Weardale show steel

After the first match was called off for bad weather, Weardale Steel played Wolsingham All Stars in this year's competition, sponsored by Weardale Steel and rescued when the Durham County Cricket Board, Nat West and Sport England provided a new pitch. The Steel team won the toss and batted with Lee Morton scoring the first run on the new pitch and then the first boundary when he hit a massive six.

The scoring rate was very good and the All Stars had to wait until the fourth over when Donald Routledge became the first wicket taker on the new pitch. Weardale Steel pushed the score along despite some energetic fielding and eventually reached 150 when the overs ran out with Anthony Pratt making 23, John Stewart and Lee Morton 21 each and Rob Dawson 20.

The All Stars reply never matched the earlier scoring rate although Michael Watson made 23, Dave Alderson 25 and Kevin Walker 19. At the end of their twenty overs the All Stars had only reached 100 for five.

Wolsingham Sixth Form reached 113 for five against Sunniside Comedian with R. Roddam making 22 and S. Brown, J. Askew and D. Evans 20 each. The Comedian were never able to match the scoring and were all out for 33 with S. brown impressing with four wickets for two runs.

Wolsingham teachers ran up 114 with their last man run out on the final ball against Stanhope All Stars. Willy Bell, Ken Walters and Dave Armstrong all contributed 20 runs. The Stanhope team had useful scores from Coates with 20, Curley 19 and Powley 15 but then the middle order batting completely failed with only John Woodhall reaching double figures on 13 when the innings ended at 95.Cricket

Barnard Castle Cricket Club Junior Section

More of the popular junior cricket coaching sessions have been arranged by the Barnard Castle club this summer.

The club is hoping to repeat last year's success when 220 youngsters, including 30 girls, attended at least two coaching session during the summer. On average almost 80 turned up on Wednesday evenings with a high of 120 children.

John Ashworth, in charge of juniors at Barnard Castle Cricket Club, said: "We try to make these coaching sessions both entertaining and instructive. The fact that children return week after week proves they enjoy themselves.

"But what has been especially encouraging is the number of parents who turn up. I hope they found themselves made welcome. A lot have thanked us for making an effort to do something for the children.

"In turn we would like to thank them for all their support which has helped us to buy several hundred pounds worth of new equipment and will hopefully be in regular use with our juniors this season."

The coaching sessions start on Wednesday May 1 and will continue every Wednesday evening, weather permitting, until July 17. They will start at 6.30pm and last an hour and a half But children are asked to arrive a quarter of an hour before the sessions start in order to register. Again the club is asking parents to pay a nominal £1 a session.

This year the club will be fielding under 15-years-old and under 13 years old teams in the Darlington and Dales League and has arranged friendly fixtures for the under 11 s.

Mr Ashworth added: "Although our cricket coaches will take some of the children to away matches we do need the help of parents who have cars. I hope some will want to see their children playing and perhaps offer to take another youngster or two with them. We would in fact welcome any help parents are willing to provide."

The club's junior section has also been fortunate in getting sponsorship from two local businessmen - electrician Stephen Fry and Mark Smith, who runs a sign manufacturing business in Queen Street and whose family has a long association with Barnard Castle,

said Mr Ashworth: "It is this sort of support which makes all the diffierence in ensuring we have adequate equipment for children of all ages. And we will be spending more on junior cricket in the future."

New equipment is expected to include an artificial pitch which will mean safer cricket for young people and a junior net which will also be fitted an artificial surface.

Obviously the club needs fine weather to ensure the success of its coaching classes.

Added Mr Ashworth: In fine warm weather the younger children thoroughly enjoy themselves. It is surprising how quickly they adapt to playing cricket. We have some under elevens whose enthusiasm and ability is astonishing."

Cricket coaching is not just restricted to boys. Girls are equally welcome. Last year they had a visit from Pauline Peel, the English Cricket Board Women's Club Cricket Development Officer for the North of England, who was impressed, with their enthusiasm, ability and the standard of coaching.

And it may be that some of the girls will be playing in under 13 and under 11 fixtures this season.

Mr Ashworth said: 'We do not differentiate between very young boys and girls. Quite a number of the girls have shown a great potential and the club hopes some of them win go on to play women's cricket. "We will try and equip them with the basic skills and encourage them as much as we can. After that it is up to them."

The Readers Durham County League Under-15s

Washington made their debut in the league when they visited Esh Winning, but it was the home side who came out on top by an eight wickets margin.

Washington though were far from disgraced and after scoring 76 for the loss of three wickets, claimed a couple of Esh Winning wickets before losing. Thompson gave an assured performance in the Washington batting line-up and he found the boundary on four occasions carrying his bat for 30. McAlley added 25 and for Esh Winning Daniel Hazell took two of the three wickets to go down for 22 runs in five overs. When they replied Esh Winning ended on 77 for two which included 42 not out by Karl Turner. He stroked six boundaries and at the end the match winner was Andrew Wilson. He received a couple of deliveries hitting one six and one four.

Federation Special Durham Senior League Under-18s

David Alder maintained his magnificent start to the season when he top scored with an unbeaten 72 out the Eppleton total of 169 for one at home to Sunderland. Lowther, a regular in the Eppleton first team, was closely followed in the scoring stakes by Andrew Gibson with 62.

Replying Sunderland were pegged to 102 for four which included 36 from McOwat and 28 by Luke Bowmaker while for Eppleton Colin Atkinson was the pick of the attack with two for 29.

David Maughan (55) and Roy McRay (31) led South Shields to an impressive 146 for seven against Felling for whom Craig Harrison had the creditable figures of three for 34. He was outshone, however, by man of the match Maughan who following his batting performance claimed a hat-trick with figures of five for 12. Laws returned three for three and Felling were all out for only 46.

Stephen Merrington was another batsman among the runs and he made 57 of the Chester-le-Street total of 117 for six at Burnmoor where Chris Moore added 23. Ben Embleton and James Anderson both took a couple of wickets for Burnmoor and replying the home side managed only 78 for eight as Merrington claimed two for 24 and Colin Coxon two for 13.

Horden had 18 runs in hand of Philadelphia after Tony Murphy top scored with 41 out of a total of 111 for five. Luke Anderson took two of the wickets to fall for 14 runs and although William Orchin again showed form with 28 and Hall carried his bat for 27, Phili were only 93 for two at stumps.

Premier League Durham Coast League Under-18s

Ryhope and Seaham Park were involved in a high scoring game which Seaham won by 13 runs. Batting first they totalled 139 for four with Martin carrying his bat for 34 and Docherty 36. John Errington bowled well in the Ryhope attack returning two for 25 and when Ryhope replied they reached 126 for the loss of seven wickets. Kristian Summerside was again in sparkling form and he finished unbeaten on 46. Mark Graham added 22, but Seaham Park squeezed home when Hodgson returned two for 16 and Asif Akhtar two for 35.

Boldon CA totalled 123 defeating Silksworth by 34 runs. Gary Frater maintained his good start to the season scoring 35 and for Silksworth Paul Howe claimed three for 11 and Craig Neild three for 26.

When they went into bat Silksworth also found Howe in good form with the bat, but although he finished 40 not out, the visitors only managed 91 for six which included 25 by Neil Trotter. Kevin Straughan took two for 17 and Karl Bellerby two for 12.

John Spellman was the match winner with the bat for Castle Eden as he stroked an unbeaten 40 out of a total of 84 for four with two of the wickets falling to Christopher Allen for only 12 runs. When they made first use of the wicket Hylton finished with 80 for eight of which Liam Watson contributed 25 while for Castle Eden Richard Ede bowled well and was well worth his figures of three for eight.

Bill Quay visited Peterlee and won by eight wickets. Faced with a target of 87 they were indebted to Andrew Trotter with his 42 not out and to Phillips who scored 30. Peterlee's 86 for seven included a top scoring 20 by Paul Griffiths and for Bill Quay Taylor and Earl both took two wickets.

Aidan Vout returned two for 24 and Michael Watson two for five when Murton restricted Houghton to 60 for seven before winning, losing one wicket. Chris Milne was in top form with the bat for Murton as he finished with an unbeaten 37.