Mulgrave cricket club (above)and Castleton cricket club (below)
Posted by Tony Hutton
Saturday 15th August - Eskdale Cricket League.
Another window of opportunity opens following a recent trip to Whitby with the family on a non-cricketing day (yes, such a thing does exist, however rarely). My wife and sister in law decide on another trip there this time to sample the shops. So after doing some research about the Eskdale Cricket League, including some valuable information and league handbook from secretary Alan Thompson, off we go into the unknown again.
After a roller coaster ride in convoy over the North Yorkshire Moors from KirbyMoorside to Castleton, a major village in the dale, and a very pleasant pub lunch we go our separate ways.
The ground at Castleton is a large one, in the valley bottom, and I assume probably the best as the local cup final is held there. I have a feeling that groundsman par excellance Keith Boyce started his long career here, before moving on to Middlesborough (then a county ground), Headingley and his present post at New Rover in Leeds.
Great scenery, a running stream, a pub and even a railway station are in close proximity to the ground. Castleton are playing near neighbours Danby which does not seem to have aroused much local passion certainly at the start of the game anyway. The handful of spectators include quite a few tourists in what is popular walking country in the North Yorkshire Moors national park.
However a tight schedule awaits if I am to meet my early evening deadline. So on to Lealholm where Alan Thompson lives. However we could not arrange to meet this time round as he is umpiring the game. His very precise directions bring my to within earshot of the game - bat on ball and a few appeals. However the final direction 'go through a garden gate' is like a multiple choice question. Several garden gates obviously just lead into gardens, but soon I found the right one where the path sidesteps a garden with a left and a right into an alleyway which brings you out alongside the pavilion.
The ground itself is ringed with trees, a bit more shut in than Castleton which has open vistas on both sides, but none the worse for that. Lealholm are playing Grosmont the busy village nearer the coast which sees the junction of the two railway lines which serve the area, one of them the privately run North Yorkshire Moors line from Pickering. Runs seem to be flowing a bit more quickly here but soon time to move on again to Glaisdale.
This proves to be yet another valley bottom ground almost next to the well known Beggars Bridge, an old packhorse bridge, and again adjacent to the railway station. My friend Brian Senior may well do all these grounds at some future date by train. Glaisdale are playing the
quaintly named Fryup, which is a side dale off the main valley and a place for further exploration another time. Rumour has it that their ground is rather basic and probably just a farmer's field but no doubt in wonderful scenery. What I did not find out until some time after the event was that I was watching history in the making. Fryup's batsmen certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves but eventually from the website of the Whitby Gazette I discovered that a record score had been made.
Fryup's Andy Raw opened the innings and lost his opening partner for a duck to the second ball of the match. He then proceded to to make a club record score, and probably a league record score, of 214. He batted for the full 40 overs, hitting 15 sixes and 20 fours. It sounds to me that he should be playing in a higher grade of cricket, particularly as he took eight wickets for no runs earlier in the season. Apparently he also took all ten wickets a few seasons ago.
Onwards and upwards up a steep hill and a brief flirtation with the main Whitby to Middlesborough road, until the turn off for another unusual name - the village of Ugthorpe.
Again Mr Thompson's directions are immaculate, with ample parking on a wide grass verge.
Entering the gate to a very big open field you realise that you are in fact on a hill top rather than in a valley and there is a marvellous view across the fields to the sea in the distance. Wickets fall rapidly during my visit and the first innings ends. So it must be getting near tea time.
Another few miles down the lane bring me to the village of Lythe, again on the hill top above the seaside village of Sandsend, adjacent to the large Mulgrave estate. Indeed the village team is known as Mulgrave and they are entertaining Goathland, the village which has become famous from the TV series 'Heartbeat'. Their fame does them no good as they are bowled out for 127.
The ground is only two seasons old, a grand palatial new pavilion serves both village cricket and football teams. An excellent playing area too with lots of space. The sun shines with a strong breeze, almost a gale off the sea. A gentleman who has lived in the village all his life told my how the first match of the season was played in a hail storm in April. Soon after that when all the other teams played, their game was abandoned due a thick sea fret where the visibility made it improssible to play.
So a splendid introduction to a new league, which doesn't get much publicity but which is obviously well run, very competitive with lots of local derbies and all in such admirable scenery.
There are only eleven teams so one of them has a day off every week, but certainly one I will return to next season for some further exploration.
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