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?