Rain wins again

posted by John Winn

Home this morning from a few days in the lovely Welland valley in south Leicestershire and again feeling  frustrated by yet more rain.
On Tuesday I went to Clifton Park, York to see York CC take on South Northumberland from the North East Premier League in the national KO cup, a match which was originally scheduled for Sunday but rain had forced its postponement. York batted first and after a brisk start lost wickets steadily especially when trying to force the pace and several batsmen fell to good catches in the deep. The innings was held together by opener Duncan Snell who was ninth out for 70 and the innings closed on 163 in the 44th over. Only two other batsmen reached double figures.
'South North' got their reply off to a flying start but York introduced spin as early as the third over and left  armer and skipper Woods' soon got the breakthrough when Heather was smartly caught at slip by Snell. Assisted by Pringle, Woods put a brake on the scoring and as in the York innings wickets fell frequently and the visitors were all out in the 37th over still 57 short of their target.
York will now play another team from the North East League, Blaydon who got to this stage when Harrogate conceded the tie which was due to have been played last Sunday. Blaydon currently lying second to Sunderland in their league, will visit Clifton Park on Sunday 17th of June, for what should be an interesting group 1 final.
In group 2 Hanging Heaton have progressed to the group final stage, having beaten Whitley Hall in the semi,also on Tuesday. Their group final will be against Nottinghamshire club Cuckney but I can find no date for this tie as yet. The scheduled date for this stage is the 17th but Hanging Heaton are in Priestley Cup action that day.
My wife and I travelled down to Leicestershire on Wednesday and the play cricket web site showed a Market Harborough & District Mid-Week league fixture between Nevill Holt ( a team not a very talented all rounder) and local rivals Medbourne, two clubs just one and a half miles apart. Alas a heavy shower at 5:30 put paid to the fixture but I did make the short trip to Nevill Holt and enjoyed conversation with two men who were just fencing off the square. Put Nevill Holt into a search engine and it will tell you that it is a hamlet ( population 28)and you will also find information about Nevill Holt Hall in the grounds of which this lovely cricket field is situated and from where there are stunning views over the Welland valley. The hall, a former prep school, has latterly been the home of David Ross, a co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, but previously belonged to The Cunard family.
Nevill Holt CC play only friendlies at the weekends when their opponents include clubs like Uppingham CC, Oxford Postmodernists CC,and Old Wyvernians. Other teams use the ground on spare dates and the excellent fixture card I was given showed intriguing contests such as Gogs v ex Tempore and Gogs v Leicester Gents.Gogs is I believe short for Pedagogues. Gogs Townies v Gogs County sounds most interesting.(June 30th if you are in the area.)
Medbourne an altogether bigger club than Nevill Holt, run three senior sides and five junior teams. Their senior teams operate in the Rutland League and the Northamptonshire league but not the Leicestershire league, I'm sure there is a good reason for this but would need to visit the area again to seek an explanation.
Arriving home at lunchtime today I went to see Ouseburn II take on Rainton in a Nidderdale League Div 3 contest. Ouseburn were batting with skipper Mark Kinghorn leading the way with some stout blows but black clouds hovering over the River Ure gradually encircled the ground accompanied by thunder and lightning and with the score at 70 for 5 and Kinghorn 50 not out the players were driven from the field by torrential rain and the square was rapidly flooded, the steps leading down to the changing rooms became a cascade and in a few minutes it became obvious that cricket at Ouseburn was over for the day and tomorrow and who knows after that?
Driving the mile and half home I passed very gingerly through two floods and can't help wondering if such storms have been widespread how much cricket there is likely to be in Yorkshire tomorrow.
While sheltering from the deluge at Ouseburn I enjoyed a cup of tea and a chat with the head of the junior section Caroline Lever about the problems of catering for the 89 registered youngsters in her care, especially in such a cold and wet summer. Despite the difficulties she described it is heartening to find that so many under nines to under seventeens enjoy the game and I will be sure to support the club coffee morning next Saturday, even the weather can't spoil that!