Ashington cricketer makes history

Posted by The Journal on May 18, 09 10:08 AM in Sport

Paul Milburn has made history in his cricket league by bowing out all 10 opponents, for just 11 runs.

The medium-paced bowler plays for Ashington-based Northern Social Cricket Club in the S.G. Wealth Management Northumberland Cricket League.

Paul Milburn

In the league's 75 years, only 11 other players have ever single-handedly taken all 10 wickets.

But Paul, 47, took all the Tynemouth wickets for a record 11 runs at the match at Ashington Recreation Ground.

He smashed the record, which was previously unrivalled since 1966, of 10 wickets for 24 runs.

Paul, from Ashington, has been playing for his side for more than 20 years,

But he says he has never before come close to achieving anything like this remarkable performance.

Paul left the opposition gobsmacked when he bowled them all out in under an hour, where an average innings would last around three hours.

And while Paul himself was equally stunned, he thinks the secret to his success was having his family alongside him on the day.

It was only the second match that his son Callum, 16, had ever played for the first team.

And while Paul's wife Alison, a nurse at Blyth Community hospital, was watching on the sidelines, their younger son Cory, 14, a qualified scorer, was manning the scoreboard.

"Because the whole family was there it was quite special," said Paul.

"My son kept shouting 'come on dad' all the way through. It was quite emotional when I came off.

"I just couldn't believe it. I stood there with my hands out and everybody jumped on top of me and I fell to the floor.

"I got a guard of honour coming off from the team and the opposition did the same."

Overall, Paul bowled out six and the remaining four were caught.

Northern Social Club batted first in the match and scored 164-8.

It took Paul 6.5 overs - or 41 balls - to set his record, as Tynemouth were bowled all out for 21 runs.

Paul added: "It was such a strong wind that our two other bowlers did not want to bowl.

"We worked out how many matches there must have been in the past 75 years between the 30 clubs in the league and it's something like 50,000.

"In the whole of the league's history it has only happened 11 times before."

Cricket-mad Paul, a housing manager, who works for Wansbeck Homes, has devoted more than 10 years to chairing the club, is groundsman and runs the juniors.

Despite his passion for sport, Paul says he has never stood out as the club's star.

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