Denby Dale to Dubai

Posted by Peter Davies

Cumberworth United v Green Moor on a cool/chilly afternoon - the first day of the Huddersfield Central League season. Stalwart league official Phil Senior was fielding at mid-wicket as the Moor innings progressed. Inside the pavilion his wife, Sheila, explained the teas regime at the club and pointed out the now-retired ex-queen of the tea room, Averil Littlewood (enjoying an afternoon with her grandchildren). Tuna and ham were the sandwiches on offer with some excellent beetroot to spice things up. The main road overlooking the ground was busy - with cars parked choc-a-bloc and also a vintage vehicle passing mid-afternoon at about 15mph. A catch was dropped on the boundary's edge just before tea but it was a valiant effort - and the 25 or so spectators present appreciated that.

Then to Denby Dale for the battle against Old Almondburians in the same competition. The ground was looking spectacular. On the boundary edge, league president Jack Carson was chatting to locals on his whistlestop tour of the area (he'd done Flockton and Holmbridge already and had another visit planned later in the afternoon), head tea lady Sarah Geldart was re-living her trip to Dubai to watch her son Callum play for the Yorkshire Academy side (he's a star in the making), and Denby Dale official Richard Hobson was bemoaning the fact that a new house had been built just behind the bowler's arm at one end of the ground (thus necessitating the erection of some costly state-of-the-art sightscreens). There was some excellent fruit salad on sale in the tea room and it was so sunny, at times, that the electronic display - showing the latest score - on the pavilion side of the ground was difficult to decipher. The old boys eventually came out on top.