Suffolk and Essex come to Yorkshire

posted by John Winn

The visit of the Two Counties over 50's XI to Yorkshire was publicised on the blog earlier in the week. Whilst police leave had not been cancelled a decent crowd was drawn to Menston this afternoon for a thirty over match between the tourists and a rather younger than usual Hawks team. I enjoyed the company of Messrs Hutton and Senior on the attractive ground which I had visited once before in 2010.

The Hawks batted first and thanks largely to the lower half of the order rattled up 157 off their thirty overs. During the afternoon I bumped into the Yorkshire Over 60s'  team manager Dave Todd whose team take on the Two Counties at Gargrave tomorrow. Dave was busy compiling a dossier of the East Anglians' strengths and weaknesses but found time to fill me in on the veterans' win over Shropshire yesterday. Despite poor fielding they had chalked up another resounding victory and have already won the northern group.

In the clubhouse copies of the 'Two Counties Cricket Championship' handbook were available together with a small brochure published to commemorate in 2012 the 25th anniversary of the Over 50's XI which gave potted biographies of many of today's team. The handbook is a splendid publication and Tony and I romanticised over the names of clubs like Copdock and Old Ipswichians, Eight Ash Green, Melton St Audreys and Walsham le Willow. If names mean anything there must be some lovely grounds among that lot.

The tourists lost early wickets and a reliance on boundaries rather than sharp singles meant that they were always rather behind  the rate but some lusty late  blows brought respectability and they finished about twenty short. After three successive years in the Skipton area I understand Two Counties will tour elsewhere next year but should they return to Yorkshire in the future they will be very welcome. Unless of course they have cleaned up in the quiz at the Cock and Bottle in Skipton tonight.

Next week offers a programme of cricket such that one is glad to be able to spell cornucopia. Championship at The Riverside, second XI cricket at Weetwood and Stamford Bridge, St Peter's week and an Australian touring team at Todmorden should be enough to whet the appetite of any pcw.