Starting at 'O'...

Posted by Peter Davies

Sunday 25 April

A couple of hours in Almondbury on the opening day of the Huddersfield Central League season.

Old Almondburians were entertaining Birkby Nuffield at Arkenley Lane and I surprised myself with my near-perfect navigational skills after a few horror stories in previous years. The ground was located in quick time without having to do laps of various nearby avenues! Thank goodness for that. It was a still and very pleasant Sunday. We’d missed the mid-afternoon deluge and just seemed to have arrived at the right time.

The ground was a picture with the tree-lined boundaries looking particularly good. It’s one of those grounds where it’s actually quite difficult to locate another building of any sort when you look out from the pavilion. We sat on a bench near the green pavilion and were soon greeted by John Clutterbrook – a very nice man, who was our main contact at the club when we were researching its history in 2005. He’d invited me to a couple of club dinners and now, retired, he was filling in as the first team’s wicketkeeper. Good effort. His son is a fiercesome fast bowler, and John said that he was a little nervous when Clutterbrook Jnr came on to bowl. He was also bemoaning the plight of his beloved Hull City – relegated the day before at a match he was present for at the KC.

We ordered a cup of tea and then paid £2 for a collection of the club’s finest leftovers from tea. This involved three cheese rolls, a tuna sandwich and a mixture of coleslaw and savoury rice. Very good value indeed. Mrs Steve Slack was serving in the kitchen and Mr Steve Slack – long-serving club loyalist – was readying himself to go in at no.3. I took some photos, did some reading, and admired our 2005 exhibition boards – still on display in the club pavilion (good news).

Then to Kaye Lane, home of Almondbury Wesleyans, where Flockton were the visitors. Tea had just been taken and there were a couple of cheese and chive sandwiches left over – so I was pleased to ensure nothing went to waste. While I was in the pavilion I availed myself of the TV in the corner of the room. The remote control was handy so I checked on Lancashire’s score away at Surrey: they had posted a big total but, incredibly, the home side looked like they were going to overhaul it.

Outside there were plenty of spectators in attendance, with a large posse from Flockton. We had a cup of tea and spotted Wes chairman Mark Binns sitting on a bench behind the bowler’s arm at the pavilion end. Mrs Binns then walked past us also. Had a quick chat with another Wes official, Keith Crawshaw. He asked whether I was starting my 2010 cricket-watching with the letter ‘A’! I said no – I’d actually started with ‘O’! Keith is very interested in the history of his club and I asked whether he would speak about the Wes at the Pennine Cricket History Conference some time in the future. He didn’t rule it out!

I picked up a Wes newsletter and also noticed that the club is now sponsored by a company that arranges foster-parenting. Maybe unique in local cricket?