Published at 09:44, Friday, 19 February 2010

With Tynedale still in the grips of winter, there was a welcome taste of summer when the West Tyne Cricket League held its annual six a side tournament in the equally Arctic conditions of Haydon Bridge sports hall.

Indoor champions: The victorious Stocksfield team, back row left to right, Emerson Brown, Andrew Wood, Matty Thompson; front row, left to right, Nick Armstrong, Alex Brown (captain), Ali Thirlwell.

Eleven teams took part over two weekends which culminated in Stocksfield taking on a youthful Tynedale team in the final.

Stocksfield had reached the final with wins against, Benwell Hill, Matfen and Newton, whilst Tynedale beat an equally youthful Haltwhistle side, before beating last years champions, Corbridge in the semi-final, by a single run.

Batting first, Tynedale posted 107 with 23 from Ben Archer, and both James Rainford and Liam Pringle retiring at 25.

Corbridge started well in reply and when both David and Paul Newton retired the game looked secure.

However, tight bowling from all the Tynedale attack meant that David Hardy and John Davidson only managed to take the total to 106 when the overs were completed.

The final started with Tynedale winning the toss and asking Stocksfield to bat.

Openers Andrew Wood and Nick Armstrong started quickly and both reached 25 before retiring.

Alex Brown batted steadily but gained no support from Matty Thompson, Emerson Brown and Ali Thirlwell, who all failed to trouble the scorers.

At 69-3 in the ninth over, Tynedale had stemmed the flow of runs, but this brought Nick Armstrong back to the crease, where he continued to score freely.

He was finally run out for 37 – the first time he had been dismissed in the competition, with an aggregate of 115 runs.

Andrew Wood also returned to end 32 not out and with Alex Brown’s unbeaten 20, Tynedale were set exactly 100 to win.

Tynedale got off to the worst possible start in reply, losing three wickets in the first three overs.

Nick Armstrong had both James Rainford and David Anderson caught and bowled and Alex Brown took a catch at full stretch on the back wall to dismiss Ben Archer.

This left Liam Pringle and Mark Clark to attempt to reach the Stocksfield total in the remaining nine overs.

Both batted really well to end with 16 and 19 not out respectively and take Tynedale to 50 without losing any further wickets.

However, Stocksfield ran out comfortable winners by 49 runs.

All the Stocksfield bowlers performed well but special mention must be given to Ali Thirlwell with figures of three overs, one maiden, and one wicket, conceding just three runs.

Earlier games also produced some exciting cricket, in particular Hexham Leazes who scored 132 against Newton, with Ben Griffiths, Tony Crosby and Raj Kingman all retiring on 25.

In response, Newton lost early wickets and had their last two batsmen at the wicket with 70 runs still required.

They achieved their target with five balls remaining, thanks to 43 from John Greenwood and an unbeaten 27 from Chris Telfer.

Stocksfield will now travel to the Riverside to represent Northumberland against the Durham Champions Blaydon.

The game will take place this Sunday at mid day with the winners progressing to the Northern final.

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk