BOXING DAY CRICKET MATCH

By Brian Sanderson,

Over the last few days I have been making a choice between Leeds rugby and cricket. After looking at the weather forecast which said  it would be fine, the cricket won.There was frost on the ground but the sun was shining and was warm in the sun.

As I arrived there was Tony Hutton ,Jenny and Ian from Lancaster. Good to see them again after the cricket at Addingham. The match was a twenty over  not as stated on the programme 30 overs.North Leeds batted first with fancy dressed fielders from the Northern Cricket Society.

The match was sponered by Santa.

Sitting in the sunshine we watched  North Leeds opposite the club house which is been improved.

They scored 151 in the twenty overs with no batsmen scoring more than fifty runs.Northern Cricket started poorly  with two wickets in two balls.It was up to Howard Johnston of St. Chads Broomfield to score  over fifty runs and Dennis Rock of Hall Park fame scored a excellent 35 .The final over was bowled by Steve Bindman who informed us that it was his first match for North Leeds.

Steve Bindman coming off the field.

The final score of the match with Glynn Pearson talking again.Great to see everybody  in  the Professional Cricket Watchers but Brian Senior was missed.Tony has  hoping to find the exact date of the Malham cricket match in January 2014.

THE LIFE OF THOMAS DALE OR JORDAN

By Brian Sanderson,

You never now where archiving lend syou.This story started with Pat Benatmane allowing me  very kindly to scan the minute books of Hunslet Cricket Club.Among the papes for 1933 was a the above press article about the history of the club.On reading the article it mentioned that Hunslet played  a visiting Canadian side in 1880 which was captained by Thomas Jordan.As I did not now anything about the tour,I looked in the excellent book by Peter  Wynne-Thomas called "The complete history of cricket tours at home and abroad".
In the book it states that the intial tour by the Canadians turned out to be a disaster,mainly because of the tourists captain, T.Jordan.

Looking at the press reports of the time via the Leeds Library web-site ,I was able to to get the life story of Jordan.It turn out he  was  born on the 25th December 1847 at Helmsley. His father was the chief herdsman to the Earl of Faversham at Duncombe Park.In the Huddersfield Chronicle on the 5th June 1880, it stated that Thomas Dale had enlisted in the Guards and soon became favorite amongst  not only his comrades but the officers as well..He was a strong athletic young fellow and often engaged in contests of various games ,being proficent both in rowing and cricket. After one of the athletic contests he neglected to appear at the barricks and deserted. He  shortly afterwards surrendered and his friends got him off with a slight imprisonment .He deserted a second time when next heard of he was in the Mounted Police in the United States engaged in driving the back the Mexican Rangers. He was known as jumbo by his team mates spent time as a professional in St. Louis and Cicargo before joining the Peninsular club in 1877.Also during this time he was married twice and had six children.

In 1880  cricket was the national sport  of Canada and the first tour was organised to visit  England under the leadership of  Thomas Dale who had now changed his surname to Jordan.On the Candian web site it states that his wife was up set with Dale and reported his desertion to the police.The Canadians had played three matches in Scotland  before arriving at Hunslet to play a two day match on the 31 May and 1 June. It rained the first day and Huslet batted first to score 128 with Jordan taking nine wickets.However Hunslet bowled them out for 71 and the team moved on to Leicester.Here in the Huddersfield Chronicle it states that Sergant Stray , of the Guards , indentified Dale and produced his discription.At the  court case Dale admitted to the charge.

Later Dale was sentanced to 35 days in prison however he escaped from the guard room while waiting to be taken to jail.However he was caught running down Knightsbridge Street and returned to court and given another 336 days incarcaration for his sins.

Dale returned to America after his released from prison and immediately devorced his wife . In 1893 he played his only first class fixture for U.S.A against Gentlemen of Philodelphia.He deid on 21 August 1921.

So as you are having your Christmas dinner , I hope you think of Thomas Dale birthday.

P.S There are two cricket matches on Boxing Day at North Leeds and Pudset St. Lawerence Start at 10.30.

A corner turned

Posted by John Winn

Today is the winter solstice aka the shortest day and for some the first day of winter. More encouragingly tomorrow there will be two more seconds daylight and you can face up those gloom merchants  who since mid summer seem to have revelled in the fact that the nights have been drawing in. It is our turn now, those of us for whom the glass is at least half full can look Bob Willis et al in the eye and say the nights are drawing out. OK there are still a few obstacles to surmount before the first call of play in April not least two more Ashes tests to be played starting on Boxing Day in Melbourne but what the heck, things can only get better. Or not. Tim Bresnan sounded less than 110% confident in a sound bite on Radio 4 this morning  when telling us that 'some of  the boys will be feeling more confident after Perth'. Stokes for certain but I'm not sure after that.

Speaking of test matches I have taken in on TV some of the current contest between South Africa and India where even on a delightful Saturday there are rows and rows of empty seats. This for a match between the top two ranked teams in the world and yet 90000 or so will be at the MCG on Boxing Day  to see the third and fourth teams in action and thousands of those have flown half way round the world to be there.

At home bits of news keep appearing on local league websites not least the arrangements being made to avoid a clash with Le Grand Depart in July. For my next posting I hope to bring a summary of these arrangements and other snippets. In the meantime thank you for your support and Happy Christmas to all our readers. The precise moment of the winter solstice in the Lower Ure Valley is 5:11 pm today after which the corner will be close if not quite turned. Enjoy.

Games people play

posted by John Winn

 My eye was caught by a letter in the November edition of the Cricketer  on the subject of the  pocket cricket game 'Owzthat'.

Those of our readers who wouldn't know an x-box from an egg box may recall from their childhood the original version of the game  which was stored in a small tin box and consisted of two hexagonal shaped dice, one of which was rolled to determine the outcome of each delivery and should it land on 'owzthat' the second die was rolled to determine whether the batsman was out and if so, the mode of dismissal. Simple stuff and purely a game of chance but certainly popular amongst my secondary school peers when, towards the end of term, we were allowed to play games in lessons: chess for the cerebral, battleships for future military leaders and Owzthat for cricket lovers were typical.

The Cricketer article which opened up the correspondence described an upgraded version now on the market comprising six dice, three for each batsman and bowler. After correcting the spelling, as is often the case in Yorkshire the h in how is redundant so it is Owzthat not Howzthat, as the magazine spelled it, Brian Clark of Staffordshire and an octogenarian recalled how in 1949 Northants won his version of the championship using the two dice game (packaged in a blue box at 1/6d). Mr Clark's letter was followed in December by others on the topic. One recalled a version of the game made out of hexagonal pencils* and sophisticated enough to have negative weighting for tailenders. So that's what they do on winter evenings in Tring.

I am sure that aged about eleven I carried in my trouser pocket this most portable of games but far more important in my sporting life at that time was an alternative, more skilful game. Its name was 'Stumpz', a board game, ideally for two but quite suitable when home alone. It was designed by Charles Goodall  and first published in 1931 by Thomas De La Rue and Co publishers of amongst other things, bank notes and playing cards. It was marketed as being  for those aged 10 and above. I recall being introduced to it by my older brother when I was recovering from mumps aged about 8.

As one might expect from its publishers it was a board game but with two packs of cards, one for the batsman and one for the bowler. The board was  the size of a Monopoly board and was marked into segments in which the fielders were placed. One element of sophistication we added was to number the fielders so we could identify catchers, bit ahead of our time with that .There was some skill in that the bowler could choose his line and length and the batsmen whether to attack or defend a particular delivery. My matches were usually test matches involving England and scores were kept in small green scorebooks.

Eventually I must have tired of the game but I still remember being disappointed years later on learning that it had gone to a jumble sale. It had probably been in the family's possession since before the war and an edition sold recently on the internet for £49.95 plus postage. I wonder if it was the one that gave me so much pleasure and England so many victories.

* there's a thought for those of you still struggling for that elusive Xmas present

Jim the Cat in January

posted by John Winn

Jim the Cat devotees ended 2013 with seasonal fare and an excellent talk from Andrew Smith on a much overlooked cricketer, Tom Emmett, at last Friday's lunch at Pudsey St Lawrence. Halifax born Tom played for England between 1877 and 1882 and for Yorkshire for over 20 years. Andrew's careful research formed the basis of an enlightening talk, for most of the audience confessed they knew little of Tom's career.

Meetings will resume on Friday January 10th with an exciting guest speaker, David Leatherdale former player and now chief executive of Worcestershire CCC. David would like the meeting  to take the form of a question and answer session for he has found in the past this format to be the most rewarding.

If you have a question or questions you would like to put to David then please email them to rospal36@gmail.com including your name and phone number. These will be collated and forwarded to David.

To assist with catering, and if you have not already signed up to attend in January, please email PSL treasurer Jayne Priestley at jayne.priesters@ntlworld.com so she has an accurate record of numbers intending to attend. Lunch will be served at one but the bar will be open from noon.

CLIFFORD HOUSE

By Brian Sanderson,

I recently was allowed to scan a scrap book of E.Gordon Crofts who played cricket from 1924 to 1939.During this time he played for Yorkshire Seconds in 1934 and 1935.

There is a press article on the above cricket ground which intrigued me.The ground was owned by Samuel Robinson Jackson who had 50 hat shops in the Leeds area.He bought the property and adjoining land in 1898. It had beautiful grounds including kitchen gardens and an orchard as well as flowers and ornamental gardens. Electricity was supplied by an generator before the power line was laid, and Mr. Jackson was of the first car owners in Leeds, being  the proud  possessor of a Cadillac.

Mr. Jackson kept to his ambition to have a cricket ground of his own and in 1901 when living in Shadwell ,he found himself with an estate on which there was a paddock ,which offered just the cricket ground he had always wanted.Year by year ,the ground was improved .It was fifty to sixty yards square,the turf was wonderfully kept  and the wicket well laid in the middle.The ground was drained on the herring bone plan-it was said that play was possible within an hour of a thunderstorm.

In  1910 the ground was levelled  by the help of twenty men who were employed for six months . There was a hump in the centre of the field and the soil moved to one end of the ground where there was a rabbit warren that required filling.

Mr. Jackson put in a sight screen ,a little scoring box,and the basement of house was the headquarters of the club.In the scrap book  Gordon  played in the above ground in 1926 in annual match between Mr. Jackson side and Clifford House . It states he scored 28 not out and his father played in a similar match in 1925.

Mr Jackson himself was a lending cricketer and later became vice president of the Yorkshire Cricket Club and was the first man to score a run on Headingley Cricket Ground at its opening match between Leeds and Scarborough.

In 1936 the Clifford House ground  was absorbed by the Craven Gentlemen so that the club had two grounds, one in Shadwell and one in Ilkley.

When the first wicket was being prepared a neighbour stopped as he was riding to a hunt meet to ask Mr. Jackson what was doing with the paddock. 

"Making a cricket ground  " said Mr. Jackson

"Whatever do you want a cricket ground of your own for? ",asked the huntsman" It takes 22 men to play a game of cricket "

"That is the reason ,why I am making a cricket ground to give 22 men some real fun. You are going hunting and you will be the only one who will get any fun out of the money it costs you to keep your horses and so on, because i do not think the fox will. But I will get lots of sport out of the money I spend on my ground, and whats more, so will 21 others everytime it is use."

In 1938 he sold Clifford House and moved to Primley Park Avenue where he died in 1941 aged 82.On the site of the house  Leeds Corporation in 1973 built  a housing estate .

Reg who?

posted by John Winn

'It all started with Denzil Batchelor' are the opening words of Harry Pearson's introduction to his book 'The Trundlers'. And so it did for me, for Denzil's was a name that struck a chord and on finding that he had died in 1969 I reached for the 1970 Wisden to search for his obituary but disappointingly found he only merited three lines yet his bibliography includes a biography of CB Fry, for whom he was secretary, and titles like 'A Gallery of Great Players from WG to the Present Day' and 'Great Cricketers', the book that had inspired Harry Pearson, and which was published posthumously in 1970.

In addition to his cricket books Batchelor also reported on cricket and rugby for The Times and was sports editor of Picture Post. Described at one time as 'the wittiest man in London' he also wrote on boxing and football and gained fame as a wine expert, broadcaster and novelist. Described by Pearson as a bon viveur it is perhaps not surprising that a heart attack brought about his death at 63.

Disappointed as I was not to find out more about DB my eye strayed to the opposite page and alighted on an obituary much longer than that written about  my original target. And if you thought Denzil Stanley Batchelor had something of a ring to it how about Reginald Henshaw Brindley Bettington? To me an unknown but one whose  life covered more than half a page in Wisden,

How does your cricketing cv compare with that of Reg?

• four years in OUCC XI, 1920 to 23,
• captain in his last year, the first Australian to captain Oxford
• blues for rugby and golf
• captain of New South Wales
• Australian amateur golf champion
• played for (amongst others) Middlesex, the Gentlemen v the Players*, Free Foresters (v Canadian XI 1922) 

As the above might suggest Reg was born in Australia and he went to Oxford from school in Sydney. For the dark blues his greatest hour came against Cambridge in 1923 when he took 11 wickets on a 'sticky' including 8 in the second innings. A leg spinner he took 54 wickets in the County Championship for Middlesex and in all first class cricket in England, over 300 wickets. Throw in over 3000 runs including five centuries and  a six into the Press Box at The Oval and RHBB seems to have been a fine cricketer.

After Oxford Bettington trained as a doctor at Bart's Hospital and at the time of his death he was the ENT specialist in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. The life of this fine all round sportsman ended dramatically and tragically in June 1969 when his car fell 100 feet onto a railway line at Gisborne,  New Zealand. His older brother Brindley (Cecil John ) was also a leg spinner and played first class cricket for OUCC and New South Wales before his early death aged 32.

Finally a reminder that Jim the Cat will be licking his whiskers at Pudsey St Lawrence this Friday at 12 noon for 1:00 when the speaker will be Andrew Smith. Why not join us for a bit of pre Christmas cheer? Might be just the tonic you need after Adelaide.

* Including a trip to Scarborough in 1920.

Inns and Outs

posted by John Winn

Some readers may be familiar with the book Inns and Outs published in 2010 and compiled by Geoff Wellsteed and Anthony Collis. It is a 190 page hardback featuring pubs with cricket connections and almost 500 colour photographs of inn signs. I was lent a copy of the book by Pickering scorer and blog follower Trevor Gilham and Trevor has kindly forwarded me an update to the book recently published by Geoff. This includes pictures of some new signs and details of closures. This is the second such update, no1 having been published in November 2012.

Geoff has a  very small number* of the original book still available and can be contacted on 0151 6256470 or 07443909232 or via email at geoffwellsteed@hotmail.com.

The books are £10 plus postage and Geoff also has some postcards available at £3 for a set of 8.

*I checked with Geoff this evening and he still has copies of the book for sale