Ashington set for first T20 Finals Day showdown

After winning their group, the Mighty Acorns booked their place in the showdown alongside Burnmoor, Hetton Lyons and Castle Eden after seeing off Newcastle in the quarter final last Friday in a nailbiting finish as they won with only two balls spare.

Hosts Hetton Lyons will face Castle Eden in the first semi final which starts at 11am – followed by Ashington against Burnmoor at 2pm – with the final scheduled to commence around 5.15pm.

“We are looking forward to it and I’m sure we’ll give a good account of ourselves,” said McCafferty.

“We have already beaten two of the other three teams involved this season on a Saturday – although in a different format of cricket – but T20 cricket is almost about who turns up. If a couple of your players come off, you generally win the game.”

McCafferty added: “I know all of the lads are excited and can’t wait - and what an occasion to be a part of. We are in ‘Finals Day’ for the first time and I’m hoping that people will come and support us. I know the venue is at Hetton Lyons but hopefully we can do a good job - and I’d love us to bring home a trophy.”

After the win at Langwell Crescent, McCafferty said he couldn’t have been more proud:

“When we hit the winning run knowing that we would be in finals day which the club have never been in before I couldn’t have been more proud,” he said, “There were a few soft dismissals from our batters as we chased down 144 and we left it to the lads down the order.

"We needed 88 off 10 overs and almost ten an over for the last five overs but I always think - and I said this to the lads after the game – that we play these competitions as a club not as a first team and the reason why we are now in the position we find ourselves – whether it be the quarter final or the group stages - is because lads throughout the club have stepped up and won games for us.”

He continued: “I thought Cal Storey’s cameo innings was unbelievable. He didn’t win us the game - but he gave us the impetus at a time where we were struggling. James Harmison was set playing an anchor role and getting ones and twos but it needed somebody to come in and kick on - and Cal (Storey) did that. Greg Williams then went in and played a reverse sweep which found the boundary at a crucial time then Josh Robinson scored the winning run.”

He went on: “I actually said to the lads in our group chat that the win typified what Ashington Cricket Club is all about. There were a lot of spectators at the game who cheered us on when we hit fours and it was nice to be a part of it. But to be honest that is this club in a nutshell for me. It doesn’t matter who comes in to play for us.

"A lot of people have work commitments and we have a big turnaround of players but everybody wants to play and nobody does it for personal gain - they do purely and simply because they want the club to do well.

"Newcastle got off to a good start but we started to peg things back and taking wickets was key because it stemmed the run rate. After they finished with 144 I was more than happy that we would chase it down – especially here at Langwell Crescent – and we completed the job.”

Ashington’s match against Felling on Saturday was abandoned.