Cricket in January

Posted by Michael Bourne

Sunday 9th January was a fine, bright day for the annual winter game between the cricketing hardmen from the Malhamdale and Appletreewick cricket clubs.

There were just four travelling spectators from afar this year: myself and colleagues
Brian Senior from Leeds and Peter Mann from Burley, and, of course the ubiquitous Ian from Lancaster. Regular follower Tony Hutton, still suffering a bit from flu, unfortunately missed out this time.

As we drew into Malham, wickets were just being pitched in the middle of the field across the road from the showground where the game was played two years ago. (There are not many clubs around that have a choice of grounds to play on). A strip, fairly flat and free of molehills and sheep muck, had been picked out.

The visitors, having won the toss, chose to bat first so as to get the best use of the pitch. They were all out for 32. However, I'm not really sure how many wickets fell or whether the allotted 16 overs had been completed. Ian thought that the runs were all singles apart from a couple of twos. As far as I could tell (it being mayhem out in the middle, at times) nearly all the wickets were clean bowled or run outs - often the product of desperate efforts to hit the ball a distance or suicidal attempts to scramble or slither a run. There were hardly any extras in either innings, and to the credit of the bowlers most of the bowling was remarkably on line even though quite a few balls needed a few bounces to get to the other end.

When ACC went out to field, I counted 18 people on the field at one time, although one of these I think, was a drinks man wandering from player to player; the bottle of port he carried was additional to the bottle behind the stumps.

The MCC took only eight overs to pass the target, with the openers hitting at least three fours and a six, before one of them was clean bowled. Three others also had a bit of a bat and then retired, but I was told by Chris Wildman that the final MCC score was nearer 37, and that a few extra overs had been bowled after the target had been reached. Perhaps this was to give others a bat or let a few more players have a bowl.

I didn't trouble for any details the young woman who scored throughout the game - and without gloves. She had had enough problems trying to identify players and get names.

Man of the match was the MCC extrovert dressed up as 'Banana Man'. Early in the game he ran in a dozen or more yards from the mid-wicket boundary to take a superb catch - but illegally! He was wearing yellow gloves! But nobody on the ACC side objected. When batting, he struck a few of the boundaries before being bowled with feet stuck in the mud. But his most embarrassing moment was in the first innings when he tried to bowl. As he ran up, his yellow cape, fluttering in the breeze, became entangled with his bowling arm each time he brought it over to deliver the ball. He ended up bowling from a standing postion.

All in all, it was the usual scenario and script for this annual event but with unrehearsed, impromptu sketches to keep the spectators entertained and glued to the action - everyone, that is, except those still consuming rabbit pie *. There were two umpires this year, but with neither wearing white coats it was difficult, at times, to make out who was an umpire and who was a player.

The afternoon had produced one magic moment, but this had occurred before we had arrived and before the game had actually started. The field of play had been marked out with one of the most perfect of boundary lines that I have ever seen. Not only that, all was completed apparently, in less than thirty seconds. A Land Rover had been driven round just inside the extremities of the wet field to leave a distinct set of tyre marks, although I am not sure whether it was the inner or the outer line of tyre marks that denoted the boundary.

Throughout the afternoon, an icy cold wind blew across the field. On the other hand, there had been a very warm welcome and handshakes for visitors - a welcome, however, delayed a while for two of the visiting crowd.

* On getting to Malham, Brian and Peter insisted on calling at the Buck Inn for a drink, but then decided to stay there for a rabbit pie dinner. As a result, they missed the whole of the first innings and some overs of the second. Poor show!

(Watch out on the Malhamdale CC website for news of an evening friendly game in June or July this year. A team from a group of 200 limbless servicemen from the armed forces, who will be walking the Pennines for charity, has challenged MCC to a game. A big crowd is expected).