After the heatwave - a damp squib

Nothing can replace experience

Posted by Tony Hutton

Saturday 1st October - Arthington v The Hawks

A wonderful day of hot sunshine brought out a good number of professional cricket watchers from far and wide, with some entertaining cricket which sadly finished early when the weather was still warm and sunny

I can do no more than quote from the excellent report of proceedings sent in by the visitors to the Wharfedale Observer, which reads as follows:-

The Hawks ended their season with a visit to the lovely ground at Arthington and found themselves playing in the very best conditions of the entire summer.

They also celebrated with an emphatic win in front of their biggest crowds of the season. Opting to bat first, the hosts never found the going easy against a varied Hawks attack and after their 40 overs reached 156-9.

Joe Nash made 26 as opener, a further 26 came from L. Barraclough, 27 from M. Barraclough and Andy Stoddart made a solid 29, as the Hawks bowled and fielded well.
Simon Armitage finished the season with 3-25 and there was a surprise 3-23 from veteran Kevin Woodley.

In reply the Hawks lost no time in claiming the game and reached 162-3 in just 27 overs. This was achieved with the help on an opening stand of 62 from Sam Wilkinson (26) and Tom Lester (50). Stu Cobbett (47) and Duncan Heath (27) added valuable runs before Micky Love-Peel swiped an enormous six to seal victory.

The Hawks extended their thanks to Arthington for a splendid day, the umpires for turning out and the tea lady for her fine fare.


That ends the Wharfedale Observer report and all I can add is the photo above showing the last wicket pair of Arthington returning undefeated at the end of the innings. Dennis Nash and Martin Binks combined ages must be in the region of 140.
Long may they continue to play !

Sunday 2nd October - Arthington v Doghouse.

Not quite as hot as yesterday but still very pleasant for the traditional visit of Doghouse, the team from the Teeside area which consists mainly of players from the North Yorkshire and South Durham league, who like to let their hair down on Sundays.
They have a full fixture list of friendlies at some of the most attractive grounds in the county.

Their name derives from the inevitable consequence of late night homecomings, sometimes the worse for wear, on Sunday evenings.

The cognoscenti voiced the opinion that Arthington should not bat first against a usually strong side and that this might result in yet another early finish. As so often the experts were proved wrong again as Arthington batted consistently throughout their 40 overs to amass a huge total of 244-4. The main man, as so often, was the immaculate Geoff Barker, who made 92 not out, but with good support from all his partners.

Doghouse soon showed that their batting was in a different league to their bowling and went for the runs from the word go, opener Sheppard (apparently from Great Ayton), made a rapid 50 before retiring and at half way the visitors were on target for victory.

Sadly the fine weather then took a turn for the worse as the rain swept down the Wharfe Valley from the direction of Ilkley. I left at this point and still do not know whether the game eventually reached its conclusion. No doubt someone can put me right on that.


We had hoped for another weekend of cricket on the 8th and 9th October, but again the weather had the last word. I doubt very much whether any play was possible on the Saturday and although it was somewhat better today (Sunday) I decided to give it a miss.

So that's it a damp squib to end the season, which for me personally has not been a very good one, having to miss a large part of it for health reasons. However there have been some excellent memories from the earlier part of the season which I hope have been reflected in these pages.

Already people are planning for next season - all I can hope for is good health and good weather for all our readers in 2012.