By Brian Sanderson,
Recently I purchased the above book on e-bay as I like to collect books on the history of Yorkshire Cricket Leagues . Reading the book a number of interesting facts came out.
The League was established on the 6th of April 1899 at the Green Dragon Hotel, Leeds.I did not now the hotel and found out that in the Leeds photographic archives there is a picture of the Green Dragon yard which is next to the Guildford Hotel near Leeds Town Hall.There were 22 clubs in the first offical year of 1900.Clubs were Barnsley, Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield , Keighley,Leeds, Sipton,Wakefield, Bingley , Bowling Old Lane , Idle, Saltaire, Yeadon, Brighouse, Elland, Harrogate, Hull, Ilkley ,Otley, Rotherham and Sheffield United.
It lists a number of matches and one which caught my eye was in 1910 Morley 34 with Peel ex Yorhshire was top score of 6 runs. Yeadon won by 5 wickets. Bobby Peel was sacked by Yorkshire for being drunk on the field during a match. He was great friends with Geirge Hirst and the two of them put two sides to play against each other in 1922 and 1923 which acted as search for county talent. They were played at Headingley with Peel and Hirst as umpires. You can see pictures of the match on Pathie Film Archives under Yorkshire cricket.
In 1952 there were 23 colliery clubs and two are interesting who no longer play.Hickleton Main won the County Championship in 1946 and 1947. One of the players was Freddie Brown ex England cricketer who was not playing First Class cricket. During the war he was in the same Prison -of -War camp as Bill Bowes in Chieti , Italy. He weight before the war was 14 1/2 stone put after the war it was 10 stone.There is photograph of him in the book in the Hickleton team but was not captain. He went on to be England captain in the 1950-51 England tour of Australia.I would be interesting to find out why he played for Hicleton.Another side lost to cricket is Rawmarch which was another colliery team. They won the Championship in 1934 and lost the Victory Final to York in 1951.It seems a great shame that these clubs have folded with a great history behind them.
There were nearly 150 players who have figured in the County,s eleven played for, or been associted with the Yorkshire Cricket Council at that time. They included players from W.R.Allen of Castleford and N.W.D.Yardley Yorkshire and England captain.
An interesting book which is worth buying. All the very best for 2013 and may the summer be dry so that all cricket watchers can see the matches this wish to see.
Thursday 27 December 2012
Wednesday 19 December 2012
An enviable life
posted by John Winn
A little over twelve months ago I made a posting prompted by reading the memoirs of Clive van Ryneveld, South African cricketer, England rugby international and a politician who took a stand against apartheid. By coincidence my latest reading has been of a book written by another man from the veld, Louis Duffus.
The book 'Cricketers of the Veld' is an account of the author's travels reporting on South African cricket in the late twenties and thirties. It is not an easy book to categorise for if you are looking for detailed accounts of South Africa's test series during the period you will be disappointed for this is not that kind of book.Few matches are described in any detail: one exception to this is Duffus' account of the unfinished timeless test at Durban in 1939 which had to be abandoned to allow the England players to catch a train to Cape Town and from whence the boat back home. The last chapter of the book is devoted to this match together with the scorecard showing England's last innings closed on the second Tuesday ( it had begun on a Friday) at 654 for 5. still short of their target of almost 700 to win.
My edition of the book, which I acquired for a few pounds, was published in 1946 and 'is in complete conformity with the authorised economy standards' and a consequence of this is that it contains no photographs. The book begins with Duffus' account of how he came to England in 1929 on a very modest budget and followed that tour in an Austin 7. It vividly describes the contrasts between life on the veld with that of inter war Britain. The author was born in Australia but educated in Johannesburg and a good enough cricketer to have played five first class matches for Transvaal over an eleven year period. On the 1935 tour Duffus actually put aside his reporter's pad to act as substitute for the tourists against Glamorgan at Swansea and fielding at slip took a catch which turned the course of the match against the home team.
After the 1929 tour Duffus barely missed a South African test match until they were excluded from international cricket as a result of their government's apartheid policies. This book is but a small part of his output for in addition to cricket he also wrote on rugby union and tennis and acted as a war correspondent.
Some of his books are still available at relatively modest prices but one exception is listed in the 40th anniversary catalogue of the antiquarian cricket book seller, J. W. McKenzie. This is a book that covers two tours; the Springboks' visit to England in 1935 and the 35-36 Australian tour of South Africa. Price £250.00, still time to have a word with Santa.!
Duffus died in 1984, aged 80 and despite suffering from haemophilia lived a full life. What wouldn't many of us give to have had the talent to play first class cricket and to be an accomplished writer who saw close to 100 test matches. An enviable life indeed.
Unless Brian has other ideas this may be the last posting before Christmas so it is appropriate that I should wish our readers season's greetings and thank them for the continuing interest in the blog, still as many as forty hits a day as we approach the mid point of the winter. Thank you.
A little over twelve months ago I made a posting prompted by reading the memoirs of Clive van Ryneveld, South African cricketer, England rugby international and a politician who took a stand against apartheid. By coincidence my latest reading has been of a book written by another man from the veld, Louis Duffus.
The book 'Cricketers of the Veld' is an account of the author's travels reporting on South African cricket in the late twenties and thirties. It is not an easy book to categorise for if you are looking for detailed accounts of South Africa's test series during the period you will be disappointed for this is not that kind of book.Few matches are described in any detail: one exception to this is Duffus' account of the unfinished timeless test at Durban in 1939 which had to be abandoned to allow the England players to catch a train to Cape Town and from whence the boat back home. The last chapter of the book is devoted to this match together with the scorecard showing England's last innings closed on the second Tuesday ( it had begun on a Friday) at 654 for 5. still short of their target of almost 700 to win.
My edition of the book, which I acquired for a few pounds, was published in 1946 and 'is in complete conformity with the authorised economy standards' and a consequence of this is that it contains no photographs. The book begins with Duffus' account of how he came to England in 1929 on a very modest budget and followed that tour in an Austin 7. It vividly describes the contrasts between life on the veld with that of inter war Britain. The author was born in Australia but educated in Johannesburg and a good enough cricketer to have played five first class matches for Transvaal over an eleven year period. On the 1935 tour Duffus actually put aside his reporter's pad to act as substitute for the tourists against Glamorgan at Swansea and fielding at slip took a catch which turned the course of the match against the home team.
After the 1929 tour Duffus barely missed a South African test match until they were excluded from international cricket as a result of their government's apartheid policies. This book is but a small part of his output for in addition to cricket he also wrote on rugby union and tennis and acted as a war correspondent.
Some of his books are still available at relatively modest prices but one exception is listed in the 40th anniversary catalogue of the antiquarian cricket book seller, J. W. McKenzie. This is a book that covers two tours; the Springboks' visit to England in 1935 and the 35-36 Australian tour of South Africa. Price £250.00, still time to have a word with Santa.!
Duffus died in 1984, aged 80 and despite suffering from haemophilia lived a full life. What wouldn't many of us give to have had the talent to play first class cricket and to be an accomplished writer who saw close to 100 test matches. An enviable life indeed.
Unless Brian has other ideas this may be the last posting before Christmas so it is appropriate that I should wish our readers season's greetings and thank them for the continuing interest in the blog, still as many as forty hits a day as we approach the mid point of the winter. Thank you.
Wednesday 12 December 2012
STORY OF TWO SCOREBOOKS
By Brian Sanderson,
I used to work and play cricket for Yorkshire Bank who played in the Bradford League until they could not raise a second team at the end of 1990,s.My best friend Alan Swaby also played in the same Yorkshire Bank Second team and recently died suddenly.His son Michael found a scorebook for the 1989 season which brought memoirs back to me of the people who played in that team.The scorer for the season was Richard Swaby, Alan younger son, who deid in a car crash at a young age.
I can not remember anything of the season but only one match was rained off.We were in the First Division of the second Teams and played Pudsey St. Lawerence ,East Bierley and Bowling Old Lane.Some of the players played were as follows:
Alan Hall who opened the batting most ot season if his was not playing in the first team.Quick scoring right -hand batsman and a good fielder.
Neil Johnson who was a left-handed opening bat who was very good at scoring off his legs.Scored a lot of runs at Second team level.
Andy Davidson, one of the younger members who batted at three and was a good cover fielder.
Tim Claughton,ginger haired all-rounder who usually opened the bowling.Was a nephew of Mardsen who played in the first team.
Gary Weir ,young lad who just started playing in the side. His father supports Pudsey Congs now and follows the side during the summer.
Trevor Hope who was a excellent opening bowler who could move it both ways.Played until he was in this late forties.
Geoff Holland our left armed spin bowler who used to lending the wicket-taker in the side and I use to take many stumpingsoff.
We were all workers for the Bank and always had a good team spirit and always enjoyed our cricket.
The second scorebook was the Yorkshire trip to America ,Canada and Bermuda in 1964 which I purchased via e-bay.The Archives have not got the record of the trip so the book is now going into Yorkshire records.Scorebook was purchased at a fair so I do not know how it got here.The matches were played at New York,Toronto, Vancouver,California and Burmuda.One of the player who joined them in Bermuda was Gary Sobers who scored a century and opened the bowling.He was the first over-seas player to play for Yorkshire. I am up-dating Cricket Archive with the wickets and time of the batsmen batted.
Two different scorebooks at different levels of cricket but both are part of Yorshire Cricket Heritage.
I used to work and play cricket for Yorkshire Bank who played in the Bradford League until they could not raise a second team at the end of 1990,s.My best friend Alan Swaby also played in the same Yorkshire Bank Second team and recently died suddenly.His son Michael found a scorebook for the 1989 season which brought memoirs back to me of the people who played in that team.The scorer for the season was Richard Swaby, Alan younger son, who deid in a car crash at a young age.
I can not remember anything of the season but only one match was rained off.We were in the First Division of the second Teams and played Pudsey St. Lawerence ,East Bierley and Bowling Old Lane.Some of the players played were as follows:
Alan Hall who opened the batting most ot season if his was not playing in the first team.Quick scoring right -hand batsman and a good fielder.
Neil Johnson who was a left-handed opening bat who was very good at scoring off his legs.Scored a lot of runs at Second team level.
Andy Davidson, one of the younger members who batted at three and was a good cover fielder.
Tim Claughton,ginger haired all-rounder who usually opened the bowling.Was a nephew of Mardsen who played in the first team.
Gary Weir ,young lad who just started playing in the side. His father supports Pudsey Congs now and follows the side during the summer.
Trevor Hope who was a excellent opening bowler who could move it both ways.Played until he was in this late forties.
Geoff Holland our left armed spin bowler who used to lending the wicket-taker in the side and I use to take many stumpingsoff.
We were all workers for the Bank and always had a good team spirit and always enjoyed our cricket.
The second scorebook was the Yorkshire trip to America ,Canada and Bermuda in 1964 which I purchased via e-bay.The Archives have not got the record of the trip so the book is now going into Yorkshire records.Scorebook was purchased at a fair so I do not know how it got here.The matches were played at New York,Toronto, Vancouver,California and Burmuda.One of the player who joined them in Bermuda was Gary Sobers who scored a century and opened the bowling.He was the first over-seas player to play for Yorkshire. I am up-dating Cricket Archive with the wickets and time of the batsmen batted.
Two different scorebooks at different levels of cricket but both are part of Yorshire Cricket Heritage.
Monday 10 December 2012
Derbyshire's greatest bowler?
Posted by John Winn
Readers may recall in August the publication of a magazine unashamedly nostalgic in content looking back at cricket from the 50s to the 90s. The magazine was called Backspin and the first edition was described by the publishers as a pilot. I bought the magazine, enjoyed the read and am pleased to see that the second edition is now on sale and future editions will be published quarterly. The next five issues can be secured for £20.
Tucked away in the August copy was a note about Darley Abbey CC, members of the Derbyshire Premier and County Cricket Leagues who in May 2007 had been the victims of an arson attack on the club pavilion which had taken four years to rebuild, but despite the setback run three senior sides and a number of junior teams. Readers were invited to mage a donation to club funds in return for which they would receive a copy of a biography of Les Jackson, without much argument Derbyshire's greatest bowler although some might press the claims of Darley's president, Mike Hendrick.
The author of the slim volume,140 pages, is Mike Carey, very much a Derbyshire man, if you can pick up Radio Derby then you can here him introduce 'Memorable Melodies' each Sunday afternoon at four which although I have not heard it sounds as though it might be typical local radio listening for that time of the week. Mike used to write for both The Guardian and The Telegraph and presented John Player League cricket on BBC 2 as well as a stint on TMS.
I sent a donation and as well as receiving a copy of the book I was delighted to receive letters of thanks from the author and club secretary Dave Jepson. 'Les Jackson A Derbyshire Legend'. had been published in 1997 and the fact that the author still had spare copies15 years on suggested it had not sold like hot cakes or even Derbyshire oatcakes, a view that was reinforced when I noted copies were available in the county club shop end of season sale for £1, which believe me is less than my donation! The book was very briefly reviewed in Wisden in 1998 and described as' a little book about a great hearted man', which sums it up nicely. Les Jackson was a man about whom there should be a book but I suspect you could dig deeper even than the subject did in his winter occupation as a coal miner without digging up any dirt or racy incidents or the kind of colourful stories that appear in a more recent biography of another great fast bowler. Les was just a thoroughly decent man and apart perhaps from some of those who made up the 1670 wickets he took in 17 seasons for his county you probably wouldn't find anybody who would say a bad word about a man who heard the call of over almost 14000 times.
Of course there is a peg to hang a story on for despite all those wickets and there are no shortage of great cricketers quoted in the book prepared to speak of his greatness built on accuracy, almost 30% of his overs in the championship were maidens, and mastery of seam movement. The peg is of course that he only played two tests and they were 12 years apart and yet in the book's foreword Fred Truman says he should have played at least 30 more. One answer to the question why didn't he? is another question, who would you have left out? Jackson's two tests were in 1949 and 1961, nicely wrapped round an era of great English fast bowlers: FST himself plus Statham, Tyson, Bedser and you may wish to add more.
Jackson died in 2007 aged 86 and his Wisden obituary addresses the question as to why a man about whom county batsmen got more and more nervous the nearer they got to Chesterfield or Derby was ignored by the selectors for twelve years and after his second test was dropped in favour of Jack Flavell. The conspiracy theories are there which touch upon the prejudices of selectors F R Brown and Gubby Allen but perhaps the explanation is simply that he was at his prime in an era when 'unfashionable bowlers from unfashionable counties were at a disadvantage'. In the same volume of Wisden are obituaries of two other men who were feared for their accuracy up and down the country, Tom Cartwright and Derek Shackleton who together with Les Jackson played only fourteen tests in total.' Cricketers' cricketers', even if not favoured by selectors.
Readers may recall in August the publication of a magazine unashamedly nostalgic in content looking back at cricket from the 50s to the 90s. The magazine was called Backspin and the first edition was described by the publishers as a pilot. I bought the magazine, enjoyed the read and am pleased to see that the second edition is now on sale and future editions will be published quarterly. The next five issues can be secured for £20.
Tucked away in the August copy was a note about Darley Abbey CC, members of the Derbyshire Premier and County Cricket Leagues who in May 2007 had been the victims of an arson attack on the club pavilion which had taken four years to rebuild, but despite the setback run three senior sides and a number of junior teams. Readers were invited to mage a donation to club funds in return for which they would receive a copy of a biography of Les Jackson, without much argument Derbyshire's greatest bowler although some might press the claims of Darley's president, Mike Hendrick.
The author of the slim volume,140 pages, is Mike Carey, very much a Derbyshire man, if you can pick up Radio Derby then you can here him introduce 'Memorable Melodies' each Sunday afternoon at four which although I have not heard it sounds as though it might be typical local radio listening for that time of the week. Mike used to write for both The Guardian and The Telegraph and presented John Player League cricket on BBC 2 as well as a stint on TMS.
I sent a donation and as well as receiving a copy of the book I was delighted to receive letters of thanks from the author and club secretary Dave Jepson. 'Les Jackson A Derbyshire Legend'. had been published in 1997 and the fact that the author still had spare copies15 years on suggested it had not sold like hot cakes or even Derbyshire oatcakes, a view that was reinforced when I noted copies were available in the county club shop end of season sale for £1, which believe me is less than my donation! The book was very briefly reviewed in Wisden in 1998 and described as' a little book about a great hearted man', which sums it up nicely. Les Jackson was a man about whom there should be a book but I suspect you could dig deeper even than the subject did in his winter occupation as a coal miner without digging up any dirt or racy incidents or the kind of colourful stories that appear in a more recent biography of another great fast bowler. Les was just a thoroughly decent man and apart perhaps from some of those who made up the 1670 wickets he took in 17 seasons for his county you probably wouldn't find anybody who would say a bad word about a man who heard the call of over almost 14000 times.
Of course there is a peg to hang a story on for despite all those wickets and there are no shortage of great cricketers quoted in the book prepared to speak of his greatness built on accuracy, almost 30% of his overs in the championship were maidens, and mastery of seam movement. The peg is of course that he only played two tests and they were 12 years apart and yet in the book's foreword Fred Truman says he should have played at least 30 more. One answer to the question why didn't he? is another question, who would you have left out? Jackson's two tests were in 1949 and 1961, nicely wrapped round an era of great English fast bowlers: FST himself plus Statham, Tyson, Bedser and you may wish to add more.
Jackson died in 2007 aged 86 and his Wisden obituary addresses the question as to why a man about whom county batsmen got more and more nervous the nearer they got to Chesterfield or Derby was ignored by the selectors for twelve years and after his second test was dropped in favour of Jack Flavell. The conspiracy theories are there which touch upon the prejudices of selectors F R Brown and Gubby Allen but perhaps the explanation is simply that he was at his prime in an era when 'unfashionable bowlers from unfashionable counties were at a disadvantage'. In the same volume of Wisden are obituaries of two other men who were feared for their accuracy up and down the country, Tom Cartwright and Derek Shackleton who together with Les Jackson played only fourteen tests in total.' Cricketers' cricketers', even if not favoured by selectors.
Wednesday 5 December 2012
Doing my corrections
posted by John Winn
In a posting I made last month I made two errors in describing the life of Philip van Straubenzee. These have emerged through my reading of the said Colonel's autobiography, entitled Desert, Jungle and Dale. The last of these a reference to the many happy days he spent at Spennithorne in Wensleydale.
In my account of van Straubenzee's family history I said that he was of Dutch descent which a pedant might argue was not quite right. The ancestor who came to England in 1745 was Philip William Casimir van Straubenzee who was born in Tournai, now part of Belgium but at that time that area was in possession of the Austrian Habsburgs. What that made Philip William I'm not quite sure but he was in the Dutch army and bored with garrison duty he sought permission to join the Hessian troops and this is where I really did go wrong. 12000 Hessian troops came to England in 1745 under a treaty obligation to defend the House of Hanover against the Jacobite cause, not, as I said, in support of the rebellion. Apologies
From a cricketing perspective what is important that Philip was stationed in Yorkshire near Guisborough where he met and married Jane Turner and although they returned briefly to the continent they came back permanently in 1748 and the English military tradition of the van Straubenzee family was set in motion. Just one last piece of history; Charles Thomas van Straubenzee was wounded at Sebastopol in the Crimea War and he brought back with him the Sebastopol Cross that today stands on the family burial plot in the churchyard just a short distance from the cricket ground donated to the village in 1947 by the author of Desert, Jungle and Dale .In the event that you might visit that part of Wensleydale you could view the cross, visit the medieval church and watch some cricket. Phew, got there in the end.
As the above suggests I have ben concentrating on cricket in Wensleydale in my research but that has not stopped me harassing by email the patient staff at The Swaledale Museum in Reeth. They have kindly scanned and emailed me a copy of the rules for The Swaledale and District League which although not dated seems likely to have been published in the 1920s. Sadly it does not list the member clubs but shows as President one Hubert Melville Martineau, a prominent enough figure in the game to have had an obituary in Wisden. Martineau had a private ground near Maidenhead where he entertained touring teams including the 1926 Australians. How he came to be President of a cricket league in Yorkshire remains a mystery but an intriguing one nevertheless.
In a posting I made last month I made two errors in describing the life of Philip van Straubenzee. These have emerged through my reading of the said Colonel's autobiography, entitled Desert, Jungle and Dale. The last of these a reference to the many happy days he spent at Spennithorne in Wensleydale.
In my account of van Straubenzee's family history I said that he was of Dutch descent which a pedant might argue was not quite right. The ancestor who came to England in 1745 was Philip William Casimir van Straubenzee who was born in Tournai, now part of Belgium but at that time that area was in possession of the Austrian Habsburgs. What that made Philip William I'm not quite sure but he was in the Dutch army and bored with garrison duty he sought permission to join the Hessian troops and this is where I really did go wrong. 12000 Hessian troops came to England in 1745 under a treaty obligation to defend the House of Hanover against the Jacobite cause, not, as I said, in support of the rebellion. Apologies
From a cricketing perspective what is important that Philip was stationed in Yorkshire near Guisborough where he met and married Jane Turner and although they returned briefly to the continent they came back permanently in 1748 and the English military tradition of the van Straubenzee family was set in motion. Just one last piece of history; Charles Thomas van Straubenzee was wounded at Sebastopol in the Crimea War and he brought back with him the Sebastopol Cross that today stands on the family burial plot in the churchyard just a short distance from the cricket ground donated to the village in 1947 by the author of Desert, Jungle and Dale .In the event that you might visit that part of Wensleydale you could view the cross, visit the medieval church and watch some cricket. Phew, got there in the end.
As the above suggests I have ben concentrating on cricket in Wensleydale in my research but that has not stopped me harassing by email the patient staff at The Swaledale Museum in Reeth. They have kindly scanned and emailed me a copy of the rules for The Swaledale and District League which although not dated seems likely to have been published in the 1920s. Sadly it does not list the member clubs but shows as President one Hubert Melville Martineau, a prominent enough figure in the game to have had an obituary in Wisden. Martineau had a private ground near Maidenhead where he entertained touring teams including the 1926 Australians. How he came to be President of a cricket league in Yorkshire remains a mystery but an intriguing one nevertheless.
Monday 3 December 2012
Two Yorkshire Giants
posted by John Winn
Hawke, Martin Bladen, seventh Lord, died on October 10th (1937), aged 78
Jackson, Rt Hon Sir F Stanley, died on March 9th (1948), aged 76
These two stark lines in the obituary section towards the rear of the appropriate Wisden Almanacks tell us nothing of the lives of these two great men of Yorkshire and England cricket but each received a generous allocation of space in special tributes in the same volumes. I have recently read biographies of the two men by the same author, James P Coldham.
It is fitting that one of the contributors to the seven pages devoted to Lord Hawke, you had to be very close to him to use anything but that title, should be Jackson, for reading the books in close succession it is clear how intertwined their lives were. In the index on Hawke 'Jacker' is mentioned 36 times and in the story of the younger man the seventh Lord falls just one short of a half century of references.
Both of course led very privileged lives. Eton for Hawke, Harrow for Jackson then the same path to Cambridge, Yorkshire and England, and each very much part of England's and Yorkshire's cricketing establishment. Jackson followed Hawke as President of Yorkshire on the latter's death and both captained their country. If one searches for differences between them then they are most marked by two omissions from Jackson's CV, namely that business commitments prevented him touring Australia and that he was never county captain although he did lead the side on occasions. Hawke by contrast led the side for more than 25 years, something that is quite inconceivable now. With all due respect to the present incumbent it is hard to see Andrew Gale leading the side out of the Carnegie Pavilion in 2035! Now there's a thought, the Carnegie Pavilion in 2035, wonder if the debenture seats will be full.
Coldham writes in a neat economical style and I enjoyed both books, the one on Lord Hawke slightly more than the biography of 'Jacker'. Partly because I read it first and partly I think because Hawke's is a slightly more interesting tale to tell. Apart from his involvement in cricket he travelled widely, not just to play cricket but he was fond of tiger shooting to the extent that after a tour of India in 1893 he stayed behind to search Nepal for the unfortunate beast. As well as India, Hawke played cricket in Argentina, South Africa, Australia, North America and West Indies, and all by sea travel.
Jackson was a member of the cricketing part of that tour of India but was not amongst the shooting party. That 1893 trip appears to have been his only experience of overseas cricket for his visit to South Africa in 1899 was as a member of The Royal Lancaster (sic) Regiment and the much more serious business of The Boer War
Both books are clearly the product of very diligent research and if you enjoy an uncomplicated style then you may well appreciate Coldham's work.
Hawke, Martin Bladen, seventh Lord, died on October 10th (1937), aged 78
Jackson, Rt Hon Sir F Stanley, died on March 9th (1948), aged 76
These two stark lines in the obituary section towards the rear of the appropriate Wisden Almanacks tell us nothing of the lives of these two great men of Yorkshire and England cricket but each received a generous allocation of space in special tributes in the same volumes. I have recently read biographies of the two men by the same author, James P Coldham.
It is fitting that one of the contributors to the seven pages devoted to Lord Hawke, you had to be very close to him to use anything but that title, should be Jackson, for reading the books in close succession it is clear how intertwined their lives were. In the index on Hawke 'Jacker' is mentioned 36 times and in the story of the younger man the seventh Lord falls just one short of a half century of references.
Both of course led very privileged lives. Eton for Hawke, Harrow for Jackson then the same path to Cambridge, Yorkshire and England, and each very much part of England's and Yorkshire's cricketing establishment. Jackson followed Hawke as President of Yorkshire on the latter's death and both captained their country. If one searches for differences between them then they are most marked by two omissions from Jackson's CV, namely that business commitments prevented him touring Australia and that he was never county captain although he did lead the side on occasions. Hawke by contrast led the side for more than 25 years, something that is quite inconceivable now. With all due respect to the present incumbent it is hard to see Andrew Gale leading the side out of the Carnegie Pavilion in 2035! Now there's a thought, the Carnegie Pavilion in 2035, wonder if the debenture seats will be full.
Coldham writes in a neat economical style and I enjoyed both books, the one on Lord Hawke slightly more than the biography of 'Jacker'. Partly because I read it first and partly I think because Hawke's is a slightly more interesting tale to tell. Apart from his involvement in cricket he travelled widely, not just to play cricket but he was fond of tiger shooting to the extent that after a tour of India in 1893 he stayed behind to search Nepal for the unfortunate beast. As well as India, Hawke played cricket in Argentina, South Africa, Australia, North America and West Indies, and all by sea travel.
Jackson was a member of the cricketing part of that tour of India but was not amongst the shooting party. That 1893 trip appears to have been his only experience of overseas cricket for his visit to South Africa in 1899 was as a member of The Royal Lancaster (sic) Regiment and the much more serious business of The Boer War
Both books are clearly the product of very diligent research and if you enjoy an uncomplicated style then you may well appreciate Coldham's work.
Wednesday 21 November 2012
National and local hero.
posted by John Winn
As part of my research into the history of cricket in Wensleydale I have been privileged to have access to the minute book of Spennithorne and Harmby CC for the period from 1936 to 1960. Spennithorne, a small village near Leyburn, were members of the Wensleydale League almost from its inception in 1947 and a name that features in the history of the club throughout the period covered in the book is that of Philip van Straubenzee and to give him his full title by 1960 you need to add Colonel at the beginning and DSO for afters.
Colonel van Straubenzee was descended from a North Yorkshire family of Dutch descent and his forebears came to England to support the Jacobite cause in 1745. The colonel was born in Johnannesburg in 1912 and educated at Aysgarth School before Sherborne and then Sandhurst. The DSO was awarded for distinguished war service against the Japanese in Burma and after his military career he had various businesses including market gardening, dairy farming and most successfully, a caravan park. When he died in 2005 he merited obituaries in the national press and descriptions of his military campaigns read like something from 'Boy's Own' or the pages of H Rider Haggard.
P van S held various offices with his local cricket club and he was clearly a conscientious and generous committee member. The first meeting documented in the minute book was called on February 10th 1936 'to consider the revival of the club' and ten years later that same phrase is used to describe the village's reaction to the resumption of cricket in peacetime but with Philip's brother Henry, also a colonel and DSO, in the chair. Philip holds the office of President at this time and it is minuted that the club 'has been provided with a new ground..... by the President.' The ground at Mill Flats Field remains in use by the club to this day. No ground is complete without a pavilion and by 1947 this need had been fulfilled, again with the help of The President.
As young men the brothers lived at Spennithorne House with their grandfather(their father had died of enteric fever when the boys were very young) and both were very keen cricketers. Henry, younger by two years played first class cricket including one game for Essex in the championship. He was at Dunkirk and fearing the worst, buried his I Zingari sweater to prevent it falling into German hands!
Place the name van Straubenzee into a search engine and it will reveal more of the lives of these two remarkable men. You will also find entries for other members of the family including friends of Prince Harry.
Heavy rain has fallen in The Lower Ure Valley today and on such days next season seems a long way off but I understand Tuesday will bring the publication of the first class and other county fixtures for 2013, always a special day in my calendar and I suspect many other pcws feel the same.
As part of my research into the history of cricket in Wensleydale I have been privileged to have access to the minute book of Spennithorne and Harmby CC for the period from 1936 to 1960. Spennithorne, a small village near Leyburn, were members of the Wensleydale League almost from its inception in 1947 and a name that features in the history of the club throughout the period covered in the book is that of Philip van Straubenzee and to give him his full title by 1960 you need to add Colonel at the beginning and DSO for afters.
Colonel van Straubenzee was descended from a North Yorkshire family of Dutch descent and his forebears came to England to support the Jacobite cause in 1745. The colonel was born in Johnannesburg in 1912 and educated at Aysgarth School before Sherborne and then Sandhurst. The DSO was awarded for distinguished war service against the Japanese in Burma and after his military career he had various businesses including market gardening, dairy farming and most successfully, a caravan park. When he died in 2005 he merited obituaries in the national press and descriptions of his military campaigns read like something from 'Boy's Own' or the pages of H Rider Haggard.
P van S held various offices with his local cricket club and he was clearly a conscientious and generous committee member. The first meeting documented in the minute book was called on February 10th 1936 'to consider the revival of the club' and ten years later that same phrase is used to describe the village's reaction to the resumption of cricket in peacetime but with Philip's brother Henry, also a colonel and DSO, in the chair. Philip holds the office of President at this time and it is minuted that the club 'has been provided with a new ground..... by the President.' The ground at Mill Flats Field remains in use by the club to this day. No ground is complete without a pavilion and by 1947 this need had been fulfilled, again with the help of The President.
As young men the brothers lived at Spennithorne House with their grandfather(their father had died of enteric fever when the boys were very young) and both were very keen cricketers. Henry, younger by two years played first class cricket including one game for Essex in the championship. He was at Dunkirk and fearing the worst, buried his I Zingari sweater to prevent it falling into German hands!
Place the name van Straubenzee into a search engine and it will reveal more of the lives of these two remarkable men. You will also find entries for other members of the family including friends of Prince Harry.
Heavy rain has fallen in The Lower Ure Valley today and on such days next season seems a long way off but I understand Tuesday will bring the publication of the first class and other county fixtures for 2013, always a special day in my calendar and I suspect many other pcws feel the same.
Wednesday 14 November 2012
More swings and roundabouts
In my last posting I made brief reference to distressing events in the course of last season's Dales Council cricket which had brought about the resignation of Rodley CC and their acceptance into The Central Yorkshire League for 2013. Looking again at The Dales Council website shows that losing one club was not the end of the affair. For at their AGM last week the league expelled two clubs 'following unsavoury incidents both on and off the field during the 2012 season.' The two clubs concerned are Apperley Bridge and Hyde Park, both of whose members were involved in the events that led to Rodley's mid season withdrawal.
In addition to these losses the league is also saying good bye to three other clubs, Meanwood who have been accepted into The Wetherby League, Hawksworth, who as Arthington II and as mentioned in a previous blog will join The Nidderdale league and finally Tong Manor who in future will play only friendly matches. All of this is sad reading for the league cricket enthusiast but there is some good news for The Dales Council in that they will welcome Roundhay subject to a ground share with Halifax Direct. Should this be agreed it will leave the league with 33 teams probably in three divisions.
My research into former leagues continues to prove both interesting and fruitful. I have contacted a number of people via email who have been very helpful but rather more old fashioned technology has opened up two interesting leads. Returning from Middleham last week I went via Constable Burton whose village club folded in the 1970s and on a notice board outside the village reading room I pinned up a notice inviting people with information about the club to contact me by email or phone.Within a couple of days I was forwarded two photographs of the village team from the 1930s and 1950s and a telephone number by which I could contact a gentleman who has information about Constable Burton CC and the history of The Wensleydale League. I have now spoken to this person and will be visiting him in due course. In addition I placed a small notice in The Upper Wensleydale Newsletter for November and this too has provoked a response and I have arranged a meeting for this Saturday as a follow up. Two shots in the dark that appear to have hit the target!
In addition to these losses the league is also saying good bye to three other clubs, Meanwood who have been accepted into The Wetherby League, Hawksworth, who as Arthington II and as mentioned in a previous blog will join The Nidderdale league and finally Tong Manor who in future will play only friendly matches. All of this is sad reading for the league cricket enthusiast but there is some good news for The Dales Council in that they will welcome Roundhay subject to a ground share with Halifax Direct. Should this be agreed it will leave the league with 33 teams probably in three divisions.
My research into former leagues continues to prove both interesting and fruitful. I have contacted a number of people via email who have been very helpful but rather more old fashioned technology has opened up two interesting leads. Returning from Middleham last week I went via Constable Burton whose village club folded in the 1970s and on a notice board outside the village reading room I pinned up a notice inviting people with information about the club to contact me by email or phone.Within a couple of days I was forwarded two photographs of the village team from the 1930s and 1950s and a telephone number by which I could contact a gentleman who has information about Constable Burton CC and the history of The Wensleydale League. I have now spoken to this person and will be visiting him in due course. In addition I placed a small notice in The Upper Wensleydale Newsletter for November and this too has provoked a response and I have arranged a meeting for this Saturday as a follow up. Two shots in the dark that appear to have hit the target!
Tuesday 13 November 2012
LOST FIRST CLASS GROUND IN NORTH YORKSHIRE
By Brian Sanderson,
Myself and Ron Deaton had a trip up the A1 to Catterick cricket ground which stage a first class match in 1954.This match was between Combined Services and Pakistan touring side.
First the history of the ground is that the first reported match was in 1940 which was between Catterick Garrison and 123rd Office Cadet Training Regiment Royal Artillery.Verity played in this match and the scorecard can be seen in Cricket Archive.Looking round the pavilion this afternoon it had a sign to say it was built in 1933-1934.So there must have been matches played on the ground before 1940.The ground is opposite a Tesco Superstore and is up for sale for redevelopment.On the internet it states it has had water damage which could have beeen caused by the recent floods last summer.
The ground is overgrown with the large pavilion boarded up but must have look in the 1940,s as excellent building.There is two old covers resting at the far side with the metal outline of a screen.A groundsman hut is very spacious with the remains of the scoreboard outside.There is a large terrace with deep steps which could held a large crowd.
The Combined Services side is very interesting and included the following players :
P.E.Richardson ex Worcestershire ,Kent and England.
J.T. Murray ex Middlesex and England.
P.T. Marner ex Lancashire and Leicestershire.
M.J.Horner ex Worcestershire .
C.T.Spencer ex Leicestershire.
Five excellent players which caused the match to be a draw.
After this match Yorshire Seconds played three matches at the ground.
The final match was in 1975 when Yorkshire Junior Women played England Junior Women.
Another ground had been lost to cricket but hopefully we may find more information about matches played there but that is for another day.
Myself and Ron Deaton had a trip up the A1 to Catterick cricket ground which stage a first class match in 1954.This match was between Combined Services and Pakistan touring side.
First the history of the ground is that the first reported match was in 1940 which was between Catterick Garrison and 123rd Office Cadet Training Regiment Royal Artillery.Verity played in this match and the scorecard can be seen in Cricket Archive.Looking round the pavilion this afternoon it had a sign to say it was built in 1933-1934.So there must have been matches played on the ground before 1940.The ground is opposite a Tesco Superstore and is up for sale for redevelopment.On the internet it states it has had water damage which could have beeen caused by the recent floods last summer.
The ground is overgrown with the large pavilion boarded up but must have look in the 1940,s as excellent building.There is two old covers resting at the far side with the metal outline of a screen.A groundsman hut is very spacious with the remains of the scoreboard outside.There is a large terrace with deep steps which could held a large crowd.
The Combined Services side is very interesting and included the following players :
P.E.Richardson ex Worcestershire ,Kent and England.
J.T. Murray ex Middlesex and England.
P.T. Marner ex Lancashire and Leicestershire.
M.J.Horner ex Worcestershire .
C.T.Spencer ex Leicestershire.
Five excellent players which caused the match to be a draw.
After this match Yorshire Seconds played three matches at the ground.
The final match was in 1975 when Yorkshire Junior Women played England Junior Women.
Another ground had been lost to cricket but hopefully we may find more information about matches played there but that is for another day.
Wednesday 7 November 2012
Autumn Treasures
posted by John Winn
Monday was a perfect autumn day and few places could have shown the colours of the season to better effect than Wensleydale as I drove to meet the President of Middleham CC, Keith Gamble.
Keith's memorabilia covers The Wensleydale League's 51 year history from its foundation just after WWII to its demise in 1998 and remarkably Keith played in each one of the league's seasons, all but two for Middleham. Ninety minutes has rarely passed so quickly as we talked about many of the more than 30 clubs who at one time or another were members of the league until it was reduced to just eight* and stumps were pulled for the last time on August 1st 1998. Who today can remember what it was like to play at places like Bellerby, Cover Bridge and Wensley?
Keith was a prolific wicket taker in the league and thankfully, a man who has kept his collection of fixture cards and league handbooks to this day, supplemented by press cuttings and photographs all in splendid condition for their age. Keith is a regular attender at Headingley for championship matches and I look forward to seeing him again in the spring. In the meantime much of my spare time will be spent in the relevant newspaper archives seeking the fine detail to go with the information I brought away from my trip to Wensleydale.
The league cricket carousel continues to turn with The Central Yorkshire League announcing the names of three new clubs that will join the league in 2013, namely Azaad and Thornhill from the Huddersfield Central League and Rodley who resigned form the Dales Council in July. The minutes of that league's executive committee cover the circumstances surrounding Rodley's departure and make very distressing reading. How did club cricket come to this?
* Six of the final octet still enjoy Saturday cricket in The Nidderdale League today and the other two lived on to play in The Wensleydale Evening League which was formed in response to the end of Saturday cricket in the dale and continues to thrive with the possible addition of a sixteenth team in 2013.
Monday was a perfect autumn day and few places could have shown the colours of the season to better effect than Wensleydale as I drove to meet the President of Middleham CC, Keith Gamble.
Keith's memorabilia covers The Wensleydale League's 51 year history from its foundation just after WWII to its demise in 1998 and remarkably Keith played in each one of the league's seasons, all but two for Middleham. Ninety minutes has rarely passed so quickly as we talked about many of the more than 30 clubs who at one time or another were members of the league until it was reduced to just eight* and stumps were pulled for the last time on August 1st 1998. Who today can remember what it was like to play at places like Bellerby, Cover Bridge and Wensley?
Keith was a prolific wicket taker in the league and thankfully, a man who has kept his collection of fixture cards and league handbooks to this day, supplemented by press cuttings and photographs all in splendid condition for their age. Keith is a regular attender at Headingley for championship matches and I look forward to seeing him again in the spring. In the meantime much of my spare time will be spent in the relevant newspaper archives seeking the fine detail to go with the information I brought away from my trip to Wensleydale.
The league cricket carousel continues to turn with The Central Yorkshire League announcing the names of three new clubs that will join the league in 2013, namely Azaad and Thornhill from the Huddersfield Central League and Rodley who resigned form the Dales Council in July. The minutes of that league's executive committee cover the circumstances surrounding Rodley's departure and make very distressing reading. How did club cricket come to this?
* Six of the final octet still enjoy Saturday cricket in The Nidderdale League today and the other two lived on to play in The Wensleydale Evening League which was formed in response to the end of Saturday cricket in the dale and continues to thrive with the possible addition of a sixteenth team in 2013.
Saturday 3 November 2012
More comings and goings
The Nidderdale League has announced that the 2013 season will see two new clubs playing in the league. Thirsk II, who have competed in The York Senior League since 1963 will take the place of Northallerton Wolves (aka fourth team) who have resigned and also joining the league will be Arthington II, the result of the coming together of Arthington and their ground sharers, Hawksworth CC. They will compete in Div 9, the bottom division of the league.
Whist the Nidderdale are 'pleased to announce' the additional teams, overall it represents a net loss of one team, namely Northallerton's fourth team who conceded a number of games towards the end of last season.
Another change confirmed is the movement of New Farnley to The Bradford League. The Central Yorkshire League has allowed the transfer without insisting that New Farnley wait until 2014. They will compete in the second division which will now have an even number of teams, thuis eliminating blank dates.
Whist the Nidderdale are 'pleased to announce' the additional teams, overall it represents a net loss of one team, namely Northallerton's fourth team who conceded a number of games towards the end of last season.
Another change confirmed is the movement of New Farnley to The Bradford League. The Central Yorkshire League has allowed the transfer without insisting that New Farnley wait until 2014. They will compete in the second division which will now have an even number of teams, thuis eliminating blank dates.
Thursday 1 November 2012
Police shut up shop
posted by John Winn
A rumour circulating recently has been confirmed by a statement on the website of Leeds Police CC in a posting dated October 22nd, namely that club will no longer compete in The Wetherby League. This is a blow to league cricket in Yorkshire and for The Wetherby League which lost Kippax when they folded in August and in 2011 saw two clubs, Little Ribston and Spofforth, transfer to The Nidderdale League.
The police have been members of the \Wetherby League for eleven seasons and ironically the last has been one of their most successful finishing sixth in Division One and winning the Fred Fleetwood Cup. The second eleven finished fourth in Division Two.
Cricket will continue at their ground in North Leeds with Gledhow CC planning to run one team in The Wetherby League. Leeds Police CC will survive in the form of a Thursday Evening league team consisting of serving officers although which league this will be is not confirmed.
I can find no reference to the loss of two teams (or the new team) on the league website but it does contain more bad news in the resignation of secretary, Jo Foley, due to work commitments. The AGM is scheduled for Tuesday 13th November and perhaps this will bring a response from league officials.
A rumour circulating recently has been confirmed by a statement on the website of Leeds Police CC in a posting dated October 22nd, namely that club will no longer compete in The Wetherby League. This is a blow to league cricket in Yorkshire and for The Wetherby League which lost Kippax when they folded in August and in 2011 saw two clubs, Little Ribston and Spofforth, transfer to The Nidderdale League.
The police have been members of the \Wetherby League for eleven seasons and ironically the last has been one of their most successful finishing sixth in Division One and winning the Fred Fleetwood Cup. The second eleven finished fourth in Division Two.
Cricket will continue at their ground in North Leeds with Gledhow CC planning to run one team in The Wetherby League. Leeds Police CC will survive in the form of a Thursday Evening league team consisting of serving officers although which league this will be is not confirmed.
I can find no reference to the loss of two teams (or the new team) on the league website but it does contain more bad news in the resignation of secretary, Jo Foley, due to work commitments. The AGM is scheduled for Tuesday 13th November and perhaps this will bring a response from league officials.
Friday 26 October 2012
A rewarding day
posted by John Winn
Wednesday morning saw me driving up a foggy A1 to Richmond to call on a stalwart of Gilling West CC, Doug Deighton.
Doug began playing for Gilling during WWII as an eleven year old in junior cricket and on finishing playing he coached the club's juniors as well as running The White Swan, one of the village's two pubs. Gilling were members of The Swaledale League and Doug remembers it as a league of small grounds, decent wickets but rough outfields and small pavilions. Opponents included Richmond II, Scorton, Arkengarthdale, Brompton on Swale, Barningham and Hutton Magna. In the immediate post war period the team always included a number of farmers and transport was not a problem and when Doug entered the fruit and vegetable business his van (AKU 4543 he readily remembered) could accommodate the full XI at a pinch!
Doug has a fine collection of memorobilia relating to his time as a player and junior cricket coach and I enjoyed looking at press cuttings. photographs and most of all, old scorebooks. The oldest of these produced from his loft began in 1932 when in addition to the clubs mentioned above matches were played against the likes of United Bus Company, Richmond Post Office, Skeeby and Wensley. Unfortunately it was not possible to distinguish between league, cup and friendly fixtures, but low scores were characteristic of the period. The unpredictably of the wickets is illustrated by a match taken from the 1958 book.It showed what Doug called a 'score draw' with Gilling 27 all out and home team Hutton Magna dismissed for the same score on what he described as a 'desperate' wicket. The following week on the Gilling ground Barningham were cleaned up for 18, a total which suggests that the Hutton Magna had not cornered the market in desperation.
When the Swaledale League folded circa 1965 Gilling also packed up, only to restart some years later as members of the Darlington and District League. The league tables show them as members of that league in 1996 but that may have been their last season for on the village website in 2010 reference was made to 'the return of cricket ...after an absence of 14/15 years'. This was not however Gilling's third coming but related to the use of the Gilling ground by Richmond IV team.
On leaving Doug's house in Richmond I drove the few miles to Gilling and going through the village found the ground behind a high stone wall on the left as I drove out of the village. (Gilling had previously played on another ground in a field across the road from the existing ground). This area suffered particularly badly in the floods at the end of last month and much of the ground is still under water and while it has drained from the wicket it has left behind a muddy mess such that, even at this time of the year, it is very difficult to imagine cricket being played there next season.
My afternoon call was in the village of Scruton, near Northallerton where I was welcomed by their chairman Trevor Howe who had laid out a display of the club's history in his conservatory with more scorebooks, press cuttings etc,. Scruton's past is rather like Gilling's in that they had a long period of inaction but revived as members of the Wensleydale League and Trevor has a fixture card for the 1957 season fot this competition. On the closure of The Wensleydale league Scruton took advantage of a vacancy in the Langbaurgh League and they remain members of that competition. After taking me through the history of the club we went to the other end of the village to see Trevor's pride and joy, the club's splendid pavilion, which was opened in 2000. I had previously visited the ground in 2010 when Scruton were playing Chop Gate and been invited to view the museum which is housed in the attic of the building. This time I had a guided tour by its inspiration and curator, club chairman, village historian and parish councillor, Mr Trevor Howe, a great character.
Leaving Scruton I made the short journey to the county archive at Northallerton where I looked at a collection of letters on microfilm to and by the secretary of Reeth CC in the late nineteenth century. Letters written to arrange fixtures, no telephones of course but there is a photocopy of a telegram sent from a team in Richmond, reluctantly cancelling a fixture. The letters give a clear picture of Reeth's opponents at that time, many of whom at a later date they would face in The Swaledale League. Amongst others there are letters from the secretaries of Redmire, Bedale, Middleham, Leyburn and Kirby Stephen. One is struck by the clear handwriting and the formality, (I remain, sir, your servant) of the letters. A far cry from the language of email, text and twitter.
Wednesday morning saw me driving up a foggy A1 to Richmond to call on a stalwart of Gilling West CC, Doug Deighton.
Doug began playing for Gilling during WWII as an eleven year old in junior cricket and on finishing playing he coached the club's juniors as well as running The White Swan, one of the village's two pubs. Gilling were members of The Swaledale League and Doug remembers it as a league of small grounds, decent wickets but rough outfields and small pavilions. Opponents included Richmond II, Scorton, Arkengarthdale, Brompton on Swale, Barningham and Hutton Magna. In the immediate post war period the team always included a number of farmers and transport was not a problem and when Doug entered the fruit and vegetable business his van (AKU 4543 he readily remembered) could accommodate the full XI at a pinch!
Doug has a fine collection of memorobilia relating to his time as a player and junior cricket coach and I enjoyed looking at press cuttings. photographs and most of all, old scorebooks. The oldest of these produced from his loft began in 1932 when in addition to the clubs mentioned above matches were played against the likes of United Bus Company, Richmond Post Office, Skeeby and Wensley. Unfortunately it was not possible to distinguish between league, cup and friendly fixtures, but low scores were characteristic of the period. The unpredictably of the wickets is illustrated by a match taken from the 1958 book.It showed what Doug called a 'score draw' with Gilling 27 all out and home team Hutton Magna dismissed for the same score on what he described as a 'desperate' wicket. The following week on the Gilling ground Barningham were cleaned up for 18, a total which suggests that the Hutton Magna had not cornered the market in desperation.
When the Swaledale League folded circa 1965 Gilling also packed up, only to restart some years later as members of the Darlington and District League. The league tables show them as members of that league in 1996 but that may have been their last season for on the village website in 2010 reference was made to 'the return of cricket ...after an absence of 14/15 years'. This was not however Gilling's third coming but related to the use of the Gilling ground by Richmond IV team.
On leaving Doug's house in Richmond I drove the few miles to Gilling and going through the village found the ground behind a high stone wall on the left as I drove out of the village. (Gilling had previously played on another ground in a field across the road from the existing ground). This area suffered particularly badly in the floods at the end of last month and much of the ground is still under water and while it has drained from the wicket it has left behind a muddy mess such that, even at this time of the year, it is very difficult to imagine cricket being played there next season.
Leaving Scruton I made the short journey to the county archive at Northallerton where I looked at a collection of letters on microfilm to and by the secretary of Reeth CC in the late nineteenth century. Letters written to arrange fixtures, no telephones of course but there is a photocopy of a telegram sent from a team in Richmond, reluctantly cancelling a fixture. The letters give a clear picture of Reeth's opponents at that time, many of whom at a later date they would face in The Swaledale League. Amongst others there are letters from the secretaries of Redmire, Bedale, Middleham, Leyburn and Kirby Stephen. One is struck by the clear handwriting and the formality, (I remain, sir, your servant) of the letters. A far cry from the language of email, text and twitter.
Sunday 21 October 2012
Gone with the wind
posted by John Winn
In a posting I made in April (At the centre of things)I referred to some information I had had from a neighbour about Hessay Cricket Club. The village of Hessay is about five miles west of York, just off the A59 and very much in The Vale of York and by Ordnance Survey's calculations the very centre of Yorkshire.
My neighbour, Mrs June Sanderson, has in the past week loaned me three fixture cards from the immediate post war era (1947, 1950 and 1951) when Hessay played in The Hessay and District League and The Hessay and District Evening League. June's maiden name was Abbey and her family were very much involved in Hessay cricket. The 1951 card shows L Abbey as Secretary and W H Abbey as a committee member.
Plot the participating clubs on a map and in the main they follow the A59 on its journey westward from York towards Green Hammerton with appropriately Hessay pretty much in the middle. Several of the clubs on the fixture card are no longer in existence and it may have been their demise that hastened the end of The Hessay League. Some still take the field today, mainly in The York Vale but some found The Wetherby League more convenient. Members of the group labelled 'gone but not forgotten' include Nun Monkton and Knapton while Green Hammerton and Rufforth are amongst those who still fly the flag.
The 1947 card is particularly interesting for it includes fixtures against Marston R.A. F. and Rufforth R.A.F. both of which were wartime airfields. The most celebrated serviceman at Marston was Hollywood star Clark Gable. It is not known whether he batted or bowled. 'Frankly my dear I don't give a damn'.
The front page of the fixture cards shows the officers of the league. President in 1947 was D Lycett Green, a member of the wealthy Wakefield family who were responsible for the restoration of The Treasurer's House in York, now a National Trust Property. The Vice Presidents in 1947 include a major, a reverend, an army captain and a colonel. Amongst these and rising to President in 1952 was Capt W. Riley Smith whose family owned John Smith's brewery and who commissioned the Riley Smith Hall in Tadcaster in 1924. Fom a cricketing viewpoint the most interesting of the VPs is Colonel Ronald Stanyforth, four times England test cricketer and who died at Kirk Hammerton Hall in 1964. He actually captained his country before he played county cricket.
Evening League fixtures are listed along with Saturday's matches and were played on Mondays from mid May to mid July. This league seems to have gone into decline before the Saturday League for Hessay played only 6 such matches in 1952. Reports of the leagues can be found in the archive of The York Press.
Some readers may be aware that I am doing some research into former cricket leagues in North Yorkshire and I have been busy this last week contacting people who I think may be able to help and the response has been most encouraging. One such league is The Swaledale and I have an appointment this week to visit a gentleman in Richmond who is over ninety and who I hope will be able to answer some questions about that league. Some documents pertaining to this league are held at The Swaledale Museum in Reeth and they have kindly offered to include a small piece in their newsletter about my research that I hope will elicit further contacts. I have also got leads into a number of other leagues including The Wensleydale, The Wath and The Vale of Mowbray, enough to be going on with.!
In a posting I made in April (At the centre of things)I referred to some information I had had from a neighbour about Hessay Cricket Club. The village of Hessay is about five miles west of York, just off the A59 and very much in The Vale of York and by Ordnance Survey's calculations the very centre of Yorkshire.
My neighbour, Mrs June Sanderson, has in the past week loaned me three fixture cards from the immediate post war era (1947, 1950 and 1951) when Hessay played in The Hessay and District League and The Hessay and District Evening League. June's maiden name was Abbey and her family were very much involved in Hessay cricket. The 1951 card shows L Abbey as Secretary and W H Abbey as a committee member.
Plot the participating clubs on a map and in the main they follow the A59 on its journey westward from York towards Green Hammerton with appropriately Hessay pretty much in the middle. Several of the clubs on the fixture card are no longer in existence and it may have been their demise that hastened the end of The Hessay League. Some still take the field today, mainly in The York Vale but some found The Wetherby League more convenient. Members of the group labelled 'gone but not forgotten' include Nun Monkton and Knapton while Green Hammerton and Rufforth are amongst those who still fly the flag.
The 1947 card is particularly interesting for it includes fixtures against Marston R.A. F. and Rufforth R.A.F. both of which were wartime airfields. The most celebrated serviceman at Marston was Hollywood star Clark Gable. It is not known whether he batted or bowled. 'Frankly my dear I don't give a damn'.
The front page of the fixture cards shows the officers of the league. President in 1947 was D Lycett Green, a member of the wealthy Wakefield family who were responsible for the restoration of The Treasurer's House in York, now a National Trust Property. The Vice Presidents in 1947 include a major, a reverend, an army captain and a colonel. Amongst these and rising to President in 1952 was Capt W. Riley Smith whose family owned John Smith's brewery and who commissioned the Riley Smith Hall in Tadcaster in 1924. Fom a cricketing viewpoint the most interesting of the VPs is Colonel Ronald Stanyforth, four times England test cricketer and who died at Kirk Hammerton Hall in 1964. He actually captained his country before he played county cricket.
Evening League fixtures are listed along with Saturday's matches and were played on Mondays from mid May to mid July. This league seems to have gone into decline before the Saturday League for Hessay played only 6 such matches in 1952. Reports of the leagues can be found in the archive of The York Press.
Some readers may be aware that I am doing some research into former cricket leagues in North Yorkshire and I have been busy this last week contacting people who I think may be able to help and the response has been most encouraging. One such league is The Swaledale and I have an appointment this week to visit a gentleman in Richmond who is over ninety and who I hope will be able to answer some questions about that league. Some documents pertaining to this league are held at The Swaledale Museum in Reeth and they have kindly offered to include a small piece in their newsletter about my research that I hope will elicit further contacts. I have also got leads into a number of other leagues including The Wensleydale, The Wath and The Vale of Mowbray, enough to be going on with.!
Friday 19 October 2012
Be careful what you wish for
posted by John Winn
In a posting I made in August (Have your say) I made reference to an on line survey by the ecb which gave cricket followers the opportunity to comment on the structure of the first class game and partly in response to the more than 25000 who completed the questionnaire, yesterday they announced a revamp of the county game for 2014. I suspect that by now most readers of this post will have seen the recommendations so I will spare you the details.
In the August posting I outlined suggestions I had made in the free comment space at the end of the survey and it would appear that two of the points I made were shared by others. These were that as far as possible championship matches should have a fixed starting day and linked to this T20 games should be identified with a particular night of the week. From 2014 until the closing stages of the season the four day game (and there will still be sixteen of these) will begin on Sundays and most T20s will be on Fridays. So you would think I would be happy with the revamp, well to a degree but what I had not reckoned with was that the start day would be Sunday, or if I had, had I had not thought through the consequences. I can see that this will suit many, especially those unable to see championship cricket on weekdays and that it might increase attendances and even attract a new audience.
I have, however just deleted two paragraphs which on reading were little more than a whinge about the logistics of getting from The Lower Ure valley to Chester le Street on Sundays by public transport, which although not inconsiderable are not insurmountable and although Sunday would not be my preferred day for the start of four day matches things could have been a lot worse. For example counties resisted pressure to reduce by two the number of championship matches and with Sundays and Fridays as fixed points for most of the season, it will at least have a recognisable and in time, familiar structure which I think will be of benefit to the game.
In a posting I made in August (Have your say) I made reference to an on line survey by the ecb which gave cricket followers the opportunity to comment on the structure of the first class game and partly in response to the more than 25000 who completed the questionnaire, yesterday they announced a revamp of the county game for 2014. I suspect that by now most readers of this post will have seen the recommendations so I will spare you the details.
In the August posting I outlined suggestions I had made in the free comment space at the end of the survey and it would appear that two of the points I made were shared by others. These were that as far as possible championship matches should have a fixed starting day and linked to this T20 games should be identified with a particular night of the week. From 2014 until the closing stages of the season the four day game (and there will still be sixteen of these) will begin on Sundays and most T20s will be on Fridays. So you would think I would be happy with the revamp, well to a degree but what I had not reckoned with was that the start day would be Sunday, or if I had, had I had not thought through the consequences. I can see that this will suit many, especially those unable to see championship cricket on weekdays and that it might increase attendances and even attract a new audience.
I have, however just deleted two paragraphs which on reading were little more than a whinge about the logistics of getting from The Lower Ure valley to Chester le Street on Sundays by public transport, which although not inconsiderable are not insurmountable and although Sunday would not be my preferred day for the start of four day matches things could have been a lot worse. For example counties resisted pressure to reduce by two the number of championship matches and with Sundays and Fridays as fixed points for most of the season, it will at least have a recognisable and in time, familiar structure which I think will be of benefit to the game.
Monday 15 October 2012
The wet season
posted by John Winn
Yesterday saw the end of my cricket watching for 2012 and I estimate it will be a little over twenty weeks before there will be a chance to resume. When the end came it was swift. One minute I was enjoying warm October sunshine and the increasingly boisterous company of pcws who were in something of a end of term mood, next the temperature dropped sharply, the rain started and I joined the exodus for the gate and the busy road that passes Arthington CC. Thanks to Brian for sticking it out and giving us the scores.
2012 has of course been dominated by the weather. Lots of experienced watchers have said it has been the wettest they can remember and nobody has contradicted them. Not just the number of days lost but the intensity of the downpours and the misery it has caused to those whose homes and businesses have been flooded. Their travails put abandoned cricket matches into perspective, no matter how many of the latter there may have been.
Despite the rain, on totting up I have actually seen more 'representative cricket'( county first and second XIs, age group cricket etc), than in 2011 but it has been my nomadic Saturday watching round the leagues that has been most affected, just 38 new grounds compared with well over 50 the previous year. May, June and July saw Saturday after Saturday blighted by flood waters to such depths that clubs could only stand and wait until they subsided. The hardest to bear were those Saturdays when the sun shone, but only on lakes formed earlier in the week.
In the County Championship, still my preferred option, the highlights have been Yorkshire's strong finish to gain promotion with the thrilling if contrived final day at Scarborough and three sun filled days at Headingley which saw Glamorgan put to the sword and the confidence from these two wins taken forward to the last game with Essex and another win to clinch promotion. Where now the man who at 11:45 on the opening day of the Headingley season was heard to say 'forget promotion'? A convenient case of amnesia I suspect.
I was also able to draw satisfaction from Durham's reversal of form which brought them five wins from the last six games and under Collingwood's captaincy steered them well clear of the rocks of relegation. Some readers will be aware of my pursuit of seeing each county play every other county in the Championship at least once, a total of 153 matches. This I have now reduced to twenty and 2013 will provide the chance to see 11 of these. Lancashire's relegation brings Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Northants to Old Trafford or Liverpool and with Derbyshire passing the red rose st the pavilion gates their elevation after many years in Div 2 will see them play Somerset at The County Ground or Queen's Park, another outstanding 'listed match'.
Despite the blank or truncated Saturdays there have nevertheless been some memorable moments to dwell on over the next few months. Londesborough Park was a case of being in the right place at the right time, a beautiful ground on a beautiful day and Thornton in Craven was not far behind and of course reaching 'the holy grail' of Hartlepool Power Station.
The lows have been the many days lost to total washouts and the bitter cold of cricket at Marske-by-the-Sea and Scarborough in early May. Cricket was never meant to be played so close to The North Sea so early in the summer.
The end of the season inevitably means the blog will enter a quiet period but last year's winter postings averaged almost one a week and that should at least be matched. We'll do our best.
Finally belated congratulations to Yorkshire Over 60s who won the County Plate competition for their age group. The final against Devon Over 60s was played at Malvern on Sunday 30th September and Yorkshire won by ten runs. Thanks to team manager Dave Todd for keeping me up to date with fixtures and results form this competition. Well done Dave and the team.
Yesterday saw the end of my cricket watching for 2012 and I estimate it will be a little over twenty weeks before there will be a chance to resume. When the end came it was swift. One minute I was enjoying warm October sunshine and the increasingly boisterous company of pcws who were in something of a end of term mood, next the temperature dropped sharply, the rain started and I joined the exodus for the gate and the busy road that passes Arthington CC. Thanks to Brian for sticking it out and giving us the scores.
2012 has of course been dominated by the weather. Lots of experienced watchers have said it has been the wettest they can remember and nobody has contradicted them. Not just the number of days lost but the intensity of the downpours and the misery it has caused to those whose homes and businesses have been flooded. Their travails put abandoned cricket matches into perspective, no matter how many of the latter there may have been.
Despite the rain, on totting up I have actually seen more 'representative cricket'( county first and second XIs, age group cricket etc), than in 2011 but it has been my nomadic Saturday watching round the leagues that has been most affected, just 38 new grounds compared with well over 50 the previous year. May, June and July saw Saturday after Saturday blighted by flood waters to such depths that clubs could only stand and wait until they subsided. The hardest to bear were those Saturdays when the sun shone, but only on lakes formed earlier in the week.
In the County Championship, still my preferred option, the highlights have been Yorkshire's strong finish to gain promotion with the thrilling if contrived final day at Scarborough and three sun filled days at Headingley which saw Glamorgan put to the sword and the confidence from these two wins taken forward to the last game with Essex and another win to clinch promotion. Where now the man who at 11:45 on the opening day of the Headingley season was heard to say 'forget promotion'? A convenient case of amnesia I suspect.
I was also able to draw satisfaction from Durham's reversal of form which brought them five wins from the last six games and under Collingwood's captaincy steered them well clear of the rocks of relegation. Some readers will be aware of my pursuit of seeing each county play every other county in the Championship at least once, a total of 153 matches. This I have now reduced to twenty and 2013 will provide the chance to see 11 of these. Lancashire's relegation brings Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Northants to Old Trafford or Liverpool and with Derbyshire passing the red rose st the pavilion gates their elevation after many years in Div 2 will see them play Somerset at The County Ground or Queen's Park, another outstanding 'listed match'.
Despite the blank or truncated Saturdays there have nevertheless been some memorable moments to dwell on over the next few months. Londesborough Park was a case of being in the right place at the right time, a beautiful ground on a beautiful day and Thornton in Craven was not far behind and of course reaching 'the holy grail' of Hartlepool Power Station.
The lows have been the many days lost to total washouts and the bitter cold of cricket at Marske-by-the-Sea and Scarborough in early May. Cricket was never meant to be played so close to The North Sea so early in the summer.
The end of the season inevitably means the blog will enter a quiet period but last year's winter postings averaged almost one a week and that should at least be matched. We'll do our best.
Finally belated congratulations to Yorkshire Over 60s who won the County Plate competition for their age group. The final against Devon Over 60s was played at Malvern on Sunday 30th September and Yorkshire won by ten runs. Thanks to team manager Dave Todd for keeping me up to date with fixtures and results form this competition. Well done Dave and the team.
Sunday 14 October 2012
FINAL MATCHES OF 2012
By Brian Sanderson,
A tale told by Alan Suddart at Pudsey on Friday. October is a month that a cricket follower finds that his wife left him in April.
This weekend was the final matches at Arthington.On Saturday I travelled through rain to the match against Cambridge Methodist.They were playing and there was a few spectators as some were watching football and Brian was at Melton jazz weekend.Addington were batting with and were only one wicket down.Steve Bindman was bowling for Methodists and bowled four overs of good lob bowling.Steve will play for any side that is one short and plays for three indoor cricket sides. I was with Michael Swaby who was the son of Alan who I knew for over forty years but had died on Wednesday.
Michael like all new visitors is impressed by the views and the entertaining cricket in October.Arthington scored 188 and won the match by forty runs with the match finishing after six o,clock.
To-day I set of in sunshine to watch Hawksworth playing which may be their last match as there is talk of them joining Arthington next season.They play at the moment in the Dales League and batted first to-day.They were soon losing wickets to Denis Nash and Mel Wood.Spectators included the missing supporters from yesterday together with three people from Lancashire together with Steve Bindman who cried off playing due to flu.Also two twins from Doncaster who we found out work for Rington Tea.
During the first over their was thirteen players on the field and in the second over was transferred to Hawksworth making a twelve man match.
Hawkswoth reached 144 in the forty over due to a good tenth wicket partnreship of forty runs.Mick Bourne went round with ticket for the raffle with the money going to Arthington.After tea the rain came in which forced a number of spectators to leave which two people missed two prizes in the raffle.During the innings we could see numerous rain-bows in the distance which caused the team off the field twice.It became very cold by the time Arthington won the match by six wickets.
Rain was falling heavily as we left with summed up the cricket season of 2012.
A tale told by Alan Suddart at Pudsey on Friday. October is a month that a cricket follower finds that his wife left him in April.
This weekend was the final matches at Arthington.On Saturday I travelled through rain to the match against Cambridge Methodist.They were playing and there was a few spectators as some were watching football and Brian was at Melton jazz weekend.Addington were batting with and were only one wicket down.Steve Bindman was bowling for Methodists and bowled four overs of good lob bowling.Steve will play for any side that is one short and plays for three indoor cricket sides. I was with Michael Swaby who was the son of Alan who I knew for over forty years but had died on Wednesday.
Michael like all new visitors is impressed by the views and the entertaining cricket in October.Arthington scored 188 and won the match by forty runs with the match finishing after six o,clock.
To-day I set of in sunshine to watch Hawksworth playing which may be their last match as there is talk of them joining Arthington next season.They play at the moment in the Dales League and batted first to-day.They were soon losing wickets to Denis Nash and Mel Wood.Spectators included the missing supporters from yesterday together with three people from Lancashire together with Steve Bindman who cried off playing due to flu.Also two twins from Doncaster who we found out work for Rington Tea.
During the first over their was thirteen players on the field and in the second over was transferred to Hawksworth making a twelve man match.
Hawkswoth reached 144 in the forty over due to a good tenth wicket partnreship of forty runs.Mick Bourne went round with ticket for the raffle with the money going to Arthington.After tea the rain came in which forced a number of spectators to leave which two people missed two prizes in the raffle.During the innings we could see numerous rain-bows in the distance which caused the team off the field twice.It became very cold by the time Arthington won the match by six wickets.
Rain was falling heavily as we left with summed up the cricket season of 2012.
Monday 8 October 2012
A different experience
posted by John Winn
'Eclectic: selecting or choosing from various sources' and an ideal word to describe the conversation among pcws at Arthington yesterday where in sunshine even better than Saturday's a crowd of over fifty saw the game between Arthington and Doghouse CC from the Middlesbrough area. The visitors were accompanied by a number of female spectators, presumably the keepers of the keys to the doghouse. Otherwise it was the great and good of West Yorkshire with representation from Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Pudsey and all stations west plus the odd intruder from North Yorkshire, the border of which is just a couple of miles from the ground.
Such was the press for seats that as the afternoon wore on chairs were brought from car boots to provide extra seating and topics under discussion included Shostakovitch's Seventh (too many notes the majority view), the cost of taking a dog on a day's outing from Penzance to The Isles of Scilly (£25 would you believe), Leeds Rhinos' success the evening before, the Papua New Guinea chess team and from time to time matters of a cricketing interest.
In the match itself Doghouse batted first and rattled up just short of two hundred by tea. Supplying so many with refreshments taxed even the indefatigable Liz and when play resumed Arthington lost early wickets, not helped by a run out which left the victim understandably rueful and eventually they were dismissed a little short of three figures*.The last pair were back in the kennel not long after half past five, by which time the temperature was such as to remind us that it is a week into October and even on a day like yesterday the cold soon gets into mature bones.
There is one more weekend for such a congregation to meet again and enjoy cricket this season. Next Saturday's visitors to Arthington are Cambridge Road Methodists and on Sunday ground sharers Hawksworth will bring the festival to an end. Wouldn't it be wonderful to think that the sun would shine again like it did yesterday and that there could be another such good turn out of pcws? For as Peter France, whose first visit it was yesterday, so splendidly described the afternoon 'it is a different experience', indeed it is.
* Apologies to those looking for more details of the scores but what with trying to keep people up to date with the T20 Final in Colombo and at the same time keep it from Brian Senior I failed to take much notice of events on the field.
'Eclectic: selecting or choosing from various sources' and an ideal word to describe the conversation among pcws at Arthington yesterday where in sunshine even better than Saturday's a crowd of over fifty saw the game between Arthington and Doghouse CC from the Middlesbrough area. The visitors were accompanied by a number of female spectators, presumably the keepers of the keys to the doghouse. Otherwise it was the great and good of West Yorkshire with representation from Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Pudsey and all stations west plus the odd intruder from North Yorkshire, the border of which is just a couple of miles from the ground.
Such was the press for seats that as the afternoon wore on chairs were brought from car boots to provide extra seating and topics under discussion included Shostakovitch's Seventh (too many notes the majority view), the cost of taking a dog on a day's outing from Penzance to The Isles of Scilly (£25 would you believe), Leeds Rhinos' success the evening before, the Papua New Guinea chess team and from time to time matters of a cricketing interest.
In the match itself Doghouse batted first and rattled up just short of two hundred by tea. Supplying so many with refreshments taxed even the indefatigable Liz and when play resumed Arthington lost early wickets, not helped by a run out which left the victim understandably rueful and eventually they were dismissed a little short of three figures*.The last pair were back in the kennel not long after half past five, by which time the temperature was such as to remind us that it is a week into October and even on a day like yesterday the cold soon gets into mature bones.
There is one more weekend for such a congregation to meet again and enjoy cricket this season. Next Saturday's visitors to Arthington are Cambridge Road Methodists and on Sunday ground sharers Hawksworth will bring the festival to an end. Wouldn't it be wonderful to think that the sun would shine again like it did yesterday and that there could be another such good turn out of pcws? For as Peter France, whose first visit it was yesterday, so splendidly described the afternoon 'it is a different experience', indeed it is.
* Apologies to those looking for more details of the scores but what with trying to keep people up to date with the T20 Final in Colombo and at the same time keep it from Brian Senior I failed to take much notice of events on the field.
Sunday 7 October 2012
Spectators 7 Players 1
posted by John Winn
Two weeks since I visited Arthington and bemoaned the speed with which winter seemed to have come upon us. Not so. Yesterday was the 'season of mists' at its best with warm sunshine and the trees doing their best to make this little corner of Yorkshire look like New England. Only one thing was missing as five of us assembled shortly before the one o'clock start: there was no cricket .Rain earleir in the week had caused the game to be called off on Friday. Ian from The Duchy of Lancaster had travelled furthest and arrived first and had already inspected the wicket before the rest of us arrived. He was able to confirm that there was standing water on an adjacent wicket.
Following a demonstration of motor cross from Mr Bindman we considered what alternatives the afternoon might offer. Ian knew that there was no game at Harewood which ruled out cricket. By this time Martin Binks had arrived to say that he had phoned a number of people to let them know that the game had been cancelled and expressed his regret that he was unable to get in touch with everybody. To try and prevent unnecessary journeys in the future, particularly this afternoon, he kindly passed on his mobile number.
Just as we were dispersing, Eddie and June arrived to swell the crowd to seven, excluding Martin that is. I settled for going home and mowing the grass for what I hope will be the last time this year and to follow the fortunes of Darlington 1883* on twitter. Outside it is a beautiful autumn morning so let's hope that the sun is strong enough to make play against Doghouse CC possible this afternoon.
Whilst I can bring you no description of events on the field there is plenty to keep the game to the front of the mind of the pcw. It is T20 finals in Sri Lanka today of course and as I type Yorkshire are playing a warm up game in South Africa as preparation for their part in The Champions League T20 where they start in earnest on Tuesday with a game against Sri Lankan side Uva Next. For those with access to Sky this game can be seen live on British Eurosport 2 at 12:20 pm. Whether their involvement in the tournament will prevent Yorkshire signing another pace bowler this week remanis to be seen.
Interesting piece in The Cricket Paper this week by Paul Nixon drawing comparisons between Saj Mahmood and Yorkshire's latest signing Liam Plunkett. 'The perfect move for all concerned' says Nixon of Plunkett's arrival at Headingley.Mmmm says me. Good for Plunkett ? Yes, given Durham were going to ship him out anyway. Good for Durham? Yes a big earner off the payroll who only bowled twelve overs in the championship this summer and who even if he had been fit would not, I suspect, have fitted into Admiral Collingwood's side where the emphasis has been on bowlers who can exercise control. Good for Yorkshire? Only time will tell but I remember clearly an afternoon at Headingley in 2003 when an 18 year old Plunkett took four wickets in nine balls to open the door to Durham's first championship win over Yorkshire in eleven attempts. Ten years on it may be too much to expect Plunkett to achieve those kind of feats again but he is no mean no 8 or 9 bat and a good fielder. After all he was born south of the River Tees so 'coming home' may just be the ticket that will get him to the front of those queueing to take the new ball. Perm any one from four, Sidebottom, Patterson, Ashraf and Brooks and that assumes Shahzad won't be coming back.
No sign of next year's domestic fixtures yet but bit by bit the season's structure is emerging with dates announced for T20 and CB 40 finals. It seems likely that the season will start a week later this year, with the first championship matches on or about the 9th of April, and go on a week later in September. Meteorologically speaking the merits of this are, of course, impossible to call but personally I still prefer the idea of watching in mid September to the first week in April. The rain should be warmer if nothing else.
* OK if you insist, they won 7-1
Two weeks since I visited Arthington and bemoaned the speed with which winter seemed to have come upon us. Not so. Yesterday was the 'season of mists' at its best with warm sunshine and the trees doing their best to make this little corner of Yorkshire look like New England. Only one thing was missing as five of us assembled shortly before the one o'clock start: there was no cricket .Rain earleir in the week had caused the game to be called off on Friday. Ian from The Duchy of Lancaster had travelled furthest and arrived first and had already inspected the wicket before the rest of us arrived. He was able to confirm that there was standing water on an adjacent wicket.
Following a demonstration of motor cross from Mr Bindman we considered what alternatives the afternoon might offer. Ian knew that there was no game at Harewood which ruled out cricket. By this time Martin Binks had arrived to say that he had phoned a number of people to let them know that the game had been cancelled and expressed his regret that he was unable to get in touch with everybody. To try and prevent unnecessary journeys in the future, particularly this afternoon, he kindly passed on his mobile number.
Just as we were dispersing, Eddie and June arrived to swell the crowd to seven, excluding Martin that is. I settled for going home and mowing the grass for what I hope will be the last time this year and to follow the fortunes of Darlington 1883* on twitter. Outside it is a beautiful autumn morning so let's hope that the sun is strong enough to make play against Doghouse CC possible this afternoon.
Whilst I can bring you no description of events on the field there is plenty to keep the game to the front of the mind of the pcw. It is T20 finals in Sri Lanka today of course and as I type Yorkshire are playing a warm up game in South Africa as preparation for their part in The Champions League T20 where they start in earnest on Tuesday with a game against Sri Lankan side Uva Next. For those with access to Sky this game can be seen live on British Eurosport 2 at 12:20 pm. Whether their involvement in the tournament will prevent Yorkshire signing another pace bowler this week remanis to be seen.
Interesting piece in The Cricket Paper this week by Paul Nixon drawing comparisons between Saj Mahmood and Yorkshire's latest signing Liam Plunkett. 'The perfect move for all concerned' says Nixon of Plunkett's arrival at Headingley.Mmmm says me. Good for Plunkett ? Yes, given Durham were going to ship him out anyway. Good for Durham? Yes a big earner off the payroll who only bowled twelve overs in the championship this summer and who even if he had been fit would not, I suspect, have fitted into Admiral Collingwood's side where the emphasis has been on bowlers who can exercise control. Good for Yorkshire? Only time will tell but I remember clearly an afternoon at Headingley in 2003 when an 18 year old Plunkett took four wickets in nine balls to open the door to Durham's first championship win over Yorkshire in eleven attempts. Ten years on it may be too much to expect Plunkett to achieve those kind of feats again but he is no mean no 8 or 9 bat and a good fielder. After all he was born south of the River Tees so 'coming home' may just be the ticket that will get him to the front of those queueing to take the new ball. Perm any one from four, Sidebottom, Patterson, Ashraf and Brooks and that assumes Shahzad won't be coming back.
No sign of next year's domestic fixtures yet but bit by bit the season's structure is emerging with dates announced for T20 and CB 40 finals. It seems likely that the season will start a week later this year, with the first championship matches on or about the 9th of April, and go on a week later in September. Meteorologically speaking the merits of this are, of course, impossible to call but personally I still prefer the idea of watching in mid September to the first week in April. The rain should be warmer if nothing else.
* OK if you insist, they won 7-1
Monday 1 October 2012
IN THE PRESENCE OF AUTHORS
By Brian Sanderson,
On the return from five days break in the London area it was nice to get back to village cricket.The forecast was sunny but a strong westerly wind at Arthington were they were playing The Jesters who are based round Leeds.One of the first people I met was Tony Hutton who was very pleased to tell me he had just received three books from Brian Levinson who has recently published a book called All in a Day,s Cricket in which a story is included from "Off the beaten track" which was written by Tony ,Brian and Mick.One of the nice things was in the index Tony Hutton name was next to Len Hutton.
Back to the match The Jester bowled first with a young Goldthorpe bowling.He is the son of James Goldthorpe who plays for Yeadon and was at the match to see two of his sons play in the match.Another playing in the team was Mel Wood who played for Arthington last week.After the rain last week the pitch was soft and Arthington struggled to score quickly.They managed to score 132 for 9 in the forty overs.
At tea-time Mick Bourne and Brian Senior arrived after watching a match at Harewood a few miles away so they collected their own private copy of the Levinson book.The openers for The Jesters were Matin Ivill and his son who was also the wicket-keeper.Martin plays for Yorkshire over 60,s together with Mel Wood and to-day he topped scored with fifty-four not out .The bowling was not of the highest standard so the match finished about five forty-five plenty of time to see the rugby league.Just to remind people Leeds are in the Grand Final next week after a hard match at Wigan.
Forecast for to-morrow is rain so the match with King James must be questionable.
On the return from five days break in the London area it was nice to get back to village cricket.The forecast was sunny but a strong westerly wind at Arthington were they were playing The Jesters who are based round Leeds.One of the first people I met was Tony Hutton who was very pleased to tell me he had just received three books from Brian Levinson who has recently published a book called All in a Day,s Cricket in which a story is included from "Off the beaten track" which was written by Tony ,Brian and Mick.One of the nice things was in the index Tony Hutton name was next to Len Hutton.
Back to the match The Jester bowled first with a young Goldthorpe bowling.He is the son of James Goldthorpe who plays for Yeadon and was at the match to see two of his sons play in the match.Another playing in the team was Mel Wood who played for Arthington last week.After the rain last week the pitch was soft and Arthington struggled to score quickly.They managed to score 132 for 9 in the forty overs.
At tea-time Mick Bourne and Brian Senior arrived after watching a match at Harewood a few miles away so they collected their own private copy of the Levinson book.The openers for The Jesters were Matin Ivill and his son who was also the wicket-keeper.Martin plays for Yorkshire over 60,s together with Mel Wood and to-day he topped scored with fifty-four not out .The bowling was not of the highest standard so the match finished about five forty-five plenty of time to see the rugby league.Just to remind people Leeds are in the Grand Final next week after a hard match at Wigan.
Forecast for to-morrow is rain so the match with King James must be questionable.
Wednesday 26 September 2012
2012 ups and downs
posted by John Winn
As we begin to say goodbye to this soggy season I have yet to find anyone who can remember a wetter one, and all manner of statistics have been produced to support the notion that it has been the worst in living memory. Last week's Darlington and Stockton Times produced its usual admirable end of season summary of those leagues that fall within its readership area.
The NYSD championship went to Richmondshire for the first time in seventeen years and by a reasonably healthy margin. On the final Saturday the Dalesmen got their expected win over bottom club Billingham Synthonia while nearest challengers, Darlington, who rather fell away towards the end of the season, lost to the team immediately below them, Great Ayton. Marske accompanied Billingham into Division One and they will be replaced by their neighbours Saltburn and Redcar. A visit to the two promoted clubs will make a good day out in 2013. It has been a particularly disappointing season for Marske as their second eleven will drop out of Division One along with Yarm. The great escapees in the Premier Division were Thornaby who, revitalised by the return of their Sri Lankan pro won their last two games to escape relegation by two points.
Moving down the pyramid to the Darlington and District League I was delighted to see my faher's old club, Haughton clinch their first ever outright championship, (they shared it with Barton in 1969) when they beat East Cowton on the final day.Barton finished second, eight points in arrears. Haughton were skippered by 23 year old Mark Dobinson whose 45 set up the decisive win and I take particular pleasure in this because Mark's grandfather and I were cousins. Keeping it in the family, this time on my mother's side. My delight at Haughton's success was tempered by the relegation of Cockerton where I last played in this league, forty years ago. Promoted just a year ago Middleton Tyas finished bottom and they and Cockerton will be replaced by Barningham and Cliffe.
Finally to the Langbaurgh League where last day focus in Division One centred on the foot of the table for at the top Kildale had secured the championship the previous week, and the unlucky losers here were Hutton Rudby and Scruton with Stafford Place just squeezing under the portcullis before it fell. New Marske and Crathorne had already gained promotion from Division Two.
One league not covered by the Dand S is the Cleveland League whose results are typically reported by The Middlesbrough Gazette but despite searching the paper's website and the league's play cricket site I have been unable to find a complete final league table.
Finally something that slipped under the radar last week was York's victory in The Kingfisher Cup, their progress in which I have reported in postings throughout the season. They were very comfortaable winners over Wanstead and Snaresbrook form Essex. Played on Sunday September 16th at The County Ground, Derby, having lost the toss York held their opponents to 162 for 9 off their 45 overs, a target reached with 15.1 overs to spare and with 8 wickets in hand. Top performers for York were Tom Pringle who took 4 for 22 and Oliver Hairs with 68 not out off just 45 balls. Well done, York, their first title in this competition for 37 years.
As we begin to say goodbye to this soggy season I have yet to find anyone who can remember a wetter one, and all manner of statistics have been produced to support the notion that it has been the worst in living memory. Last week's Darlington and Stockton Times produced its usual admirable end of season summary of those leagues that fall within its readership area.
The NYSD championship went to Richmondshire for the first time in seventeen years and by a reasonably healthy margin. On the final Saturday the Dalesmen got their expected win over bottom club Billingham Synthonia while nearest challengers, Darlington, who rather fell away towards the end of the season, lost to the team immediately below them, Great Ayton. Marske accompanied Billingham into Division One and they will be replaced by their neighbours Saltburn and Redcar. A visit to the two promoted clubs will make a good day out in 2013. It has been a particularly disappointing season for Marske as their second eleven will drop out of Division One along with Yarm. The great escapees in the Premier Division were Thornaby who, revitalised by the return of their Sri Lankan pro won their last two games to escape relegation by two points.
Moving down the pyramid to the Darlington and District League I was delighted to see my faher's old club, Haughton clinch their first ever outright championship, (they shared it with Barton in 1969) when they beat East Cowton on the final day.Barton finished second, eight points in arrears. Haughton were skippered by 23 year old Mark Dobinson whose 45 set up the decisive win and I take particular pleasure in this because Mark's grandfather and I were cousins. Keeping it in the family, this time on my mother's side. My delight at Haughton's success was tempered by the relegation of Cockerton where I last played in this league, forty years ago. Promoted just a year ago Middleton Tyas finished bottom and they and Cockerton will be replaced by Barningham and Cliffe.
Finally to the Langbaurgh League where last day focus in Division One centred on the foot of the table for at the top Kildale had secured the championship the previous week, and the unlucky losers here were Hutton Rudby and Scruton with Stafford Place just squeezing under the portcullis before it fell. New Marske and Crathorne had already gained promotion from Division Two.
One league not covered by the Dand S is the Cleveland League whose results are typically reported by The Middlesbrough Gazette but despite searching the paper's website and the league's play cricket site I have been unable to find a complete final league table.
Finally something that slipped under the radar last week was York's victory in The Kingfisher Cup, their progress in which I have reported in postings throughout the season. They were very comfortaable winners over Wanstead and Snaresbrook form Essex. Played on Sunday September 16th at The County Ground, Derby, having lost the toss York held their opponents to 162 for 9 off their 45 overs, a target reached with 15.1 overs to spare and with 8 wickets in hand. Top performers for York were Tom Pringle who took 4 for 22 and Oliver Hairs with 68 not out off just 45 balls. Well done, York, their first title in this competition for 37 years.
Monday 24 September 2012
On this day (3)
posted by John Winn
This year's first class season began in March and ended on the 13th of September. The earliest ever start but not the latest ever finish for on this day in 2009 there was a full programme of championship matches which ended on Saturday 26th of September. Durham had already clinched the championship two weeks previously when they had defeated nearest rivals Notts on a gloriously hot day at the Riverside. There was still however much to play for when the last round of games began on Wednesday 23rd, not least Yorkshire's survival in Division 1 for as they entered the game with Hampshire at Headingley they needed five points to ensure they avoided the drop. Hampshire too were not free from worry for they still needed three points.In the event both were saved by Sussex's defeat at Trent Bridge and it was the Hove side who accompanied Worcestershire into Division 2.
The first morning saw barracking of umpires Bodenham and Cowley for their failure to allow play in what they judged to be poor light but when it did get underway Hampshire batted solidly and ended the day on 227 for 4 with Lumb leading the way and good resistance on the second morning saw them to the batting points that guaranteed safety. Rudolph and Sayers began well for Yorkshire and when the former was out shortly before the close they had added 162 and with Sayers making 95 and an unbeaten fifty form Bairstow Yorkshire were dismissed just three short of Hampshire.A last wicket stand with Deon Kruis, playing his final game for the county, just failed to gain a fourth batting point.
The final day of the season saw the wicket get slower and slower and Hampshire had no problem seeing out the day until the captains shook hands, Mc Grath's last action before handing over the captaincy to Gale. The crowd gave Kruis a rapturous ovation but what was not known at the time was that this was to be Hoggard's last game before setting his satnav for Grace Road. He did not end on a high note however, 1 for 146 and a duck being a poor return for one who had given so much for his native county. Just a week earlier he had taken a hat trick at Hove that had pushed Sussex to the brink and yet on October 9th it was announced that Yorkshire would not be offering him a new contract after all and just a week later The Foxes stepped in.
Just three years on only three of those who wore the white rose that day, Gale, McGrath and Lyth played in the last match of this season against Essex.
This year's first class season began in March and ended on the 13th of September. The earliest ever start but not the latest ever finish for on this day in 2009 there was a full programme of championship matches which ended on Saturday 26th of September. Durham had already clinched the championship two weeks previously when they had defeated nearest rivals Notts on a gloriously hot day at the Riverside. There was still however much to play for when the last round of games began on Wednesday 23rd, not least Yorkshire's survival in Division 1 for as they entered the game with Hampshire at Headingley they needed five points to ensure they avoided the drop. Hampshire too were not free from worry for they still needed three points.In the event both were saved by Sussex's defeat at Trent Bridge and it was the Hove side who accompanied Worcestershire into Division 2.
The first morning saw barracking of umpires Bodenham and Cowley for their failure to allow play in what they judged to be poor light but when it did get underway Hampshire batted solidly and ended the day on 227 for 4 with Lumb leading the way and good resistance on the second morning saw them to the batting points that guaranteed safety. Rudolph and Sayers began well for Yorkshire and when the former was out shortly before the close they had added 162 and with Sayers making 95 and an unbeaten fifty form Bairstow Yorkshire were dismissed just three short of Hampshire.A last wicket stand with Deon Kruis, playing his final game for the county, just failed to gain a fourth batting point.
The final day of the season saw the wicket get slower and slower and Hampshire had no problem seeing out the day until the captains shook hands, Mc Grath's last action before handing over the captaincy to Gale. The crowd gave Kruis a rapturous ovation but what was not known at the time was that this was to be Hoggard's last game before setting his satnav for Grace Road. He did not end on a high note however, 1 for 146 and a duck being a poor return for one who had given so much for his native county. Just a week earlier he had taken a hat trick at Hove that had pushed Sussex to the brink and yet on October 9th it was announced that Yorkshire would not be offering him a new contract after all and just a week later The Foxes stepped in.
Just three years on only three of those who wore the white rose that day, Gale, McGrath and Lyth played in the last match of this season against Essex.
Sunday 23 September 2012
What happened to autumn?
posted by John Winn
It might seem strange to say that September is one of my favourite months for after all for most cricket watchers it marks the end of the season and the beginning of six months when ones interest in the game has to be sustained at second hand through the television, through reading and through conversation with fellow lovers of the game but I always feel the ninth month has a special feel to it, especially when the sun shines,as it did for much of last week when I spent a few days in Cornwall.
Having made the four hundred mile journey from Penzance to York on Friday I decided to resist the opportunity to take in some new grounds in the Central Yorkshire League yesterday and instead drove the eighteen or so miles to to Arhington to take in the second game in their annual festival of matches which will stretch into mid October. On arrival I was surprised how soft the outfield was but the game was five overs old, Dennis Nash was bowling and The Mutineers, one of several wandering clubs who comprise the majority of the home club's opposition for these games, were batting and above all the sun was shining. In other words things were just as they should be at Arthington in September and I took my seat in the sunniest corner of the ground where I was joined by nobody. Indeed throughout the three hours I stayed there were no more than two other spectators, both of whom at different times found a perch at the opposite side. My nearest neighbours were some grazing cows and a few sheep but they showed little interest as The Mutineers, aided by some lapses in the field, clocked up 193 in their forty overs.
I took tea and watched the opening overs of Arthington's reply led calmly by that most immaculate of cricketers, Geoff Barker who as usual set out his stall to anchor the innings and at the same time assist the groundsman by regular patting down of the wicket and a little hand weeding. The first eight overs having yielded nine runs it was looking as though the home team did not relish a run chase and so I made my way home. On returning to Arthington today I learned that they had got within seventeen of the target, thanks to some good hitting by the middle order. Today's opponents were another travelling eleven, Romany, and there was Geoff, padded up and ready to do battle again. The one thing that had changed was the weather and while days like Saturday may not be the exception they are certainly not the rule and although the afternoon was dry there was a freshening wind and the prospect of rain by tea time.
Having caught up with Tony Hutton about the various games scheduled in the county over 60 competition* we sought shelter in the lee of the groundsman's garage where we soon joined by a number of other Arthington regulars. Brian has given you some details of the first innings and as we left at the same time I can add no more. Even the prospect of Liz's tea could not persuade me to sit it out any longer as the rain, which had arrived a little after three, became heavier and the wind colder. If yesterday was the last rose of summer, today felt like the first taste of winter with autumn having been passed by.
On my way home by the time I reached the sign welcoming me to the jurisdiction of Harrogate Council I had left the rain behind and as I type (6:30) it has not yet reached the Lower Ure Valley. Let's hope it abated at Arthington and play could resume after tea. A family occasion takes me to The Lake District next weekend and so will not be at Arthington where the fixtures are:
Saturday v Jesters and Sunday v King James 1, both 1:30 starts. The long range forecast certainly suggests more sunshine than today so perhaps autumn's time is still to come.
* Full details at www.60cc.co.uk or put Spitfire National 060 Championship in a search engine. you may be surprised how much cricket is still being played.
It might seem strange to say that September is one of my favourite months for after all for most cricket watchers it marks the end of the season and the beginning of six months when ones interest in the game has to be sustained at second hand through the television, through reading and through conversation with fellow lovers of the game but I always feel the ninth month has a special feel to it, especially when the sun shines,as it did for much of last week when I spent a few days in Cornwall.
Having made the four hundred mile journey from Penzance to York on Friday I decided to resist the opportunity to take in some new grounds in the Central Yorkshire League yesterday and instead drove the eighteen or so miles to to Arhington to take in the second game in their annual festival of matches which will stretch into mid October. On arrival I was surprised how soft the outfield was but the game was five overs old, Dennis Nash was bowling and The Mutineers, one of several wandering clubs who comprise the majority of the home club's opposition for these games, were batting and above all the sun was shining. In other words things were just as they should be at Arthington in September and I took my seat in the sunniest corner of the ground where I was joined by nobody. Indeed throughout the three hours I stayed there were no more than two other spectators, both of whom at different times found a perch at the opposite side. My nearest neighbours were some grazing cows and a few sheep but they showed little interest as The Mutineers, aided by some lapses in the field, clocked up 193 in their forty overs.
I took tea and watched the opening overs of Arthington's reply led calmly by that most immaculate of cricketers, Geoff Barker who as usual set out his stall to anchor the innings and at the same time assist the groundsman by regular patting down of the wicket and a little hand weeding. The first eight overs having yielded nine runs it was looking as though the home team did not relish a run chase and so I made my way home. On returning to Arthington today I learned that they had got within seventeen of the target, thanks to some good hitting by the middle order. Today's opponents were another travelling eleven, Romany, and there was Geoff, padded up and ready to do battle again. The one thing that had changed was the weather and while days like Saturday may not be the exception they are certainly not the rule and although the afternoon was dry there was a freshening wind and the prospect of rain by tea time.
Having caught up with Tony Hutton about the various games scheduled in the county over 60 competition* we sought shelter in the lee of the groundsman's garage where we soon joined by a number of other Arthington regulars. Brian has given you some details of the first innings and as we left at the same time I can add no more. Even the prospect of Liz's tea could not persuade me to sit it out any longer as the rain, which had arrived a little after three, became heavier and the wind colder. If yesterday was the last rose of summer, today felt like the first taste of winter with autumn having been passed by.
On my way home by the time I reached the sign welcoming me to the jurisdiction of Harrogate Council I had left the rain behind and as I type (6:30) it has not yet reached the Lower Ure Valley. Let's hope it abated at Arthington and play could resume after tea. A family occasion takes me to The Lake District next weekend and so will not be at Arthington where the fixtures are:
Saturday v Jesters and Sunday v King James 1, both 1:30 starts. The long range forecast certainly suggests more sunshine than today so perhaps autumn's time is still to come.
* Full details at www.60cc.co.uk or put Spitfire National 060 Championship in a search engine. you may be surprised how much cricket is still being played.
RAIN AGAIN AT ADDINGHAM
By Brian Sanderson,
I always look forward to watch cricket at Addingham which is a friendly local club who had come fourth in their Niidderdale division.The forecast was that rain would arrived during the afternoon with wind picking up.Arriving at the ground there was a cold wind blowing across the ground and the home side would bat first against Romany.Romany are a wandering side based in Leeds and I saw them last at Swinton Park Next to the ground there is a extension to the house been built from last season.There was a notice on the pavilion stating to keep of the adject farm land as it seems some youngsters had been chasing some sheep. recently.
Geoff Barker opened the batting as usual together with a lad who played at Rawden.They put on a century stand with the Rawden lad retiring at fifty as the bowling was very friendly.Tony Hutton, Mick Bourne and John Winn were among the crowd sheltering out of the wind.Geoff reached his fifty and also retired which is the first time I had seen him do this.One of the batsman who came in was Mel Wood who is the brother of Barry ex England and Lancashire opening bat.
One of the bowler was Steve Bindman who bowls lobs .You can see him on You tube under Arthington Cricket Festival which shows Sky Sports News who came to the ground two years ago.Watch it it is worth seeing.
The rain came in a the wind was cold so I went home. The score was over 200 for three wickets in the thirteith over.Hope to go next weekend.
I always look forward to watch cricket at Addingham which is a friendly local club who had come fourth in their Niidderdale division.The forecast was that rain would arrived during the afternoon with wind picking up.Arriving at the ground there was a cold wind blowing across the ground and the home side would bat first against Romany.Romany are a wandering side based in Leeds and I saw them last at Swinton Park Next to the ground there is a extension to the house been built from last season.There was a notice on the pavilion stating to keep of the adject farm land as it seems some youngsters had been chasing some sheep. recently.
Geoff Barker opened the batting as usual together with a lad who played at Rawden.They put on a century stand with the Rawden lad retiring at fifty as the bowling was very friendly.Tony Hutton, Mick Bourne and John Winn were among the crowd sheltering out of the wind.Geoff reached his fifty and also retired which is the first time I had seen him do this.One of the batsman who came in was Mel Wood who is the brother of Barry ex England and Lancashire opening bat.
One of the bowler was Steve Bindman who bowls lobs .You can see him on You tube under Arthington Cricket Festival which shows Sky Sports News who came to the ground two years ago.Watch it it is worth seeing.
The rain came in a the wind was cold so I went home. The score was over 200 for three wickets in the thirteith over.Hope to go next weekend.
Saturday 22 September 2012
FINAL LEAGUE MATCH OF 2012
By Brian Sanderson,
The weather was sunny for my trip to Gypsy Lane in Leeds to watch Hunslet Nelson against Wrenthorpe in the Central Yorkshire Cricket League.Wrenthorpe had already won the League again but Hunslet could go fourth.
Hunslet Nelson a club was established in 1810 as was known as The Albion and changed to Hunslet Nelson in 1869 and played at Low Road in Hunslet.In the last few years the club moved to Gypsy Lane which is about three miles from Elland Road were football was due to play at 3.00 P.M. while the cricket started at 11.30 A.M..Hunslet won the toss and bowled first on a damp wicket and outfield.Their second team match at Gildersome was called off due to the damp ground as no covers had been put on the wicket.
Wrenthorpe did not have their full team out and decided to play the match as end of season match with bowling eleven bowlers.The best bowler was Glover bowled his fifteen overs for twenty-five and took two wickets.The best batsman was Michael Lambert who scored fifty-six not out.The total score in the fifty overs was 234 for 9.
There was a good crowd to watch the match and enjoyed the sunshine.Wrenthorpe reversed the batting line up.At least Hunslet took the match seriously and bowled five bowlers.Lambert opened the bowling and bowled fifteen overs for twenty-six and taking three wickets.Wrenthorpe reached 188 for nine with Glover the opening bat reached thirty-two to be the top scorer.
Wrenthorpe played it for fun so spoiled the day but the sunshined and did not watch any football.To-morrow I am going to Arthington as the match at Spout Houses has been called off due to the lack of players which is a pity as I was looking to go to the special ground again.
The weather was sunny for my trip to Gypsy Lane in Leeds to watch Hunslet Nelson against Wrenthorpe in the Central Yorkshire Cricket League.Wrenthorpe had already won the League again but Hunslet could go fourth.
Hunslet Nelson a club was established in 1810 as was known as The Albion and changed to Hunslet Nelson in 1869 and played at Low Road in Hunslet.In the last few years the club moved to Gypsy Lane which is about three miles from Elland Road were football was due to play at 3.00 P.M. while the cricket started at 11.30 A.M..Hunslet won the toss and bowled first on a damp wicket and outfield.Their second team match at Gildersome was called off due to the damp ground as no covers had been put on the wicket.
Wrenthorpe did not have their full team out and decided to play the match as end of season match with bowling eleven bowlers.The best bowler was Glover bowled his fifteen overs for twenty-five and took two wickets.The best batsman was Michael Lambert who scored fifty-six not out.The total score in the fifty overs was 234 for 9.
There was a good crowd to watch the match and enjoyed the sunshine.Wrenthorpe reversed the batting line up.At least Hunslet took the match seriously and bowled five bowlers.Lambert opened the bowling and bowled fifteen overs for twenty-six and taking three wickets.Wrenthorpe reached 188 for nine with Glover the opening bat reached thirty-two to be the top scorer.
Wrenthorpe played it for fun so spoiled the day but the sunshined and did not watch any football.To-morrow I am going to Arthington as the match at Spout Houses has been called off due to the lack of players which is a pity as I was looking to go to the special ground again.
Monday 17 September 2012
CUP FINAL AT SPEN VICTORIA
By Brian Sanderson,
An early start on Sunday as the Priestley Cup Final started at 11.00 o,clock were East Bierley were playing Manningham Mills.This was a replay as the orginal was washed out with Manningham on top.The weather forecast for Sunday was rain by 3.00 o,clock so the match was made a forty over match in the hope it could be completed on the day.Usually the Cup Final days are full of people more interestd in drinking beer however this match did not have this problem.
Manningham won the toss and bowled first on a green wicket.The ball moved around in the opening overs as Zeeshan Quasim and Iqbal Khan utilised the conditions. With openers Gavin Hamilton and Mark Gill going cheaply, Luke Goddard and Andrew Rennison put to-gether a stand of eighty-nine with both been out for fifty-one.Eat Bierley reached 182 all out in the final over. There was a good crowd as the admission was free.There was a strong wind blowing down the pitch so we sat out of the wind.
Manningham lost a wicket in the first over to a good catch by Goddard.The wind made it hard to control the ball and there was a number of wides bowled.Manningham were worried about the rain and tried to force the pace but lost wickets.It was good to talk to spectators I had not seen for a few weeks with the conversation going to the coming winter.The man of the match Norman Ali hit three big sixes but was in vain with Manningham scoring 152.
As we were driving away the rain started so the decision was correct to reduce the match to forty overs.
The President of the M.C.C Philip Hodson give the trophies away in his new Bradford League tie. The Central Yorshire League is the only League playing on Saturday so a chance to see some more new grounds before going to Arthington to watch the final matches of 2012 season.
An early start on Sunday as the Priestley Cup Final started at 11.00 o,clock were East Bierley were playing Manningham Mills.This was a replay as the orginal was washed out with Manningham on top.The weather forecast for Sunday was rain by 3.00 o,clock so the match was made a forty over match in the hope it could be completed on the day.Usually the Cup Final days are full of people more interestd in drinking beer however this match did not have this problem.
Manningham won the toss and bowled first on a green wicket.The ball moved around in the opening overs as Zeeshan Quasim and Iqbal Khan utilised the conditions. With openers Gavin Hamilton and Mark Gill going cheaply, Luke Goddard and Andrew Rennison put to-gether a stand of eighty-nine with both been out for fifty-one.Eat Bierley reached 182 all out in the final over. There was a good crowd as the admission was free.There was a strong wind blowing down the pitch so we sat out of the wind.
Manningham lost a wicket in the first over to a good catch by Goddard.The wind made it hard to control the ball and there was a number of wides bowled.Manningham were worried about the rain and tried to force the pace but lost wickets.It was good to talk to spectators I had not seen for a few weeks with the conversation going to the coming winter.The man of the match Norman Ali hit three big sixes but was in vain with Manningham scoring 152.
As we were driving away the rain started so the decision was correct to reduce the match to forty overs.
The President of the M.C.C Philip Hodson give the trophies away in his new Bradford League tie. The Central Yorshire League is the only League playing on Saturday so a chance to see some more new grounds before going to Arthington to watch the final matches of 2012 season.
BRADFORD LEAGUE SATURDAY
By Brian Sanderson,
It was a late start on Saturday as Andrew was coming up from London to see the final weekend of the Bradford League.The matches started at 12.00 o,clock but we arrived about 1.30 at Pudsey Congs .I thought this would be a good match as Cleckheaton had to win the match to have a chance of winning the League and Champions Woodlands had to lose their match.
The weather was sunny as Cleckheaton were batting and were two wickets down for eighty-three.We sat under a tree to watch the match and wished all the summer days were like this instead of rain.As usual Brian Senior also arrived late and wander road the ground.Cleckheaton looked like they would reach 250 in their fifty overs however the spinners Roberts and Walmsley slowed the scoring down.Walmsley bowled his fifteen overs for forty-seven and took three wickets with the help of two good catches on the boundary edge by Lindley.Clecheaton reached two hundred and ten which was a reasonable score.There was messages coming through from the Woodland match saying they had only scored just over one hunred and fifty.So Cleckheaton were in with a chance.
After tea two Yorkshire County bowlers opened the bowling Wardlaw and Lee..Soon Lee took a wicket but Wardlaw was expensive.Lindley,the opening bat and Andrew Bairstow but on a stand of ninty-three to put Pudsey in the driving seat.Lindley got out l.bw.to the spinner Mahmood who looked the best bowler.
The message came through that Woodland needed to take four wickets quickly as Bradford and Bingley needed five runs.The champions did this and took four wickets for no runs to win the league.The body language of Cleckheaton changed and Pudsey went on to win the match.
It was a full day on Saturday as I went to watch Leeds Rugby at night win against Wakefield. Arriving home about ten o,clock at night.
It was a late start on Saturday as Andrew was coming up from London to see the final weekend of the Bradford League.The matches started at 12.00 o,clock but we arrived about 1.30 at Pudsey Congs .I thought this would be a good match as Cleckheaton had to win the match to have a chance of winning the League and Champions Woodlands had to lose their match.
The weather was sunny as Cleckheaton were batting and were two wickets down for eighty-three.We sat under a tree to watch the match and wished all the summer days were like this instead of rain.As usual Brian Senior also arrived late and wander road the ground.Cleckheaton looked like they would reach 250 in their fifty overs however the spinners Roberts and Walmsley slowed the scoring down.Walmsley bowled his fifteen overs for forty-seven and took three wickets with the help of two good catches on the boundary edge by Lindley.Clecheaton reached two hundred and ten which was a reasonable score.There was messages coming through from the Woodland match saying they had only scored just over one hunred and fifty.So Cleckheaton were in with a chance.
After tea two Yorkshire County bowlers opened the bowling Wardlaw and Lee..Soon Lee took a wicket but Wardlaw was expensive.Lindley,the opening bat and Andrew Bairstow but on a stand of ninty-three to put Pudsey in the driving seat.Lindley got out l.bw.to the spinner Mahmood who looked the best bowler.
The message came through that Woodland needed to take four wickets quickly as Bradford and Bingley needed five runs.The champions did this and took four wickets for no runs to win the league.The body language of Cleckheaton changed and Pudsey went on to win the match.
It was a full day on Saturday as I went to watch Leeds Rugby at night win against Wakefield. Arriving home about ten o,clock at night.
Friday 14 September 2012
Drawing to a close but not quite.
posted by John Winn
Having watched on Sky the last knockings of the first class cricket season come to a close just a few moments ago it seems an appropriate time to make a posting. Not quite the end of the season but always a key signpost in the year of the keen cricket follower. Congratulations to Derbyshire, if it could not be Yorkshire as champions of the second division, then I am very pleased for the east midlands club, especially as my wife is from The Peak District and very proud of her Derbyshire roots. What a remarkable turn round in their fortunes since Karl Krikken replaced John Morris midway through last season. I hope they have laid in new supplies of silver polish for I imagine the tin they bought to shine up the B ad H cup in 1993 has long passed its use by date.
Having been at The County Ground yesterday I toyed with the idea of going back today, especially as my ticket, which only cost me £5:00 would still have been valid. The strong winds we had overnight and the fact that I am off down to Cornwall on Monday for a few days ( no cricket as far as I can tell) put any lingering ideas to bed but I enjoyed seeing the day's play on TV. Yesterday's visit was my first since 2009 and therefore since the square was turned through 90 degrees and how much better the ground looks today than it did when I first went regularly twenty years ago. And through all the improvements Derbyshire continue to give good value for money in the cafe at the city end and they did good business there yesterday.
Travelling by train yesterday I saved a decent sum of money by booking form York to Sheffield and then Sheffield to Derby. Although this meant not leaving York until 8:44 I was still in the ground by 10:50 and soon found Brian Sanderson. As the day went on we were joined by a number of other pcws and with the pa system keeping us up to date with events at Cardiff and Chelmsford it was easy to follow the race for the title. Shortly after tea it became clear Kent had blown their chances and by close of play Yorkshire had put themselves in a winning position and it must have been very frustrating for them to be overhauled this afternoon. Good though that they have finished the season so strongly with three wins, but how many different ways are there of thinking where they might have got the extra bonus point that would have given them the title. Probably even more than the number of debenture holders in The Carnegie Pavilion.
Earlier in the week I spent two days at The Riverside where yesterday Durham overcame Sussex to record their fith win out of the last six matches and finish a comfortable sixth in the table. Good to see Rushworth finish so well improving his pb figures for the third time this season. My friends from Sussex could only stay for the first day and even then they left at tea. I think the difference in temperature from Hove last week to Chester le Street on Tuesday came as a traumatic shock.
There is still league cricket to be played and the Arthington festival, which will provide material for postings and as last year I hope to make occasional contributions over the winter to which end I have been stockpiling my winter reading and may offer the odd book review from time to time.Please keep logging on!
Tidying up national competitions Cornwall were comfortable winners over Buckinghamshire in the MCCA Championship play off final and Lancashire II won the SET final at Crosby which was held over from Tuesday to Thursday. On Sunday it is the final of The Kingfisher Cup at Derby between Wanstead and York.
Having watched on Sky the last knockings of the first class cricket season come to a close just a few moments ago it seems an appropriate time to make a posting. Not quite the end of the season but always a key signpost in the year of the keen cricket follower. Congratulations to Derbyshire, if it could not be Yorkshire as champions of the second division, then I am very pleased for the east midlands club, especially as my wife is from The Peak District and very proud of her Derbyshire roots. What a remarkable turn round in their fortunes since Karl Krikken replaced John Morris midway through last season. I hope they have laid in new supplies of silver polish for I imagine the tin they bought to shine up the B ad H cup in 1993 has long passed its use by date.
Having been at The County Ground yesterday I toyed with the idea of going back today, especially as my ticket, which only cost me £5:00 would still have been valid. The strong winds we had overnight and the fact that I am off down to Cornwall on Monday for a few days ( no cricket as far as I can tell) put any lingering ideas to bed but I enjoyed seeing the day's play on TV. Yesterday's visit was my first since 2009 and therefore since the square was turned through 90 degrees and how much better the ground looks today than it did when I first went regularly twenty years ago. And through all the improvements Derbyshire continue to give good value for money in the cafe at the city end and they did good business there yesterday.
Travelling by train yesterday I saved a decent sum of money by booking form York to Sheffield and then Sheffield to Derby. Although this meant not leaving York until 8:44 I was still in the ground by 10:50 and soon found Brian Sanderson. As the day went on we were joined by a number of other pcws and with the pa system keeping us up to date with events at Cardiff and Chelmsford it was easy to follow the race for the title. Shortly after tea it became clear Kent had blown their chances and by close of play Yorkshire had put themselves in a winning position and it must have been very frustrating for them to be overhauled this afternoon. Good though that they have finished the season so strongly with three wins, but how many different ways are there of thinking where they might have got the extra bonus point that would have given them the title. Probably even more than the number of debenture holders in The Carnegie Pavilion.
Earlier in the week I spent two days at The Riverside where yesterday Durham overcame Sussex to record their fith win out of the last six matches and finish a comfortable sixth in the table. Good to see Rushworth finish so well improving his pb figures for the third time this season. My friends from Sussex could only stay for the first day and even then they left at tea. I think the difference in temperature from Hove last week to Chester le Street on Tuesday came as a traumatic shock.
There is still league cricket to be played and the Arthington festival, which will provide material for postings and as last year I hope to make occasional contributions over the winter to which end I have been stockpiling my winter reading and may offer the odd book review from time to time.Please keep logging on!
Tidying up national competitions Cornwall were comfortable winners over Buckinghamshire in the MCCA Championship play off final and Lancashire II won the SET final at Crosby which was held over from Tuesday to Thursday. On Sunday it is the final of The Kingfisher Cup at Derby between Wanstead and York.
Monday 10 September 2012
Blaydon not quite at the races.
posted by John Winn
As I reported in a posting 'Life with The Lyons' in August, league cricket in the North East of England is facing a dramatic shake up at the end of this season. The creation of a second division in the NEPL will lead to the closure of three County Durham leagues with hundreds of years of history between them. First to close was The Durham County League which played its last games on September 1st. In its current form this league is a relative newcomer having been formed in 1948.This season's champions and the last ever, were Esh Winning, their fourth top place in eleven years.
This weekend saw the demise of the Durham Coast League where Murton edged out Dawdon for the title. This competition can claim 77 years of history and tradition but older still is the Durham Senior League which was formed in 1891. The last pages in its long story will be turned this Saturday and with Burnmoor needing only one point to finish top they should be crowned as the final champions..
Fifteen clubs from these leagues showed interest in joining the new premier second division and ten have successfully met the criteria and so will form the second division in 2013. The remaining clubs will make up a new Durham league of 26 clubs which will divided into two divisions in 2014.
Meanwhile exciting finishes are the order of the day in the two existing North East Premier leagues and on Saturday Blaydon, who had led the league by several lengths until recently were overtaken in the last few strides by South Northumberland for their eighth title in ten years. Blaydon's failure to gain an expected victory over Tynemouth cost them what would have been their first title.
In the other Premier league, the NYSD, there is still one round of matches to be played. Richmond will start on Saturday with just a one point advantage over Darlington following contrating fortunes in the last few overs of the weekend's games. Richmond beat Guisborough by 4 wickets with eight balls to spare while Darlington, who had started the day narrowly in front, could not dislodge the last Barnard Castle pair, despite having nine overs to bowl at them. Both teams are at home, but Richmond appear to have the easier task taking on bottom club Billingham while The Quakers entertain Great Ayton, currently third.
Elsewhere, Reed from Hertfordshire beat Woodhouse Grange in the village cup final at Lords and the latest score I have from the MCCA Championship final at Truro is, after a rain affected first day, Cornwall 257 all out, Buckinghamshire 128 for 6.
Tomorrow will see me at Chester le Street and I am looking forward to meeting with two old friends from Sussex who are travelling north today. Having looked at the week's forecast Thursday looks the best day for a trip to Derby for what will be my eighth 'listed match' of 2012.
As I reported in a posting 'Life with The Lyons' in August, league cricket in the North East of England is facing a dramatic shake up at the end of this season. The creation of a second division in the NEPL will lead to the closure of three County Durham leagues with hundreds of years of history between them. First to close was The Durham County League which played its last games on September 1st. In its current form this league is a relative newcomer having been formed in 1948.This season's champions and the last ever, were Esh Winning, their fourth top place in eleven years.
This weekend saw the demise of the Durham Coast League where Murton edged out Dawdon for the title. This competition can claim 77 years of history and tradition but older still is the Durham Senior League which was formed in 1891. The last pages in its long story will be turned this Saturday and with Burnmoor needing only one point to finish top they should be crowned as the final champions..
Fifteen clubs from these leagues showed interest in joining the new premier second division and ten have successfully met the criteria and so will form the second division in 2013. The remaining clubs will make up a new Durham league of 26 clubs which will divided into two divisions in 2014.
Meanwhile exciting finishes are the order of the day in the two existing North East Premier leagues and on Saturday Blaydon, who had led the league by several lengths until recently were overtaken in the last few strides by South Northumberland for their eighth title in ten years. Blaydon's failure to gain an expected victory over Tynemouth cost them what would have been their first title.
In the other Premier league, the NYSD, there is still one round of matches to be played. Richmond will start on Saturday with just a one point advantage over Darlington following contrating fortunes in the last few overs of the weekend's games. Richmond beat Guisborough by 4 wickets with eight balls to spare while Darlington, who had started the day narrowly in front, could not dislodge the last Barnard Castle pair, despite having nine overs to bowl at them. Both teams are at home, but Richmond appear to have the easier task taking on bottom club Billingham while The Quakers entertain Great Ayton, currently third.
Elsewhere, Reed from Hertfordshire beat Woodhouse Grange in the village cup final at Lords and the latest score I have from the MCCA Championship final at Truro is, after a rain affected first day, Cornwall 257 all out, Buckinghamshire 128 for 6.
Tomorrow will see me at Chester le Street and I am looking forward to meeting with two old friends from Sussex who are travelling north today. Having looked at the week's forecast Thursday looks the best day for a trip to Derby for what will be my eighth 'listed match' of 2012.
Sunday 9 September 2012
SUNDAY CUP FINAL
By Brian Sanderson,
Another early start to go to Duncombe Park were even Brian Cobb has not visited.Hope you read the Blog Brian and go to watch a match there you will enjoy it..The ground is situated in Helmsley and the Final was the Feversham Evening League between Gillamoor and Slingsby.As you enter Helmsley centre there is a statue of Earl Helmley also Earl Feversham.In the church yard there is a memorial to the people killed in the First War World which is head by Earl Feversham killed in 1916.So the family is connected with the town and opened the village hall and baths which are in the cricket field.
The field slopes nearly eleven feet and the groundsman told us a tell that a car without a handbrake on rolled down the field to smash into a tree so writing the car off but nobody was injured.There is a second pitch on the left were the juniors play and acts as a football pitch.There is a double sided wooden stand were we watched the cricket from which was just behind the bowlers arm.We talked to the Slingsby captain before the match and was very confident about winnig the match as the majority of the side played for Sheriff Hutton in the league on Saturday.However Gillamoor had Nick Thornicroft playing ex England under 19 and Yorkshire fast bowler so Gillamoor were hopeful of winning.
Gillamoor won the toss and decided to bat on a beautiful sunny morning at just after elevenSlingby opened the bowling with a lob bowler which must have happen one hundred years ago.Thornicroft struck a hugh six into the next field but was soon out bowled.The match was over twenty- four overs and they struggled to 122.
Slingsby batted next and were expected to reach the total easily so Thornicroft had to take wickets.However this did not happen with the wicket-keeper struggled with the pace so giving another of byes away.He bowled four overs and had to reserve two overs till the end of the innings.
With twenty overs gone Slingsby were only two wickets down requiring about 30 runs.Thornicroft did take a wicket with the keeper holding on to a catch when he returned.In the last over eight runs were required with wickets in hand. The first ball went towards the boundary for a disputed three as Slingsby claiming four runs.They required two runs to win on the last ball but only managed one run so the match was a tie.The rules of the competition said the trophy was shared between the two teams.
Ron Deaton gave out the trophies and give a impassioned speech for local cricket to continue in the area.Next Sunday Gillamoor are in the Countess of Feversham Cup Final against Kirby moor side at their home ground.Gillamoor have never won the cup in living history so come on Gillamoor.
Another early start to go to Duncombe Park were even Brian Cobb has not visited.Hope you read the Blog Brian and go to watch a match there you will enjoy it..The ground is situated in Helmsley and the Final was the Feversham Evening League between Gillamoor and Slingsby.As you enter Helmsley centre there is a statue of Earl Helmley also Earl Feversham.In the church yard there is a memorial to the people killed in the First War World which is head by Earl Feversham killed in 1916.So the family is connected with the town and opened the village hall and baths which are in the cricket field.
The field slopes nearly eleven feet and the groundsman told us a tell that a car without a handbrake on rolled down the field to smash into a tree so writing the car off but nobody was injured.There is a second pitch on the left were the juniors play and acts as a football pitch.There is a double sided wooden stand were we watched the cricket from which was just behind the bowlers arm.We talked to the Slingsby captain before the match and was very confident about winnig the match as the majority of the side played for Sheriff Hutton in the league on Saturday.However Gillamoor had Nick Thornicroft playing ex England under 19 and Yorkshire fast bowler so Gillamoor were hopeful of winning.
Gillamoor won the toss and decided to bat on a beautiful sunny morning at just after elevenSlingby opened the bowling with a lob bowler which must have happen one hundred years ago.Thornicroft struck a hugh six into the next field but was soon out bowled.The match was over twenty- four overs and they struggled to 122.
Slingsby batted next and were expected to reach the total easily so Thornicroft had to take wickets.However this did not happen with the wicket-keeper struggled with the pace so giving another of byes away.He bowled four overs and had to reserve two overs till the end of the innings.
With twenty overs gone Slingsby were only two wickets down requiring about 30 runs.Thornicroft did take a wicket with the keeper holding on to a catch when he returned.In the last over eight runs were required with wickets in hand. The first ball went towards the boundary for a disputed three as Slingsby claiming four runs.They required two runs to win on the last ball but only managed one run so the match was a tie.The rules of the competition said the trophy was shared between the two teams.
Ron Deaton gave out the trophies and give a impassioned speech for local cricket to continue in the area.Next Sunday Gillamoor are in the Countess of Feversham Cup Final against Kirby moor side at their home ground.Gillamoor have never won the cup in living history so come on Gillamoor.
Not a heifer to be seen
posted by John Winn
The week's sunshine convinced me that my plan to visit grounds in The Craven and District League could finally be put into operation and yesterday saw me taking luncheon in The Masons'* Arms at Gargrave, near Skipton and then dropping in at the Skipton Road ground of Gargrave CC. The C&DL can trace its history back to 1888 although it did not settle on its current name until 1935. The excellent handbook details all the various comings and goings since 1976 when it was extended to 23 clubs and four divisions.
On its website the league is described as 'loosely based round Skipton', the 'loosely' is a bit harsh for Skipton is very much at its heart even if one could base an afternoon visiting grounds without straying far from Keighley. The Gargrave ground may well be familiar to readers who have not watched cricket there for its pavilion featured in 'The Book of Pavilions' by Jonathan Rice, published more than twenty years ago. Yesterday's match was between Gargrave I and Bingley side, Elswick and Gilstead I, with the home team batting and after the loss of an early wicket they began to score freely before I left. The ground is shared with football and a match was in progress at the rear of the pavilion. Judging from the photograph in Rice's book some trees may have been cleared to create the football pitch.
The club was founded in 1852 and the earliest picture in the pavilion is from 1893. Walking round the ground I noticed a bench in memory of Fred Trueman, not surprising perhaps given that he spent his last years in a village just a couple of miles up the road. What did strike me about the ground was the profusion of seating, possibly for as many as 400. Most benches were unoccupied yesterday.
From Gargrave I drove 8 miles or so to Thornton in Craven where I discovered the Booth Bridge Lane ground and realised that what I consider 'cricket heaven' has more than one outlet. This was perfect, there were lovely views of the local hillsides and while in the neighbouring field a combine cornered the last of the season's corn, Thornton's batsmen made hay while the sun shone like it was making up for lost time. Climbing a stile to enter the small field where the boundary ran right up to the surrounding walls, I made for the neat modern pavilion and was served tea at 30 pence a cup. Heaven indeed. It almost made me feel that I should tear up my schedule of visits to other grounds and just enjoy this moment. Had I done so I would have seen Thornton beat opponents Airedale CC by nine runs.
After witnessing the end of a partnership of 101 for the third wicket I did move on however, to another small town/large village and like Thornton still in N Yorks, but only a couple of miles from Lancashire, namely Cowling where the local club has its ground on Keighley Road, but which could equally well be called Colne Road. This ground was in sharp contrast to Thornton for although it too had splendid views the rest was rather disappointing. The first thing you see is an unattractive back of the pavilion and like Gargrave it shares its enclosure with football and I think these two rarely sit well together. The visitors were Wilsden who joined from the Bradford Central League in 2004 and although they have a BD 15 postcode are based only 15 miles from Skipton. The game had reached the stage where the Wilsden tenth wicket pair were putting together a stand which irritated the fielding side and highly amused bystanders.. Their total of 125 was overhauled by Cowling for the loss of only 3 wickets.
Back towards Skipton a few minutes drive brought me to Cononley, where for latecomers like me the ground is approached by parking at the top of one side of the valley and then walking down a path to where the playing area shares the valley bottom with Cononley Sports FC. At the far side of the ground runs the rail line from Skipton to Leeds and Bradford with up to four trains an hour passing by. Backing onto the line was shelter akin to a football dug out and titled 'old ans eat', which I worked out would provide me with an appropriate seat from which to watch play which had just resumed after tea.Visitors Sutton in Thornton were defending 116 but Cononley reached the target for the loss of only three wickets.
My final stop of the day was at the village of Embsay, just out of Skipton towards Harrogate. Embsay is home to the Embsay and Bolton Abbey steam railway and from this gem of a ground I could see a locomotive in action. The game in progress was a Div 1 game between Embsay and Oakworth, last year's champions. Embsay CC was founded in 1901 and has a neat pavilion dating from 1975 from which there are views across the A59 to the hills beyond. Embsay had begun their reply to Oakworth's 158 and their opening pair had made a solid start which set up a victory by six wickets, no doubt enjoyed by what was the largest crowd I saw on yesterday's travels.
As I left at half past five the sun still shone warmly but the length of the shadows it cast reminded me that it is now September and next Saturday for many leagues will be the last action of the 2012 summer. County cricket enters the last week of its season on Tuesday and except for games in a few leagues in this area on Saturday the 23rd there will only be Arthington to sustain us.
* the pub's literature omitted the apostrophe altogether so my placement is based on the notion that there was probably more than one mason.
The week's sunshine convinced me that my plan to visit grounds in The Craven and District League could finally be put into operation and yesterday saw me taking luncheon in The Masons'* Arms at Gargrave, near Skipton and then dropping in at the Skipton Road ground of Gargrave CC. The C&DL can trace its history back to 1888 although it did not settle on its current name until 1935. The excellent handbook details all the various comings and goings since 1976 when it was extended to 23 clubs and four divisions.
On its website the league is described as 'loosely based round Skipton', the 'loosely' is a bit harsh for Skipton is very much at its heart even if one could base an afternoon visiting grounds without straying far from Keighley. The Gargrave ground may well be familiar to readers who have not watched cricket there for its pavilion featured in 'The Book of Pavilions' by Jonathan Rice, published more than twenty years ago. Yesterday's match was between Gargrave I and Bingley side, Elswick and Gilstead I, with the home team batting and after the loss of an early wicket they began to score freely before I left. The ground is shared with football and a match was in progress at the rear of the pavilion. Judging from the photograph in Rice's book some trees may have been cleared to create the football pitch.
The club was founded in 1852 and the earliest picture in the pavilion is from 1893. Walking round the ground I noticed a bench in memory of Fred Trueman, not surprising perhaps given that he spent his last years in a village just a couple of miles up the road. What did strike me about the ground was the profusion of seating, possibly for as many as 400. Most benches were unoccupied yesterday.
From Gargrave I drove 8 miles or so to Thornton in Craven where I discovered the Booth Bridge Lane ground and realised that what I consider 'cricket heaven' has more than one outlet. This was perfect, there were lovely views of the local hillsides and while in the neighbouring field a combine cornered the last of the season's corn, Thornton's batsmen made hay while the sun shone like it was making up for lost time. Climbing a stile to enter the small field where the boundary ran right up to the surrounding walls, I made for the neat modern pavilion and was served tea at 30 pence a cup. Heaven indeed. It almost made me feel that I should tear up my schedule of visits to other grounds and just enjoy this moment. Had I done so I would have seen Thornton beat opponents Airedale CC by nine runs.
After witnessing the end of a partnership of 101 for the third wicket I did move on however, to another small town/large village and like Thornton still in N Yorks, but only a couple of miles from Lancashire, namely Cowling where the local club has its ground on Keighley Road, but which could equally well be called Colne Road. This ground was in sharp contrast to Thornton for although it too had splendid views the rest was rather disappointing. The first thing you see is an unattractive back of the pavilion and like Gargrave it shares its enclosure with football and I think these two rarely sit well together. The visitors were Wilsden who joined from the Bradford Central League in 2004 and although they have a BD 15 postcode are based only 15 miles from Skipton. The game had reached the stage where the Wilsden tenth wicket pair were putting together a stand which irritated the fielding side and highly amused bystanders.. Their total of 125 was overhauled by Cowling for the loss of only 3 wickets.
Back towards Skipton a few minutes drive brought me to Cononley, where for latecomers like me the ground is approached by parking at the top of one side of the valley and then walking down a path to where the playing area shares the valley bottom with Cononley Sports FC. At the far side of the ground runs the rail line from Skipton to Leeds and Bradford with up to four trains an hour passing by. Backing onto the line was shelter akin to a football dug out and titled 'old ans eat', which I worked out would provide me with an appropriate seat from which to watch play which had just resumed after tea.Visitors Sutton in Thornton were defending 116 but Cononley reached the target for the loss of only three wickets.
My final stop of the day was at the village of Embsay, just out of Skipton towards Harrogate. Embsay is home to the Embsay and Bolton Abbey steam railway and from this gem of a ground I could see a locomotive in action. The game in progress was a Div 1 game between Embsay and Oakworth, last year's champions. Embsay CC was founded in 1901 and has a neat pavilion dating from 1975 from which there are views across the A59 to the hills beyond. Embsay had begun their reply to Oakworth's 158 and their opening pair had made a solid start which set up a victory by six wickets, no doubt enjoyed by what was the largest crowd I saw on yesterday's travels.
As I left at half past five the sun still shone warmly but the length of the shadows it cast reminded me that it is now September and next Saturday for many leagues will be the last action of the 2012 summer. County cricket enters the last week of its season on Tuesday and except for games in a few leagues in this area on Saturday the 23rd there will only be Arthington to sustain us.
* the pub's literature omitted the apostrophe altogether so my placement is based on the notion that there was probably more than one mason.
Saturday 8 September 2012
COUNTRY ROADS
By Brian Sanderson,
On a beautiful summers morning we set out early to go to Woodhouse Grange ground.When Ron Deaton had looked on the web-site he thought the Woodhouse and Dunnington match would start at 12.00 however this was not the case.I had passed this ground on numerous occasions but not seen cricket on the ground.When we arrived via Wheldrake ground , which had a village fete being set up so no cricket,The match was in progress.It had started at 11.00 a.m. as the home side were playing at Lords to-morrow against Reed.Tony Hutton has gone down to London to see the match and also see a match in a military ground in the middle of London.We understand that Dunnington would not rearrange the match to a Sunday as Woodhouse wanted to go down to London on Saturday.
There is a new pavilion with the field enclosed by hedges and is very flat but no view.Dunnington were batting with Collis King,the ex-West Indian test player, scored 40 but who was bowled with a yorker from a young local boy. This must have been a great thrill for him.All the very best for to-morrow at Lords.
Next ground was Pocklington were their seconds were playing Woodhouse Seconds which also started at 11.00. Two new changing rooms have been built and the orginal pavilion was opened by Sir William Worsley ex Yorkshire captain and President.There is a second ground next to the main were match was due to start at 1.30.Again another flat ground which is typical of East Yorkshire grounds.
When were leaving tea was being taken.
Yapham were playing Thorpe Arch @Boston Spa on the most picturesque ground of the tour.These two teams play in the York Vale League and the President of the league was also visiting Shane Hargrave the ground for the first time.Ron Deaton used to work with him over twenty years ago.
The club was established 102 years ago and the pavilion is a old air-force mission hut.There is a excellent views of the Wolds and the only noise was the farmers working in the fields. Please visit if you can.
Next ground was a famous nameMelbourne who were playing North Duffield.The pavilion was another multi- sport building.One batsman hit a six into the farmers field which had recently been cut so the fielder could easily find it.There was a notice in the hall saying that if the ball landed in the garden over the main road do not go into the garden as the owner had threaten legal action.If you purchase a house next to a cricket ground you must expect cricket balls landing in your garden so why complain buy a house elsewhere.
Driving back to York we next went to Bishopthorpe who were playing Acomb Seconds.Another large field with a football pitch adjacent to the cricket pitch.Another multi-sports hall as a tea-room where we had a cup of tea.One of the home team scored a century out of a total of 175. Well done.
Next ground we visited was York Railway Institute were York fifths should have been playing but there was no sign of a match.York were not entering this side next year as they feel they have not enough players.Another team vanished.
Moving on to Rufford in the Wetherby League were the seconds were playing Scarcroft seconds.The pitch is next to a small airport and another multi-sports pavilion.The home side won the match with twenty over spare chasing 96.
Last ground was Long Maston were the seconds were playing Kirk Hammerton seconds.Ron had visited this ground when it was full for a Old England match.To-day was just the three of us watching the home side struggle against nine men of Kirk Hammerton.You can understand why their is no spectators as the standard was poor.
This is the end of our summer trips with Ron which has covered numerous new grounds and meet many characters. Pity about the weather we could have visited many more but hopefully their is next season.
On a beautiful summers morning we set out early to go to Woodhouse Grange ground.When Ron Deaton had looked on the web-site he thought the Woodhouse and Dunnington match would start at 12.00 however this was not the case.I had passed this ground on numerous occasions but not seen cricket on the ground.When we arrived via Wheldrake ground , which had a village fete being set up so no cricket,The match was in progress.It had started at 11.00 a.m. as the home side were playing at Lords to-morrow against Reed.Tony Hutton has gone down to London to see the match and also see a match in a military ground in the middle of London.We understand that Dunnington would not rearrange the match to a Sunday as Woodhouse wanted to go down to London on Saturday.
There is a new pavilion with the field enclosed by hedges and is very flat but no view.Dunnington were batting with Collis King,the ex-West Indian test player, scored 40 but who was bowled with a yorker from a young local boy. This must have been a great thrill for him.All the very best for to-morrow at Lords.
Next ground was Pocklington were their seconds were playing Woodhouse Seconds which also started at 11.00. Two new changing rooms have been built and the orginal pavilion was opened by Sir William Worsley ex Yorkshire captain and President.There is a second ground next to the main were match was due to start at 1.30.Again another flat ground which is typical of East Yorkshire grounds.
When were leaving tea was being taken.
Yapham were playing Thorpe Arch @Boston Spa on the most picturesque ground of the tour.These two teams play in the York Vale League and the President of the league was also visiting Shane Hargrave the ground for the first time.Ron Deaton used to work with him over twenty years ago.
The club was established 102 years ago and the pavilion is a old air-force mission hut.There is a excellent views of the Wolds and the only noise was the farmers working in the fields. Please visit if you can.
Next ground was a famous nameMelbourne who were playing North Duffield.The pavilion was another multi- sport building.One batsman hit a six into the farmers field which had recently been cut so the fielder could easily find it.There was a notice in the hall saying that if the ball landed in the garden over the main road do not go into the garden as the owner had threaten legal action.If you purchase a house next to a cricket ground you must expect cricket balls landing in your garden so why complain buy a house elsewhere.
Driving back to York we next went to Bishopthorpe who were playing Acomb Seconds.Another large field with a football pitch adjacent to the cricket pitch.Another multi-sports hall as a tea-room where we had a cup of tea.One of the home team scored a century out of a total of 175. Well done.
Next ground we visited was York Railway Institute were York fifths should have been playing but there was no sign of a match.York were not entering this side next year as they feel they have not enough players.Another team vanished.
Moving on to Rufford in the Wetherby League were the seconds were playing Scarcroft seconds.The pitch is next to a small airport and another multi-sports pavilion.The home side won the match with twenty over spare chasing 96.
Last ground was Long Maston were the seconds were playing Kirk Hammerton seconds.Ron had visited this ground when it was full for a Old England match.To-day was just the three of us watching the home side struggle against nine men of Kirk Hammerton.You can understand why their is no spectators as the standard was poor.
This is the end of our summer trips with Ron which has covered numerous new grounds and meet many characters. Pity about the weather we could have visited many more but hopefully their is next season.
Friday 7 September 2012
Three into two won't go.
posted by John Winn
'Sky Sports 1 Tuesday 10;30 LIVE County Championship Cricket
The first of four days of play in a significant fixture as titles, promotion, and relegation are decided.'
The above extract from next week's Radio Times gives Sky the get out to cover the only remaining issue in this season's competition, namely which two out of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Kent will be promoted from Division Two for, as predicted in a posting earlier in the week all other issues are now settled . Warwickshire, of course clinched the title shortly after lunch yesterday and at the same time confirmed Worcestershire's relegation. About half past five this afternoon Lancashire's defeat at Lord's means they too will play second division cricket next season, just twelve months after the pennant was placed in their custody.
Yorkshire's comfortable victory yesterday left them as onlookers today and had Derbyshire been able to bat out the day at Canterbury then a 'good draw' at Chelmsford next week would probably have been sufficient to see them promoted. The loss of two Derbyshire wickets last night meant that their survival today was unlikely and although several batsmen offered deteremined resistance the dismissal of Turner just before five meant that the east midlanders will go into Tuesday's game with Hampshire with Yorkshire and Kent, their closest rivals, just one and six points behind respectively. After looking the most likely candidate for promotion at the beginning of the week the pessimism that never seems far below the surface at The County Ground may well resurface.
Despite the possibility of the game at Chelmsford being televised I suspect the outcome of the Kent Derbyshire match has increased the number of Yorkshire followers planning a trip to Essex next week. With two wins behind them Yorkshire can approach the game with a settled, confident side but it would be folly to think that Essex will be a pushover just because they have no prize to play for, just look what they did to Hampshire. What ever the position this time next week let's hope that the team that loses out can not blame the weather.
Finally just to tidy up, in the second eleven championship Kent pipped Leicester by one wicket at Grace Road chasing down 225 after being 119 for 7 at one time. Full details on the Leicester website.
'Sky Sports 1 Tuesday 10;30 LIVE County Championship Cricket
The first of four days of play in a significant fixture as titles, promotion, and relegation are decided.'
The above extract from next week's Radio Times gives Sky the get out to cover the only remaining issue in this season's competition, namely which two out of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Kent will be promoted from Division Two for, as predicted in a posting earlier in the week all other issues are now settled . Warwickshire, of course clinched the title shortly after lunch yesterday and at the same time confirmed Worcestershire's relegation. About half past five this afternoon Lancashire's defeat at Lord's means they too will play second division cricket next season, just twelve months after the pennant was placed in their custody.
Yorkshire's comfortable victory yesterday left them as onlookers today and had Derbyshire been able to bat out the day at Canterbury then a 'good draw' at Chelmsford next week would probably have been sufficient to see them promoted. The loss of two Derbyshire wickets last night meant that their survival today was unlikely and although several batsmen offered deteremined resistance the dismissal of Turner just before five meant that the east midlanders will go into Tuesday's game with Hampshire with Yorkshire and Kent, their closest rivals, just one and six points behind respectively. After looking the most likely candidate for promotion at the beginning of the week the pessimism that never seems far below the surface at The County Ground may well resurface.
Despite the possibility of the game at Chelmsford being televised I suspect the outcome of the Kent Derbyshire match has increased the number of Yorkshire followers planning a trip to Essex next week. With two wins behind them Yorkshire can approach the game with a settled, confident side but it would be folly to think that Essex will be a pushover just because they have no prize to play for, just look what they did to Hampshire. What ever the position this time next week let's hope that the team that loses out can not blame the weather.
Finally just to tidy up, in the second eleven championship Kent pipped Leicester by one wicket at Grace Road chasing down 225 after being 119 for 7 at one time. Full details on the Leicester website.
Wednesday 5 September 2012
Advantage Yorkshire
posted by John Winn
Followers of the blog will be well aware how much I enjoy championship cricket and a day like today is one for filing away in the memory bank to be brought out when the winter seems unending and the new season never gets any nearer. Of course it is enjoyable from time to time to see one's own team rack up a big score and beat the opposition out of sight but for me the real pleasure is when there is a reasonable balance between bat and ball and for two days that is what we have had at Headingley and with no worries about possible rain interruptions.
At quarter past five yesterday Glamorgan were all out and at exactly the same time today the tenth Yorkshire wicket fell but thanks largely to a to a ninth wicket stand of 54 between Sidebottom and Patterson ,Yorkshire had gained a lead of 68 and thanks to their slower over rate Glamorgan had 11 overs to face before the close, rather than the six Yorkshire faced yesterday evening. The other big difference is that in those eleven overs Patterson took two wickets to put Yorkshire very much on the front foot when play resumes tomorrow.
Such a summary of the day masks its ups and downs for Yorkshire did not start well losing Root and Jacques for modest scores. They recovered through Lyth and Gale with assistance from Ballance and McGrath then lost four for 25 before 'Siddy' and 'Patto' courageously took on the fiery Wagg and the new ball to gain a lead that had not seemed likely to be so large when Rafiq and McGrath were out in quick order after tea.
Patterson is having a splendid match for in addition to his runs today he took four wickets yesterday and was on a hat trick late this evening. He will no doubt be raring to go tomorrow morning.
Enjoyable as this match is it can not be taken in isolation for there are two other games being played the outcome of which may have a significant bearing on how the table stands at six o'clock on Friday evening. Last night I wrote how Hampshire had the upper hand with Essex but the balance has shifted back today with Hampshire's late order not getting the runs that might have been expected of them this morning and Essex finishing the day with a lead of 168 with only two down. Meanwhile Kent have probably had the better of the day against leaders Derbyshire but even here a dramatic last few overs saw three Kent wickets fall for one run and their overnight lead is 120 with seven second innings in hand. With the weather settled there seems little likelihood of a draw in either of these two games or at Headingley. Both days have seen excellent crowds at HQ and I would be very surprised if most of them do not come back for more tomorrow and with the pitch playing a mixed bag of tricks from time to time who can say there might not be more twists in the tale before stumps.
Followers of the blog will be well aware how much I enjoy championship cricket and a day like today is one for filing away in the memory bank to be brought out when the winter seems unending and the new season never gets any nearer. Of course it is enjoyable from time to time to see one's own team rack up a big score and beat the opposition out of sight but for me the real pleasure is when there is a reasonable balance between bat and ball and for two days that is what we have had at Headingley and with no worries about possible rain interruptions.
At quarter past five yesterday Glamorgan were all out and at exactly the same time today the tenth Yorkshire wicket fell but thanks largely to a to a ninth wicket stand of 54 between Sidebottom and Patterson ,Yorkshire had gained a lead of 68 and thanks to their slower over rate Glamorgan had 11 overs to face before the close, rather than the six Yorkshire faced yesterday evening. The other big difference is that in those eleven overs Patterson took two wickets to put Yorkshire very much on the front foot when play resumes tomorrow.
Such a summary of the day masks its ups and downs for Yorkshire did not start well losing Root and Jacques for modest scores. They recovered through Lyth and Gale with assistance from Ballance and McGrath then lost four for 25 before 'Siddy' and 'Patto' courageously took on the fiery Wagg and the new ball to gain a lead that had not seemed likely to be so large when Rafiq and McGrath were out in quick order after tea.
Patterson is having a splendid match for in addition to his runs today he took four wickets yesterday and was on a hat trick late this evening. He will no doubt be raring to go tomorrow morning.
Enjoyable as this match is it can not be taken in isolation for there are two other games being played the outcome of which may have a significant bearing on how the table stands at six o'clock on Friday evening. Last night I wrote how Hampshire had the upper hand with Essex but the balance has shifted back today with Hampshire's late order not getting the runs that might have been expected of them this morning and Essex finishing the day with a lead of 168 with only two down. Meanwhile Kent have probably had the better of the day against leaders Derbyshire but even here a dramatic last few overs saw three Kent wickets fall for one run and their overnight lead is 120 with seven second innings in hand. With the weather settled there seems little likelihood of a draw in either of these two games or at Headingley. Both days have seen excellent crowds at HQ and I would be very surprised if most of them do not come back for more tomorrow and with the pitch playing a mixed bag of tricks from time to time who can say there might not be more twists in the tale before stumps.
Tuesday 4 September 2012
Gale's decision just justified.
posted by John Winn
How nice to be able to journey to Headingley with full confidence that we would have a warm sunny day and much of the same for the rest of the week on a day when there were 8 championship matches starting, all at the same time and that by the end of the week the only outstanding issue might be who accompanies Derbyshire into Division 1.
Yorkshire welcomed a weakened and relatively inexperienced Glamorgan side to Headingley in the knowledge that a victory would leave promotion in their own hands when they travel to Chelmsford for the final game next week. A good crowd had assembled for the 10:30 start, although it may be that September's earlier timing had caught one or two out, but with high pressure in charge there was surprise that Gale had asked Glamorgan to bat. Given that no championship game at Headingley this season has wielded anything but a draw it did not seem unreasonable to me that the skipper's thinking was that if there was anything in the pitch for the bowlers it might be found today rather than on Friday. When Glamorgan were 103 without loss at lunch and at least two catches having gone down, I gradually distanced myself from this theory but returned to it when wickets began to fall in the afternoon.
The East Stand 'think thank' had had no doubt that the decision to field was the wrong one but at 156 for 3 I asked what was the maximum Glamorgan score that would justify Gale's decision to field. 250 was the consensus and at 236 for 8 this looked pretty good but the last two wickets dragged it up to 272 and left Root and Lyth an awkward six overs to the close but they reduced the deficit by twenty and will take guard again at 10:30 tomorrow.
Looking at the close of play scores in the other games the need for Yorkshire to win this game is readily apparent for Hampshire are well on top against Essex while the Kent Derbyshire game is evenly balanced. Gale's men won't need advice from me or anybody else as to the importance of tomorrow's cricket.
Just in case you are interested, in the Second XI Championship final at Grace Road at the end of the first day Leicester II were all out for 360 and Kent II 0 for 0 in reply. If you wish to follow the remaining three days there is good coverage on The Foxes' website.
How nice to be able to journey to Headingley with full confidence that we would have a warm sunny day and much of the same for the rest of the week on a day when there were 8 championship matches starting, all at the same time and that by the end of the week the only outstanding issue might be who accompanies Derbyshire into Division 1.
Yorkshire welcomed a weakened and relatively inexperienced Glamorgan side to Headingley in the knowledge that a victory would leave promotion in their own hands when they travel to Chelmsford for the final game next week. A good crowd had assembled for the 10:30 start, although it may be that September's earlier timing had caught one or two out, but with high pressure in charge there was surprise that Gale had asked Glamorgan to bat. Given that no championship game at Headingley this season has wielded anything but a draw it did not seem unreasonable to me that the skipper's thinking was that if there was anything in the pitch for the bowlers it might be found today rather than on Friday. When Glamorgan were 103 without loss at lunch and at least two catches having gone down, I gradually distanced myself from this theory but returned to it when wickets began to fall in the afternoon.
The East Stand 'think thank' had had no doubt that the decision to field was the wrong one but at 156 for 3 I asked what was the maximum Glamorgan score that would justify Gale's decision to field. 250 was the consensus and at 236 for 8 this looked pretty good but the last two wickets dragged it up to 272 and left Root and Lyth an awkward six overs to the close but they reduced the deficit by twenty and will take guard again at 10:30 tomorrow.
Looking at the close of play scores in the other games the need for Yorkshire to win this game is readily apparent for Hampshire are well on top against Essex while the Kent Derbyshire game is evenly balanced. Gale's men won't need advice from me or anybody else as to the importance of tomorrow's cricket.
Just in case you are interested, in the Second XI Championship final at Grace Road at the end of the first day Leicester II were all out for 360 and Kent II 0 for 0 in reply. If you wish to follow the remaining three days there is good coverage on The Foxes' website.
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