The lure of lunch

In 2010 my wife saw one day's cricket: the first day of the test match between Australia and and Pakistan at Headingley. The promise that I would stand Sunday lunch and today's high temperatures were sufficient incentive for her to agree to see some more cricket. The game in question was a Round 1 tie in the Decorum Wilkinson Cup Competition which is open to all leagues in the North East.
Today's tie played at Broughton and Kirby was between The Inshore Fisheries Langbaurgh Cricket League and The Warmseal Durham Senior Cricket League.How's that for a snappy title?
The match should have been played last Sunday but after the Durham side had made the journey down the A19, heavy rain washed out proceedings.
After a traditional Sunday roast at The Bay Horse in Great Broughton we drove the short distance to the Kirby Lane ground with its splendid views of The Cleveland Hills. A crowd of about fifty were enjoying the warm sunshine and witnessed The Langbaurgh League disintegrate from 51 for 1 to 114 all out in the last of their forty overs.
Langbaurgh's record in this competition is quite impressive. Winners in 1976, the second year of its existence, and 1983, they were joint winners in 2000 with today's opponents when the final was not played due to bad weather. Last year they defeated The West Tyne league in the first round but were easily beaten by The Durham Coast league in Round 2.
Langbaurgh's batting today, which veered from well struck boundaries to air shots, with not much in between, suggested that the Durham League are more likely to travel to the Northumberland and Tyneside Senior League in Round 2.Tomorrow's Northern Echo will reveal whether my prediction is correct.
An excellent spread awaited the players in the pavilion but we made our home via the attractive Georgian town of Stokesley still replete from our lunch. I shall be back at Stokesley tomorrow as Durham, intent on colonising this part of Yorkshire, take on Derbyshire in a SET game. For her next cricket my wife is pencilled in for a day at the Cheltenham Festival in July, my presence is in permanent black, heavily underlined.For Liz, Cheltenham's shops will offer a tempting alternative.