Mike had a job convincing Mrs. Plant to allow James to go, as he was only sixteen. Pete promised her he would look after him and being the fine, upstanding character he is, she agreed; twit! We decided to be more professional in our approach and only stopped for beer once! Our bus, whilst very cheap was not the most reliable vehicle in the world and, in fact had to be pushed to re-start. Our re-fuelling stop on the outskirts of Newcastle must have looked like a sketch from the Keystone Cops as after filling up eleven blokes pushed the bus down the main road, started it and then all got back in again!

Cochrane Park was a lovely ground in the middle of Newcastle. It had brick pavilion with a balcony, sightscreens, boundary ropes etc. Surprisingly Planty won the toss and put Northeast in. The bowling was a lot tighter and the fielding better resulting in the score of 201 for 6 at close of innings. Mike took 4 for 19 off ten overs and Wyn and Rich took one each. James bowled with youthful keenness and was unlucky not to take any wickets. Harry Grievson (a former Sunderland footballer), whilst not in his first flush of youth top scored with 59 runs.

Our reply started quite well but Richie was caught with the score on 21. Charlie batted at three and he and Mike put on a further 84 runs before Mike was out on 39 (Charlie 43). Everybody chipped in with Steve hitting 19 off six deliveries, leaving us needing nine runs off the last over. This was a big task as Paj (batting at 10) only plays the one game per season! Unfortunately we fell just short but it was a lot closer and a most enjoyable fixture.

Once again the after match activities were a bit of a blur. Apart from Richie “loosing” James on the Saturday night (mainly due to him having the odd half and being the only one not to hear James knocking to get into the room) all went well.