The scorecards having been left at Old Trafford and with the additional handicap of no pa much of the day was spent puzzling out the identities of the two teams. By dint of consulting various oracles particularly Stockport Geoff, the use of smart phones and asking the boundary fielders we were able to identify the Lancashire team who had taken the field and the Glamorgan batsmen as they came to the crease.
Batting star of the day was Australian Stewart Walters who made 97 but who was less than thrilled to be out in the nineties for the second time this week. He did not appear to concur with the umpire's view that he was lbw. The bowler of the day, at least in terms of long service, was leg spinner Mattie McKiernan who operated unchanged from the pavilion end from before lunch until after tea. Tea was brought forward to try and avoid intermittent drizzle which local knowledge claimed was linked to the incoming tide, but between four and five o'clock there were several interruptions as the covers were wheeled back and forth. Play did resume and Glamorgan batted steadily on until bad light ended play for the day with the score at 257 for 8 off 92 overs, not exactly edge of the seat stuff.
Before stumps Tony, Brian and I* had set off on what proved to be by some distance the more interesting part of the day .Our sights were set on grounds in the Boddington's Village League, a competition for ten clubs in the Preston area . Tony and Brian had visited some of the grounds before but it was all new territory for me. First stop was to see Owd Nell's v Guy's Thatched Hamlet (I am not making this up) who share a ground at Bilsborrow, close to the Lancaster Canal. And I am not making this bit up either for to our disappointment there was no sign of cricketers and the playing area was covered in some extremely fancy bouncy castles as part of a festival of 'bubble and bounce'.
After taking some photographs we moved on towards our next target at Longridge but passing through Whittingham Tony 's detailed knowledge of the area led us to a beautiful cricket field in the grounds of a former hospital. Here there was cricket but not what we had come to see. A friendly game was in progress between Preston Probation and Preston Engineers, with leg wear including black shorts and 'cut offs'. From here it is a short ride to Longridge where a progressive club has pitches on both sides of the road and we inspected a very impressive club house opened in 2011. Four Saturday teams enjoy this facility and on the other pitch the under nines were having a run out. The midweek eleven were taking on Whittingham who were batting and lost three wickets in the short time we were there. A friendly welcome here and what a great model for other clubs.
Last call, and all the time our evening had been threatened by rain, was at Chipping, a real village evening league ground from which on a brighter night there would have been good views of the surrounding hills. The arrival of three strangers was met with suspicion, for the ground is subject to a planning application and although there is the prospect of a new ground as part of the deal the feeling among the players we talked to, and they were very keen to talk, was that they would rather stay where they are. Opponents here were Preston Grasshoppers who in a game shortened to ten overs by earlier rain made 99. By the time the 'Men form the Ministry' left Chipping had made a good start towards their target We arrived back in Leeds at 8:45 thankful that the rain had not spoilt the evening even if we were not the first cricket enthusiasts this week to have problems with bouncers.
* David had made arrangements to return to Huddersfield with his friends the two Grahams.
No comments:
Post a Comment