Last updated 17:37, Thursday, 21 August 2008

For the first time in several weekends, Priors Flat staged a game of cricket on Saturday.

Shotley Bridge were the visitors, with both teams wanting to win for different reasons.

Tynedale needed a victory to ensure their first division survival, and Shotley Bridge wanted a won to maintain their slim championship hopes.

After another week of terrible weather it was a miracle that the game went ahead on schedule, with Tynedale winning the toss and inviting the opposition to bat on a damp, under-prepared wicket.

It looked like being a short game as Stuart Graham bowled Brown and his professional counterpart Ransith early on.

When Simon Prudhoe ran Carlin out with a fine direct hit, Shotley slumped to 8 – 3.

With batting more than tricky, Tynedale looked to bowl out their opponents quickly with Graham and Richard Darling almost unplayable.

One man stood in their way– Peter Collingwood, who mixed solid defence with good attacking shots.

Wickets continued to fall but Collingwood was becoming more and more assured at the crease.

With his score heading towards 50, the team’s total was only 65, and Graham completed his five-wicket haul by bowling Hall to leave the visitors seven down.

Collingwood, however, was now dictating the game to Tynedale’s attack, farming the strike brilliantly in between peppering the boundaries.

With the score now over 100, Tynedale had let their good start slip badly, as the tail-enders continued to frustrate them.

The last pair added over 30 runs, with the highlight being three sixes in one over off Liam Pringle, the third of which brought up Collingwood’s personal 100.

It was a fine innings played on a very difficult wicket, only ending when he holed out to long off attempting another big hit.

His 110 was put into perspective by his teams total of 141!!.

Tynedale knew it was going to be a difficult task to chase the total down, and it was made even more difficult when Brown removed Neil Clark and Prudhoe with the score under 20.

Graham and Jamie Crichton then rebuilt the innings with a mixture of luck , skill and patience.

Crichton playing the attacking role as Graham looked to survive against some tight bowling.

The two slowly built the score grinding away as the overs ticked by, Crichton pushing towards a fine half century.

The partnership was broken when Graham was out caught and bowled for 19 by Dhindsa.

With the score over 80 and with 20 overs left ,Tynedale looked favourites to win the game.

However wickets began to tumble and when Darling ran himself out things started to turn against the home team.

Crichton went past 50 but was out shortly afterwards. His innings was another classy effort and hopefully a sign of things to come.

The middle and lower order were then blown away by Carling, Ransith and Dhindsa to leave the hosts 30 runs short when last man Pringle was dismissed.

It was highly disappointing for the home team who for large parts of the game had dominated.

With teams around them winning, the result dragged Tynedale back towards the relegation battle.

With games against some of there rivals coming up it could be a tense end of season.

Shotley Bridge 141 (P. Collingwood 110. S Graham 5 -35). Tynedale 110 (J Crichton 54).