Last season Darlington were pipped for the NYSD title by Richmondshire and the Swaledale team are the current leaders but before yesterday's game their advantage over The Quakers was onlt three points. Marton were a further 23 points away in third.
Whilst waiting to be served at the pub I had remarked to the man next to me in the queue how warm a day it was and he explained to me that this was because the gulf stream flowed through the town. Climate change indeed but if this interesting theory is correct it may well account for the greenness of yesterday's Feethams wicket. Darlington were batting when we arrived and were finding it hard going on a strip that was giving assistance to the seamers. Two an over was barely reached and three wickets fell before the total reached twenty,
At the fall of the third wicket we were treated to a display of dissent by the out coming batsman accompanied by foul language and equipment abuse on the players' balcony which amounted to a show of appalling behaviour of the worst kind. The offender clearly thought the ball had hit his shoulder rather than the bat and for sometime afterwards he was prepared to demonstrate this to anybody who would take interest. We did not.
Towards the end of their fifty overs DCC managed to pick up the tempo a little but thanks mainly to some good catches in the deep the innings closed on 159 for 8 with a six coming off the last ball*. At this point I left which, to some, is comparable to going to see Hamlet and leaving before the play starts for it means one is denying oneself the opportunity to enjoy one of Sue Mulholland's teas, the fame of which has spread further than her butter.
Throughout the afternoon I had kept an eye out for Messrs Cobb and Senior who it was thought were touring some NYSD grounds but with tea at Feethams planned as the icing on the cake.. Surely they had not found better elsewhere? For me it was Victoria Road rather than Victoria sponge and the climb up to the station to catch a slightly delayed train back to York. It was standing room only and I was glad I was only doing a 25 minute journey rather than the two and a half hours to London.
A day off today but Scarborough tomorrow for top against second in the county championship. With the forecast set fair a large festival crowd is anticipated and the Scarborough treasurer has much to look forward to. Thursday I am off to Lord's for one of my listed matches, Middlesex v Somerset. Middlesex lie third but lost to Derbyshire last week and are thirty three points behind Yorkshire, each with four games left. For Somerset it is a very different story for only the hapless Surrey are keeping them off the bottom and they have played a game more than their London rivals. Somerset coach Dave Nosworthy whose astuteness I have noted before this season , believes his charges need 'a few wins'. You're not wrong there, Dave. The other crunch game this week starts at The Oval on Thursday when Surrey host Derbyshire. It is understood that the BBC plans a remake of The Great Escape in the form of a miniseries. Whether it will star Karl Krikken remains to be seen.
* Alan has just texted me to say that Marton won by two wickets and Richmond's lead is now 16 points. The photograph is of Darlington town centre in the 1920s.
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