Last updated 13:37, Thursday, 02 October 2008

AFTER a season badly affected by the weather, Stocksfield have lost their crown as Northumberland Ladies’ Cricket champions.

They lost out to arch rivals South Northumberland after losing a crucial game at the Gosforth club’s ground.

In their home fixture earlier in the year, Stocksfield were in a strong position at 73-3 with eight overs left, but the rain came down and the game was abandoned.

Things got no better for Stocksfield’s last six games – all cancelled due to the weather.

Wylam once again showed good form throughout the summer finishing in third position – only one point behind Stocksfield.

With a larger squad, they continued to build on the improvements they made last season and are beginning to challenge the top teams.

Stocksfield’s second team fielded a number of young players in their matches, finishing sixth in the league after winning five of the 11 games played with five cancelled.

Especially pleasing was the fact that six of their junior players represented North-umberland at U15 and U13 level.

Hexham Leazes can also be pleased with their first year in the league.

Despite chalking up no victories, they gained 14 bonus points to finish above Tynemouth and saw the quality of their play, especially in the field, improve as the season progressed.

The West Tyne area is well represented in the women’s league with four of the nine teams based at local clubs.

The game continues to develop in local schools as well, with Corbridge, Ovingham and Highfield middle schools all reaching the county finals of the girls’ Kwik cricket tournament.

Prudhoe High School played well in the county U15 indoor competition and Highfield school U13 girls excelled by winning the county indoor tournament, missing the national finals by only two runs after beating teams from Yorkshire and Durham in the regional play-off.

Full details of clubs playing in the league can be found on www.northumberlandwcl.play-cricket.com and any clubs wishing to enter a team or individuals wanting to play cricket will find contact details on the site.