With February having so far being dry and at times sunny, I took advantage of a lovely day last Friday to fulfil a promise I made to myself a while back, namely to look for the ground formerly played on by Cover Bridge CC.
The club took its name from the River Cover, a short river which rises near Buckden Pike and ends at its confluence with the River Ure at Cover Bridge near Middleham. In my research into cricket in Wensleydale I became interested in the van Straubenzee family, generous patrons of cricket in the area, especially Spennithorne CC. In his autobiography Colonel * Philip van Straubenzee relates how as a young man he played cricket for Cover Bridge because at that time his home village of Spennithorne had no team. He describes how the ground lay midway between the rivers Cover and Ure ( although he prefers the old name for the Ure, the Yore) and how it was possible for sixes to be hit into both rivers.
Straubenzee was in his late teens when he played between the rivers and he describes how Cover Bridge which doesn't even merit the title of a hamlet drew its players from nearby villages like Middleham and Leyburn. The field was owned by the landlord of the Cover Bridge Inn, Dick Stott. What more suitable place to begin my exploration of the area than in this pub (above) which has survived since 1674. Refreshed by an excellent lunch and a pint chosen from an interesting list of real ales, I without too much difficulty found the area of land between the two rivers where I believe cricket was played. Sadly access is prevented by relatively recent buildings but the land where wickets were pitched can be clearly seen from the River Cover side and is shown between the two trees in this photograph. From my vantage point there was no evidence that cricket had ever been played there but the area is large enough and flat enough. The belt of trees in the background mark the line of the Ure.
Could sixes have been hit into both rivers? Not by me they couldn't but the aforementioned Dick Stott weighed 18st and he and others with arms developed by farming in the area, might have done it, depending perhaps where the wicket was pitched. Having missed the first three years of its existence Cover Bridge took up membership of The Wensleydale league in 1950 and lasted until 1969. Records form that period are incomplete but as far as one can tell they were never champions, and when the league experimented with two divisions in the 1950s they spent time in the lower section. Given. however that they were competing for players with the larger communities of Leyburn, Middleham and Spennithorne their record is commendable but as today, clubs had difficulty raising sides and the writing was on the wall when Cover Bridge could only raise four for a trip to Spennithorne only a mile and a half away.
No surprise when their membership lapsed the following year. Spennithorne and Middleham are today members of The Nidderdale League, Leyburn play only evening cricket and not too far downstream the Ure flows past the lovely ground at Masham. So for pcws who have not visited this area before, it has possibilities for an excellent afternoon's cricket watching with lunch at The Cover Bridge Inn to set you up.
As the quiz about Geoff Pullar led to a number of spin off topics for postings here is another quiz for you. Name the ten oldest surviving English test players. Their years of birth range from 1923 to 1929 and one has almost twice as many caps as the rest put together. Answers next time. And finally all second eleven county fixtures are available at ecb.co.uk although in a number of cases venues are unconfirmed.
* see my posting National and local hero for more about the Colonel.
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