MCC in town

Posted by Peter Davies

Wednesday 1 July

A couple of hours at Lascelles Hall for the extremely prestigious friendly match between Huddersfield New College and the MCC. The standard of cricket was very good, as would be expected, and lots of curiousities too: a wicketkeeper in his 70s, a piece of New College publicity which, inadvertently, featured a photo of legendary Headingley-based Professional Cricket Watcher Brian Senior, and belting hot sun. My pals Tony Hutton, Mick Bourne and David Thorpe were perched in the shade near the scorebox, with MCC pulling off an unlikely victory as evening fell. On the boundary edge there was talk of the ICC Centenary Conference in Oxford, the soon-to-be-published Northern Cricket Society booklet for 2009, and Andy Murray's amazing progress at Wimbledon. In the pavilion there were still leftovers from teatime available: onion rings, egg mayo slices and some of those gorgeous mini-sausages - with fruit pie, fruit cake and other delicacies to follow. The MCC sure did hire a top tea lady for the fixture! She turned out to be an acquaintance from Hopton Mills/Ossett, and her son, Stevie, was playing for the New College XI. The ground looked a picture - it was as if nothing had changed with the scenery (rolling hills and farmers' fields) since the 19th century. The New College umpire exerted quiet authority throughout the afternoon - Dave Robinson, Mr Thorpe's friend who switched from Golcar to Meltham a couple of years ago but who has now retired (sort of) and taken up umpiring.