posted by John Winn
After a washout yesterday pretty well everywhere, the east side of the country seems to be in for another very wet day and I have already shelved plans to travel to Scarborough. As I write (9:00) the rain continues to pour down and I checked back to see what I might have done in past years on August 30th. Going back to 2005 I was at The Riverside for the first day of a second division championship game between Durham and Derbyshire, the last time these two teams met in this competition. Perhaps 2013 will revive the fixture?
Durham won the toss but were bowled out for 230 with no batsman reaching 50. Ian Hunter, released by Durham two years earlier, caused the home batsmen most trouble taking 5 for 63. By the end of a not very inspiring day's cricket Derbyshire had reached 36 for 2 with Plunkett bowling Di Venuto for 5 and Stubbings falling to Killeen for 11. Durham came into this match on the back of only one win in six championship matches but good early season form under the leadership of Mike Hussey was sufficient to get them promotion in second place behind Lancashire.
For Derbyshire it had been a dismal season with no championship victory coming until the last match at Taunton when they scored over 700 for the first time in their history but by which time bottom position had already been confirmed. On the second day Derbyshire established a lead of 96 with good scores from Bassano and Moss and Durham lost three wickets before Collingwood and Benkenstein both scored centuries. Collingwood, captain in the absence of Hussey, set a generous declaration, a target Derbyshire failed to reach by only three runs leaving the game drawn..Stubbings top scored with 101. Plunkett was the pick of the Durham bowlers and it has been a while since we could say that.
Although this match was played only seven years ago just four Durham players remain regulars in four day cricket today, Collingwood, Benkenstein Mustard and Thorpe. Perhaps not surprisingly for Derbyshire change has been even more radical for none of those who played at The Riverside in 2005 are involved in their current match with Essex. Di Venuto of course swapped caps and became a hero at Chester le Street before retiring in July of this year. None of the other Derbyshire players are still involved in the first class game in a playing capacity.
Should Durham retain their first division place at the end of this season then there is a very good chance that the fixture will be renewed next year. The loss of time at Liverpool has aided Durham's cause and increased Lancashire's peril. The news from Aigburth this morning is that there has been some overnight rain and there will be an inspection at 10:00am.Our Manchester correspondent ( a mate of mine who happens to be working there) says there is 'sunshine and blue skies', so perhaps there will be some play later.
Derbyshire meanwhile are not in a good position at Derby but they have the points on the board and their promotion rivals have been similarly frustrated by rain, none less so than Yorkshire at Scarborough. If you feel there is more chance of action in the east midlands then there are special offers available at the County Ground: kids go free and it is two for one for adults for the remaining two days.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Catch up
posted by John Winn
The Second XI trophy final will be between Durham and Lancashire.
In Tuesday's semi finals Durham beat Sussex by five wickets (Sussex 122 all out: Durham 125 for 5) and Lancashire beat Middlesex by 14 runs (Lancashire 206 for 7: Middlesex 192 all out)
The final will be on Tuesday September 11th at a Northern CC, Crosby which is a good venue, not too far out of Liverpool by bus. . What a pity there is a full programme of championship action that day with both Lancashire and Durham involved in matches that will determine whether they play first division cricket next season.
In the Minor Counties KO final at Wormsley yesterday after a delayed start Wiltshire reached 141 for 8 off 36 overs and play will continue today with Cumberland in a strong position. More overs were bowled here than in all the 8 championship matches yesterday, 36 overs seems positively extravagant!
Result here tomorrow ( courtesy of twitter)
The Second XI trophy final will be between Durham and Lancashire.
In Tuesday's semi finals Durham beat Sussex by five wickets (Sussex 122 all out: Durham 125 for 5) and Lancashire beat Middlesex by 14 runs (Lancashire 206 for 7: Middlesex 192 all out)
The final will be on Tuesday September 11th at a Northern CC, Crosby which is a good venue, not too far out of Liverpool by bus. . What a pity there is a full programme of championship action that day with both Lancashire and Durham involved in matches that will determine whether they play first division cricket next season.
In the Minor Counties KO final at Wormsley yesterday after a delayed start Wiltshire reached 141 for 8 off 36 overs and play will continue today with Cumberland in a strong position. More overs were bowled here than in all the 8 championship matches yesterday, 36 overs seems positively extravagant!
Result here tomorrow ( courtesy of twitter)
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
GOOD DAY AT SCARBOROUGH
By Brian Sanderson,
The forecast was sunny so it is always good to go to Scarborough.Earlier in the season on the visit to the resort winter clothing was reqiuired but to to-day sun cream.
Yorkshire were playing Gloucestershire in a four day Championship match.Before the match started Gary Ballance and Joe Root were given their county caps which must have been thrilling for Joe Grandfather who was at the match.Geoffrey Boycott was at the match and I saw him talking to Ted Lester who played his first Yorkshire match in 1945 on this ground.
Gloucestershire batted first and soon were in trouble at 9 for 4 with Patterson and Ashraf bowling well.Sidebottom did not play to-day and would have been very useful in these conditions.Ian Cockburn, whose father played for Lancashire until 1983,helped with William Gidman to establish a reasonable score.Gidman scored 47 but the highest scorer was Jack Taylor who scored 49 in 45 balls.Anthony Ireland from Zimbabwe helped to put on 36 for the last wicket partnership to bring the score to 215.
Patterson, Ashraf and Rafiq all took three wicets a piece but the feeling was that Yorkshire should have bowled them out cheaper but if you were given 215 as a Glous total you would have taken it at the begining of play.
When Yorkshire started batting Lyth was out on his second ball for a duck.Yorkshire gave three easy catches but they were dropped so saving them being four wickets down.At the end of the day the total was 61 for 2.Forecast for to-morrow is rain so Yorkshire could lose some more overs which for the season is over 2000 due to the weather.
I enjoyed the day in the sunshine and talking to friends from London who come up to Scarborough every year. This will be my only trip to Scarborough this year so Good Luck Yorkshire.
The forecast was sunny so it is always good to go to Scarborough.Earlier in the season on the visit to the resort winter clothing was reqiuired but to to-day sun cream.
Yorkshire were playing Gloucestershire in a four day Championship match.Before the match started Gary Ballance and Joe Root were given their county caps which must have been thrilling for Joe Grandfather who was at the match.Geoffrey Boycott was at the match and I saw him talking to Ted Lester who played his first Yorkshire match in 1945 on this ground.
Gloucestershire batted first and soon were in trouble at 9 for 4 with Patterson and Ashraf bowling well.Sidebottom did not play to-day and would have been very useful in these conditions.Ian Cockburn, whose father played for Lancashire until 1983,helped with William Gidman to establish a reasonable score.Gidman scored 47 but the highest scorer was Jack Taylor who scored 49 in 45 balls.Anthony Ireland from Zimbabwe helped to put on 36 for the last wicket partnership to bring the score to 215.
Patterson, Ashraf and Rafiq all took three wicets a piece but the feeling was that Yorkshire should have bowled them out cheaper but if you were given 215 as a Glous total you would have taken it at the begining of play.
When Yorkshire started batting Lyth was out on his second ball for a duck.Yorkshire gave three easy catches but they were dropped so saving them being four wickets down.At the end of the day the total was 61 for 2.Forecast for to-morrow is rain so Yorkshire could lose some more overs which for the season is over 2000 due to the weather.
I enjoyed the day in the sunshine and talking to friends from London who come up to Scarborough every year. This will be my only trip to Scarborough this year so Good Luck Yorkshire.
Monday, 27 August 2012
Crunch Time
posted by John Winn
Some key games coming up just below First Class in the next couple of weeks
Tuesday 28th August SET Semi Finals
Durham v Sussex at The Riverside 10:30 start
Middlesex v Lancs Radlett 10:30 start
Wednesday 29th August MCCA KO Final
Cumberland v Wiltshire at Wormsley
Tuesday 4th Sept to 7th SEC Final
Leicester v Kent at Grace Road
Sunday 9th September to 12th MCCA Playoff
Cornwall (West Div Winners) v Buckinghamshire (East Div Winners)
at Truro ( not very handy for neutrals but it is the west's turn to host.)
Some key games coming up just below First Class in the next couple of weeks
Tuesday 28th August SET Semi Finals
Durham v Sussex at The Riverside 10:30 start
Middlesex v Lancs Radlett 10:30 start
Wednesday 29th August MCCA KO Final
Cumberland v Wiltshire at Wormsley
Tuesday 4th Sept to 7th SEC Final
Leicester v Kent at Grace Road
Sunday 9th September to 12th MCCA Playoff
Cornwall (West Div Winners) v Buckinghamshire (East Div Winners)
at Truro ( not very handy for neutrals but it is the west's turn to host.)
SEPTEMBER FIXTURES
By Brian Sanderson,
This is the last time this season that the fixture list will be posted on the blog and it is raining.
These are fixtures from Brian Cobbs Diary
SEPTEMBER 2 Heavy Woollen Final Wrenthorpe v Townville Liversedge
Goldsborough v Romany
Slingsby v Spout Houses Womberton 11.00 A.M
SEPTEMBER 3 Derby Seconds v Lancashire Derby
SEPTEMBER 8 York v Harrogate
SEPTEMBER 9 Faversham Final Spout Houses 11.00
Settle v Romany
Woodhouse Grange v Reed Lords 1.00
Final Lancashire League matches.
10 Grey Fox Final Headingley
15 Final League matches
16 Countess of Feversham cup final
Final matches North Yorkshire and South Durham Third teams
E.C.B FINAL YORK V Derby
22 Start of the Arthington Festival 4 weeends Saturday,s and Sunday,s
23 Arthington v Romany
Long range weather forecast for September is more sunshine. We wiil see and hope we can see some good cricket.
This is the last time this season that the fixture list will be posted on the blog and it is raining.
These are fixtures from Brian Cobbs Diary
SEPTEMBER 2 Heavy Woollen Final Wrenthorpe v Townville Liversedge
Goldsborough v Romany
Slingsby v Spout Houses Womberton 11.00 A.M
SEPTEMBER 3 Derby Seconds v Lancashire Derby
SEPTEMBER 8 York v Harrogate
SEPTEMBER 9 Faversham Final Spout Houses 11.00
Settle v Romany
Woodhouse Grange v Reed Lords 1.00
Final Lancashire League matches.
10 Grey Fox Final Headingley
15 Final League matches
16 Countess of Feversham cup final
Final matches North Yorkshire and South Durham Third teams
E.C.B FINAL YORK V Derby
22 Start of the Arthington Festival 4 weeends Saturday,s and Sunday,s
23 Arthington v Romany
Long range weather forecast for September is more sunshine. We wiil see and hope we can see some good cricket.
York get through
posted by John Winn
In yesterday's posting Brian described how rain intervened early in the second innings of the National KO semi final between hosts York and Bamford Fieldhouse. Tony Hutton and I took shelter upstairs in the clubhouse and for a while it seemed very unlikely that there would be any more play and those we questioned could not say what would happen if no result were possible on the day.. Phone calls to our wives revealed that in Tony's case there had been rain in Leeds but it had now passed and in my case that there had been no rain just twelve miles west of Clifton Park.
After about an hour the rain stopped and almost immediately the sun shone brightly and warmly which assisted the drying process. The York players, with three of the Lancastrians back in the shed including the big scalp (and dyed it was pointed out by a York spectator) of former England man Chris Schofield who had been given out leg before (biter bit*), were very anxious that play should resume and they were busily involved in the removal of covers and drying the outfield. Play resumed shortly after six with Duckworth Lewis in operation and Bamford needing a trifle over five an over.
There followed the only substantial partnership of the innings between Hegg (who did not keep wicket) and Stevens who added 45 for the fourth wicket but the introduction of the spin of York skipper Woods broke this stand immediately and from this point it seemed only a matter of time before York claimed victory. Hegg played a patient innings but hit only one four and his 27 came off 65 balls: a rate of progress never likely to see his side reach the final. He was eighth out at 97 and a few blows from number nine Baker brought the total to 120 when at 7:40 Woods took his sixth wicket to send York through to the final at Derby in three weeks time where they will meet Essex side Wanstead and Snaresbrook who beat Havant yesterday.
Devon Malcolm was on the ground to select the man of the match but I did not stop to see who was chosen. My choice would have been Woods.His figures speak for themselves, 5.5 overs, 1 maiden ,6 for 14, he scored 17 useful runs and marshalled his fielders and bowlers splendidly. Tony and I were pleased that we had stayed to see a local side gain such a convincing victory.
* Three of his victims were LBW
In yesterday's posting Brian described how rain intervened early in the second innings of the National KO semi final between hosts York and Bamford Fieldhouse. Tony Hutton and I took shelter upstairs in the clubhouse and for a while it seemed very unlikely that there would be any more play and those we questioned could not say what would happen if no result were possible on the day.. Phone calls to our wives revealed that in Tony's case there had been rain in Leeds but it had now passed and in my case that there had been no rain just twelve miles west of Clifton Park.
After about an hour the rain stopped and almost immediately the sun shone brightly and warmly which assisted the drying process. The York players, with three of the Lancastrians back in the shed including the big scalp (and dyed it was pointed out by a York spectator) of former England man Chris Schofield who had been given out leg before (biter bit*), were very anxious that play should resume and they were busily involved in the removal of covers and drying the outfield. Play resumed shortly after six with Duckworth Lewis in operation and Bamford needing a trifle over five an over.
There followed the only substantial partnership of the innings between Hegg (who did not keep wicket) and Stevens who added 45 for the fourth wicket but the introduction of the spin of York skipper Woods broke this stand immediately and from this point it seemed only a matter of time before York claimed victory. Hegg played a patient innings but hit only one four and his 27 came off 65 balls: a rate of progress never likely to see his side reach the final. He was eighth out at 97 and a few blows from number nine Baker brought the total to 120 when at 7:40 Woods took his sixth wicket to send York through to the final at Derby in three weeks time where they will meet Essex side Wanstead and Snaresbrook who beat Havant yesterday.
Devon Malcolm was on the ground to select the man of the match but I did not stop to see who was chosen. My choice would have been Woods.His figures speak for themselves, 5.5 overs, 1 maiden ,6 for 14, he scored 17 useful runs and marshalled his fielders and bowlers splendidly. Tony and I were pleased that we had stayed to see a local side gain such a convincing victory.
* Three of his victims were LBW
Sunday, 26 August 2012
WHERE ARE THEY NOW ?
By Brian Sanderson,
I was one of the people who were missing on the Saturday cricket circuit as I was at Wembley following Leeds Loiners not Rhinos.A early start with Ron Deaton to Slingsby in North Yorkshire.The match was the semi-final of the Faversham League were there are only five teams.
The Slingsby ground is off the Main Street opposite the All Saints Church which has recently been repaired. Overloo the ground is Slingsby Castle which is actually a Jacobean mansion or manor house which was built between 1630-40 for Sir Charles Cavendish who never lived in the propery because he fled abroad in 1644 during the Civil War.
The two teams were Gillamoor and Duncombe Park in a twenty over match which started about 11.15. Gilling who were fielding and started out with seven people and three more arrived after two overs. Two of the players had been in bed when their lift arrived. Another arrived after five overs been bowled,he had a good Saturday in York. One of Gillamoor side bowling was Nick Thornicroft who played for Yorkshire,Essex and England under 19,s and had to leave cricket due to a bad back.
He was wearing his England cap just like Horace Fisher use to wear his Yorkshire cap even though they had left the side.He picked up a few wickets and Duncambe Park reach 80 in the 20th over with a 72 year old player not out.
Gillamoor batted next a number of balls landed in the ajoining tennis court.One bowler was twelve years old and bowled very well.However Gilling won in the thirteenth over but everybody seem to enjoy the match and barbecue.Village cricket at its best.
The next match was York against Bamford Fieldhousein the E.C.B.National Club Championship 2012 Semi-Final.Bamford are in the Saddlewoth @ District League Champions and include the following players Chris Schofield and Warren Hegg who have both represented England at Test Match level together with Grant Hodnett who played for Gloucestershire.York batted first and scored 196 for 8 in the forty-five over match.Top scorers were Mc Kendry who scored 33 and Hairs who scored 56.The nineth wicket partnership between Pring;le and Woods but on 26.Schofield took five wickets for twenty-two with three L.B.W.
At tea-time we wandered over to the Clifton Alliance ground were their third side was playing Burn who play near Selby.They were soon taking tea and we were invited in for a cup of tea and sandwiches.Orginally the team were called Alliance and played on the York Knaremare were Ovington play now.We visited that ground earlier in the season.The present ground used to be used by the Mental hospital staff who played friendly fixtures.I sat next to a man who played in one of this matches in the 1960.s.
Walking over to the main match York had taken three wickets for 29 when heavy rain started to fall There had been eight overs bowled and it did not look as the match would be not be completed.When I arrived home looking on total cricket scorer web-site the match had restarted.Look out for the result.
Good day again ruined by rain typical of this summer.
I was one of the people who were missing on the Saturday cricket circuit as I was at Wembley following Leeds Loiners not Rhinos.A early start with Ron Deaton to Slingsby in North Yorkshire.The match was the semi-final of the Faversham League were there are only five teams.
The Slingsby ground is off the Main Street opposite the All Saints Church which has recently been repaired. Overloo the ground is Slingsby Castle which is actually a Jacobean mansion or manor house which was built between 1630-40 for Sir Charles Cavendish who never lived in the propery because he fled abroad in 1644 during the Civil War.
The two teams were Gillamoor and Duncombe Park in a twenty over match which started about 11.15. Gilling who were fielding and started out with seven people and three more arrived after two overs. Two of the players had been in bed when their lift arrived. Another arrived after five overs been bowled,he had a good Saturday in York. One of Gillamoor side bowling was Nick Thornicroft who played for Yorkshire,Essex and England under 19,s and had to leave cricket due to a bad back.
He was wearing his England cap just like Horace Fisher use to wear his Yorkshire cap even though they had left the side.He picked up a few wickets and Duncambe Park reach 80 in the 20th over with a 72 year old player not out.
Gillamoor batted next a number of balls landed in the ajoining tennis court.One bowler was twelve years old and bowled very well.However Gilling won in the thirteenth over but everybody seem to enjoy the match and barbecue.Village cricket at its best.
The next match was York against Bamford Fieldhousein the E.C.B.National Club Championship 2012 Semi-Final.Bamford are in the Saddlewoth @ District League Champions and include the following players Chris Schofield and Warren Hegg who have both represented England at Test Match level together with Grant Hodnett who played for Gloucestershire.York batted first and scored 196 for 8 in the forty-five over match.Top scorers were Mc Kendry who scored 33 and Hairs who scored 56.The nineth wicket partnership between Pring;le and Woods but on 26.Schofield took five wickets for twenty-two with three L.B.W.
At tea-time we wandered over to the Clifton Alliance ground were their third side was playing Burn who play near Selby.They were soon taking tea and we were invited in for a cup of tea and sandwiches.Orginally the team were called Alliance and played on the York Knaremare were Ovington play now.We visited that ground earlier in the season.The present ground used to be used by the Mental hospital staff who played friendly fixtures.I sat next to a man who played in one of this matches in the 1960.s.
Walking over to the main match York had taken three wickets for 29 when heavy rain started to fall There had been eight overs bowled and it did not look as the match would be not be completed.When I arrived home looking on total cricket scorer web-site the match had restarted.Look out for the result.
Good day again ruined by rain typical of this summer.
Worrying trends
posted by John Winn
With twitter bringing news of a number of postponements yesterday morning, clearing skies in the Lower Ure Valley saw me off to Ouseburn CC for their home game with Burton Leonard, two teams close to the relegation positions in Division One of the Nidderdale League.
Arriving with about ten overs gone I found the visitors batting and finding it hard going against the Ousebuen pace attack on a wicket that showed flashes of temper with the occasional ball lifting off a length. The run rate was little above two an over and with wickets falling at regular intervals Ouseburn got themselves into a strong position but a former player, John Moorhouse, shortened to 'Moose' on his shirt, rescued Burton Leonard with 105, taking full advantage of a short boundary on the pavilion side. The last 45 minutes or so of the innings was played in steady rain which sent the small band of spectators into the club house and where, amongst the farming community that regularly support the club, the talk was of barley yields and potato blight in this wretched summer., as well as cricket.
The final score after 45 overs was 186 for 7, which the chat over cups of tea seemed to feel would be too many for Ouseburn and certainly more than Burton Leonard should have been allowed to make. Pessimism was confounded however, for the runs were knocked off for the loss of only two wickets with Sam Parker making 65, and an unbeaten stand between skipper Chris Morrison and Jamie Bryant bringing home the bacon, or in an essentially arable farming area, should that be barley?
During the course of the match we were joined by two Whixley players whose match had been cancelled, not because of rain but because their opponents, Kippax had withdrawn from the league after forfeiting their previous two matches in Division Two of The Wetherby League. Kippax had begun the season with two teams in the league but after scoring 364 for 8 on the 7th of July, their second eleven forfeited the following week and were mentioned no more on the website, their record presumably having been expunged. There is no direct reference to Kippax's demise on the website but yesterday's cancellation seems to confirm rumours of their resignation which had reached me earlier in the week from a friend involved with Whixley CC. Sad news indeed but there were at least two other forfeitures in The Wetherby League yesterday and at least three in The Nidderdale.
As we draw towards the close of this season far more matches fall to the weather than to clubs being unable to raise teams but talking to club officials one can see how the two are connected with players getting fed up of committing their Saturdays to cricket and then finding there is no play or the match is curtailed by a downpour. Ouseburn III for example travelled to Arthington yesterday, a journey of about twenty miles with a team containing three juniors, only for the match to be abandoned after one over.
At this time of the yea,r holidays and the start of football make the job of selection committees just that bit more difficult and yesterday there were no doubt players from the Yorkshire leagues who had followed The Rhinos to Wembley or Yorkshire CC to Cardiff. Let's hope that for the three or four Saturdays of league cricket that are left the sun shines and that this to some extent at least helps cricketers forget how many weeks they have spent watching it rain so that when the 2013 season comes round there will be a sense of anticipation rather than a feeling of it not being worth bothering.
All is not gloom of course and for many clubs there is much to play for and some already have good reason to be cheerful. Following yesterday's results in The Nidderdale League Little Ribston II are champions of Div 9 and in Division 2 Masham are twenty points clear of Bolton Abbey and can't be caught and thus are champions and will return to Div 1 after a one year sabbatical. Well done to them.
With twitter bringing news of a number of postponements yesterday morning, clearing skies in the Lower Ure Valley saw me off to Ouseburn CC for their home game with Burton Leonard, two teams close to the relegation positions in Division One of the Nidderdale League.
Arriving with about ten overs gone I found the visitors batting and finding it hard going against the Ousebuen pace attack on a wicket that showed flashes of temper with the occasional ball lifting off a length. The run rate was little above two an over and with wickets falling at regular intervals Ouseburn got themselves into a strong position but a former player, John Moorhouse, shortened to 'Moose' on his shirt, rescued Burton Leonard with 105, taking full advantage of a short boundary on the pavilion side. The last 45 minutes or so of the innings was played in steady rain which sent the small band of spectators into the club house and where, amongst the farming community that regularly support the club, the talk was of barley yields and potato blight in this wretched summer., as well as cricket.
The final score after 45 overs was 186 for 7, which the chat over cups of tea seemed to feel would be too many for Ouseburn and certainly more than Burton Leonard should have been allowed to make. Pessimism was confounded however, for the runs were knocked off for the loss of only two wickets with Sam Parker making 65, and an unbeaten stand between skipper Chris Morrison and Jamie Bryant bringing home the bacon, or in an essentially arable farming area, should that be barley?
During the course of the match we were joined by two Whixley players whose match had been cancelled, not because of rain but because their opponents, Kippax had withdrawn from the league after forfeiting their previous two matches in Division Two of The Wetherby League. Kippax had begun the season with two teams in the league but after scoring 364 for 8 on the 7th of July, their second eleven forfeited the following week and were mentioned no more on the website, their record presumably having been expunged. There is no direct reference to Kippax's demise on the website but yesterday's cancellation seems to confirm rumours of their resignation which had reached me earlier in the week from a friend involved with Whixley CC. Sad news indeed but there were at least two other forfeitures in The Wetherby League yesterday and at least three in The Nidderdale.
As we draw towards the close of this season far more matches fall to the weather than to clubs being unable to raise teams but talking to club officials one can see how the two are connected with players getting fed up of committing their Saturdays to cricket and then finding there is no play or the match is curtailed by a downpour. Ouseburn III for example travelled to Arthington yesterday, a journey of about twenty miles with a team containing three juniors, only for the match to be abandoned after one over.
At this time of the yea,r holidays and the start of football make the job of selection committees just that bit more difficult and yesterday there were no doubt players from the Yorkshire leagues who had followed The Rhinos to Wembley or Yorkshire CC to Cardiff. Let's hope that for the three or four Saturdays of league cricket that are left the sun shines and that this to some extent at least helps cricketers forget how many weeks they have spent watching it rain so that when the 2013 season comes round there will be a sense of anticipation rather than a feeling of it not being worth bothering.
All is not gloom of course and for many clubs there is much to play for and some already have good reason to be cheerful. Following yesterday's results in The Nidderdale League Little Ribston II are champions of Div 9 and in Division 2 Masham are twenty points clear of Bolton Abbey and can't be caught and thus are champions and will return to Div 1 after a one year sabbatical. Well done to them.
Friday, 24 August 2012
on this day
posted by John Winn
Circumstances prevented me getting to The Riverside yesterday but texts from one of my oldest friends, Alan Pinkney kept me abreast of another exciting finish and Durham's eventual victory, their fourth in as many games in the championship, a remarkable revival by any standard which has come about under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood. Both Collingwood and Mustard, the man he replaced have gone on record saying that they do not attribute Durham's climb up the table to the change in captaincy. How do you spell phooey? The hand of Collingwood is clearly evident in the team selections with the emphasis on control in the bowlers, hence no Harmison, and the dropping of Blackwell laying down a marker for what is expected of the players in terms of fitness.
Heavy rain early this morning convinced me that today was also best spent at home and I gave some time this afternoon to sorting out various things relating to cricket watching and whilst doing this I thought it might be of interest to readers if I referred to matches I have seen 'on this day' in the past.
So to start I refer back twenty three years to Thursday August 24th 1989 when I attended my first game at Queen's Park ,Chesterfield and a remarkable day's cricket from a championship match between Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
I was living in Sussex at the time and had spent the previous night staying at my brother's at nearby Dronfield. The championship at the time consisted of a mixture of three and four day matches and this fell into the latter category. Given that twenty one wickets fell on the first day only the loss of all of the second day and most of the third meant that the fourth day was needed. Derbyshire won the toss and put Yorkshire in and bowled them out for 136 only to be bowled out in turn for 102. Leading wicket takers were Simon Base for Derbyshire and Paul Jarvis for Yorkshire.By close of play Yorkshire's second innings stood at 39 for 1 with Moxon and Blakey at the crease and the many supporters who had made the short trip must have felt after such an eventful day that Yorkshire held the advantage.
When play resumed after lunch on Saturday Yorkshire fared only a little better however, and with David Byas top scorer (40) they managed 184 all out setting Derbyshire 219 to win, which they did for the loss of 7 wickets (Arnie Sidebottom 5 for 92) Skipper Kim Barnett top scored with 74. This was Derbyshire's first home win over Yorkshire for 32 years. Other names of interest from the scorecard include West Indian fast bowler and TV commentator Ian Bishop, Chris Adams, and John Morris from the Derbyshire eleven. Yorkshire were captained by Phil Carrick and might feel they were unlucky when Kevin Sharp had to retire hurt in the second innings.
Man of the match was undoubtedly Simon Base with figures of 12 for 153. At the end of the season Derbyshire finished 6th= in the championship, only one division then of course, and Yorkshire were only held up by Glamorgan. Another winter of discontent followed.
Also on the 24th of August that year Australia rattled up 325 for 3 as England hunted leather in the wide open spaces of The Oval: runs for Taylor, Boon, Border and Jones. England's pace attack: Igglesden, Small, Pringle and Capel, probably not our finest.
That was the last county cricket I saw that season. Only 3 days earlier I had been at Hastings for the last first class match at the wonderful Central Ground with Sussex taking on Middlesex. I was there on the second day when a Mike Gatting century rescued the visitors.
Circumstances prevented me getting to The Riverside yesterday but texts from one of my oldest friends, Alan Pinkney kept me abreast of another exciting finish and Durham's eventual victory, their fourth in as many games in the championship, a remarkable revival by any standard which has come about under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood. Both Collingwood and Mustard, the man he replaced have gone on record saying that they do not attribute Durham's climb up the table to the change in captaincy. How do you spell phooey? The hand of Collingwood is clearly evident in the team selections with the emphasis on control in the bowlers, hence no Harmison, and the dropping of Blackwell laying down a marker for what is expected of the players in terms of fitness.
Heavy rain early this morning convinced me that today was also best spent at home and I gave some time this afternoon to sorting out various things relating to cricket watching and whilst doing this I thought it might be of interest to readers if I referred to matches I have seen 'on this day' in the past.
So to start I refer back twenty three years to Thursday August 24th 1989 when I attended my first game at Queen's Park ,Chesterfield and a remarkable day's cricket from a championship match between Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
I was living in Sussex at the time and had spent the previous night staying at my brother's at nearby Dronfield. The championship at the time consisted of a mixture of three and four day matches and this fell into the latter category. Given that twenty one wickets fell on the first day only the loss of all of the second day and most of the third meant that the fourth day was needed. Derbyshire won the toss and put Yorkshire in and bowled them out for 136 only to be bowled out in turn for 102. Leading wicket takers were Simon Base for Derbyshire and Paul Jarvis for Yorkshire.By close of play Yorkshire's second innings stood at 39 for 1 with Moxon and Blakey at the crease and the many supporters who had made the short trip must have felt after such an eventful day that Yorkshire held the advantage.
When play resumed after lunch on Saturday Yorkshire fared only a little better however, and with David Byas top scorer (40) they managed 184 all out setting Derbyshire 219 to win, which they did for the loss of 7 wickets (Arnie Sidebottom 5 for 92) Skipper Kim Barnett top scored with 74. This was Derbyshire's first home win over Yorkshire for 32 years. Other names of interest from the scorecard include West Indian fast bowler and TV commentator Ian Bishop, Chris Adams, and John Morris from the Derbyshire eleven. Yorkshire were captained by Phil Carrick and might feel they were unlucky when Kevin Sharp had to retire hurt in the second innings.
Man of the match was undoubtedly Simon Base with figures of 12 for 153. At the end of the season Derbyshire finished 6th= in the championship, only one division then of course, and Yorkshire were only held up by Glamorgan. Another winter of discontent followed.
Also on the 24th of August that year Australia rattled up 325 for 3 as England hunted leather in the wide open spaces of The Oval: runs for Taylor, Boon, Border and Jones. England's pace attack: Igglesden, Small, Pringle and Capel, probably not our finest.
That was the last county cricket I saw that season. Only 3 days earlier I had been at Hastings for the last first class match at the wonderful Central Ground with Sussex taking on Middlesex. I was there on the second day when a Mike Gatting century rescued the visitors.
Thursday, 23 August 2012
UNDER 14 FINAL AT BARNSLEY
By Brian Sanderson,
Looking at the total cricket scorer web site has been now updated and Howard Clayton put in the Yorkshire web site that he has had problems.Mc Grath scored 83 and Leaning 53 which were the top to scorers and Warwickshire had lost four wickets for sixty -two.
Unlike John I only travelled thirty miles to Barnsley to see the district final of the Yorkshire under 14 between West Yorkshire West and South Yorkshire.The first person I saw was Dave Cooper who is the coach to the West Yorkshire team.I have known him for about five years he is a director of Cricket Coaching Mat Ltd and he also a coach of Burley Cricket Club in the Airedale and Wharfedale League.He spoke at The 7th Penine Conference about his cricket career in in the Lancashire League.
Yorkshire West managed to score 184 in just short of the forty-fifth over.Two batsmen had scored over one hundred so John was disappointed as he thought they should have scored over two hundred.
They supporters of Yorkshire South thought that the total was too many which proved the case.They were bowled out for ninety seven which enabled Dave to go onto cricket nets at Burley.A long day for him. Rain started falling as we arrived back in Leeds.
The blog viewers has broken two thousand this month and I would like to think people for reading it and please put your comments on the postings.
Looking at the total cricket scorer web site has been now updated and Howard Clayton put in the Yorkshire web site that he has had problems.Mc Grath scored 83 and Leaning 53 which were the top to scorers and Warwickshire had lost four wickets for sixty -two.
Unlike John I only travelled thirty miles to Barnsley to see the district final of the Yorkshire under 14 between West Yorkshire West and South Yorkshire.The first person I saw was Dave Cooper who is the coach to the West Yorkshire team.I have known him for about five years he is a director of Cricket Coaching Mat Ltd and he also a coach of Burley Cricket Club in the Airedale and Wharfedale League.He spoke at The 7th Penine Conference about his cricket career in in the Lancashire League.
Yorkshire West managed to score 184 in just short of the forty-fifth over.Two batsmen had scored over one hundred so John was disappointed as he thought they should have scored over two hundred.
They supporters of Yorkshire South thought that the total was too many which proved the case.They were bowled out for ninety seven which enabled Dave to go onto cricket nets at Burley.A long day for him. Rain started falling as we arrived back in Leeds.
The blog viewers has broken two thousand this month and I would like to think people for reading it and please put your comments on the postings.
A trip to the midlands (part two)
posted by John Winn
The small market town of Coleshill is eleven miles east of Birmingham and thus conveniently placed for visiting Edgbaston. Having spent a comfortable night at The Swan Hotel I drove through a large industrial estate to Coleshill Parkway which offers a regular and frequent train service into New Street with a fifteen minute journey time. A scheme offering free parking at the station has been extended until 2015.
Buses to Edgbaston run from New Street at frequent intervals and the journey takes little more than ten minutes. My bus had a number of Middlesex supporters as passengers who had travelled up from London by train, heartened no doubt by their team's fightback on the first day against the Bears. This had been led by a century from Dexter (NJ not ER).
When I last visited in June 2011 the ground's major new build was receiving its finishing touches and it is fair to say the Warwickshire authorities have played safe with nothing as dramatic as The Carnegie Pavilion or The Point. Amen to that do I hear you say? I have never been quite sure where, as a non member, one is allowed to sit at Edgbaston but decided that I would risk the Bob Wyatt stand from whence I gained access to the David Heath* Suite where the usual refreshments are available. The walls of the suite are decorated with photographs of successful Warwickshire teams from the past, including one circa 1972 which includes a smiling Bob Willis, collectors' item there then.An employee of G4S put down his copy of 'Teach Yourself Stewarding' and eyed me suspiciously but said nothing and I spent the day seated in this vicinity. As at Leicester there was a flat rate charge for adults of £10 but with the bonus of a free scorecard.
The young man serving tea and coffee was boasting to some Middlesex followers that his tea and coffee prices were lower than at Lord's. I remarked that it would be a matter of some shame if they were not. Bears' supporters waiting the start of play were excited that they would be one of three grounds selected to host The Champions Trophy next June, Cardiff and The Oval are the other two with Edgbaston the venue for the final.
Play began in hazy sunshine with Warwickshire openers Chopra and Westwood continuing their partnership from Tuesday. In the early stages of play there were some streaky fours but they were still together at lunch and they added 175 before being separated. Middlesex's dismal overrate was speeded up by the introduction of Ravi Patel, making his championship debut, and his first dismissal came when Porterfield was caught at slip. Warwickshire subsequently failed to cash in on their excellent start and a post tea collapse means they lead by only six with two wickets remaining.
An unusual feature of the day was that there were two lots of four overthrows, each time accompanied by a single.
Having lost narrowly to Surrey on Saturday, Middlesex are not entirely safe from relegation but with the likelihood of time being lost to rain, especially on Friday, a draw would seem the most likely outcome. For The Bears this represents their game in hand over Notts but with the two teams still having to play each other twice the result of this game is not likely to be decisive.
Some overs were lost to bad light at the end of the day but by this time I was well on my way up the M1 in very bright evening sunshine. From Coleshill Parkway to the M42 took only about 15 minutes and I strongly recommend this facility to anybody driving in that area but wishing to avoid Birmingham traffic which at teatime yesterday was very heavy.
* a former Warwickshire chief executive.
The small market town of Coleshill is eleven miles east of Birmingham and thus conveniently placed for visiting Edgbaston. Having spent a comfortable night at The Swan Hotel I drove through a large industrial estate to Coleshill Parkway which offers a regular and frequent train service into New Street with a fifteen minute journey time. A scheme offering free parking at the station has been extended until 2015.
Buses to Edgbaston run from New Street at frequent intervals and the journey takes little more than ten minutes. My bus had a number of Middlesex supporters as passengers who had travelled up from London by train, heartened no doubt by their team's fightback on the first day against the Bears. This had been led by a century from Dexter (NJ not ER).
When I last visited in June 2011 the ground's major new build was receiving its finishing touches and it is fair to say the Warwickshire authorities have played safe with nothing as dramatic as The Carnegie Pavilion or The Point. Amen to that do I hear you say? I have never been quite sure where, as a non member, one is allowed to sit at Edgbaston but decided that I would risk the Bob Wyatt stand from whence I gained access to the David Heath* Suite where the usual refreshments are available. The walls of the suite are decorated with photographs of successful Warwickshire teams from the past, including one circa 1972 which includes a smiling Bob Willis, collectors' item there then.An employee of G4S put down his copy of 'Teach Yourself Stewarding' and eyed me suspiciously but said nothing and I spent the day seated in this vicinity. As at Leicester there was a flat rate charge for adults of £10 but with the bonus of a free scorecard.
The young man serving tea and coffee was boasting to some Middlesex followers that his tea and coffee prices were lower than at Lord's. I remarked that it would be a matter of some shame if they were not. Bears' supporters waiting the start of play were excited that they would be one of three grounds selected to host The Champions Trophy next June, Cardiff and The Oval are the other two with Edgbaston the venue for the final.
Play began in hazy sunshine with Warwickshire openers Chopra and Westwood continuing their partnership from Tuesday. In the early stages of play there were some streaky fours but they were still together at lunch and they added 175 before being separated. Middlesex's dismal overrate was speeded up by the introduction of Ravi Patel, making his championship debut, and his first dismissal came when Porterfield was caught at slip. Warwickshire subsequently failed to cash in on their excellent start and a post tea collapse means they lead by only six with two wickets remaining.
An unusual feature of the day was that there were two lots of four overthrows, each time accompanied by a single.
Having lost narrowly to Surrey on Saturday, Middlesex are not entirely safe from relegation but with the likelihood of time being lost to rain, especially on Friday, a draw would seem the most likely outcome. For The Bears this represents their game in hand over Notts but with the two teams still having to play each other twice the result of this game is not likely to be decisive.
Some overs were lost to bad light at the end of the day but by this time I was well on my way up the M1 in very bright evening sunshine. From Coleshill Parkway to the M42 took only about 15 minutes and I strongly recommend this facility to anybody driving in that area but wishing to avoid Birmingham traffic which at teatime yesterday was very heavy.
* a former Warwickshire chief executive.
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
A trip to the midlands (part 1)
posted by John Winn
The fixture list having thrown up two of my listed matches* in the same week in the midlands an overnight stay was always my preferred option so yesterday morning saw me make an early start for Leicester. Just over two hours later I was the first customer through the Grace Road gates following the Hampshire coach (in both senses of the word I suspect). An hour later little else had changed although a few autograph hunters had assembled to catch the players as they began their warm ups and practice.
Very few would speak of Grace Road as their favourite ground and while I wouldn't go that far there are lots of things about it I like , probably the kind of things people who don't like it would list if asked what they objected to. I like the fact that there are no towering stands, you could walk within fifty yards of it and not know it was there,you can park in a side street round the corner from the gate without charge or restriction. Inside the pavilion there is an interesting little museum and even in the loo it has pictures of great players from the past, but perhaps most of all I like the fact that you can sit on a bench in front of the pavilion without any white coated official asking to see your membership card. And oh yes you can have a cup of tea and a piece of excellent cake for £1:50.
When play commenced, with visitors Hampshire fresh from their victory over Northants on Saturday, winning the toss and putting Leicester into bat, the crowd was below that which had assembled a week before at Todmorden for second eleven cricket and this of course is Leicester's problem: they are poorly supported. I wonder how many people other than this blogger paid a tenner at the gate yesterday and their membership is small. A consequence of this is that they can't hang on to players like Stuart Broad and James Taylor, both of whom have preferred to play what little county cricket they do play up the road at Trent Bridge.
The loss of two early wickets seemed to justify Adams' decision to field but by the end of the day promotion aspirants Hampshire probably felt they had the worst of the day and those from the land of Pukka Pies (don't compromise) and cobs rather than sandwiches ( and how appropriate that Cobb should bat so well) were in the ascendancy, a position they have rammed home today to the point where they will feel confident of their first championship victory since they beat Glamorgan in April. A lot of water has flown under (and in some places over) the bridge since then and it will be an achievement if The Foxes do not repeat last season's bottom position.
Having sampled the aforementioned tea and cake provided by The Friends of Grace Road I drove the fifteen or so miles to Lutterworth where Leicestershire II were taking on Northants II in a three day friendly. How pleased I was to have made the journey for this is a lovely ground. Easily accesible from the Coventry road, surrounded by handsome trees and with an attractive pavilion. When I arrived Northants were 92 for 2 in reply to Leicestershire's 151 all out and just over an hour later they were all out for 108 having lost their last 8 wickets for 9 runs. In the meantime tea had been served to players and spectators (no charge, so more cake) and what a pleasure it was to sit in warm evening sunshine and watch the procession of batsmen.
With Leicestershire II about to begin their second innings I left and via the M6 made my way to Coleshill and my overnight stay at The Swan. Day two of my midlands' adventures will appear tomorrow, providing that my nerves have recovered from what a trip to The Riverside might hold in store.
*see 'A busy couple of days' May 2011 for explanation of 'listed matches'.
The fixture list having thrown up two of my listed matches* in the same week in the midlands an overnight stay was always my preferred option so yesterday morning saw me make an early start for Leicester. Just over two hours later I was the first customer through the Grace Road gates following the Hampshire coach (in both senses of the word I suspect). An hour later little else had changed although a few autograph hunters had assembled to catch the players as they began their warm ups and practice.
Very few would speak of Grace Road as their favourite ground and while I wouldn't go that far there are lots of things about it I like , probably the kind of things people who don't like it would list if asked what they objected to. I like the fact that there are no towering stands, you could walk within fifty yards of it and not know it was there,you can park in a side street round the corner from the gate without charge or restriction. Inside the pavilion there is an interesting little museum and even in the loo it has pictures of great players from the past, but perhaps most of all I like the fact that you can sit on a bench in front of the pavilion without any white coated official asking to see your membership card. And oh yes you can have a cup of tea and a piece of excellent cake for £1:50.
When play commenced, with visitors Hampshire fresh from their victory over Northants on Saturday, winning the toss and putting Leicester into bat, the crowd was below that which had assembled a week before at Todmorden for second eleven cricket and this of course is Leicester's problem: they are poorly supported. I wonder how many people other than this blogger paid a tenner at the gate yesterday and their membership is small. A consequence of this is that they can't hang on to players like Stuart Broad and James Taylor, both of whom have preferred to play what little county cricket they do play up the road at Trent Bridge.
The loss of two early wickets seemed to justify Adams' decision to field but by the end of the day promotion aspirants Hampshire probably felt they had the worst of the day and those from the land of Pukka Pies (don't compromise) and cobs rather than sandwiches ( and how appropriate that Cobb should bat so well) were in the ascendancy, a position they have rammed home today to the point where they will feel confident of their first championship victory since they beat Glamorgan in April. A lot of water has flown under (and in some places over) the bridge since then and it will be an achievement if The Foxes do not repeat last season's bottom position.
Having sampled the aforementioned tea and cake provided by The Friends of Grace Road I drove the fifteen or so miles to Lutterworth where Leicestershire II were taking on Northants II in a three day friendly. How pleased I was to have made the journey for this is a lovely ground. Easily accesible from the Coventry road, surrounded by handsome trees and with an attractive pavilion. When I arrived Northants were 92 for 2 in reply to Leicestershire's 151 all out and just over an hour later they were all out for 108 having lost their last 8 wickets for 9 runs. In the meantime tea had been served to players and spectators (no charge, so more cake) and what a pleasure it was to sit in warm evening sunshine and watch the procession of batsmen.
With Leicestershire II about to begin their second innings I left and via the M6 made my way to Coleshill and my overnight stay at The Swan. Day two of my midlands' adventures will appear tomorrow, providing that my nerves have recovered from what a trip to The Riverside might hold in store.
*see 'A busy couple of days' May 2011 for explanation of 'listed matches'.
WINDY STAMFORD BRIDGE
By Brian Sanderson,
The match to-day was the first day of Yorkshire Seconds against Warwickshire Seconds in a three day match.Stamford Bridge is well known for the battle between King Harold and the Vikings in 1066 but today battle was a lot quieter.The weather in the morning was cloudy with some spots of rain with a strong westerly wind blowing across the ground however the sun came out in the afternoon.
To arrive at the ground we passed The Leeds Music festival site getting ready for the week-end.One of the delights of the ground is their bacon butties which are cooked outside.Yorkshire had included Anthony Mc Grath to strenghten the batting from yesterday which was required.
Yorkshire batted first and again two quick wickets fell to Andrew Miller who has played for Lancashire in 2004. Thank you to theSecond Eleven Annual which is edited my Howard Clayton who is to-day Yorkshire scorer.Anthony McGrath had to go off with migraine whilst he was batted and returned after lunch.He scored a good 70 and with Jack Leaning put together a good patnership.
At the moment the total cricket scorer web site is not up to date for this match so can not give the correct scores as I rely on this web-site.
I left at tea-time to enable me to get home missing the York racing crowd and Yorkshire were eight wickets down for about 230.This was my last day of second team cricket this season as this is Yorkshire last home match. The cricket season is drawing to a close.
The match to-day was the first day of Yorkshire Seconds against Warwickshire Seconds in a three day match.Stamford Bridge is well known for the battle between King Harold and the Vikings in 1066 but today battle was a lot quieter.The weather in the morning was cloudy with some spots of rain with a strong westerly wind blowing across the ground however the sun came out in the afternoon.
To arrive at the ground we passed The Leeds Music festival site getting ready for the week-end.One of the delights of the ground is their bacon butties which are cooked outside.Yorkshire had included Anthony Mc Grath to strenghten the batting from yesterday which was required.
Yorkshire batted first and again two quick wickets fell to Andrew Miller who has played for Lancashire in 2004. Thank you to theSecond Eleven Annual which is edited my Howard Clayton who is to-day Yorkshire scorer.Anthony McGrath had to go off with migraine whilst he was batted and returned after lunch.He scored a good 70 and with Jack Leaning put together a good patnership.
At the moment the total cricket scorer web site is not up to date for this match so can not give the correct scores as I rely on this web-site.
I left at tea-time to enable me to get home missing the York racing crowd and Yorkshire were eight wickets down for about 230.This was my last day of second team cricket this season as this is Yorkshire last home match. The cricket season is drawing to a close.
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
POOR CRICKET
By Brian Sanderson,
To-day was a forty over match between Yorkshire Seconds against Warwickshire. at Weetwood with the forecast of rain at about 4.00 o,clock.When will the rain stop.
I have the job of selling the programmes before the match so Iwalked round the ground with dark clouds in the distance.Peter France was already position in the wind break of the pavilion so another mark in the register for P.C.W.Yorkshire batted first but started very slowly against some reason able bowling.Yorkshire first wicket fell at in the fourteenth over and the score was 27.Lees had scored seven and when Sayers was out he had scored eleven a few overs later. The best bowler was Tom Grundy who comes from Stratford and had figures of five for seventeen in his eight overs.Tony Hutton arrived during the innings and said there was a match New Rover were Yorkshire over sixties were playing a friendly.I nearly went over until Bob Procter arrived. The conversation was better than the cricket.The last wicket partnership of forty brought the score up to 125 and it was helped by extras of twenty-two which was the second highest scorer.
Warwickshire innings started quickly with Jonathan Webb and Laurie Evans show want poor bowling attack
Yorkshire Seconds have.By the time the heavy rain arrived just after four they had scored 89 for 1 in fourteen overs.Yorshire had scored 27 at same stage.
There was poor cricket by Yorkshire but I did not have to travel far.See want to-morrow brings at Stamford Bridge against the same two sides.
To-day was a forty over match between Yorkshire Seconds against Warwickshire. at Weetwood with the forecast of rain at about 4.00 o,clock.When will the rain stop.
I have the job of selling the programmes before the match so Iwalked round the ground with dark clouds in the distance.Peter France was already position in the wind break of the pavilion so another mark in the register for P.C.W.Yorkshire batted first but started very slowly against some reason able bowling.Yorkshire first wicket fell at in the fourteenth over and the score was 27.Lees had scored seven and when Sayers was out he had scored eleven a few overs later. The best bowler was Tom Grundy who comes from Stratford and had figures of five for seventeen in his eight overs.Tony Hutton arrived during the innings and said there was a match New Rover were Yorkshire over sixties were playing a friendly.I nearly went over until Bob Procter arrived. The conversation was better than the cricket.The last wicket partnership of forty brought the score up to 125 and it was helped by extras of twenty-two which was the second highest scorer.
Warwickshire innings started quickly with Jonathan Webb and Laurie Evans show want poor bowling attack
Yorkshire Seconds have.By the time the heavy rain arrived just after four they had scored 89 for 1 in fourteen overs.Yorshire had scored 27 at same stage.
There was poor cricket by Yorkshire but I did not have to travel far.See want to-morrow brings at Stamford Bridge against the same two sides.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
LAST BALL LOSS
By Brian Sanderson,
Looking at the weather forecast this morning it stated that rain was due about 3.00 and rain till 7.00.At about 12.00 it started to rain and thoughts of watching television in the afternoon was next favourite.
However it stopped raining about 12.45 so sent off to watch Yorshire against Sussex in a forty over match.
The match started on time with Sussex asking Yorkshire to bat first which was senseable with the rain due.Both sides colours included a lot of blue and was very hard to distinguish between the sides.I now both sides want to sell their shirts to supporters but why they can not have different colours I do not know. After four overs it started to rain.
The cricekt started again at 3,50 so lossing twelve overs per side.Jaques was soon out bowled while I was helping to put away the books at Vivian and Geoff,s out door bookstall.All the proceeds from the sale of the books go back into Yorkshire cricket and at the point that is £5000 which is a excellent effort.Gale and Lyth batted well put could not go past fiifty runs.After the twenty-eight over Yorkshire had scored 200 and this was increased by Duckwoth - Lewis to 206.
I was sitting in front of a ex-player from Colton cricket club who I played with over forty-five years ago.We spoke about Jack Appleyards X1 who played in the Leeds area in the 1950,s.All the proceeds of the matches went to Leed Infirmary and the matches were played at Rounday Park which brought over 40,000 spectators to one match.
Sussex stated batting in bad light which lasted till nearly the end of the innings. The two best Sussex batsmen was Christopher Nash who scored 53 and Ed Joyce who scored 54.It was a exciting finish to the match.Three over to go they needed thirty-seven.Two overs twenty- seven and then the final over sixteen. Rafiq bowled the last over with the first bowl going for six and then the next for four so now they reqired six in four bowls .This last bowl was hit for two so Sussex win the match. This type of matches are why limited over matches are good to watch.
Looking at the weather forecast this morning it stated that rain was due about 3.00 and rain till 7.00.At about 12.00 it started to rain and thoughts of watching television in the afternoon was next favourite.
However it stopped raining about 12.45 so sent off to watch Yorshire against Sussex in a forty over match.
The match started on time with Sussex asking Yorkshire to bat first which was senseable with the rain due.Both sides colours included a lot of blue and was very hard to distinguish between the sides.I now both sides want to sell their shirts to supporters but why they can not have different colours I do not know. After four overs it started to rain.
The cricekt started again at 3,50 so lossing twelve overs per side.Jaques was soon out bowled while I was helping to put away the books at Vivian and Geoff,s out door bookstall.All the proceeds from the sale of the books go back into Yorkshire cricket and at the point that is £5000 which is a excellent effort.Gale and Lyth batted well put could not go past fiifty runs.After the twenty-eight over Yorkshire had scored 200 and this was increased by Duckwoth - Lewis to 206.
I was sitting in front of a ex-player from Colton cricket club who I played with over forty-five years ago.We spoke about Jack Appleyards X1 who played in the Leeds area in the 1950,s.All the proceeds of the matches went to Leed Infirmary and the matches were played at Rounday Park which brought over 40,000 spectators to one match.
Sussex stated batting in bad light which lasted till nearly the end of the innings. The two best Sussex batsmen was Christopher Nash who scored 53 and Ed Joyce who scored 54.It was a exciting finish to the match.Three over to go they needed thirty-seven.Two overs twenty- seven and then the final over sixteen. Rafiq bowled the last over with the first bowl going for six and then the next for four so now they reqired six in four bowls .This last bowl was hit for two so Sussex win the match. This type of matches are why limited over matches are good to watch.
wrong call (again)
posted by John Winn
Given fair weather, from time to time the county championship throws up a fourth day finish that holds the spectators in thrall until the last ball of the day, irrespective of the outcome. Imagine the tension at Trent Bridge yesterday, where Durham won by 16 runs with just 8 balls left, or The Oval, where Surrey won by 8 runs after a last wicket stand of 48 took Middlesex to the edge of what had seemed an impossible victory or to a lesser degree The Rose Bowl, where Hampshire successfully chased down the target of over 300 set by Northants' declaration.
Then there are games like yesterday's at Headingley when at the start of play Yorkshire needed to take 12 wickets in the day, two of them before Derbyshire could score the 37 needed to avoid the follow on and assuming they managed to do this, take the other ten in whatever number of overs were left. In the end the game, after an early flourish, produced nothing like the excitement generated elsewhere and the captains shook hands with 14 overs left with Derbyshire's noses safely in front of what was needed to avoid an innings defeat.
Having been convinced at close of play on Friday that there was the potential for an interesting day at Headingley I threw aside a carefully worked out plan to see four games in the HX2 postcode area and took my seat in the members' enclosure ten minutes before play was due to start. For a while all went according to plan for as Brian has described Yorkshire took us to the brink before Bresnan took the tenth wicket and in following on, the league leaders were 18 for 2. My plan B was, that if events at Headingley fell flat, I would take a circuitous route home and pick up some league cricket on the way. Brian made the correct call and left at lunch but I decided I would wait until three o'clock before making a decision and the fall of two wickets at 108 and 111 convinced me to stay a little longer. By tea it was pretty clear the game was up and that Khawaja could find enough support to ensure Derbyshire would get the three extra points a draw would bring them.Even so I hung about for another twenty minutes cricket before putting plan B into action and in the event it was only B-, for I settled for dropping in at Headingley CC just a mile away.
At their Glen Road ground Headingley, previously known as Yorkshire Post CC, were entertaining Bilton in Ainsty A in a Wetherby League Division Four game. As I arrived play was just resuming after tea with the homesters having set a target of 174 off 45 overs. Headingley have carried all before them this season and after another comfortable victory (Bilton fell well short) they now lead the division by a comfortable margin and promotion to Div 3 should soon be assured. I liked this ground which is tucked away off Headingley Lane and has some very grand houses as neighbours. Access is restricted at the moment by construction work, the precise nature of which I am unaware.
Home in time to discover that Darlington 1883 had won their first game in their new home four relegations below where they were playing last season and then to follow the closing overs from Trent Bridge via Cricinfo and twitter and being delighted by Durham's third successive win in the championship. Hero of the hour was twenty two year old Mark Wood, who took 5 for 78. For Yorkshire yesterday's draw and Hampshire's victory has opened up a ten point gap and with just three games remaining for both sides Yorkshire will probably need to double their current total of two victories. Their next two games are at home against Gloucestershire and Glamorgan and in all probability they will need to take forty wickets in these two games before they travel to Chelmsford on September 11th. That's a lot more wickets than they managed yesterday.
Given fair weather, from time to time the county championship throws up a fourth day finish that holds the spectators in thrall until the last ball of the day, irrespective of the outcome. Imagine the tension at Trent Bridge yesterday, where Durham won by 16 runs with just 8 balls left, or The Oval, where Surrey won by 8 runs after a last wicket stand of 48 took Middlesex to the edge of what had seemed an impossible victory or to a lesser degree The Rose Bowl, where Hampshire successfully chased down the target of over 300 set by Northants' declaration.
Then there are games like yesterday's at Headingley when at the start of play Yorkshire needed to take 12 wickets in the day, two of them before Derbyshire could score the 37 needed to avoid the follow on and assuming they managed to do this, take the other ten in whatever number of overs were left. In the end the game, after an early flourish, produced nothing like the excitement generated elsewhere and the captains shook hands with 14 overs left with Derbyshire's noses safely in front of what was needed to avoid an innings defeat.
Having been convinced at close of play on Friday that there was the potential for an interesting day at Headingley I threw aside a carefully worked out plan to see four games in the HX2 postcode area and took my seat in the members' enclosure ten minutes before play was due to start. For a while all went according to plan for as Brian has described Yorkshire took us to the brink before Bresnan took the tenth wicket and in following on, the league leaders were 18 for 2. My plan B was, that if events at Headingley fell flat, I would take a circuitous route home and pick up some league cricket on the way. Brian made the correct call and left at lunch but I decided I would wait until three o'clock before making a decision and the fall of two wickets at 108 and 111 convinced me to stay a little longer. By tea it was pretty clear the game was up and that Khawaja could find enough support to ensure Derbyshire would get the three extra points a draw would bring them.Even so I hung about for another twenty minutes cricket before putting plan B into action and in the event it was only B-, for I settled for dropping in at Headingley CC just a mile away.
At their Glen Road ground Headingley, previously known as Yorkshire Post CC, were entertaining Bilton in Ainsty A in a Wetherby League Division Four game. As I arrived play was just resuming after tea with the homesters having set a target of 174 off 45 overs. Headingley have carried all before them this season and after another comfortable victory (Bilton fell well short) they now lead the division by a comfortable margin and promotion to Div 3 should soon be assured. I liked this ground which is tucked away off Headingley Lane and has some very grand houses as neighbours. Access is restricted at the moment by construction work, the precise nature of which I am unaware.
Home in time to discover that Darlington 1883 had won their first game in their new home four relegations below where they were playing last season and then to follow the closing overs from Trent Bridge via Cricinfo and twitter and being delighted by Durham's third successive win in the championship. Hero of the hour was twenty two year old Mark Wood, who took 5 for 78. For Yorkshire yesterday's draw and Hampshire's victory has opened up a ten point gap and with just three games remaining for both sides Yorkshire will probably need to double their current total of two victories. Their next two games are at home against Gloucestershire and Glamorgan and in all probability they will need to take forty wickets in these two games before they travel to Chelmsford on September 11th. That's a lot more wickets than they managed yesterday.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
SIX FIFTIES IN EIGHT HOURS
B y Brian Sanderson,
Saturday was the final day of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire match at Headingley.If Yorkshire had a chance to win this match they had to take two wickets in the first fifty-five minutes.I was watching from the Trueman Stand and he would have been upset when Yorkshire open the bowling with two spinners and refusing the new ball. Wainwright and Groenewald were in no trouble and looked like Derbyshire would beat the following score of 280 however Wainwright ran himself out going for a second run after he had reached his fifty. He must have had a mental block to be run out and Derbyshire failed to beat the score of 280.
So Derbyshire had to bat again.Two quick fell to the bowling of Bresnan and lunch-time came.I had decided to leave Headingley to go to see a Yorkshire Central League match at Carlton.The reasoning behind it was that I thought Derbyshire would bat out the day for a draw.This happen with Australian Khawaja scoring a unbeaten century.
Carlton is situated off the Leeds to Wakefield Road and is in the middle of the rhubarb triangle and there was a field next to the pitch.Wrenthorpe were their opponents who were leading the league.They are very strong team which have been put to-gether with money and include three ex-first class players.
The field slopes down to the pavilion with a football pitch in the next field were a match was played during the afternoon.. There was views of the rhubarb factory also in the distance.Carlton had taken four wickets for sixty-eight in the twenty over when I arrived however in the second half Wrenthorpe took control.The following batsmen reached fifties ,Luke Patel, Eric Austin and Greg Batty who scored his in twenty-nine balls.One hugh six went out of the ground and hit one of the Carlton fielders car causing a dent in the bonnet but he took it in good humour.Wrenthorpe scored 268 in their fitty overs which would be too much for Carlton batsmen.This was the case but I had moved on to Methley.
The Methley ground is situated next to the Leeds to Castleford Road and is a flat ground with a excellent pavilion near the road.There is excellent parking on the football pitch which was not in use to-day. The opponents Townville had scored 228 in their fifty overs and Methley were batting when I arrived.A wicket soon fell to the bowling of Jack Hughes who is the cousin of the Yorkshire Bresnan.Also one of Townville opening bowlers was the brother of Tim who was one of Wisden Players of 2012.Two Methley batsmen scored fifties Nicholas Connolly and Christopher Holliday.Christopher scored 73 in forty-seven bowls to help to win the match which finished just after seven.
So in eight hours cricket I saw six Fifties at three different venues which caused me to have another good day.
Saturday was the final day of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire match at Headingley.If Yorkshire had a chance to win this match they had to take two wickets in the first fifty-five minutes.I was watching from the Trueman Stand and he would have been upset when Yorkshire open the bowling with two spinners and refusing the new ball. Wainwright and Groenewald were in no trouble and looked like Derbyshire would beat the following score of 280 however Wainwright ran himself out going for a second run after he had reached his fifty. He must have had a mental block to be run out and Derbyshire failed to beat the score of 280.
So Derbyshire had to bat again.Two quick fell to the bowling of Bresnan and lunch-time came.I had decided to leave Headingley to go to see a Yorkshire Central League match at Carlton.The reasoning behind it was that I thought Derbyshire would bat out the day for a draw.This happen with Australian Khawaja scoring a unbeaten century.
Carlton is situated off the Leeds to Wakefield Road and is in the middle of the rhubarb triangle and there was a field next to the pitch.Wrenthorpe were their opponents who were leading the league.They are very strong team which have been put to-gether with money and include three ex-first class players.
The field slopes down to the pavilion with a football pitch in the next field were a match was played during the afternoon.. There was views of the rhubarb factory also in the distance.Carlton had taken four wickets for sixty-eight in the twenty over when I arrived however in the second half Wrenthorpe took control.The following batsmen reached fifties ,Luke Patel, Eric Austin and Greg Batty who scored his in twenty-nine balls.One hugh six went out of the ground and hit one of the Carlton fielders car causing a dent in the bonnet but he took it in good humour.Wrenthorpe scored 268 in their fitty overs which would be too much for Carlton batsmen.This was the case but I had moved on to Methley.
The Methley ground is situated next to the Leeds to Castleford Road and is a flat ground with a excellent pavilion near the road.There is excellent parking on the football pitch which was not in use to-day. The opponents Townville had scored 228 in their fifty overs and Methley were batting when I arrived.A wicket soon fell to the bowling of Jack Hughes who is the cousin of the Yorkshire Bresnan.Also one of Townville opening bowlers was the brother of Tim who was one of Wisden Players of 2012.Two Methley batsmen scored fifties Nicholas Connolly and Christopher Holliday.Christopher scored 73 in forty-seven bowls to help to win the match which finished just after seven.
So in eight hours cricket I saw six Fifties at three different venues which caused me to have another good day.
Friday, 17 August 2012
CRICKET DURING THE RAIN
By Brian Sanderson,
Whilst John was doing his household chores I walked to the ground for the third day of the Championship match.It was rain walking to the ground and the start was delayed by fifteen minutes. The rain did not stop the players playing football.
Yorkshire need to take wickets quickly which they did in the first hour. Derby were 42 for 4 at one stage with the help of three good catches by Hodd,the on loan keeper from Sussex.However Dunstan who had taken career bst bowling figures yesterday also started to make runs easily especially from Patterson.
After lunch Whiteley who is Sheffield boy and Dunstan who is a Somerset boy put together a stand of 112 before Rafiq got a wicket.The dark clouds were arriving with the Derby supporters saying it was to dark to bat.None of the batsmen were in any physical danger and were batting well.As predicted by the weather forecast it started raining just before 3.00 and thoughts of no further play was in the minds of a lot of supporters.
But at 5 o,clock the match restarted with a minimum of 25 overs.David Wainwright mother and father were sitting near me and every scoring shot was clapped.Bresnan gave them a wave from the field.He bowled 23 overs to-day but only collected one wicket.Nobody could understand why he bowled twice as many overs than Sidebottom who took three wickets.Another mystery of Yorkshire cricket.
At the end of the day Wainwright was still not out with 45 and Derbyshire are 233 for 8.It seems the match is heading for a draw unless Yorkshire produce some excellent cricket which would make a good day.We will see if this does happen if not theire is plenty of league cricket in the area.
Whilst John was doing his household chores I walked to the ground for the third day of the Championship match.It was rain walking to the ground and the start was delayed by fifteen minutes. The rain did not stop the players playing football.
Yorkshire need to take wickets quickly which they did in the first hour. Derby were 42 for 4 at one stage with the help of three good catches by Hodd,the on loan keeper from Sussex.However Dunstan who had taken career bst bowling figures yesterday also started to make runs easily especially from Patterson.
After lunch Whiteley who is Sheffield boy and Dunstan who is a Somerset boy put together a stand of 112 before Rafiq got a wicket.The dark clouds were arriving with the Derby supporters saying it was to dark to bat.None of the batsmen were in any physical danger and were batting well.As predicted by the weather forecast it started raining just before 3.00 and thoughts of no further play was in the minds of a lot of supporters.
But at 5 o,clock the match restarted with a minimum of 25 overs.David Wainwright mother and father were sitting near me and every scoring shot was clapped.Bresnan gave them a wave from the field.He bowled 23 overs to-day but only collected one wicket.Nobody could understand why he bowled twice as many overs than Sidebottom who took three wickets.Another mystery of Yorkshire cricket.
At the end of the day Wainwright was still not out with 45 and Derbyshire are 233 for 8.It seems the match is heading for a draw unless Yorkshire produce some excellent cricket which would make a good day.We will see if this does happen if not theire is plenty of league cricket in the area.
KO update
posted by John Winn
Having decided not to go to Headingley this morning as I type(3:00) rain is preventing play which even if there is no more cricket today will mean that there will probably have been more than this morning's forecast suggested. But with a very busy week's watching ahead which necessitates a night away from home, there were some domestic jobs that needed to be done and with those now ticked off I thought I should post an update of the two national club ko competitions which I have been covering throughout the season.
There is still Yorkshire interest in both competitions. In the Kingfisher Cup York CC will play Bamford Fieldhouse of The Saddleworth League in their semi final at Clifton Park on Sunday 26th August with a 1:00 pm start. The other tie is between Havant and Wanstead and Snaresbrook on the same day at Havant Park.Bamford's quarter final against Kidderminster was reported in The Cricket Paper as an ill-tempered affair. The presence of three former Lancashire players in the Bamford side adds much interest to the York game, let's hope there is no repetition of the kind of behaviour that marred the game with Kidderminster. Strong umpiring may be necessary.
In the National Village Cup sponsored by Yorkshire Tea, the finalists are now known. Yorkshire interest is in the hands of Woodhouse Grange from The York Senior League. Their opponents at Lord's will be Reed CC from Hertfordshire. The two teams have booked their date at HQ via contrasting semi finals. Woodhouse faced Cropston from Leicester last Sunday at Sutton on Derwent and after a decent start the visitors were bowled out for103 using only 34 of their overs. Led from the top by their opener Nick Hadfield, who has been the model of consistency in this competition, Woodhouse won by 8 wickets with almost 19 overs in hand.
In the other semi, Reed faced Goatacre from Wiltshire. Reed batted first and overcame a shaky start (0 for 2 at one point) to make 225 all out after 36 overs. Local hero was Stuart Smith who hit 100 including seven sixes and eight fours. When Goatacre batted they were all out for 163 in the 36th over. The Lord's final is on Sunday September the 9th.
Having decided not to go to Headingley this morning as I type(3:00) rain is preventing play which even if there is no more cricket today will mean that there will probably have been more than this morning's forecast suggested. But with a very busy week's watching ahead which necessitates a night away from home, there were some domestic jobs that needed to be done and with those now ticked off I thought I should post an update of the two national club ko competitions which I have been covering throughout the season.
There is still Yorkshire interest in both competitions. In the Kingfisher Cup York CC will play Bamford Fieldhouse of The Saddleworth League in their semi final at Clifton Park on Sunday 26th August with a 1:00 pm start. The other tie is between Havant and Wanstead and Snaresbrook on the same day at Havant Park.Bamford's quarter final against Kidderminster was reported in The Cricket Paper as an ill-tempered affair. The presence of three former Lancashire players in the Bamford side adds much interest to the York game, let's hope there is no repetition of the kind of behaviour that marred the game with Kidderminster. Strong umpiring may be necessary.
In the National Village Cup sponsored by Yorkshire Tea, the finalists are now known. Yorkshire interest is in the hands of Woodhouse Grange from The York Senior League. Their opponents at Lord's will be Reed CC from Hertfordshire. The two teams have booked their date at HQ via contrasting semi finals. Woodhouse faced Cropston from Leicester last Sunday at Sutton on Derwent and after a decent start the visitors were bowled out for103 using only 34 of their overs. Led from the top by their opener Nick Hadfield, who has been the model of consistency in this competition, Woodhouse won by 8 wickets with almost 19 overs in hand.
In the other semi, Reed faced Goatacre from Wiltshire. Reed batted first and overcame a shaky start (0 for 2 at one point) to make 225 all out after 36 overs. Local hero was Stuart Smith who hit 100 including seven sixes and eight fours. When Goatacre batted they were all out for 163 in the 36th over. The Lord's final is on Sunday September the 9th.
Thursday, 16 August 2012
A day in the sun
posted by John Winn
Friends at Headingley this morning all had stories to tell of heavy rain yesterday evening in a variety of places round Leeds but on arrival at HQ at 10:30 the sun was shining, the players were practising in the middle and play began on time. The Derbyshire bowling was in the hands of Groenewald and Palladino, remember when it was Jackson and Gladwin, and Lyth and Ballance resumed where they had left off yesterday, to the delight of another good crowd.
I wa surprised that the Peakites' skipper, Wayne Madsen delayed a change in the bowling for so long but Whiteley ended Lyth's lovely innings when he was 93 and the score 211, in a rather soft manner when he gave a simple catch to Lineker. Despite this loss Yorkshire continued to bat well and the maximum of five batting points became a realistic target. The dismissals of Ballance and Rashid brought the loanee Andy Hodd to the crease and with a century partnership he and McGrath took Yorkshire within touching distance of the fifth bonus point but with Derbyshire having as many as six fielders on the boundary there followed a passage of play when it seemed they might just fall short of the 400 needed. Tension was added to the situation as Hodd neared 50 and McGrath closed in on three figures. Ultimately all was well although the strain got to one or two members and the bonus point was achieved when a straight drive from 'Mags' went for four with just two balls to spare and brought him his a century. A down payment on a new contract?
What followed beggared belief, for not only did Yorkshire not declare they proceeded to lose five wickets, four of them to Durston who will surely never have taken such cheap wickets, for the addition of 9 runs and the waste of at least twenty minutes of what might prove to be valuable time come Saturday afternoon. All urgency went out of Yorkshire's play, one batsman disappeared into the pavilion before the next emerged stretching the two minute rule to its limit and after a conference with the other batsmen took careful guard. Derbyshire showed how pleased they were to stay in the middle rather than face Yorkshire's attack, strengthened by the appearance of Bresnan released from England duty at Lord's, when with nine wickets down shin pads were sent for and the nominated short leg put them on in the time that might be taken to dress the chorus in 'The Pirates of Penzance'. All this taxed the patience of the crowd to the limit.What was Gale thinking of?
At last Sidebottom gave Durston the fourth of his cut price victims and the league leaders found themselves with eleven overs to face before close. At Trent Bridge, Durham's Graham Onions also released by England this morning, had a most remarkable day taking nine Notts' wickets and running out the tenth with a direct throw form deep square leg. Bresnan's contribution was not quite so dramatic but he will feel his dash up the M1 was worthwhile for, with the last ball of the day he had Madsen lbw to leave Derbyshire 28 for 1 and the game nicely set up. Alas it is impossible to put anything but the most dismissal prospect on tomorrow's weather and even if Saturday is a fine day Friday's rain may condemn the match to a draw. Let's hope nobody is saying at close of play on Saturday 'If only we had had another twenty minutes!
Friends at Headingley this morning all had stories to tell of heavy rain yesterday evening in a variety of places round Leeds but on arrival at HQ at 10:30 the sun was shining, the players were practising in the middle and play began on time. The Derbyshire bowling was in the hands of Groenewald and Palladino, remember when it was Jackson and Gladwin, and Lyth and Ballance resumed where they had left off yesterday, to the delight of another good crowd.
I wa surprised that the Peakites' skipper, Wayne Madsen delayed a change in the bowling for so long but Whiteley ended Lyth's lovely innings when he was 93 and the score 211, in a rather soft manner when he gave a simple catch to Lineker. Despite this loss Yorkshire continued to bat well and the maximum of five batting points became a realistic target. The dismissals of Ballance and Rashid brought the loanee Andy Hodd to the crease and with a century partnership he and McGrath took Yorkshire within touching distance of the fifth bonus point but with Derbyshire having as many as six fielders on the boundary there followed a passage of play when it seemed they might just fall short of the 400 needed. Tension was added to the situation as Hodd neared 50 and McGrath closed in on three figures. Ultimately all was well although the strain got to one or two members and the bonus point was achieved when a straight drive from 'Mags' went for four with just two balls to spare and brought him his a century. A down payment on a new contract?
What followed beggared belief, for not only did Yorkshire not declare they proceeded to lose five wickets, four of them to Durston who will surely never have taken such cheap wickets, for the addition of 9 runs and the waste of at least twenty minutes of what might prove to be valuable time come Saturday afternoon. All urgency went out of Yorkshire's play, one batsman disappeared into the pavilion before the next emerged stretching the two minute rule to its limit and after a conference with the other batsmen took careful guard. Derbyshire showed how pleased they were to stay in the middle rather than face Yorkshire's attack, strengthened by the appearance of Bresnan released from England duty at Lord's, when with nine wickets down shin pads were sent for and the nominated short leg put them on in the time that might be taken to dress the chorus in 'The Pirates of Penzance'. All this taxed the patience of the crowd to the limit.What was Gale thinking of?
At last Sidebottom gave Durston the fourth of his cut price victims and the league leaders found themselves with eleven overs to face before close. At Trent Bridge, Durham's Graham Onions also released by England this morning, had a most remarkable day taking nine Notts' wickets and running out the tenth with a direct throw form deep square leg. Bresnan's contribution was not quite so dramatic but he will feel his dash up the M1 was worthwhile for, with the last ball of the day he had Madsen lbw to leave Derbyshire 28 for 1 and the game nicely set up. Alas it is impossible to put anything but the most dismissal prospect on tomorrow's weather and even if Saturday is a fine day Friday's rain may condemn the match to a draw. Let's hope nobody is saying at close of play on Saturday 'If only we had had another twenty minutes!
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Have your say
posted by John Winn
The return of championship cricket to Headingley today after an absence of ten weeks brought out a good attendance, despite a forecast that seemed to leave little doubt that there would not be a full day's play. It was good to see familiar faces round my usual position in the east stand. Did I overhear someone ask a friend if they had 'midseasoned well'? Well no, but it did seem rather like the start of a new season.
If we have to have such a break, and I don't think we do, then at least the fare on offer today was about as good as could be offered, given that visitors Derbyshire came as clear leaders of the second division and with Yorkshire just shading Hampshire and Kent for the other promotion spot. The visitors won the toss and gave Yorkshire first knock which seemed a good decision when Jacques was bowled by Gronewald for 3 but Gale and Lyth countered with aggressive batting until with about twenty minutes remaining before lunch the skipper picked out long leg with pin point accuracy which brought in Ballance who stayed with Lyth until the break, at which point Yorkshire were 123 for 2.
During the interval spots of rain were felt and after only one delivery (which went for four) a sharp shower sent the players back into the dressing rooms. After a false start, when the rain briefly stopped and the umpires emerged, the light worsened and by half past two the steady rain which had been forecast settled in and in due course play was abandoned for the day. A look at other scores up and down the country showed the rain had worked its way up ffom the south west completely washing out play in a number of venues. Prospects for tomorrow are much better so let's hope for a full day's play and a good haul of bonus points.
A talking point today and at Todmorden yesterday was the Brophy affair. Opinions were divided as to whether the wicketkeeper should have been given another contract but there was a definite consensus across the ten or fifteen people I spoke to that Yorkshire should not have to turn to Sussex to find another 'keeper and that if Dan Hodgson was good enough to keep in the CB40 then he should have played today. Some very strong feelings were expressed, not helped I suspect by the dismal showing of the second eleven on the 'contested territory' of Todmorden yesterday.
You may be aware that the ECB is currently conducting an online survey to assess cricket entusiasts' feelings about the structure, scheduling and promotion of couny cricket. When I got home this afternoon I found an email inviting me to complete a quite lengthy and at times quite complex set of questions which took me about 20 to 25 minutes to work through. No doubt others amongst you will have an opportunity to participate. There is space at the end for 'free comment' and I used this to put across things not entirely coverd by the questions, making three points in particular. Firstly the need to try and avoid the compartmentalisation of the season so that the championship watcher is not faced with the long midsummer break, secondly the need to achieve a more settled structure so that as far as possible, championship matches have a fixed starting day, . Linked to this would be a designated evening for T20 matches so perhaps instead of Friday night being Amami night it could become T20 night. Thirdly I would like to see a return to a straight knock out forty or fifty overs competition. Happy to discuss these points in the long room tomorrow!
The return of championship cricket to Headingley today after an absence of ten weeks brought out a good attendance, despite a forecast that seemed to leave little doubt that there would not be a full day's play. It was good to see familiar faces round my usual position in the east stand. Did I overhear someone ask a friend if they had 'midseasoned well'? Well no, but it did seem rather like the start of a new season.
If we have to have such a break, and I don't think we do, then at least the fare on offer today was about as good as could be offered, given that visitors Derbyshire came as clear leaders of the second division and with Yorkshire just shading Hampshire and Kent for the other promotion spot. The visitors won the toss and gave Yorkshire first knock which seemed a good decision when Jacques was bowled by Gronewald for 3 but Gale and Lyth countered with aggressive batting until with about twenty minutes remaining before lunch the skipper picked out long leg with pin point accuracy which brought in Ballance who stayed with Lyth until the break, at which point Yorkshire were 123 for 2.
During the interval spots of rain were felt and after only one delivery (which went for four) a sharp shower sent the players back into the dressing rooms. After a false start, when the rain briefly stopped and the umpires emerged, the light worsened and by half past two the steady rain which had been forecast settled in and in due course play was abandoned for the day. A look at other scores up and down the country showed the rain had worked its way up ffom the south west completely washing out play in a number of venues. Prospects for tomorrow are much better so let's hope for a full day's play and a good haul of bonus points.
A talking point today and at Todmorden yesterday was the Brophy affair. Opinions were divided as to whether the wicketkeeper should have been given another contract but there was a definite consensus across the ten or fifteen people I spoke to that Yorkshire should not have to turn to Sussex to find another 'keeper and that if Dan Hodgson was good enough to keep in the CB40 then he should have played today. Some very strong feelings were expressed, not helped I suspect by the dismal showing of the second eleven on the 'contested territory' of Todmorden yesterday.
You may be aware that the ECB is currently conducting an online survey to assess cricket entusiasts' feelings about the structure, scheduling and promotion of couny cricket. When I got home this afternoon I found an email inviting me to complete a quite lengthy and at times quite complex set of questions which took me about 20 to 25 minutes to work through. No doubt others amongst you will have an opportunity to participate. There is space at the end for 'free comment' and I used this to put across things not entirely coverd by the questions, making three points in particular. Firstly the need to try and avoid the compartmentalisation of the season so that the championship watcher is not faced with the long midsummer break, secondly the need to achieve a more settled structure so that as far as possible, championship matches have a fixed starting day, . Linked to this would be a designated evening for T20 matches so perhaps instead of Friday night being Amami night it could become T20 night. Thirdly I would like to see a return to a straight knock out forty or fifty overs competition. Happy to discuss these points in the long room tomorrow!
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
ANOTHER DEFEAT IN THE SUNSHINE
By Brian Sanderson,
There are very few grounds that you are pleased to return to annually but Todmorden is one of these grounds.The forecast early in the week for to-day was poor but gradually the weather forecasters changed their minds.So this morning the sun was shining and I caught the train to the ground.This is the only ground this happen as my return ticket from Burley Park is £3.Excellent value and as I was waiting at the station John Winn turned up after catching the train at Pannel.
The Todmorden club is celebrating its 175th anniversary and its President is Malcolm Heywood who has helped to write two excellent books on the history of the club. Worth a read together with looking at the clubs web-site.The match was Lancashire Seconds against Yorkshire Seconds in a forty over match which started at noon which surprised myself who thought it started at 11.00.This match gives the Lancashire and Yorskhire P.C.W a chance to talk about the matches they had been too recently.
One of the pleasures of Todmorden is the Red Bricked cafe were I met Peter France and Peter Dibb enjoying their tea.I went to sell the programmes for the match but Lancashire as a the home side did not bring any.Howard Clayton,the Yorkshire scorer ,produced a printed sheet but was chargeing 50p.Plus he did not produce many which is a shame because people like to know who is playing.
Yorkshire batted first but were soon 71 for 6 however Rhodes and Lilley manged to get the score to 141 before Yorkshire were all out. There were three run outs in the innings which did not help the situation.Rhodes scored 39 and the next highest score was 23 by extras.During the innings I was able to taste the delights of the home cooking in the cafe.
Lancashire started well with Bentley and Proctor who scored 92 between them. Yorkshire bowling was poor apart from Lilley who took 2 wickets for 17.Adisappointing match in brilliant sunshine.
The Swedish audience has had enough of the blog and replaced by people from Russia.Hope they enjoy the descriptions of the trips to the cricket grounds.
I have been told off for mentioning the Rugby League Cup Final at Wembley but Leeds are playing and I am going so will miss some cricket that day.
There are very few grounds that you are pleased to return to annually but Todmorden is one of these grounds.The forecast early in the week for to-day was poor but gradually the weather forecasters changed their minds.So this morning the sun was shining and I caught the train to the ground.This is the only ground this happen as my return ticket from Burley Park is £3.Excellent value and as I was waiting at the station John Winn turned up after catching the train at Pannel.
The Todmorden club is celebrating its 175th anniversary and its President is Malcolm Heywood who has helped to write two excellent books on the history of the club. Worth a read together with looking at the clubs web-site.The match was Lancashire Seconds against Yorkshire Seconds in a forty over match which started at noon which surprised myself who thought it started at 11.00.This match gives the Lancashire and Yorskhire P.C.W a chance to talk about the matches they had been too recently.
One of the pleasures of Todmorden is the Red Bricked cafe were I met Peter France and Peter Dibb enjoying their tea.I went to sell the programmes for the match but Lancashire as a the home side did not bring any.Howard Clayton,the Yorkshire scorer ,produced a printed sheet but was chargeing 50p.Plus he did not produce many which is a shame because people like to know who is playing.
Yorkshire batted first but were soon 71 for 6 however Rhodes and Lilley manged to get the score to 141 before Yorkshire were all out. There were three run outs in the innings which did not help the situation.Rhodes scored 39 and the next highest score was 23 by extras.During the innings I was able to taste the delights of the home cooking in the cafe.
Lancashire started well with Bentley and Proctor who scored 92 between them. Yorkshire bowling was poor apart from Lilley who took 2 wickets for 17.Adisappointing match in brilliant sunshine.
The Swedish audience has had enough of the blog and replaced by people from Russia.Hope they enjoy the descriptions of the trips to the cricket grounds.
I have been told off for mentioning the Rugby League Cup Final at Wembley but Leeds are playing and I am going so will miss some cricket that day.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
MATCH SPOILED BY IDIOTS
By Brian Sanderson,
Similar to John I did not wish to go far to-day so I walked to the stadium called Headingley.It was just like starting the season again seeing William Roberts at his bookstall and the last time I was at Champoinship match here was at the beginning of Juine.The match was a forty over match against Unicorns.This is a interesting team consisting of players looking for contracts with counties so it is interesting to see the background of the players.
A flavour of the side is as follows:
Robert James Joseph Woolley who has made his first class debut with Cambridge MCCU and has played Lancashire seconds.
Reginald Glenn Querl ,born Harare and played for M.C.C Young Crickerters.
Just before the match I was privilaged to meet Percy Holmes grandson. Percy holds the first wicket partnership wih Herbert Sutcliffe of 555 or was it 554. That is another tale.
There was a decent crowd with a part of the Western Terrace open where a crowd of people from Mytholmroyd Cricket Club had set up camp fueled with Lager.In the dictionary it states a idiot is a foolish and senseless person. They were all through the match shouting until the finish. Why people go to cricket matches when they do not watch the match I do not know and also spoil it for the rest of the crowd.
Trying to watch the match through the racket was hard but Yorkshire won the toss and put the Unicorns into bat.It was left to Keith Parsons and Robert Woolley to put on a partnership of 47 to bring the total to 150. It rained after the 37 over which brought Duckworth -Lewis into play which is always interesting.The best Yorkshire bowlers were Sidebottom and Rashid who took five wickets for fifty-two in fifteen overs.
Yorkshire were set a total of 162 in 37 overs with the idiots still shouting.Yorkshire soon found themselves 4 for 41 with Woolley and Queri bowling well.Ballance and Rafiq put on a partnership of 87 to win the match with rain threating again.In the end a good victory for Yorkshire but they made hard work of it.
Looking at our audience of the blog Sweden are now fifth in the table better than in the Olympics
Similar to John I did not wish to go far to-day so I walked to the stadium called Headingley.It was just like starting the season again seeing William Roberts at his bookstall and the last time I was at Champoinship match here was at the beginning of Juine.The match was a forty over match against Unicorns.This is a interesting team consisting of players looking for contracts with counties so it is interesting to see the background of the players.
A flavour of the side is as follows:
Robert James Joseph Woolley who has made his first class debut with Cambridge MCCU and has played Lancashire seconds.
Reginald Glenn Querl ,born Harare and played for M.C.C Young Crickerters.
Just before the match I was privilaged to meet Percy Holmes grandson. Percy holds the first wicket partnership wih Herbert Sutcliffe of 555 or was it 554. That is another tale.
There was a decent crowd with a part of the Western Terrace open where a crowd of people from Mytholmroyd Cricket Club had set up camp fueled with Lager.In the dictionary it states a idiot is a foolish and senseless person. They were all through the match shouting until the finish. Why people go to cricket matches when they do not watch the match I do not know and also spoil it for the rest of the crowd.
Trying to watch the match through the racket was hard but Yorkshire won the toss and put the Unicorns into bat.It was left to Keith Parsons and Robert Woolley to put on a partnership of 47 to bring the total to 150. It rained after the 37 over which brought Duckworth -Lewis into play which is always interesting.The best Yorkshire bowlers were Sidebottom and Rashid who took five wickets for fifty-two in fifteen overs.
Yorkshire were set a total of 162 in 37 overs with the idiots still shouting.Yorkshire soon found themselves 4 for 41 with Woolley and Queri bowling well.Ballance and Rafiq put on a partnership of 87 to win the match with rain threating again.In the end a good victory for Yorkshire but they made hard work of it.
Looking at our audience of the blog Sweden are now fifth in the table better than in the Olympics
Glorious Twelfth for Blubberhouses
posted by John Winn
After a lot of driving yesterday I opted for a short trip this afternoon up the B6265 which runs within a forward defensive shot of my house to the ground of Studley Royal, hosts of this year's Atkinson Swires Cup final which had been postponed from last week. The ground is just a mile or so west of Ripon on the Pately Bridge Road. Having a raised bank on both sides the ground offers excellent viewing, especially for those who like to watch from or close to their cars. Studley are a very progressive club whose first team operate in the York League but they run four other Saturday sides in the Nidderdale league.
The cup is contested by the top sixteen teams in the previous season's Nidderdale league tables and today's final featured Masham and Blubberhouses. The group of supporters next to me were displaying the Masham flag and it seemed as though they might be in a slight majority of a decent crowd that grew throughout the afternoon. Cup final day brought cup final prices and trade was slow for tea at a pound a cup, twice what I paid at Blackhall yesterday.
Masham spirits were dampened in the first over when one of their openers was bowled before any runs were scored and soon 0 for 1 became 17 for 2. A good recovery was made to 88 for 3 but Blubberhouses kept a tight grip on the run rate, aided by two good catches in the deep. An lbw brought some bronze medal bat and glove throwing from the disappointed batsman and the innings subsided to 140 all out. 'Not enough' was the verdict of my neighbours, '150 would have been better'.
When Blubberhouses began their reply Masham set an interesting field with nobody more than twenty yards from the bat. It was rather like one of those pictures of cricket matches painted by people with a rather shaky knowledge of cricket but who are determined to get all eleven fielders in the picture. 5 for 0 off 4 overs suggested it was working and Masham's ace in the pack was 71 year old Derek Chapman whose teasing left arm spin claimed two early wickets and at 23 for 3 and 'the legendary Macca' back in the pavilion the odds were in favour of an upset in Masham's favour. But Blubberhouses are second in Division 1 and despite being 94 for 6 and needing 47 off 8 overs they went on to win with their skipper Bash Khan named man of the match. What a difference those extra ten runs might have made but Masham are set fair to win Division 2 and may well find themselves taking on their Washburn Valley rivals in Division 1 in 2013.
After a lot of driving yesterday I opted for a short trip this afternoon up the B6265 which runs within a forward defensive shot of my house to the ground of Studley Royal, hosts of this year's Atkinson Swires Cup final which had been postponed from last week. The ground is just a mile or so west of Ripon on the Pately Bridge Road. Having a raised bank on both sides the ground offers excellent viewing, especially for those who like to watch from or close to their cars. Studley are a very progressive club whose first team operate in the York League but they run four other Saturday sides in the Nidderdale league.
The cup is contested by the top sixteen teams in the previous season's Nidderdale league tables and today's final featured Masham and Blubberhouses. The group of supporters next to me were displaying the Masham flag and it seemed as though they might be in a slight majority of a decent crowd that grew throughout the afternoon. Cup final day brought cup final prices and trade was slow for tea at a pound a cup, twice what I paid at Blackhall yesterday.
Masham spirits were dampened in the first over when one of their openers was bowled before any runs were scored and soon 0 for 1 became 17 for 2. A good recovery was made to 88 for 3 but Blubberhouses kept a tight grip on the run rate, aided by two good catches in the deep. An lbw brought some bronze medal bat and glove throwing from the disappointed batsman and the innings subsided to 140 all out. 'Not enough' was the verdict of my neighbours, '150 would have been better'.
When Blubberhouses began their reply Masham set an interesting field with nobody more than twenty yards from the bat. It was rather like one of those pictures of cricket matches painted by people with a rather shaky knowledge of cricket but who are determined to get all eleven fielders in the picture. 5 for 0 off 4 overs suggested it was working and Masham's ace in the pack was 71 year old Derek Chapman whose teasing left arm spin claimed two early wickets and at 23 for 3 and 'the legendary Macca' back in the pavilion the odds were in favour of an upset in Masham's favour. But Blubberhouses are second in Division 1 and despite being 94 for 6 and needing 47 off 8 overs they went on to win with their skipper Bash Khan named man of the match. What a difference those extra ten runs might have made but Masham are set fair to win Division 2 and may well find themselves taking on their Washburn Valley rivals in Division 1 in 2013.
Life with The Lyons
posted by John Winn
A small piece in the August edition of Cricketer magazine states that The North East Premier League is to be expanded to two divisions next season with the new clubs coming from four other local leagues in that area. The clubs from those leagues not admitted to the new division will form a new Durham League.
Coincidentally yesterday saw me driving up the A19 and then the A182 to the LilywhiteTerrace ground of Hetton Lyons CC for their home game with Chester le Street, sixth against fourth in the NEPL whose twelve clubs are drawn from Northumberland and Durham.
With an 11;30 start the game had been in progress for an hour when I arrived and Hetton had made 86 for 4 off 20 overs . After a lively start they were gradually being reined in by the Chester attack and I had missed the innings of Ryan Pringle who is making something of a reputation with Durham II.
The ground is extremely well appointed with a palatial clubhouse offering Saturday and Sunday lunches as well as the usual tearoom refreshments. I settled for a cup of tea and sandwich and asked a fellow refreshee if he knew anything of the details of the league reshuffle. Did he? He was able to rattle off all the clubs who were to be 'promoted' and the fate of those left behind and also made the point that not everybody was happy about the new set up. For the Durham Senior League for example it will mark the end of over a 120 year history.
Whilst making a circuit of the ground I fell into conversation with a husband and wife pair of local supporters who, originally from Huddersfield (the lady of the pair proud to be a Golcar Lily), have lived in a number of places in the East Midlands before settling in the North East. They were very well informed about local cricket and were curious about the blog. If, John and 'Lily,' you have found it, I hope you find something of interest.
When the players left the field for lunch at 1:30 the penny dropped about the early start but whatever was served it failed to revivify the Hetton batsmen and they were all out for 132 which the visitors reached for the loss of two wickets. Meanwhile I drove a few miles south east to Blackhall, just up the coast from Hartlepool and to Welfare Park, the home of Blackhal CC, founded in 1929 and members of the NYSD league since 1933. There is an excellent history of the club on their website recounting their glory days of the 1930s and the names of professionals they have employed like Desmond Haines and Clayton Lambert. For the time being at least those days are behind them and in 2004 they were relegated after 71 years of continuous membership of the A Division. Yesterday the seconds were in action against Whitby II with the home team batting and 68 for 3 when I left. A feature of the ground is the large playing area which is used to its full size and yesterday this meant a very long boundary on one side with the wicket pitched towards the bowling green side.
A few miles south and crossing the isogloss* which separates the Durham accent from the Teesside and probably also the Sunderland supporter from the Hartlepool or Middlesbrough, I reached Hartlepool's seaside resort, Seaton Carew. As a small boy I watched my father play here but since those sepia photograph days the club has moved across the road to Hornby Park where yesterday SCCC I were playing Marske II in a NYSD Div 1 match. The sun had disappeared by this time and with the wind blowing off the nearby North Sea I did not linger long .As I left, Marske were 80 for 6 and I drove the mile or so to a new ground, a different league and a different cricketing experience, in short Hartlepool Power Station CC who sit proudly at the top of The Langbaurgh League and where the championship flag flew proudly in an even stiffer breeze. Can any ground be more dominated by an industrial landscape,sitting as it does in the shadow of the power station and where notices in the car park spell out dire warnings of the consequences of infringement of health and safety rules?
Most Langbaurgh League clubs are in small villages in North Yorkshire and a greater contrast between those clubs and the Tees Road ground could not be imagined.. Yesterday's opponents were Moorsholm from the the other side of the Tees estuary and I remarked to one of the boundary fielders that they must love coming here but the worst he could say was that ' it wouldn't be so bad if the wind wasn't blowing', which I thought was a very chivalrous response. HPS were recovering from 38 for 3 when I left and had reached 87 without further loss when I left behind the dominating power station with its constant hum and drove to Armstrong Park, Wolviston, where the home side's second eleven were batting against Preston on Tees I and while I was there lost their last four wickets to some canny spin bowling. This NYSD ground is separated only by a tall hedge from Metcalfe Park where Wolviston FC were taking on Wearside League opponents Prudhoe and were, I was informed by a blazered gentleman, about to lose their third match of the season. And you thought football hadn't started yet. The cricket enclosure has a fine stand of trees on one side but these do not block out the traffic noise from the A19, which is where I came in and which road I took to drive back into the Vale of York.
Another interesting week ahead with cricket at Todmorden, always of interest to the pcw, especially those who like to fuel the corporal stove, and the return of championship cricket to Headingley after an absence of over ten weeks. Crackers.
* I only came across this word on Friday and was determined to get it in. It refers to the geographical boundary of a linguistic feature, in this case an accent.
A small piece in the August edition of Cricketer magazine states that The North East Premier League is to be expanded to two divisions next season with the new clubs coming from four other local leagues in that area. The clubs from those leagues not admitted to the new division will form a new Durham League.
Coincidentally yesterday saw me driving up the A19 and then the A182 to the LilywhiteTerrace ground of Hetton Lyons CC for their home game with Chester le Street, sixth against fourth in the NEPL whose twelve clubs are drawn from Northumberland and Durham.
With an 11;30 start the game had been in progress for an hour when I arrived and Hetton had made 86 for 4 off 20 overs . After a lively start they were gradually being reined in by the Chester attack and I had missed the innings of Ryan Pringle who is making something of a reputation with Durham II.
The ground is extremely well appointed with a palatial clubhouse offering Saturday and Sunday lunches as well as the usual tearoom refreshments. I settled for a cup of tea and sandwich and asked a fellow refreshee if he knew anything of the details of the league reshuffle. Did he? He was able to rattle off all the clubs who were to be 'promoted' and the fate of those left behind and also made the point that not everybody was happy about the new set up. For the Durham Senior League for example it will mark the end of over a 120 year history.
Whilst making a circuit of the ground I fell into conversation with a husband and wife pair of local supporters who, originally from Huddersfield (the lady of the pair proud to be a Golcar Lily), have lived in a number of places in the East Midlands before settling in the North East. They were very well informed about local cricket and were curious about the blog. If, John and 'Lily,' you have found it, I hope you find something of interest.
When the players left the field for lunch at 1:30 the penny dropped about the early start but whatever was served it failed to revivify the Hetton batsmen and they were all out for 132 which the visitors reached for the loss of two wickets. Meanwhile I drove a few miles south east to Blackhall, just up the coast from Hartlepool and to Welfare Park, the home of Blackhal CC, founded in 1929 and members of the NYSD league since 1933. There is an excellent history of the club on their website recounting their glory days of the 1930s and the names of professionals they have employed like Desmond Haines and Clayton Lambert. For the time being at least those days are behind them and in 2004 they were relegated after 71 years of continuous membership of the A Division. Yesterday the seconds were in action against Whitby II with the home team batting and 68 for 3 when I left. A feature of the ground is the large playing area which is used to its full size and yesterday this meant a very long boundary on one side with the wicket pitched towards the bowling green side.
A few miles south and crossing the isogloss* which separates the Durham accent from the Teesside and probably also the Sunderland supporter from the Hartlepool or Middlesbrough, I reached Hartlepool's seaside resort, Seaton Carew. As a small boy I watched my father play here but since those sepia photograph days the club has moved across the road to Hornby Park where yesterday SCCC I were playing Marske II in a NYSD Div 1 match. The sun had disappeared by this time and with the wind blowing off the nearby North Sea I did not linger long .As I left, Marske were 80 for 6 and I drove the mile or so to a new ground, a different league and a different cricketing experience, in short Hartlepool Power Station CC who sit proudly at the top of The Langbaurgh League and where the championship flag flew proudly in an even stiffer breeze. Can any ground be more dominated by an industrial landscape,sitting as it does in the shadow of the power station and where notices in the car park spell out dire warnings of the consequences of infringement of health and safety rules?
Most Langbaurgh League clubs are in small villages in North Yorkshire and a greater contrast between those clubs and the Tees Road ground could not be imagined.. Yesterday's opponents were Moorsholm from the the other side of the Tees estuary and I remarked to one of the boundary fielders that they must love coming here but the worst he could say was that ' it wouldn't be so bad if the wind wasn't blowing', which I thought was a very chivalrous response. HPS were recovering from 38 for 3 when I left and had reached 87 without further loss when I left behind the dominating power station with its constant hum and drove to Armstrong Park, Wolviston, where the home side's second eleven were batting against Preston on Tees I and while I was there lost their last four wickets to some canny spin bowling. This NYSD ground is separated only by a tall hedge from Metcalfe Park where Wolviston FC were taking on Wearside League opponents Prudhoe and were, I was informed by a blazered gentleman, about to lose their third match of the season. And you thought football hadn't started yet. The cricket enclosure has a fine stand of trees on one side but these do not block out the traffic noise from the A19, which is where I came in and which road I took to drive back into the Vale of York.
Another interesting week ahead with cricket at Todmorden, always of interest to the pcw, especially those who like to fuel the corporal stove, and the return of championship cricket to Headingley after an absence of over ten weeks. Crackers.
* I only came across this word on Friday and was determined to get it in. It refers to the geographical boundary of a linguistic feature, in this case an accent.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
VISIT TO THE EX-FUNERAL CARE LEAGUE
By Brian Sanderson,
The weather forecast was dry and cloudy so we sent off to North-East coaast of Yorkshire.
The first ground we went to was Saltburn whose team play in the North Yorshire - South Durham Cricket League.It is situated near a Sports Centre and you can see the North Sea in the distance.There is pavilion which had been painted white and the ground is large with the tennis club on the right hand side.They have a eletric scoreboard which is situated on the far side of the ground.The second team were playing Sedgefield and started the match with a substitute fielder dressed in shorts and coloured shirt.Another first for me however this lasted only two overs.The re was a lady umpire officating in the match and gave a dubious L.B.W with the batsman looking aghast.
Moving on about four miles to New Maske who were playing Chop Gate in the Langbaurgh Cricket League.This league is sponsered by Inshore Fisheries.The ground is next to a football pitch were there was a match on.The ball went passed three times Ron Stansfield as he was sat down watching the cricket.Behind the changing sheds was the headquaters of the Pidgeon Club.The ground is in a dip and was still very damp.This league has suffered very badly due the rain this summer.There was a decent crowd mainly watching the cricket in the cars.
Moving on to another club in this league Skelton Castle however you could not see the castle.They were playing a friendly match from a team from Watford which is an annually event.They had to cancel the league match with East Harsley as the league would not allow them to rearrange tha match.With this friendly match they rised enough money to cover most of their expenses for the year.The ground was also in a basin and only recently been cut and they had only played three home matches this season because again of the rain.Clubs are struggling to keep going due the lack of revenue when the matches are cancelled.
Just about three miles away was the Boosbeck club who are in the Cleveland League which used to be sponsered by Co-operative Funeralcare but this has lapsed.This ground again is situated next to a football pitch and you can again see the sea in the distance.This ground has only been able to play three home matches this season again due to rain.They had to run a horse racing night to help them keep running.They have had money to build new changing rooms and provide electicity to the club which enabled them to have showers for the first time.Contrast to County Clubs facilities. They were playing Smiths Docks who were batting but struggling.
Next ground was Loftus who were playing Oxbridge in the same league.There again there was a football pitch at the far side which just had new drains put in costing £50.000 and at the end of the cricket season new drains will be put in across the pitch.At the far side was a bowls section where one of the spectators played.Thet away side were batting reaching 199 with eleven captains on the home side deciding on eleven different tactics.Very interesting to watch and tea was taken by the travellers while noticing Leeds United had won easily.
The next ground was Staithes who were playing Seamer in the Becketts League.The ground is next to club were a darts compertition was going on and the match was over.Next to the pitch was numberous tents which I assume were been used by the dart players.Disappointing ground.
Moving on towards Whitby we called in at Hinderwell ground which is only used for evening league matches.There is a small pavilion but a large pitch which had been used this season Few miles down the coast we arrived at Whitby ground which is again situated next the football ground where a friendly had been played.Whitby are in the North Yorshire and South Durham League and were playing Blackhall.The cricket club had sold off some of their land to a builder who had biult them a new pavilion after they had demolished the old one.However the new one the scores were looking into the setting sun trying to see the match. Something wrong here.
A interesting trip over over two hundred miles seeing new grounds and leagues. Local football has started which will make local sides struggle to get players for the rest of the season
The weather forecast was dry and cloudy so we sent off to North-East coaast of Yorkshire.
The first ground we went to was Saltburn whose team play in the North Yorshire - South Durham Cricket League.It is situated near a Sports Centre and you can see the North Sea in the distance.There is pavilion which had been painted white and the ground is large with the tennis club on the right hand side.They have a eletric scoreboard which is situated on the far side of the ground.The second team were playing Sedgefield and started the match with a substitute fielder dressed in shorts and coloured shirt.Another first for me however this lasted only two overs.The re was a lady umpire officating in the match and gave a dubious L.B.W with the batsman looking aghast.
Moving on about four miles to New Maske who were playing Chop Gate in the Langbaurgh Cricket League.This league is sponsered by Inshore Fisheries.The ground is next to a football pitch were there was a match on.The ball went passed three times Ron Stansfield as he was sat down watching the cricket.Behind the changing sheds was the headquaters of the Pidgeon Club.The ground is in a dip and was still very damp.This league has suffered very badly due the rain this summer.There was a decent crowd mainly watching the cricket in the cars.
Moving on to another club in this league Skelton Castle however you could not see the castle.They were playing a friendly match from a team from Watford which is an annually event.They had to cancel the league match with East Harsley as the league would not allow them to rearrange tha match.With this friendly match they rised enough money to cover most of their expenses for the year.The ground was also in a basin and only recently been cut and they had only played three home matches this season because again of the rain.Clubs are struggling to keep going due the lack of revenue when the matches are cancelled.
Just about three miles away was the Boosbeck club who are in the Cleveland League which used to be sponsered by Co-operative Funeralcare but this has lapsed.This ground again is situated next to a football pitch and you can again see the sea in the distance.This ground has only been able to play three home matches this season again due to rain.They had to run a horse racing night to help them keep running.They have had money to build new changing rooms and provide electicity to the club which enabled them to have showers for the first time.Contrast to County Clubs facilities. They were playing Smiths Docks who were batting but struggling.
Next ground was Loftus who were playing Oxbridge in the same league.There again there was a football pitch at the far side which just had new drains put in costing £50.000 and at the end of the cricket season new drains will be put in across the pitch.At the far side was a bowls section where one of the spectators played.Thet away side were batting reaching 199 with eleven captains on the home side deciding on eleven different tactics.Very interesting to watch and tea was taken by the travellers while noticing Leeds United had won easily.
The next ground was Staithes who were playing Seamer in the Becketts League.The ground is next to club were a darts compertition was going on and the match was over.Next to the pitch was numberous tents which I assume were been used by the dart players.Disappointing ground.
Moving on towards Whitby we called in at Hinderwell ground which is only used for evening league matches.There is a small pavilion but a large pitch which had been used this season Few miles down the coast we arrived at Whitby ground which is again situated next the football ground where a friendly had been played.Whitby are in the North Yorshire and South Durham League and were playing Blackhall.The cricket club had sold off some of their land to a builder who had biult them a new pavilion after they had demolished the old one.However the new one the scores were looking into the setting sun trying to see the match. Something wrong here.
A interesting trip over over two hundred miles seeing new grounds and leagues. Local football has started which will make local sides struggle to get players for the rest of the season
Friday, 10 August 2012
RETURN TO UNDERCLIFFE
By Brian Sanderson,
With the sunshining again I set off back to watch Yorkshire under 19 match with Ron Stansfield with me.It was his first visit to the ground and found Middlesex 55 for 0 with Yorkshire bowled out yesterday for 244.
We were given a up to date scoresheet by Brian Lymbury ,Yorkshire coach and President of Undercliffe.
I gave him a copy of Undercliffe team in 1919 which included C.L.Llewellyn.Recently I received a e-mail asking if I could help to supply his averages while he was at Undercliffe.However I did not have this information and it would seem Undercliffe had a fire in the 1930,s destroying their early records. He played for South Africa 15 matches and played in the leagues until he was in his sixty,s.
Middlesex openers Sabin and Higgins put on a opening stand of 150 before Sabin was out stumpted off Mc Kendry.Higgins went on to complete his century. Yorkshire tried seven bowlers but only McKendry took the four wickets before lunch. I tried the home made apple pie to-day and found it brillant. You can not beat home cooking.At lunch Middlesex were 246 for 5 off 47 overs.Mc Kendry figures were 13-1-70-4.
After lunch we were given more up to date information and do wish this would happen in all matches.
Middlesex carried on to reach three hundred and maximum bonus points.Soon as Yorkshire batted they lost four wickets mainly to Harry Padmore who looked to good for Yorkshire.
I had to leave at tea time to get ready for the rugby to-night but I enjoyed the time at Undercliffe who were very helpful.
With the sunshining again I set off back to watch Yorkshire under 19 match with Ron Stansfield with me.It was his first visit to the ground and found Middlesex 55 for 0 with Yorkshire bowled out yesterday for 244.
We were given a up to date scoresheet by Brian Lymbury ,Yorkshire coach and President of Undercliffe.
I gave him a copy of Undercliffe team in 1919 which included C.L.Llewellyn.Recently I received a e-mail asking if I could help to supply his averages while he was at Undercliffe.However I did not have this information and it would seem Undercliffe had a fire in the 1930,s destroying their early records. He played for South Africa 15 matches and played in the leagues until he was in his sixty,s.
Middlesex openers Sabin and Higgins put on a opening stand of 150 before Sabin was out stumpted off Mc Kendry.Higgins went on to complete his century. Yorkshire tried seven bowlers but only McKendry took the four wickets before lunch. I tried the home made apple pie to-day and found it brillant. You can not beat home cooking.At lunch Middlesex were 246 for 5 off 47 overs.Mc Kendry figures were 13-1-70-4.
After lunch we were given more up to date information and do wish this would happen in all matches.
Middlesex carried on to reach three hundred and maximum bonus points.Soon as Yorkshire batted they lost four wickets mainly to Harry Padmore who looked to good for Yorkshire.
I had to leave at tea time to get ready for the rugby to-night but I enjoyed the time at Undercliffe who were very helpful.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
short but very sweet
posted by John Winn
At the Riverside this morning everything pointed to a Durham win but I was a little surprised that the two friends I travelled with from south west Durham thought that we need not pay for car parking after 12:40. 'Tempting providence' I was heard to mutter. We took our usual seats and considering that there was no guarantee that play would last for more than a short time there was a decent crowd enjoying some of the best sunshine of the summer.
Rushworth began proceedings and dismissed nightwatchman Linley in the first over. Just the start Durham wanted and with Onions bowling splendidly from the Lumley end Surrey's batsmen made only slow progress. Burns, who had opened the innings, was joined by Spriegel who Playfair shows has some good scores to his name and they added 22 for the seventh wicket until the opener got an absolute snorter from Onions and was brilliantly caught by Mustard. A wicket just when we needed one and this set the pattern for Spriegel and Batty had added 23 when the introduction of Thorpe saw Stokes take an athletic catch chasing a ball that had lobbed over his head to remove Spriegel.
Collingham tuned to Borthwick while there were still some runs to play with and after a couple of looseners were put away for four the young leg spinner did the trick by taking the last two wickets. Under previous seasons' regulations lunch would have been taken with the last pair at the crease but the arrangements for lunch are now in line with those for tea with play extended for up to half an hour if necessary to complete the innings. Batty must have heard the rattle of soup plates because off only the second ball of the extended session he was caught at deep midwicket by Stoneman.
Durham's victory took them four places up the table and left the brown caps in bottom place. In his post match interview Chris Adams expressed confidence that his team could win enough matches of the remaining four to stay up. I suppose Geoff Cook, Steve Rhodes and Peter Moores would say the same but they can't all be right. Victory for Middlesx in their match with Sussex starting at Hove tomorrow would just about make them safe.
Having fed the meter with another pound we enjoyed the glow of a second successive victory and ate our lunch as the crowd gradually dwindled away. I was home not long after three feeling pretty smug that I had made the journey.
At the Riverside this morning everything pointed to a Durham win but I was a little surprised that the two friends I travelled with from south west Durham thought that we need not pay for car parking after 12:40. 'Tempting providence' I was heard to mutter. We took our usual seats and considering that there was no guarantee that play would last for more than a short time there was a decent crowd enjoying some of the best sunshine of the summer.
Rushworth began proceedings and dismissed nightwatchman Linley in the first over. Just the start Durham wanted and with Onions bowling splendidly from the Lumley end Surrey's batsmen made only slow progress. Burns, who had opened the innings, was joined by Spriegel who Playfair shows has some good scores to his name and they added 22 for the seventh wicket until the opener got an absolute snorter from Onions and was brilliantly caught by Mustard. A wicket just when we needed one and this set the pattern for Spriegel and Batty had added 23 when the introduction of Thorpe saw Stokes take an athletic catch chasing a ball that had lobbed over his head to remove Spriegel.
Collingham tuned to Borthwick while there were still some runs to play with and after a couple of looseners were put away for four the young leg spinner did the trick by taking the last two wickets. Under previous seasons' regulations lunch would have been taken with the last pair at the crease but the arrangements for lunch are now in line with those for tea with play extended for up to half an hour if necessary to complete the innings. Batty must have heard the rattle of soup plates because off only the second ball of the extended session he was caught at deep midwicket by Stoneman.
Durham's victory took them four places up the table and left the brown caps in bottom place. In his post match interview Chris Adams expressed confidence that his team could win enough matches of the remaining four to stay up. I suppose Geoff Cook, Steve Rhodes and Peter Moores would say the same but they can't all be right. Victory for Middlesx in their match with Sussex starting at Hove tomorrow would just about make them safe.
Having fed the meter with another pound we enjoyed the glow of a second successive victory and ate our lunch as the crowd gradually dwindled away. I was home not long after three feeling pretty smug that I had made the journey.
EXCITING FINISH TO A SUNNY DAY
By Brian Sanderson,
I stayed local to-day and went to Undercliffe were Yorkshire under19 were playing Middlesex.
Undercliffe are a club that has been established since 1875 and have been one of the main clubs in the Bradford League. I watched the under 19 win at Rotherham recently but to-day they were missing some Academy players who were playing elsewhere.Middlesex were a stronger side including Adam Rossington,wicket-keeper,who has played two first class matches.
Arriving I was soon told off by Peter France stating in yesterday blog I should have said Mac Queen played for Broad Oak rather than Paddock this season.A minus point to me.
Yorkshire were batting with Good and Gorod opening the batting against seven bowlers.At lunch Yorkshire were 89 for 1 looking secure.After eating the magnificent apple pie Middlesex bowler started taking wickets.At tea they were 182 for 7 with Mc Kendry from York batting well.
I moved on to Weetwood together with Tony Hutton to watch the finish of the fifty over match between Yorkshire under17 and Derbyshire under 17.Derbyshire were batting and had lost four wickets for eighty chasing Yorkshire 223.We were told Will Rhodes had scored some more runs.He is in rich vein of form at rhe present time,Jenny was there enjoying the sunshine and cricket.Derbyshire captain was Greg Cork, son of the first class cricketer and the county were left to score 120 in about twenty overs.
Yorkshire fielding was poor giving runs away and it was left to Free to bowl the last over Derbyshire wanting eleven runs .He started off with a wide and a bye.However Yorkshire won by two runs in the end.A excellent finish in sunshine.
Yorkshire seconds won for the first time in two years bowling University out for 202 and Hannon-Dalby took another four wickets.I s this start of a new era for him.We will see this seaon.
It seems the Russains like the blog so please carry on reading our visits to cricket grounds.
I stayed local to-day and went to Undercliffe were Yorkshire under19 were playing Middlesex.
Undercliffe are a club that has been established since 1875 and have been one of the main clubs in the Bradford League. I watched the under 19 win at Rotherham recently but to-day they were missing some Academy players who were playing elsewhere.Middlesex were a stronger side including Adam Rossington,wicket-keeper,who has played two first class matches.
Arriving I was soon told off by Peter France stating in yesterday blog I should have said Mac Queen played for Broad Oak rather than Paddock this season.A minus point to me.
Yorkshire were batting with Good and Gorod opening the batting against seven bowlers.At lunch Yorkshire were 89 for 1 looking secure.After eating the magnificent apple pie Middlesex bowler started taking wickets.At tea they were 182 for 7 with Mc Kendry from York batting well.
I moved on to Weetwood together with Tony Hutton to watch the finish of the fifty over match between Yorkshire under17 and Derbyshire under 17.Derbyshire were batting and had lost four wickets for eighty chasing Yorkshire 223.We were told Will Rhodes had scored some more runs.He is in rich vein of form at rhe present time,Jenny was there enjoying the sunshine and cricket.Derbyshire captain was Greg Cork, son of the first class cricketer and the county were left to score 120 in about twenty overs.
Yorkshire fielding was poor giving runs away and it was left to Free to bowl the last over Derbyshire wanting eleven runs .He started off with a wide and a bye.However Yorkshire won by two runs in the end.A excellent finish in sunshine.
Yorkshire seconds won for the first time in two years bowling University out for 202 and Hannon-Dalby took another four wickets.I s this start of a new era for him.We will see this seaon.
It seems the Russains like the blog so please carry on reading our visits to cricket grounds.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Brian says it all.
Brian has said it all, so far this is no contest. The good points were that the sun shone, the new bar looked terrific, the scorecards were up to date and I enjoyed conversation with the some of the people Brian has mentioned as well as Paul Farbrace the Yorkshire coach, but at close of play the scoreline said it all : Yorkshire Second XI lead by 383 runs and can extend that tomorrow if they wish.
No doubt the MCCU coach Clive Radley will have stern words with his young charges and point out that while cameo innings like that of Los Angeles born Harry Bush who, when his side had their backs to the wall hit 38 off off 33 balls with 7 fours before being caught in the deep, are easy on the eye they will not save this game.
Over the two days Yorkshire have been much too strong in all departments for their opponents and it is hard to see any alternative to a comfortable victory for Joe Sayers' lads. Quite when will depend on the degree of resolution shown by the students.
There are plenty of things on offer for the pcw tomorrow but with Surrey five down in their second innings at The Riverside and still 112 behind the prospect of a second successive victory for Durham, and one which will lift them off the foot of the table, has convinced me that I should head north again even though it might all be over before lunch. That I can stand.
No doubt the MCCU coach Clive Radley will have stern words with his young charges and point out that while cameo innings like that of Los Angeles born Harry Bush who, when his side had their backs to the wall hit 38 off off 33 balls with 7 fours before being caught in the deep, are easy on the eye they will not save this game.
Over the two days Yorkshire have been much too strong in all departments for their opponents and it is hard to see any alternative to a comfortable victory for Joe Sayers' lads. Quite when will depend on the degree of resolution shown by the students.
There are plenty of things on offer for the pcw tomorrow but with Surrey five down in their second innings at The Riverside and still 112 behind the prospect of a second successive victory for Durham, and one which will lift them off the foot of the table, has convinced me that I should head north again even though it might all be over before lunch. That I can stand.
NETS FOR YORKSHIRE
By Brian Sanderson,
The forecast was sunshine but at lunch-time clouds arrived and Nigal Pullan decided to go for a coat.However no arrived so there was no need for tyres on the sheets as yesterday.
I must mention the P.C.W who were there was Peter France,Bob Proctor and John Winn so there was plenty of comments of the play during the day.I brought some books to sign for the University coach who was Clive Radley. Clive was one of the Wisden Players of the year for 1978 and was born in 1944 which was another quiz question this afternoon.He his second Test innings he scored 158 in 11-hour vigil in New Zealand.
The University were two wickets down this morning and were soon all out 129.The best bowler was Hannon-Dalby taking 4 for 21.I thought Iwould not write this year however he had taken wickets last week-end.Also should say McGrath took 2 for 10 in his overs. You must feel sorry for Gibson and Ross not bowling.
The sun shone during the afternoon and watched a net from McGrath who scored 78 with Yorkshire finishing on 208 for 7 which gave them a 385 lead.Mac Queen, the Leeds and Bradford University spinner took 4 wickets for 108. Peter France said he had played two matches for Paddock this season and hopes to play next season. He should be a good player for them.
Overall there was a slow overate and Yorkshire took do chances so it was good job there was good company and sunshine.To-morrow Yorkshire should win easily so York club will be happy it will go into the third day.Welcome to the Swedish who visited this site and Ihope you enjoy it.
The forecast was sunshine but at lunch-time clouds arrived and Nigal Pullan decided to go for a coat.However no arrived so there was no need for tyres on the sheets as yesterday.
I must mention the P.C.W who were there was Peter France,Bob Proctor and John Winn so there was plenty of comments of the play during the day.I brought some books to sign for the University coach who was Clive Radley. Clive was one of the Wisden Players of the year for 1978 and was born in 1944 which was another quiz question this afternoon.He his second Test innings he scored 158 in 11-hour vigil in New Zealand.
The University were two wickets down this morning and were soon all out 129.The best bowler was Hannon-Dalby taking 4 for 21.I thought Iwould not write this year however he had taken wickets last week-end.Also should say McGrath took 2 for 10 in his overs. You must feel sorry for Gibson and Ross not bowling.
The sun shone during the afternoon and watched a net from McGrath who scored 78 with Yorkshire finishing on 208 for 7 which gave them a 385 lead.Mac Queen, the Leeds and Bradford University spinner took 4 wickets for 108. Peter France said he had played two matches for Paddock this season and hopes to play next season. He should be a good player for them.
Overall there was a slow overate and Yorkshire took do chances so it was good job there was good company and sunshine.To-morrow Yorkshire should win easily so York club will be happy it will go into the third day.Welcome to the Swedish who visited this site and Ihope you enjoy it.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Advantage Durham
posted by John Winn
Cheered by the prospect of improving weather I made my way by train and bus this morning to The Riverside for the first day of the championship game between Durham and Surrey. Heartened by their narrow victory over Middlesex two weeks ago this game presented Durham with the opportunity to move off the bottom of the table and overhaul their brown capped visitors.
Batting has been very difficult at The Riverside this season, especially for Durham's top order whose failings I have described in recent posts. At last today's side showed a change I have been urging, namely the dropping of Muchall who has been short of form, luck and runs and I cheered the news that we would see young Jennings in his place. As the Surrey openers came down the pavilion steps I was amazed to find skipper Batty had won the toss and chosen to bat, at least we would be spared the prospect of Durham losing three or four wickets before we could open our luncheon hampers.
We did see four batsmen return to the pavilion before lunch, Messrs Ansari, Burns, de Bruyn and Roy, not a top order to strike fear into a bowler's vitals, especially the likes of the in form Onions, Rushworth and Stokes who reduced Surrey to 67 for 4 at the interval. In pleasant sunshine I sat among plenty of familiar faces and was entertained by the usual eclectic conversation which even touched on cricket before returning to the intricacies of the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket.
Things got no better for the visitors after lunch and although Jon Lewis with a few lusty blow helped his skipper add 37 for the eighth wicket Surrey were all out for 129, the sort of total that has been typical of Durham's first innings this season. Top wicket taker for Durham was Ben Stokes. Last year I suggested on the blog that Stokes might best forget his bowling and concentrate on his batting.I might need to alter my position on this issue.
Smith and Stoneman began Durham's reply but the latter soon fell to Dernbach and so, making his first class debut ,Jennings came to the crease. A somewhat streaky first ball four got him off the mark and seemed to help his confidence and he and Smith got through to tea at 32 for 1. My friend Peter Sixsmith had offered me a lift home which made a pleasant change from the two hour train/bus journey so I left with him at tea and we were disappointed that by the time we arrived at my house Durham had lost three further wickets and subsided to 58 for 4. Fortunately Collingwood and Benkenstein saw them to stumps without further loss and a deficit of just ten.
The forecast for the next few days is very good and it is hard to see the game extending into a fourth day. Depending on the match situation I may return on Thursday but will content myself with the twenty minute drive to Clifton Park tomorrow to see MCCU in action against Yorkshire II. Sun cream and deck chair will travel with me although I note from Brian's posting there were showers there today. Might just take the 'pac a mac' I inherited as part of a promotion for The Cricket Paper at the test match last week. The accompanying binoculars were collected by the bin men today
Cheered by the prospect of improving weather I made my way by train and bus this morning to The Riverside for the first day of the championship game between Durham and Surrey. Heartened by their narrow victory over Middlesex two weeks ago this game presented Durham with the opportunity to move off the bottom of the table and overhaul their brown capped visitors.
Batting has been very difficult at The Riverside this season, especially for Durham's top order whose failings I have described in recent posts. At last today's side showed a change I have been urging, namely the dropping of Muchall who has been short of form, luck and runs and I cheered the news that we would see young Jennings in his place. As the Surrey openers came down the pavilion steps I was amazed to find skipper Batty had won the toss and chosen to bat, at least we would be spared the prospect of Durham losing three or four wickets before we could open our luncheon hampers.
We did see four batsmen return to the pavilion before lunch, Messrs Ansari, Burns, de Bruyn and Roy, not a top order to strike fear into a bowler's vitals, especially the likes of the in form Onions, Rushworth and Stokes who reduced Surrey to 67 for 4 at the interval. In pleasant sunshine I sat among plenty of familiar faces and was entertained by the usual eclectic conversation which even touched on cricket before returning to the intricacies of the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket.
Things got no better for the visitors after lunch and although Jon Lewis with a few lusty blow helped his skipper add 37 for the eighth wicket Surrey were all out for 129, the sort of total that has been typical of Durham's first innings this season. Top wicket taker for Durham was Ben Stokes. Last year I suggested on the blog that Stokes might best forget his bowling and concentrate on his batting.I might need to alter my position on this issue.
Smith and Stoneman began Durham's reply but the latter soon fell to Dernbach and so, making his first class debut ,Jennings came to the crease. A somewhat streaky first ball four got him off the mark and seemed to help his confidence and he and Smith got through to tea at 32 for 1. My friend Peter Sixsmith had offered me a lift home which made a pleasant change from the two hour train/bus journey so I left with him at tea and we were disappointed that by the time we arrived at my house Durham had lost three further wickets and subsided to 58 for 4. Fortunately Collingwood and Benkenstein saw them to stumps without further loss and a deficit of just ten.
The forecast for the next few days is very good and it is hard to see the game extending into a fourth day. Depending on the match situation I may return on Thursday but will content myself with the twenty minute drive to Clifton Park tomorrow to see MCCU in action against Yorkshire II. Sun cream and deck chair will travel with me although I note from Brian's posting there were showers there today. Might just take the 'pac a mac' I inherited as part of a promotion for The Cricket Paper at the test match last week. The accompanying binoculars were collected by the bin men today
TWO MATCHES BETWEEN SHOWERS
By Brian Sanderson,
The weather forecast was sunny with showers and this was correct.The first match was at York were Yorkshire Seconds were playing British Universties in a three day match.Yorkshire included three capped players Sayers, Mc Grath and Sidebottom who was recovering from injury.
Yorkshire batted first with Sayers and Lees.Sayers was first out and after speaking to the bowler he said he played down the wrong line.Mc Grath was also soon out caught.You must feel this will be his last season with Yorkshire.To-day he spoke to Martyn M,oxon,the Cricket Manager and Mathew Wood from the E.C.B.So we will have to wait for any news in the next few weeks.
Just before lunch Lees was given out L.B.W and the first rain shower came down.So lunch was taken and the rain soon stopped.Tony Hutton arrived after visiting Weetwood were it was raining.Just after lunch Hodgson was soon out after scoring 60.Yorkshire slumped to 154 for 7 when the rain started falling again.Twelve ground staff put the fully sheets on the ground it looked as though there was thunder rain due however this did not happen.When I went over to speak to Howard Clayton,the Yorkshire scorer,the umpires said the match would not restart until five o,clock.So I moved on to Weetwood.
At Weetwood Yorkshire under 17 were playing Derbyshire under 17 in a two day match.Yorkshire were batting with Will Rhodes and James Mc Nichol.Sitting on the on top of the slope was Peter France ,who has scored another point, watching the cricket in the sunshine.The match lost about 17 overs due to rain.Yorkshire were three wickets down with a partnership of over 100.Rhodes scored a century after scoring runs on Saturday with the Academy.As I left Yorkshire were 260 for 3 wanting to get maximum batting points to-night by scoring 300.
The weather forecast was sunny with showers and this was correct.The first match was at York were Yorkshire Seconds were playing British Universties in a three day match.Yorkshire included three capped players Sayers, Mc Grath and Sidebottom who was recovering from injury.
Yorkshire batted first with Sayers and Lees.Sayers was first out and after speaking to the bowler he said he played down the wrong line.Mc Grath was also soon out caught.You must feel this will be his last season with Yorkshire.To-day he spoke to Martyn M,oxon,the Cricket Manager and Mathew Wood from the E.C.B.So we will have to wait for any news in the next few weeks.
Just before lunch Lees was given out L.B.W and the first rain shower came down.So lunch was taken and the rain soon stopped.Tony Hutton arrived after visiting Weetwood were it was raining.Just after lunch Hodgson was soon out after scoring 60.Yorkshire slumped to 154 for 7 when the rain started falling again.Twelve ground staff put the fully sheets on the ground it looked as though there was thunder rain due however this did not happen.When I went over to speak to Howard Clayton,the Yorkshire scorer,the umpires said the match would not restart until five o,clock.So I moved on to Weetwood.
At Weetwood Yorkshire under 17 were playing Derbyshire under 17 in a two day match.Yorkshire were batting with Will Rhodes and James Mc Nichol.Sitting on the on top of the slope was Peter France ,who has scored another point, watching the cricket in the sunshine.The match lost about 17 overs due to rain.Yorkshire were three wickets down with a partnership of over 100.Rhodes scored a century after scoring runs on Saturday with the Academy.As I left Yorkshire were 260 for 3 wanting to get maximum batting points to-night by scoring 300.
Sunday, 5 August 2012
A jewel in the east
posted by John Winn
Not for the first time this season a planned set of visits was discarded on Saturday morning and replaced by plan B. Earlier in the week I had drawn up a tour of some grounds in The Craven League but the forecast suggested that that area would be hit by heavy downpours as early as lunchtime so I turned through 180 degrees and headed for East Yorkshire to Driffield and their Yorkshire League game with Barnsley. Arriving to find Driffield batting and 51 for 1, I went in search of a cup of tea which was duly provided and I investigated the good selection of photographs in the club house, the oldest of which was dated 1887 and featured Yorkshire's first great opening batsman, J.T. Brown who, as it was proudly pointed out to me by one of the tea ladies ,was Driffield born. Another photograph of interest was of a strong Yorkshire team from 1965 who had played a match for Ray Illingworth's benefit and featured as well as Illy, Fred Trueman and the recently deceased Don Wilson.
The Driffield 'rec' is large enough to house two pitches and the club runs five sides in four different leagues, all but the firsts were playing away yesterday. The firsts' decent position went into decline while I watched and when I left they were 73 for 4 which became 112 all out with Oliver Hannon Dalby bagging six. With Simon Widdup leading the way Barnsley got home for the loss of only two wickets.
From Driffield I turned towards the Market Weighton area and the ground of York and District League club Londesborough Park who were entertaining Clifton Alliance II in a Div 2 match. The ground proved to be the highlight of the afternoon and almost certainly the season for hidden away as it is along farm tracks and set in beautiful wooded area it truly is one of the most picturesque grounds a pcw is likely to encounter. I was fortunate to be there on a lovely sunny afternoon and the talk among the waiting batsmen was of combining and grain yields. Refreshed by another cup of tea I fell into conversation with two senior spectators who added local colour to what I had read of the history of the ground in the excellent league handbook. Time and space do not permit more than the briefest account of its history but it has entertained royalty, King Edward VII, and cricketing royalty, Frank Mitchell who played for both South Africa and England played there in the early twentieth century.
The match ended in a high scoring draw and I left at tea reluctant to turn my back on such a wonderful experience and not surprisingly the rest of the afternoon proved a little disappointing. A few miles away I drove into the ground of Melbourne CC who were scheduled to be playing a York Vale match against Stillingfleet but alas the field was deserted and indeed showed no signs of having been prepared for a match. I asked a couple of budding Andy Murrays who were playing tennis in that aimless way the British play recreational tennis if they knew why there was no cricket but they could not help. There were thunderstorms not far away but the ground here was dry and the absence of cricket remains a mystery.
Next to Wheldrake and another Vale of York game with Clifton Alliance III the visitors. At four o'clock the game was only 16 overs old and I learned that the start had been delayed by heavy rain and finding the ground less than inspiring moved onto York and returned to the York District League and the North Moor Playing Field of Huntington CC. This ground is not difficult to find once you know where it is and can tell the difference between clockwise and anti clockwise and don't rely on the post code given in the handbook and the three different sets of people you ask within 100 yards of the ground know that when you say cricket ground you mean sports ground. All of which may tell you that it took me longer than I thought to get there but when I did I chanced upon an exciting finish as Huntington chased a modest target with plenty of overs in hand but the sound of thunder not far away had brought added urgency to their efforts. Visitors Stillington had been bowled out for 69 and when I arrived the home side were 50 for 1 but they lost a further three wickets before securing victory. The race to beat the weather was not helped by the fact that drinks were taken with only four needed to win and with the scores level one of the umpires, who had just given an lbw with amazing speed of thought and hand movement played what was to be his last card by declaring the board to be wrong. As the winning runs were hit I walked the twenty or so yards to my car and felt heavy raindrops as I did so. Just in time for as I drove home it was through very heavy rain which might well have prevented any further play.
A busy week ahead with Durham in a vital game with Surrey at The Riverside on Tuesday and Yorkshire Second Eleven in action in York as well as several other possibilities. To Harrogate this afternoon for Yorkshire women against their Middlesex counterparts unless the heavy storms in this area last night have had a lasting effect on St George's Road. Rain so heavy in my village that one of my neighbours needed the services of two fire appliances and an 'incident commander' to cope with a flooded drain. All of which when seen form the bar of the pub across the road provided more than the usual Saturday evening entertainment. Is there anybody who doesn't know the line up of the Trumpton fire brigade?
Not for the first time this season a planned set of visits was discarded on Saturday morning and replaced by plan B. Earlier in the week I had drawn up a tour of some grounds in The Craven League but the forecast suggested that that area would be hit by heavy downpours as early as lunchtime so I turned through 180 degrees and headed for East Yorkshire to Driffield and their Yorkshire League game with Barnsley. Arriving to find Driffield batting and 51 for 1, I went in search of a cup of tea which was duly provided and I investigated the good selection of photographs in the club house, the oldest of which was dated 1887 and featured Yorkshire's first great opening batsman, J.T. Brown who, as it was proudly pointed out to me by one of the tea ladies ,was Driffield born. Another photograph of interest was of a strong Yorkshire team from 1965 who had played a match for Ray Illingworth's benefit and featured as well as Illy, Fred Trueman and the recently deceased Don Wilson.
The Driffield 'rec' is large enough to house two pitches and the club runs five sides in four different leagues, all but the firsts were playing away yesterday. The firsts' decent position went into decline while I watched and when I left they were 73 for 4 which became 112 all out with Oliver Hannon Dalby bagging six. With Simon Widdup leading the way Barnsley got home for the loss of only two wickets.
From Driffield I turned towards the Market Weighton area and the ground of York and District League club Londesborough Park who were entertaining Clifton Alliance II in a Div 2 match. The ground proved to be the highlight of the afternoon and almost certainly the season for hidden away as it is along farm tracks and set in beautiful wooded area it truly is one of the most picturesque grounds a pcw is likely to encounter. I was fortunate to be there on a lovely sunny afternoon and the talk among the waiting batsmen was of combining and grain yields. Refreshed by another cup of tea I fell into conversation with two senior spectators who added local colour to what I had read of the history of the ground in the excellent league handbook. Time and space do not permit more than the briefest account of its history but it has entertained royalty, King Edward VII, and cricketing royalty, Frank Mitchell who played for both South Africa and England played there in the early twentieth century.
The match ended in a high scoring draw and I left at tea reluctant to turn my back on such a wonderful experience and not surprisingly the rest of the afternoon proved a little disappointing. A few miles away I drove into the ground of Melbourne CC who were scheduled to be playing a York Vale match against Stillingfleet but alas the field was deserted and indeed showed no signs of having been prepared for a match. I asked a couple of budding Andy Murrays who were playing tennis in that aimless way the British play recreational tennis if they knew why there was no cricket but they could not help. There were thunderstorms not far away but the ground here was dry and the absence of cricket remains a mystery.
Next to Wheldrake and another Vale of York game with Clifton Alliance III the visitors. At four o'clock the game was only 16 overs old and I learned that the start had been delayed by heavy rain and finding the ground less than inspiring moved onto York and returned to the York District League and the North Moor Playing Field of Huntington CC. This ground is not difficult to find once you know where it is and can tell the difference between clockwise and anti clockwise and don't rely on the post code given in the handbook and the three different sets of people you ask within 100 yards of the ground know that when you say cricket ground you mean sports ground. All of which may tell you that it took me longer than I thought to get there but when I did I chanced upon an exciting finish as Huntington chased a modest target with plenty of overs in hand but the sound of thunder not far away had brought added urgency to their efforts. Visitors Stillington had been bowled out for 69 and when I arrived the home side were 50 for 1 but they lost a further three wickets before securing victory. The race to beat the weather was not helped by the fact that drinks were taken with only four needed to win and with the scores level one of the umpires, who had just given an lbw with amazing speed of thought and hand movement played what was to be his last card by declaring the board to be wrong. As the winning runs were hit I walked the twenty or so yards to my car and felt heavy raindrops as I did so. Just in time for as I drove home it was through very heavy rain which might well have prevented any further play.
A busy week ahead with Durham in a vital game with Surrey at The Riverside on Tuesday and Yorkshire Second Eleven in action in York as well as several other possibilities. To Harrogate this afternoon for Yorkshire women against their Middlesex counterparts unless the heavy storms in this area last night have had a lasting effect on St George's Road. Rain so heavy in my village that one of my neighbours needed the services of two fire appliances and an 'incident commander' to cope with a flooded drain. All of which when seen form the bar of the pub across the road provided more than the usual Saturday evening entertainment. Is there anybody who doesn't know the line up of the Trumpton fire brigade?
Saturday, 4 August 2012
JUST A MILE FROM THE TEST MATCH
By Brian Sanderson,
Looking at trhe weather forecast and having to be back for 6.30 I decided to go to Weetwood.The match was Yorkshire Academy against Harrogate in the Yorkshire E.C.B League.Harrogate were bowling and was ready at 11.45 but the umpires would not start till 12.00. Harrogate was short of their left arm medium bowler Lilley who was twelfth man at the Test Match at Headingley one mile away.
Harrogate opening bowler was Vic Craven who was a member of Yorkshire Championship side of 2001.He bowled very well taking three wickets for thirty -nine in his fifteen overs. Yorkshire lost three quick wickets. George Ross from Guiseley together with Will Rhodes from Hull put on a fourth partnership of 141.It had rained for a hour after the first over causing the match to be a time match.Twenty overs after 6.30.George scored 85 and was disappointed to miss out on his century.
Yorkshire declared at 212 for 6 in the 48 overs.
One of the supporters was Martin Moxon ,the person in charge of Yorkshire,looking at the new talent. He would have been pleased with Ross and Rhodes.
This left Harrogate to get the total in about 43overs which Vic Craven thought it was a good declaration.
Yorkshire two opening bowlers of Coad and Shaw bowled 13 overs for 25 which put Harrogate behind the clock. At this point I left the match but I have seen on the computor that Harrogate scored 144 for 8 so had not reached Yorkshire score.Craven scored 43 so had a good match but on the losing side.
Looking at trhe weather forecast and having to be back for 6.30 I decided to go to Weetwood.The match was Yorkshire Academy against Harrogate in the Yorkshire E.C.B League.Harrogate were bowling and was ready at 11.45 but the umpires would not start till 12.00. Harrogate was short of their left arm medium bowler Lilley who was twelfth man at the Test Match at Headingley one mile away.
Harrogate opening bowler was Vic Craven who was a member of Yorkshire Championship side of 2001.He bowled very well taking three wickets for thirty -nine in his fifteen overs. Yorkshire lost three quick wickets. George Ross from Guiseley together with Will Rhodes from Hull put on a fourth partnership of 141.It had rained for a hour after the first over causing the match to be a time match.Twenty overs after 6.30.George scored 85 and was disappointed to miss out on his century.
Yorkshire declared at 212 for 6 in the 48 overs.
One of the supporters was Martin Moxon ,the person in charge of Yorkshire,looking at the new talent. He would have been pleased with Ross and Rhodes.
This left Harrogate to get the total in about 43overs which Vic Craven thought it was a good declaration.
Yorkshire two opening bowlers of Coad and Shaw bowled 13 overs for 25 which put Harrogate behind the clock. At this point I left the match but I have seen on the computor that Harrogate scored 144 for 8 so had not reached Yorkshire score.Craven scored 43 so had a good match but on the losing side.
Thursday, 2 August 2012
FIRST SEMI-FINAL OF THE SEASON
By Brian Sanderson,
Looking in my diary I noticed there was a smi-final of the Lords Taverners under 13 at West Bretton which is a ground I have not visited before. Tony Hutton was there and he said he had not been on the ground for over twenty years. The ground is just one mile away from the M1 and next to the Sculpture Park.On the excellent web-site for the club it states it was founded in 1907 and now plays in the Pontefract League. They have two Saturday teams and a Sunday team.
The ground is situated off Park Road and we were meet by a ball flying into the road.It is a neat ground with a good pavilion which has a painting of it by Jack Russell which is hanging in the pavilion. There is views of cows in the next field and a sight of Barnsley in the distance.
The under 13 Lords Taverners fixtures consist of 16 teams split into four groups.The winners of the groups play in the semi-finals.This match was Heavy Woollen against Huddersfield who were bowling when we arrived.Heavy Woollen were struggling until the eighth wicket partnership put on over 60 to bring the total to 173 in the forty over.
At tea it started to rain and players together spectators tucked into a excellent tea including strawberries and ice-cream.
David Thorpe has turned into our tea expert and rated it very highly.
After about one hour it stopped raining and Huddersfield batted against good bowling.They struggled with some good catches taken by Heavy Woollen. As we left Huddersfield were 102 for 7 with eleven overs to go.
The final to-morrow is at Cleckheaton at 11.30 start.I do not think they will be able to beat the teas and the views.
Looking in my diary I noticed there was a smi-final of the Lords Taverners under 13 at West Bretton which is a ground I have not visited before. Tony Hutton was there and he said he had not been on the ground for over twenty years. The ground is just one mile away from the M1 and next to the Sculpture Park.On the excellent web-site for the club it states it was founded in 1907 and now plays in the Pontefract League. They have two Saturday teams and a Sunday team.
The ground is situated off Park Road and we were meet by a ball flying into the road.It is a neat ground with a good pavilion which has a painting of it by Jack Russell which is hanging in the pavilion. There is views of cows in the next field and a sight of Barnsley in the distance.
The under 13 Lords Taverners fixtures consist of 16 teams split into four groups.The winners of the groups play in the semi-finals.This match was Heavy Woollen against Huddersfield who were bowling when we arrived.Heavy Woollen were struggling until the eighth wicket partnership put on over 60 to bring the total to 173 in the forty over.
At tea it started to rain and players together spectators tucked into a excellent tea including strawberries and ice-cream.
David Thorpe has turned into our tea expert and rated it very highly.
After about one hour it stopped raining and Huddersfield batted against good bowling.They struggled with some good catches taken by Heavy Woollen. As we left Huddersfield were 102 for 7 with eleven overs to go.
The final to-morrow is at Cleckheaton at 11.30 start.I do not think they will be able to beat the teas and the views.
a day at the test
posted by John Winn
My wife and I drove over to Headingley in good time this morning and using the park and ride from Beckett's Park were in our seats in the members' enclosure with half an hour to spare before wickets were pitched. Strauss won the toss and elected to bowl (remember when it used to be field?) and in leaving out Swann for Finn condemned us to a day of unremitting right arm over seam bowling and a consequent lack of variety in the English attack.
Putting teams in to bat in test matches has rarely brought success and although Petersen looked as nervous as a man who managed only a nought in his team's run glut at The Oval might be expected to, it seemed strange to insert a team who scored over 600 in their last test dig for the loss of only two wickets. If England were to get the early wickets to justify Strauss' decision then it was most likely to be Anderson who did the damage and he could not disguise his dismay when Cook spilled the easiest of slip catches, fielding in Swann's position.
84 for 0 at lunch and glum faces among the large crowd. The composition of test cricket crowds intrigues me for despite being a regular attender at championship cricket at Headingley I recognised very few faces in the east stand. Two ideas come to mind both of which may hold some water: firstly that people travel long distances to see tests, of two friends behind me one had travelled from near Edinburgh and the other from Northampton and secondly that many of the the test cricket crowd, keen and well informed as they are, would not think of attending county cricket matches, especially championship games.
That last point would I think be particularly applicable to the west stand clientele for they were out in force and while we failed to spot any carrots there were the usual crusaders and more originally a number of Bradley Wiggins impersonators and a man in a grass skirt who had brought his own palm tree. England's turgid over rate and after lunch Petersen's equally turgid batting encouraged Mexican waves which fortunately perished on the breakwater of the F.S. Trueman enclosure. Spirits were lifted when for only 37 runs 3 wickets fell and for a while it appeared Strauss might just have got it right but de Villiers joined Petersen and either side of a rain break this pair added 97 until shortly before the very late close the latter was bowled by Broad and when Finn cleaned up night watchman Steyn, South Africa ended the day 262 for 5. Whose day? No doubt England will feel there are 'positives to be taken' and the first session tomorrow will be crucial. If England get the early wickets they hoped for this morning then who knows? But you had almost certainly worked that out for yourself.
My wife and I drove over to Headingley in good time this morning and using the park and ride from Beckett's Park were in our seats in the members' enclosure with half an hour to spare before wickets were pitched. Strauss won the toss and elected to bowl (remember when it used to be field?) and in leaving out Swann for Finn condemned us to a day of unremitting right arm over seam bowling and a consequent lack of variety in the English attack.
Putting teams in to bat in test matches has rarely brought success and although Petersen looked as nervous as a man who managed only a nought in his team's run glut at The Oval might be expected to, it seemed strange to insert a team who scored over 600 in their last test dig for the loss of only two wickets. If England were to get the early wickets to justify Strauss' decision then it was most likely to be Anderson who did the damage and he could not disguise his dismay when Cook spilled the easiest of slip catches, fielding in Swann's position.
84 for 0 at lunch and glum faces among the large crowd. The composition of test cricket crowds intrigues me for despite being a regular attender at championship cricket at Headingley I recognised very few faces in the east stand. Two ideas come to mind both of which may hold some water: firstly that people travel long distances to see tests, of two friends behind me one had travelled from near Edinburgh and the other from Northampton and secondly that many of the the test cricket crowd, keen and well informed as they are, would not think of attending county cricket matches, especially championship games.
That last point would I think be particularly applicable to the west stand clientele for they were out in force and while we failed to spot any carrots there were the usual crusaders and more originally a number of Bradley Wiggins impersonators and a man in a grass skirt who had brought his own palm tree. England's turgid over rate and after lunch Petersen's equally turgid batting encouraged Mexican waves which fortunately perished on the breakwater of the F.S. Trueman enclosure. Spirits were lifted when for only 37 runs 3 wickets fell and for a while it appeared Strauss might just have got it right but de Villiers joined Petersen and either side of a rain break this pair added 97 until shortly before the very late close the latter was bowled by Broad and when Finn cleaned up night watchman Steyn, South Africa ended the day 262 for 5. Whose day? No doubt England will feel there are 'positives to be taken' and the first session tomorrow will be crucial. If England get the early wickets they hoped for this morning then who knows? But you had almost certainly worked that out for yourself.
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Baggy greens at The Riverside
Posted by John winn
A year and a week from today Chester le Street will host its first Ashes test and today saw a pale imitation when a largely second eleven Durham team took on Australia A. Train and bus meshed well together and I arrived at the ground ten minutes before play was due to start. Durham had won the toss and elected to bat and captain Stoneman and Singh made decent progress until the latter was lbw to McDermott, son of Craig. Enter Muchall who averages less than ten in first class cricket at the Riverside this season and things went little better for him today. His dismissal at 61 heralded a characteristic Durham collapse to 75 for 5. To the credit of the late middle order and tail this was eventually raised to 197 all out by four o.clock when tea was taken. Good knocks from Myburgh, Richardson and Coughlin largely accounted for the last 100 runs. As well as McDermott who took four wickets Holland also impressed with his spin.
During the afternoon about half an hour was lost to rain and there was further delay when bad light and more rain interrupted the Australian reply. In my last posting I made reference to how Durham's bowlers had rescued their batters in the weekend's game against Middlesex, remarkably their second string did the same thing again today. After Brathwaite had skipper Cowan lbw, Davis and Klinger added 68 for the second week but by the close Australia A had been reduced to 111 for 6 with Mark Wood taking four wickets.Tthe twenty two year old is from Ashington, not the first Durham seamer to come from that part of Northumberland!
Despite free admission the crowd was fairly sparse and I wonder why such games do not attract more spectators. Several of the Australian team have test caps and by this time next year that number may have increased. Durham's win over Middlesex has slightly opened the door marked survival and with all the other three threatened teams still to be played to some extent their future is in their own hands. The run in to the end of the season starts with the visit of fellow strugglers Surrey next Tuesday. Bigger turn out no doubt.
Cricket aside the highlight of the day for me was the appearance of two longstanding friends from Essex who had diverted on their journey home from North Wales to spend a couple of days in the north east. Great to see them again and safe journey home on Friday.
A year and a week from today Chester le Street will host its first Ashes test and today saw a pale imitation when a largely second eleven Durham team took on Australia A. Train and bus meshed well together and I arrived at the ground ten minutes before play was due to start. Durham had won the toss and elected to bat and captain Stoneman and Singh made decent progress until the latter was lbw to McDermott, son of Craig. Enter Muchall who averages less than ten in first class cricket at the Riverside this season and things went little better for him today. His dismissal at 61 heralded a characteristic Durham collapse to 75 for 5. To the credit of the late middle order and tail this was eventually raised to 197 all out by four o.clock when tea was taken. Good knocks from Myburgh, Richardson and Coughlin largely accounted for the last 100 runs. As well as McDermott who took four wickets Holland also impressed with his spin.
During the afternoon about half an hour was lost to rain and there was further delay when bad light and more rain interrupted the Australian reply. In my last posting I made reference to how Durham's bowlers had rescued their batters in the weekend's game against Middlesex, remarkably their second string did the same thing again today. After Brathwaite had skipper Cowan lbw, Davis and Klinger added 68 for the second week but by the close Australia A had been reduced to 111 for 6 with Mark Wood taking four wickets.Tthe twenty two year old is from Ashington, not the first Durham seamer to come from that part of Northumberland!
Despite free admission the crowd was fairly sparse and I wonder why such games do not attract more spectators. Several of the Australian team have test caps and by this time next year that number may have increased. Durham's win over Middlesex has slightly opened the door marked survival and with all the other three threatened teams still to be played to some extent their future is in their own hands. The run in to the end of the season starts with the visit of fellow strugglers Surrey next Tuesday. Bigger turn out no doubt.
Cricket aside the highlight of the day for me was the appearance of two longstanding friends from Essex who had diverted on their journey home from North Wales to spend a couple of days in the north east. Great to see them again and safe journey home on Friday.
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