Coffins and vanilla slices

Posted by Peter Davies

Friday 21 August

To Altofts CC with Yorkshire Cricket Board's Tony Bowry to help at the club's Clubmark presentation. A great privilege to be involved - with Yorkshire Cricket Board coach Steve Archer also in attendance. Really nice do with plenty of club people on hand and the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Wakefield also present. Altofts is a small mining community almost on the hard shoulder of the M1 and it is obviously a major achievement to gain Clubmark accreditation. The club tea lady put on a special buffet which included mini-sausage rolls and pasties, quiche, sandwiches and salad - plus some amazing mini-vanilla slices for dessert. The pavilion had Sky Sports so everyone was able to keep in touch with England's sensational day in the Test - with Australia bowled out for 160!

Saturday 22 August

Meltham v Clayton West at a sun-drenched, but fairly spectator-less, Mean Lane. Not many folk around at all. Maybe they were all watching the Test match at home or at the football somewhere. The home side were coming to the end of their innings, with wickets falling at regular intervals. In the clubhouse England were on the verge of declaring against Australia in the deciding Oval Test - 500-odd ahead. Were the Ashes about to be regained? One TV was showing the cricket; the other Gillette Soccer Saturday. That's what you get at a well-appointed club - two different TV channels on view! I bumped into a few MCC VIPs including Ian Shaw (watching the Test), Roger Peaker (moving around) and his wife (masterminding the catering operation). Just enough time for a cup of excellent tea and a nibble at a butterfly cake. The flapjack and the fruit cake also looked superb! (There also seemed to be a huge cavernous dish of trifle that I did not dare to make a start on given that the players were due in for their tea any minute!). Ex-Golcar stalwart Dave Robinson was waiting to bat in front of the pavilion and Mark Firth - a CW committee man - was fielding on the boundary near the clubhouse. A very nice 20 minutes - with Meltham Moor and Castle Hill looking imperious on the horizon.

Deja vu at Linthwaite. Last Saturday there was no game on - and today too, with players getting in their cars at 4.15pm with their big cricket coffins. Game over against Kexborough! So we sat and admired the view - with no batters or bowlers to watch! Down the road at Leymoor there was action aplenty. Loads of spectators by the pub, drinking, chatting and making lots of noise on the boundary edge. Edgerton & Dalton were the visitors. They were chasing the home side's total when we arrived after tea and doing so very effectively. One ball went straight into the pub car park; others rocketed to the boundary. Real exhibition stuff and because the pub is so close to the playing area you really feel involved in the action sitting on the boundary edge. In fact, there wasn't much seating to be had...so three of us had to sit on a bench that was noticeably wonky! The ground looked great, with fielders on the boundary edge getting plenty of abuse from the (very merry) spectators sitting outside the pub. Very entertaining. I even nipped into the pub for a beef and onion sandwich - very tasty indeed.