CONTRAST OF TWO GROUNDS

By Brian Sanderson,

Another visit to Weetwood to see the Yorkshire Academy to play Sheffield United.There was a  strong wind blowing so we had to sit in the pavilion front to try and keep warm.The Academy had a good victory yesterday in a rain effected match. Sheffield are the bottom of the league whilst the Academy were top. so we were not expecting a long match.

Sheffield struggled through their innings with  James Logan taking  four wickets with his slow left arm spin bowling. The eighth wicket partnership  held the Academy up until Ben Ainsley came on in the Fifty over when he got a wicket with his out swing bowling.This is the second time I had seen Ben and I did not knew he bowled. Sheffield managed to bat out the fifty -five overs when the final wicket went after they had scored just over 100  at a rate of just two an over.It did cause some people to be bored.

The photograph above is of Ben Ainsley leaving the field this afternoon.The crowd at Weetwood would be about twenty-five.At this stage I decided to go  half a mile down the Leeds Outer Ringroad to New Rover were there was a under 17 Joe Lumb match between Airewharfe and Scarborough.The ground was full of cars and people were sitting in the sunshine watching Scarborough bat. We were told by John Taplin that Harry Warmsley had scored 50 in the the total of 162 for 4 when we arrived.

With thirteen overs to go and wickets in hand you would expect a total of 240. However the left arm spin of  Nav Panesar restrict them to 207 all out in the fifty over.At the break Keith Boyce the groundsman drove on the field to repair the pitch. He started to tend cricket pitches at Castleton, in the Esk Valley,He moved to Headingley in 1978 after he had worked at Middlesborough.When he retired from Headingley he helped to establish the square at New Rover.

In 2010 he was presented with the IOG lifetime achievement award for his work .We obtained a teamsheet and recognised the name of Nathen Goldthorpe who playes for Rawden. He has played at Arthington during the end of season matches. He is the son of James Goldthorpe who played in the Bradford League.
In the sunshine and  in a beautiful ground it was a delight to watch him score a hundred and Airewharfe winning the match easily. Tony Hutton informed us the the Acaademy had won by eight wickets and Ben Ainsley top scoring but I was pleased to see the match at New Rover to the finish.

The photograph at the beginning of the blog is of Nathen acknowledgeing his hundred. Tomorrow to Barnsley to watch Yorkshire Seconds.