NICE TO SEE SOME SPIN BOWLING

By Brian Sanderson,

  After trips in the car recently , I was pleased to walk to the match. Today was a fifty over match between
Yorkshire,mainly second teamers,and Sri Lanka A.

Sri Lanka won the toss and faced Coad and Wainman.the first wicket to fall was Udawatte who scored 16 including 2 six,s in 41 minutes. Then came the major stand of the match between Dhanushka Gunathilleke and Danish Chandimal of 101 runs  before been broken by Jack Leaning bowling. It seems ages since I saw him bowl his  off-spin.During the morning I was sat with Tony Hutton and John Winn so cricket talk wandered over many subjects  including why Middlesex  are called the panthers?.

Rashid  bowled his leg spin to claim 4 for 57 and would have been less runs scored off him if he was forced to ball at the end of the innings. Sri Lanka scored 275 for 9 which was very good by Yorkshire to restrict them to this total with a inexperenced attack.

After lunch and England,s victory, I sat in the football stand with Andy from York. There was a poor crowd and the gateman reckon there was 140 people. Yorkshire member complain about not seeing cricket at Headingley and do not turn . Lees and Lyth put on a stand of 70 before Lyth  was caught by the keeper off the spin of Rambuwella  wandering down the wicket.We were joined by John Fuller, of Cricket Yorkshire website, who  was taking action photographs of the second team players as he only had portrait photographs  

The other major spinners were Chaturange de Siva ,who took three wickets,  and Seekkuge Prasanna who took four wickets. Yorkshire top scorer was Lees with 54 .Yorkshire finished on a respectable total of 249. It was great to see spin bowling rather than medium pace  bowling.

Let us hope the weather stays fine for Saturday.

RUNS GALORE AT SLEAFORD

By Brian Sanderson,

Tony Hutton very kindly e-mail me to say the start at Sleaford for England Under 19 against Yorkshire Seconds was 10.30 not 11.00.Tony had been to the first day of the match and saw Will Rhodes score 116 not out for England who scored 272 for 3 in 60 overs.

When myself and Brian Workman arrived we saw Callis for Yorkshire score 124 not out in a Yorkshire total of 256 for 3 in 50 overs.We were told that  Yorkshire would bat for 60 overs but there was a change of plan and they only had 50 overs.

The two openers for England were Joe Clarke and Edward Barnard who both come from Worcestershire  and  we saw at York two weeks ago.On a batsman wicket they put on 90 runs in 19 overs.Robert Jones, from Lancashire, came in number 3 and scored 75 not out in a total of 258 for 3 in 62 overs.

So this match had produced 786 runs for just 9 wickets so who would be a bowler on this wicket.

Yorkshire were left to score 274 in 37 overs. To their credit they had a go to win the match with Dan Hodgson been outstanding by scoring 76 in 56 balls.Yorkshire finished with a total of 232 for 8 to draw the match.

England under 19 move on to  play South Africa A  in a two test match series and  5 one day matches.The first  match is at Fenners  on Friday. Below is a photograph of Callis coming off the field after his century.

ICC Europe Div 2 Tournament

Posted by John Winn

As mentioned in my posting earlier in the week the ICC Europe Div 2 I tournament is currently being played in Essex. After the first two days Jersey and Netherlands have two wins each and Denmark and Guernsey one each while Italy are emerging as the weakest side in the competition with three defeats out of three. Today is a rest day.

I spent yesterday in the company of our Hartlepool Correspondent at Seaton Carew CC where Durham Under 19s are entertaining their Lancashire counterparts in a two day match. I had visited Hornby Park two years ago and been less than impressed. The day was dull, very windy and lots of small children appeared to have been invited to 'Be as naughty as you can day'.

 

Seaton Carew CC

Yesterday was a much more tranquil occasion however with a small crowd enjoying hazy sunshine and the red rose supporters in particular enjoying some good batting. An opening stand of 100 between Hale and Zelem was followed by one of 144 when Khurrum joined Zelem. 244 for 2 left coach Neil Killeen with the difficult job of rallying his troops but to their credit the Durham bowlers stuck to their task and gradually brought the run rate down. Particularly impressive was J Quinn of Stokesley with his slow left arm and he finished with 3 for
84 off his 28 overs when Lancashire declared at 390 for 6. Zelem who has Lancs II experience top scored with 115.

 

We need a wicket lads

Before the close Durham lost two early wickets and Lancashire will strongly fancy their chances today. During the lunch interval OHC and I enjoyed some splendid fish and chips from one of several such establishments on the sea front. Yorkshire visitors should note that cod is the default position in this part of the world and that haddock is a special order. Mike had enjoyed a day at the Kerridge Cup final hosted by Hartlepool CC on Sunday and won by Barnard Castle, the first victory by a County Durham team since Darlington RA were winners in 1998. 'Barney' defeated Stokesley in a match where spin was the key to success.

My journey home is worth a separate posting but as this is not a blog concerned with 'things that can go wrong when you travel by Northern Rail' I'll spare you the details, suffice to recommend 'The Rat Race' pub on Hartlepool Station (where I should never have been in the first place), particularly for lovers of real ale.

As in the icc tournament today is a rest day but I hope to be at Headingley tomorrow for Sri Lanka A.

ANOTHER DEFEAT AT HEADINGLEY

By Brian Sanderson,

It is always good to walk to Headingley when the sun is shining and a  50 over match against Glouchestershire.It was a 10.30 start which was unusual  and I found out Yorkshire won the toss and were batting.

Alex Lees and Adam Lyth fell early to bring Yorkshire 45 for 2 and then three qiuck wicets fell.This left Jack Leaning and Adil Rashid to try and build a good total. As you will see above Rashid was caught on the boundary after scoring 71.Next was comedy ten minutes with two run outs of Bresnan and Ric Pyrah.It was a long time since I seen  a batsman take so long to go to the dressing room.Next Leaning was stumpes off a wide racing down the wicket. Brooks was soon out leaving Yorkshire all out in 42 overs for 192.It is basic cricket to  bat out your overs but Yorkshire were not good enough to do it.

I was walking out of the gates at 1.15 when the annoucncer  stated that Glouchestershire would start  their inning in10 minutes and lunch would be 2.00 P.M. which seem daft. However Yorkshire took two wickets for 34 when I went home for lunch.Michael Klinger, born in Australia and the Glouchestershire captain reached 37 . The score came 83 for 6 and Yorkshire were in with a chance. However William Gidman  and Jack Taylor  helped with a stand of 69. Gidman scored 71 not out in 89 balls to win the match by 3 wickets.

Poor cricket by Yorkshire so I will see tomorrow how the Yorkshire under 19 go at Sleaford.

Semis and quarters

Posted by John Winn

As Brian has reported York gained a quarter final place in the National Club KO competition yesterday. The full draw is

Brentwood v Hastings and St Leonards

Chorley v York

Sandiacre Town v Northern

Sunbury v Frocester

Matches to be played Sunday August 3rd

There was one outstanding quarter final in the village cup played yesterday and Dinton CC (Bucks) beat 2012 winners Reed to go through to the semi final where they will be at home to Great and Little  Tew

The other semi final will be between Milford Hall  (Stafford) and Woodhouse Grange (York) . These matches will also be played on Sunday August 3rd. The final will be at Lord's on September 7th

Yesterday's results in women's county cricket

Div 1 Middlesex beat Sussex by 5 wickets, Kent beat Surrey by 7 wickets , Notts beat Yorks by  3 wits and Berkshire beat Warwickshire by 67 runs

Div 2 Staffs bt Lancs by 47 runs Somerset bt Ireland by 10 runs Wales bt Cheshire 9 wits and Devon bt Durham by 6 wits

Kent are champions of Div 1 and Lancs win Div 2 . For an informative blog about women's cricket go to womens-cricket.blogspot.co.uk. The tables have not been updated to include yesterday's matches.

THIRD TIME LUCKY AT YORK

By Brian Sanderson,

I had visited York on two other occasions to see them play Chesterfield in the Royal London ECB National Club Championship. Today the weather was overcast to start with and there was talk of Duckworth Lewis but it was not needed as the sun came out.

Both sides are no longer able to call on the services of players who starred for them in earlier rounds of this years competition,Ben Slater of Chesterfield  and York,s Jack Leaning,,are ruled out of the tie having both  since  made first-class county a ppearences. York won the toss and decided to bat on a used pitch.One of the openers was Dan Woods who is pictured at the start of the blog eating a sandwich after been out for 42.

Then Lambert and L.Mc Kendry put on a stand of   96 in 15 overs against so poor bowling.Then the other
Mc Kendry came in to bat  adding another 149  in 19 overs. L. Mc Kendry scoring 105 in 99 balls and 11 4,s. York finishing on massive score of 310 in the forty-five overs.

It would require two excellent innings from Chesterfield to give them a chance,At tea time I wandered across to one of my favorites grounds Clifford Alliance were their third team were playing Hirst Courtney in the York Vale League. The home side were batting and also scoring at will. On the side of the boundary were a number of tents which I assume made Clifton some money from rent.

Wandering back to see the Chesterfield innings waiting to see how they would cope with the total.Richmond bowled the first over for York which give Chesterfield 11 runs of the first over . Not a good start.In the space of 18 overs they had lost  five wickets for 96 so the writting was on the wall. After 34 overs Chesterfield  were all out for 152 with the extras second highest scorer. Pringle and Woods taking 7 wickets.

York will now play away next Sunday at Chorley in the quarter finals of the compertition. Good luck York.

Too late at Loftus

posted by John Winn

First stop yesterday was for a Division 2 match in the Langbaurgh League between New Marske and Swainby. New Marske lies a little inland from Marske by the Sea where Yorkshire II played earlier in the week. Indeed New Marske, some of which is not so new, might be called Marske not by the Sea, but then of course you have to think of coastal erosion........

The playing area at Gurney Street  is a large one and well maintained. Many of the surrounding trees are mountain ash and these were laden with berries, a reminder that summer is passed its tipping point. The visitors were batting and had already lost an early wicket but mounted a recovery while I was there. I took the opportunity to look inside the ground's new pavilion which will be ready for next season. The photographs show what an improvement this will bring to the facilities and all through a grant from Sport England.

Next stop, and not far away, was at Skelton Castle: still Langbaurgh League and still Division 2. I visited this ground in 2013 when family fun day was being held but when it was too wet for cricket. No such problems this year and the home team were batting against Hutton Rudby B. Another recovery in progress here from 27 for 5 with all those dismissed  having failed to register double figures, to 67 for 6 when a well judged catch off a skier ended the partnership. This photograph shows that Skelton's pavilion is another excellent asset to the clubs in this league.

Another short journey brought me to Loftus, an important community in this former mining area, but to a different and new league to me, the Cleveland League. A couple of years ago this league applied en bloc to join the Langbaurgh but were given short shrift. To the outsider such an amalgamation makes sense but who knows the politics of these things other than those closely involved. I arrived at the Whitby Road ground, time 3:30, to find the players leaving with Loftus I , top of the league  having defeated Smith's Dock II, bottom of the league and without a win this season. Things don't seem too good at Smith's Dock for the only thing keeping their first team off the bottom of the league is the presence of their seconds. One win between them and I can hazard a guess which two teams were involved in that match.

The Loftus secretary suggested that while I was in the area I might drive a few miles down the coast to Staithes who he knew were playing at home. He was kind enough to provide precise directions to find the ground where Staithes were indeed playing with visitors Ebberston. A few miles drive but another league, the Beckett Scarborough League, Premier Division too.  A small ground here but with a decent number of watchers and Ebberston's batsmen making it look easy, 200 for 2 off 30 overs and Staithes' fielders rather wilting in the high temperatures. One exception to this was a chap in a red cap who exhorted his lads to 'work hard' and he had his reward when a finely judged catch in the deep brought a wicket.

An enquiry at the local newsagents for the Scarborough News, whose local cricket coverage is excellent, earned the response, 'Sorry sir it doesn't come this far.' and a glance at his shelves showed me I was still in Northern Echo* territory. So back the way I had come and to my fourth and last ground of the day at Boosbeck CC, another former mining village and members of the Cleveland League. Here it was tea and a good cup on the house before watching Loftus II start their reply to Boosbeck's 206 for 8 with Gary Hood having carried his bat for 106 not out. Listening to the Loftus players before they took the field it was clear that the news of their first team's easy win
had reached them and some expressed the sentiment that they (the II team) could have been reinforced for their trip to Boosbeck. 206 for 8 suggests they were short of bowling: 65 all out suggests they were not flush with batsmen.

* whose local cricket coverage is also excellent

UP IN THE HILLS

By Brian Sanderson,

Yesterday afternoon  I received through the post The Northern Cricket Society Booklet for 2014. In the book  there is a lovely piece by Brian Senior on Mick Bourne life.There is a photograph of him standing next to a old roller so the above photograph taken today is in memoir of Mick who would have enjoyed our trip this afternoon.

The first ground we visited was Denholme Clough who were playing Greetland in the Halifax League. The first documented game of cricket being played at the ground on County Bridge is in 1922 when the club  joined the Bradford Mutual Sunday School League. The ground looked a picture today in the sunshine but in April I would think it would be very cold.

On Tuesday sixty cows got on the ground and it took one of the players all afternoon to clear up all the mess.The scorebox has recently built and the pavilion has a new patio so the club is in good hands.

Moving on down the valley to Denholme, the club of Ian Fisher , the present  strenght coach to Yorkshire C.C.C.The play in the Craven League and were playing Chatburn in the Craven League.Established in 1867 is situated on Keighley Road in the rural setting and has stunning views.

Chat burn according to Mr Fisher is half way to Blackpool but is south of Pendle Hill and were established in 1923.Moving on to West End Haworth ground  who were playing Gargrave. We visited this ground last year but there was no cricket been played but to day we were successful. Established in 1900 the club plays its cricket in the heart of Bronte Country. The ground is situated on the moor tops of Haworth at the height of 1000 feet above seas level.While we were there one of the batsman got hit on the nose when the ball came off the edgr of his bat.Tissue was called for but he soon carried on.

The ground is situated at the end of a unmade road.Moving on we went to Cullingworth  who were playing Queensbury who have the highest cricket ground in England.Cullingworth used to be in the Craven League  but in 2014 have just moved into the Halifax League and is the newest club in the league.Today the second team scored 124 and looked like losing as we left.

The ground is very small in width and one of the umpire stood next to the boundary.The village is four miles from Keighley and is a popular commuter village for the large towns.We had a good tea at the ground while sitting in the shade. Moving on Long Lee were we visited last year but the match had finished so we were hopeing for better things this afternoon. After parking the car in The Dicky Bird pub we walked through a field to see them playing Wilsden , with the home side batting. From the ground you can see four matches in the Craven League, Airedale, Riddleston. Ingrow St. John and Long Lee.The address of the ground is Goldenview and has soon great views.

It is not the easiest journey down the cobbled road toward Ingrow St. Johns and when we arrived the match had just finished at 5.10. So on to the next ground which was Crossflatts who,s ground is situated next to the old Bradford  and Bingley B.S. They were playing Embsey and as we were walking round we started to talk to a spectator who had  come by train from Sheffield to watch the match. He said that had no car and went everywhere by train but he would have great difficulty it getting to the grounds we visited today.

All the facts about the Halifax league were taken from the recent book written by Peter Davies and David Normanton called 100 years of Hilltop and Valley-bottom Cricket. Great book.Also looking at the website figures we had 2,600 visit last month and 68,000  from the begining. Thank you all our readers and hope you enjoy myself and John,s visits to cricket grounds.York tomorrow for the third time to see the completion of the Chesterfield match.

ANOTHER COMPREHENSIVE DEFEAT

By Brian Sanderson,

I missed going to Harrogate in the morning but have just come back from the 20/20 match between Yorkshire and Nottingham.Brian Workman wanted me to obtain Aaron Finch signature on the scorecard as it was his final match.So near the players enterence was Michael Vaughan waiting to do his Sky commentating.
After obtaining the signature I sat in the Rugby stand and watched the entertainment.

We were not invaded by Martians but the drummers who entertained the crowd during the match.Yorkshire won the toss and decided to bat.It was Finch last match and Moxon wanted three good innings from him. He scored a century at Edgebastion and a good score in 20/20 at Old Trafford so tonight was his last chance.
He did show his class scoring 89 with 7 sixes . Two of them landed on the Rugby roof.Franklin finally brought the end to the slaught,thanks to a stunning catch by Read, diving full length  to take the tickle from Finch.
The best bowler was Ball with 3-38 in Yorkshire total of 200.

After Finch innings the photographer took time out to e-mail pictures of Finch,s innings.

Nottingham Outlaws pulled off their second highest run chase of all time to ensure a home advantage in the quater final.

Man of the match Alex Hales fired 67 for 40 balls to lend the reply but with his effort a win looked unlikely with 39 wanted from the last 3 overs.

James Taylor and James Franklin combined in the most explosive  manner though,to wrap things up with 4 balls to spare.Sidebottom  final over was 4,4,4,6 to end the over was simply sensational and left Franklin to hit another six from the second ball of the final over.

This means Nottingham play Hampshire at Trent Bridge.

HARROGATE FRIDAY LAST RITES

By Tony Hutton,

Dylan Budge, the captain of Woodhouse Grove School and former Yorkshire schools player, made top score of 34 for Durham who resuimed on 54-5 this morning in front of a small, but select,crowd in perfect weather conditions. Budge and his partner Buckley put on 44 for the sixth wicket and raised hopes of the game lasting until lunchtime.However once Budge was out caught behind by Hodgson off Shaw things took a more predictable course. Captain Will Rhodes decided to bowl off spin, rather than his usual medium pace ,as Karl Carver had picked up an injury playing football,and took the next wicket to fall.Then, Josh Shaw,who had taken 5-43 in the first innings,rounded things off ,by destroying the tail.He demolished the stumps of the last man Morley to finish with match figures of 10-71. So comprehensive victory for Yorkshire with the Harrogate ground in excellent condition to match the weather.

Some extra fixtures

posted by John Winn

Most pcws' diaries are full at this time of the year but if you are seeking something a little different or travelling in England over the next few weeks some of these matches may be of interest.

Tony Hutton has emailed me details of Millfields (London) tour of the Esk Valley which begins on Sunday

Sunday 27th v Lealholm   Monday 28th Grosmont Tuesday 29th Kildale Wednesday 30th Great Ayton  Thursday 31st Westerdale   Friday 1st August Glaisdale

The Lealholm fixture has a two o'clock start and it is expected that the other matches will be half day too, but best to check first.

ICC Tournaments:as mentioned in previous postings there are a number of icc competitions taking place in July and August

Europe Under 19 Div 2 World Cup Qualifying: competing teams are Denmark, Guernsey, Italy, Jersey and Netherlands. Matches start on Sunday July 27th and take place each day next week until Friday with the exception of Wednesday. The venues are University of Essex, Kelvedon and Feering CC, Colchester CC, Halstead CC, Frinton on Sea, Coggeshall CC, and Mistley CC.

The Colchester area would seem to be a good base for covering these fixtures. They are 50 over matches with 11:00 starts.

Europe U15 Div 1 all at Rugby School, week beginning Sunday August 3rd until Friday August 8th with Wednesday a rest day. Competing nations: Jersey, Netherlands, Guernsey, Ireland, Scotland

Europe Women's Div 1 again all at Rugby School competing teams Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland beginning Tuesday August 12th each day until Sunday August 17th.


Further details of all these tournaments are available at icc-europe.org

South Africa Under 19s tour
 The 15 man squad left Johannesburg on Wednesday and will be here for a month. They will play two tests and five ODIs.

Friday 1st August first test at Fenner's Cambridge
Thursday 7th August second test at Northampton

Friday 15th August ODI at Edgbaston
Sunday 17th August ODI at Trent Bridge
Monday 18th August ODI at Trent Bridge
Wednesday 20th August ODI at Grace Road
Friday 22nd August ODI at Derby

ODIs begin at 10:30 with the exception of Derby which has a 2:00pm start. Tests begin at 11:00 and last four days.

India women's tour of England: the Indians will play one four day test and three ODIs .
The test is at Wormsley from August 13th to 16th inclusive and the ODIs are at Scarborough on Thursday August 21st and Saturday 23rd August and at Lord's on August 25th. In the test stumps will be pitched at 11:00 and in the ODIs at 10:30

Enjoy

ANOTHER LONG DAY

By Brian Sanderson,

Another beautiful summers morning as I set off at 9.30 A.M to the second day to  Harrogate.Yorkshire two batsmen were Tattersall and Hodgson. While they were batting Ryan Fisher and Carl Carver were doing a half an hour of exercises as shown above. The two batsman had been in no trouble apart from a missed caught and bowl against Tattersall.They put on a stand of  136 before Tattersall was caught by Shafique the wicket keeper. The keeper was not in the Second Team Annual under Durham however Malcolm found his name under Nottingham.Hodgson went on to score  113 before been caught again by Shafique who looks a good keeper.

Ryan Gibson came in after lunch and scored a quick 79 runs in 58 balls with 14  four,s. A excellent innings which was closed with a great catch by Carr on the boundary edge diving to his right.Another good innings was by Wainman who scored his first second team fifty batting at number 9. Yorkshire were bowled out for 416 which seem enough to win the match.

I left at this time to go and watch Bolton Percy play Alwoodley in the Whixley evening league.The village is four miles east of Tadcaster and the cricket club has just had a extension to the clubhouse.

The club was established in 1957 on the site of a local farmers field.They have two sides and play in the York and District Senior Cricket League As seen from the photogragh it is set in a beautiful surroundings and look it,s best in the sunlight. The only bad part of the visit was that they had two break ins in the last week. The thieves tied to burn it down on Tuesday night.

When I arrived home at 9 PM on the live scores Durham had lost five wickets after I left so it will be a short day tomorrow. This was my 28 consequent  day of watching cricket and if the weather holds fine should increase in the next three days.

HARROGATE IN THE SUN

By Brian Sanderson,

After two trips to Scarborough I had a chance to sleep till 9.AM this morning as I was taking the short trip to Harrogate were Yorkshire Seconds were playing a three day match against Durham.Spoke to the groundsman who was hoping for good weather for the next five days as there was a match every day.

Durham won the toss and decided to bat .Hoping to improve on yesterday defeat by Yorkshire.Yorkshire had all their  England under 19 players turning out. Rhodes, Tattersall. Shaw, Fisher and Carver before they start playing the Test Matches next week.Yorkshire opening bowlers were Fisher and Wainman and found it hard work.By lunchtime Durham had lost two wickets ,both to Shaw . He looked the best bowler all day on a slow wicket. One of Durham,s opening batsman was Graham Clark, the brother of Jordan who plays for Lancashire. Today he was Durham second highest scorer with 57 showing some excellent cover drives.

After lunch , the crowd was  good some sitting in the sun. The crowd included Ron Deaton, Bob Procter and Paul Dyson so there was a lot of cricket stories told during the afternoon.By teatime Durham had lost eight wickets for 208.The best Durham batting was done by Ryan Buckley from Darlington who shown some excellent strokes before been left not out for 60 with Durham scoring 224.Shaw finishing with 5 for 43.
During the afternoon Coad decided to slide into some gravel causing him to cut his hand.His comment was " a stupid thing to do " which was true.

The photograph is of Ryan Buckley coming off after the end of the innings. The photograph at the start of the blog is  Yorkshire Hudd waiting to come out to bat. but he did not fair well as he only scored 17.Yorkshire finished on 67 for 2 with prospects of reaching 350 tomorrow.

I will see tomorrow in the shade.

Sonzack and State turn things round

posted by John Winn

Having been part of a cast of thousands on Monday I decided to join a smaller choir yesterday and opted for the 40 minute drive to Weetwood where on another glorious day Yorkshire U17 were entertaining their Derbyshire counterparts. Jennifer and Tony Hutton had wisely pitched camp in the shade and by the time of my arrival  the visitors had already lost a wicket. They continued to struggle throughout the morning and at lunch were 64 for 5. The Yorkshire youngsters had bowled 38 (sic) overs in the morning mainly through spinners Shutt and Logan, remember when that sort of productivity rate was a feature of the first class game? If you do you are probably not listening to Radio 1 while reading this.

Our discussions had been given added gravitas by the presence of Ralph Middlebrook, his observations on the England situation were of particular interest. Keep Cook captain but bat him at five and make him field at mid off so he can talk to his bowlers was one (or three) suggestion(s). The fall of the sixth wicket coincided with the arrival of John Rex, feeling a little hoarse and under doctor's orders not to talk too much. I think it's called irony.

 

Cooling off at Weetwood

 

Derbyshire's position was rescued by a seventh wicket stand of 122  between M Sonzcak and D State who ground away against the Yorkshire spinners. That it did not make riveting entertainment, riveting itself might have been more entertaining, is illustrated by the disclosure that our discussions strayed as far regional variations in the use of words like ginnel, jennel or snicket. The innings finally closed on 235 with Shutt having taken 4 for 60 off 25 overs. Yorkshire start today on 4 without loss.

Meanwhile there were more stirring deeds elsewhere for at Marske by Sea Yorkshire II were giving Durham II a fearful larruping with Pyrah hitting 128 off 73 balls with 13 sixes and at Scarborough as Brian has described Yorkshire winkled out Middlesex after tea to go top of the championship table. I expect Rodgers and Gale did shake hands but not quite at the time and in the way I predicted in yesterday's posting.

 Yorkshire lead Notts by five and Somerset by sixteen with Warwickshire still in the middle of the twelfth game, a further 9 points away. Middlesex are in the middle of the table and probably not quite sure how much is in the glass, for yesterday's defeat leaves them 37 points behind Yorkshire and over their shoulders Sussex and Durham have games in hand. Time to gather your breath while the championship does the same until the next round begins on August 15th. Sussex will be at Scarborough and the authorities will be hoping for similar weather to the last few days. So will I. Hope to see you at Harrogate in the next three days.

EXCELLENT WIN FOR YORKSHIRE BY THE SEA

By Brian Sanderson,

Yesterday I went with my sister to Scarborough were I met among many people John Tipley. He asked me were will you go tomorrow ? My reply was I did not know. This morning I had originally going to Cleethorpes to watch Minor County cricket however Lincolnshire were going to win easily so I had to make a choice were to go.After emailing Brian Workman, we decided to go to Scarborough. After a heavy traffic we arrived with Middlesex having lost  Gubbins to a catch by Lyth off Brooks.

We sat at the Trafalgar Square end in the shade to see Middlesex loss another wicket before lunch. At this time the match seem similar to the Durham fourth innings ie Yorkshire requiring to take three wickets quickly.Two wickets fell quickly after lunch however Yorkshire could not get a break through and I thought the match was going to be a draw.Middlesex were 155 for 4. Even Brian Workman half of a  Hungarian pork pie at 3.20  could bring a wicket

Walking on the ground at the tea break Jason Gillespie was ask if Yorshire could win the match.? He reply they could as they had bowled well. I thought this was the usual coach speak and settled down to watch the match.

After tea  Middlesex soon were 191 for 9 with Rashid and Brooks taking the wickets. People who had left early missed a excellent win by Yorkshire when Rashid  had Murtagh caught by Lyth. Lyth taking four catches and Rashid bowling his season best of 4 for 27. Every player played there part in the victory the batsmen getting the runs and the bowlers the wickets together with good catches.

The trip back to Leeds was easy and was back home by 7 P.M. Harrogate tomorrow to watch Yorkshire seconds.

Scarborough excels itself

posted by John Winn

A phone call to York CC just after one o'clock on Sunday confirmed what I had suspected, namely that the York v Chesterfield National KO match had been postponed for the second time and the two teams will try again at Clifton Park on Sunday 27th of July. Should that be a casualty of the weather then a bowl out or toss of the coin will decide who goes through to the last 8. Shortly after my phone call the skies over the Lower Ure Valley darkened and then unleashed heavy rain which washed away all thoughts of seeing cricket for the day.

What a transformation on Monday morning as JG and I drove to Scarborough by the pretty route arriving in plenty of time to take up our positions at the top of the north stand. A firm forecast for a day of sunshine, factor 30 applied, the players going through their drills and an intriguing match situation. The only blot on the horizon what might happen at Lord's and for a while at least things went well there.

Most readers will no doubt be aware of the general pattern of events at North Marine Road. Yorkshire batted with increasing tempo throughout the day so that this morning Galey lad must decide whether a lead of 421 is enough, for even though he did not play in the reverse fixture at Lord's what Middlesex and Rodgers in particular did to the Yorkshire bowling twelve weeks ago will not have been forgotten. Go on Andrew give it a go, they can't do it again. Or can they? My forecast is an overnight declaration but that Yorkshire will not bowl out Middlesex and the captains will shake hands at 5:00.

 Of the four wickets to fall yesterday there was a suggestion that Lees was unlucky, Williamson's shot was extravagant so soon after lunch, Bairstow seemed to think he was at Lord's and Leaning perished in the cause of quick runs to an occasional bowler. Don't worry Jack, another very promising innings and that first century can't be far away.

 In the wake of England's post lunch horror show at Lord's Mark Nicholas writing for cricinfo advocates the recall of Steve Finn who he describes as 'the most feared opponent'. Not sure the 3000 or so sunbaskers who were at NMR yesterday will agree with that, 0 for 88 off 20 overs suggests the Yorkshire batsmen were not too scared either. Plenty of people, probably too many, will dip their oar into the England captaincy pond before selection for Sunday's test side is announced but I note that 74% of Sky viewers think Cook should go. That raises two questions in my mind: were they asked who should replace him for it is a pretty pointless question if they were not, and should Cook stay in the side under his replacement ? Read and yes are my answers.

DRAMA AT ADEL

By Brian Sanderson,

I had a telephone call from Bob Proter to say the York v Chesterfield was off due to rain under the covers and this will be played next Sunday, weather permitting.So I decided to go local to Adel in the semi-final of the Waddilove Cup in the Airedale @ Wharfedale League which started at 2.P.M.

I noticed that there was a match started at Glen Road which is on the way to Adel and it started at 1.30.The match was Headingley Bramhope against Oakwood Old Gits C.C.When I arrived the Oakwood side were warming up and had to lend the home side some players.Looking at the web they play at Undercliffe against the Cavaliers X1 on the  10 August ,starting time 1.30.The week before at Undercliffe Booby Peel CC are playing.None of these teams Ihad never heard of.

The match was going to be a thirty over match with ten bowler bowling 3 overs maximum, no lbw and retire at 25 runs not age.After a walk round the field I moved on to Adel. Reg Parker was sat in his usual seat after his holiday in North Yorkshire. Adel won the toss and decided to bowl on a damp wicket.Soon Collingham were 16 for 4 and a prospect of an early finish. Tony Hutton had arrived after his Sunday lunch  and telephoning the electric company over his power failure.Then there was a partnership between Jacklin and James to bring up to 90.Then Collingham  wickets fell quicly and were all out for 124.

Adel must have been confident of winning the match after a good bowling performance however they lost the first wicket on the first ball from Tobin.After a few overs there was a heavy donfall of rain which took the pl;ayers off for 30 minutes which brought Duckwoth Lewis into effect. Also caused a rainbow.

 This left Adel to score 89 in 29 overs.Quirk who opened the innings very slow manged to reach 49 before been out which  caused Adel to lose wickets quickly.In the last over they required 13 i with nine wickets down and lost the match so Collingham go through to the final.

Godd news was Tony electric was back on.  Scarborough tomorrow.

Local Hero reaches 1000 runs.

posted by John Winn

My neighbour John Gawthrope and I adjusted our normal departure time from the Lower Ure Valley to fit in with the twelve noon start at North Marine Road. Our journey was made in the face of common sense and forecasts earlier in the week which suggested that the weather might seriously interfere with play but despite setting off with rain falling by the time we were made 'Welcome to Ryedale' it had stopped and when we parked up in Trafalgar Square* the sun was doing its best to convince us that our journey had not been in vain.

A close humid morning suggested that whoever won the toss would field and when the covers were removed to reveal a vivid shade of green, more Ray Reardon than Ray Illingworth, Middlesex skipper Chris Rogers gave Yorkshire the first opportunity to bat before a decent crowd which although not by any means 'festive', grew as the news spread that play would start on time. I expressed my concern that this might be a 'fifteen for three first half hour', but in the event Lyth and Lees added 49 at about two and a half per over before Lees fell to Roland-Jones. Enter Kiwi Kane, as The Scarborough News described him, fresh from his extremely successful tour of the Caribbean, and when rain interrupted after 27 overs, early lunch was taken on 67 for 1.

We were joined for lunch by two of John's friends from Norfolk who when the invitation was extended probably didn't expect lobster and a cruet, but they were suitably impressed, and the rain eased in time to save the salad dressing from dilution. Much heavier rain was in store but not before Williamson was out and so heavy was the afternoon downpour, the thunder competed with the guns firing at the nearby Battle of The River Plate, that we seriously considered going home but when warm sunshine replaced the rain, good work by the ground staff saw a resumption at five o'clock.

 

Waiting for play to resume.

 

If the first half of the day could be considered to have been won by Yorkshire Middlesex fought back in the evening taking four more wickets including that of local hero Adam Lyth who shortly after six sliced Finn away to go his hundred and before his dismissal became the first to reach a thousand championship runs in 2014. Anybody looking for an opening bat in good form? Fluent left hander offers services, can be in Southampton next Sunday. Lyth finally fell to the promising Helm who had earlier accounted for Bairstow. Time for Bresnan to face four balls before bad light cut short the day with seven overs left.

 By this time John and I were on our way home, encountering torrential rain in the York area, rain which may spoil York's second attempt to play their National KO last 16 match with Chesterfield this afternoon. Let's hope not, for that is where I am bound and then back to Scarborough tomorrow before championship cricket turns its lights off for about a month. After Tuesday Middlesex have no more first class fixtures until August 31sr, six weeks today. Can that be right? Answers to the ecb.

* The one adjacent to Scarborough Cricket ground, just in case you thought we were over reliant on sat nav.

 

How much? Two Yorkshire members question price of a pint at Scarborough.

 

CHASING A MATCH

By Brian Sanderson,

To  and keep the days of watching cricket up to twenty-three I looked at the live score website to see what matches were on as the weather was not good again on a Saturday.One match started at 12.15 which was York against Rotherham.So for the fourth day  this week I set of to the match. About four miles outside York it started to rain heavy.When I arrived at the ground everbody was in the clubhouse.

Rotherham  had been batting with 34 extras  including 24 wides.It rained for about forty minutes and I moved over to the Clifton Alliance ground next door were they were playing Beverley.The photograph at the start of the blog shows them drying the ground. It stopped for about twenty minutes but then another heavy rain shower arrived. So I had not seen any play yet. On my way back to Leeds I passed the Collingham ground were their seconds were playing Harden.

Speaking to the groundsman who I knew through Mick Bourne he hoped play woild start in twenty minutes.However it started to rain just as they were ready to start. The umpire followed the rules and did not come out.

Harden were 25 for 7 so they were not keen to start the match.I was worried I would miss out again but in the end they started in bright sunshine.Two wickets fell quickly but the number 10 scored 48 before been bowled so gave Harden a score to bowl at.

On the way back home it started to rain again. Guess were I am going to-morrow . That is right York against Chesterfield. Let us hope the weather is better han today.

GOOD 20/20

By Brian Sanderson,

After a easy afternoon watching the Test Match I wandered up to Headingley to a 20/20 match between Yorkshire and Birmingham.I had agreed to help out on the bookstall as Vivian  and Geoff had travelled to Scarborough for the county match tomorrow.

Also it kept my sequence of cricket days.Yorkshire batted first with the two overseas stars Williamson and Finch.However he was soon caught out with a slower ball from Clarke.I was able to watch a rare bowling feat a hat-trick by New Zealander Jeetan Patel having Lees stumped and Gale and Lyth bowled.It was left up to Bresnan and Rashid to put on a partnership of 68 in front of a good crowd.Yorkshire set  a target of 147 which was better than it looked after the hattrick.

Birmingham were soon 40 for 4 and Yorkshire were in with a chance.However Laurie Evans ex Durham  scored a excellent 69 in 44 balls.No Yorkshire bowler could contain him and hit a six on to the Rugby roof.

A excellent match and and I do not usually say that for a 20/20 match.

A photograph at the end of the match with Laurie Evans going up to Mallinder.I will be praying that the rain is not as bad as forecast for tomorrow to carry on watching cricket.