League win, but Ashington lose in the final of Banks Salver

During the visitors’ innings McCafferty was heavily involved taking one catch and affecting three run outs and was happy as his side had Chester – who play in the league above the Mighty Acorns - pinned back at 98-7.

However, a partnership of 73 between Brodie Glendinning and John Harrison led to a final score of 184-9 for the Durham based outfit and McCafferty said afterwards: “We’re obviously disappointed. With the ball we did well. People are allowed to play well and the two lads who got the runs for them (Glendinning and Harrison) put on a big partnership and were excellent and I think that’s maybes the difference in the leagues. Generally in our league if you get the opposition six or seven wickets down you normally bowl them out pretty sharp but credit to the way they batted to get up to that score of 184.”

He continued: “Even at half time I thought the target was more than chase able but we just haven’t done ourselves justice with the bat. People have given their wickets away and we haven’t really made Chester le Street work hard to bowl us out. I’m disappointed but at the same time I’m proud. It’s only our third season in the NEPL and we have got through to a big cup final - so it shows how far we have come.”

He added: “They (Chester le Street) are a good outfit who fielded very well and that’s what you expect. Our lads have got to look at their performance and think ‘we need to match that and be better’ and then when we hopefully do take that step up we are ready and know what to expect.”

He concluded: “I didn’t think there was a lot of difference between the sides – but on the day they have just outperformed us.”

Scores: Chester le Street: 184-9 (Brodie Glendinning 57 not out; John Harrison 32; Quentin Hughes 30; Cam Skinner 3-39). Ashington: 94 all out (Jack McCarthy 19; Ian Sharkey 17 not out; Brodie Glendinning 4-25). Chester le Street won by 90 runs.

*On Saturday, Ashington enjoyed an eight wicket win over Blaydon in the NE Premier League.

McCafferty said: “It was a great win.

I lost the toss which wasn’t a bad thing because we were going to have a bowl anyway but they (Blaydon ) got off to a half decent start before we pegged it back really well through Ian Sharkey, Bob Rutherford and James Harmison who were all excellent with the ball. Cam Skinner also chipped in with a few wickets at a good time – including two in two balls – so to restrict Blaydon to 140 all out on a decent pitch and with a quick outfield was a really good effort.”

He continued: “We were confident that we could knock the runs off and Jack Jessop (37) and Jack McCarthy (31) were both excellent. All in all it was a good bounce back win after losing to Sunderland last week. We fielded really well which was a massive plus because we were very poor in the field last week.”