (now that’s a canny trip for an early midweek kick off) and North Shields Athletic Reserves have got a 7-point cushion minimum on the chasing pack. Gosforth Bohemians Reserves, in their usual red and black, are safely in lower mid-table with 27 points, far ahead of back markers Great Park and Forest Hall, who look doomed to finish as the bottom 2.

As is often the case at this time of year, the team with nothing to play for are on a hiding to nothing. This is how it proved. A young, fast and direct Wrekenton side tore them to pieces from the very start. Despite looking reasonably well organised in midfield and potentially threatening up top, Bohs were all over the place at the back. It was 3-0 to the home side after 15 minutes when the Bohs keeper injured himself and had to be helped from the field. With no substitute custodian on the bench, an outfield player was pressed into service. He did his best, but it was 6-0 at the break and I feared an absolute landslide after the interval.

 

Thankfully, it wasn’t the case and a determined, disciplined rearguard action saw the damage limited to an 8-0 final score. Wrekenton did make and miss a lot of chances before the final, late two-goal salvo. I watched this half from in front of the shipping containers and reckoned the crowd to be about 40. All of them supporting Wrekenton I’d imagine.

At full time, I caught a deserted 28 back to Eldon Square and was in the house for the full time scores, so a successful afternoon out. I’m now left with 4 grounds I need to visit to recomplete my Alliance set. I can’t see myself getting to Bedlington United’s Gallagher Park, Gateshead Borough’s Lindisfarne Recess by the south entry to the Tyne Tunnel (the only one that wouldn’t be a revisit) or the Kenton School home of Gosforth Bohemian Reserves. However, I’m intending to take in Hazlerigg Victory against North Shields Athletic on Saturday 9^th May as Tynemouth CC 3s don’t have a game that day. If I do, you’ll be able to read about it here, I promise.