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.