Between monsoons

posted by John Winn

Saturday morning saw both the morning and me dry (except the shoes) I took the train to Darlington and arrived at Feethams just as the Hartlepool players took the field in a NYSD Premier League game.The visitors had won the toss and asked an understrength Darlington to bat first. After the early loss of professional Rajin Saleh and Danny Morgans the innings was rescued by a partnership of 86 between Liam Coates and James Dobson with Coates going on to make 90, including a six which cleared the new fence protecting  the access road for the development now underway on the former football field.

 

After Coates' dismissal there were lively contributions from Doug Mulholland, John Barnes and Colin Biglin which brought the league leaders to 239 for 6. I had spent the afternoon in the company of our Hartlepool correspondent, Michael Taylerson who judged the total would be beyond his team's best efforts. Even the usual splendid tea from Sue Mulholland, the lemon and poppy seed cake was particularly tasty, did nothing to soften Mike's judgement of Hartlepool's prospects.

The opening overs confirmed his assessment was accurate for batting hero Coates took the new ball and soon reduced the visitors to 14 for 2. At this point I left to catch the train back to York but an email from DCC media man Tim Dobson this morning showed Hartlepool had not effected any sort of recovery and had been dismissed for 84 with leg spinner Jack Vickerman tidying up the tail. An easy victory then for Darlington and the maximum 25 points keeps them well clear at the top of the league and looking for their first championship since 1990 with six games to play.

During the afternoon I met up with a number of old friends including Derek Coates, father of Liam, with whom I played local cricket in the Darlington area 40 years ago. I had not been in the ground a minute before Derek persuaded me to shell out a pound for a copy of the excellent programme the Feethams club produce for home matches. The sun shone throughout the afternoon and despite the piles of aggregate and sewer pipes at the south end of the ground the old place looked in good shape. I was home just in time to see England mop up the Indian tail and complete a victory in two and a half days. And if you think the English press can be harsh try looking at The Times of India on line.

Bertha has moved through the Lower Ure Valley today and the accompanying rainfall has been very heavy. My plan for tomorrow is to go to Stockton for the SET match between Durham II and Lancs II but I shall check prospects before setting off. After that it is a short break in the Lake District: back in time for Scarborough on Friday where I will meet up with old friends from Sussex, our first meeting since early in the 2013 season.