SEPTEMBER FIXTURES

By Brian Sanderson,

1 SEPTEMBER    YORKSHIRE  V  SOMERSET   HEADINGLEY 4 DAYS    10.30

2 SEPTEMBER SOMERSET SECONDS  V YORKSHIRE SECONDS  TAUNTON VALE

THREE DAY FRIENDLY

6 SEPTEMBER   YORKSHIRE V GLOS  HEADINGLEY 50 OVER SEMI-FINAL

   YORK V ACADEMY   YORK

   CUMBERLAND  V  OXFORDSHIRE   CARLISLE  4 DAY FINAL.

7 September SEC Final Middlese II v Notts II  Radlett 4 days

9  SEPTEMBER   MIDDLESEX  V  YORKSHIRE LORDS  4 DAYS.

                        NOTTS V  DURHAM  TRENT BRIDGE  4 DAYS

12 September Last fixtures in Nidderdale, Bradford, Aire Wharf and Huddersfield  Leagues

13 SEPTEMBER  BLACK SHEEP FINAL  ACADEMY  V  METHLEY   ELSCAR   11.00
                          

14 HAMPSHIRE  V  YORKSHIRE   SOUTHAMPTON   4 DAY   10.30.

Durham v Worcestershire Riverside (4 days)

Lancashire v Surrey Old Trafford (4 days)

15  YORKSHIRE SECONDS  V  LANCASHIRE SECONDS  3 DAY FRIENDLY  SCARBOROUGH.

16 SEPTEMBER  NOTTINGHAM SECONDS  V  SOMERSET SECONDS  NOTTS SPORT CLUB  3 DAY FRIENDLY.

19 SEPTEMBER     HUDDERSFIELD CENTRAL and NYSD  LAST FIXTURES

                               ARTHINGTON FESTIVAL STARTS.

20 SEPTEMBER   SADDLEWORTH LEAGUE  FINAL MATCHES BEFORE THEY JOIN  NEW ECB LEAGUE.

22 SEPTEMBER   YORKSHIRE  V SUSSEX  HEADINGLEY 4 DAYS.
             
                               NOTTS V HANTS TRENT BRIDGE 4 DAYS

                               DERBYSHIRE V LEICS DERBY 4 DAYS

Tew, Tew but no Barney McGrew or Dinton.

posted by John Winn

A family celebration took my wife and me to North Oxfordshire for the weekend and gifted me an opportunity to visit a cricket ground that Tony Hutton had recommended as one of his favourites and just two weeks ago featured as ground of the week in The Cricket Paper, namely the Gordon Taylor Oval, the home of Great and Little Tew.

Liz and I were staying in the nearby village of Hook Norton and on a beautiful Saturday morning we were joined by my sister and her husband in anticipation of seeing a Home Counties Premier League Division Two match between top of the table Great and Little Tew and bottom of the table Dinton with an 11:00 start. With directions from my niece Helen, whose older daughter has played at the ground, we ignored the signs enticing us to visit The Falkland Arms, instead went up the hill, turned left and there it was, every bit as delightful as promised. But we sensed immediately that something was wrong for no match was in progress, just what looked like Saturday morning practice. Surely there had to be cricket in such a lovely setting on such a lovely day.

Inside the pavilion a man was carefully checking the bar stock and he informed me that the already relegated Dinton had cried off on Thursday and the match had been cancelled. The descent of my heart towards my fashionable summer shoes was arrested however when the bar auditor revealed that there would be a match starting at twelve thirty when G and L T fourths would play Cropredy III in a Cherwell League Div 9 cup match. Not quite the advertised fare but cricket none the less and worth an hour's wait. The man who informed me of this turned out to be the eponymous Gordon Taylor, the man after whom the ground is named and here he is. The handsome looking tomatoes in his lunch box were grown in his greenhouse, clearly a man for more than one season.

A disappointed member of The Tews firsts gave us directions to the village of Great Tew, a ten to fifteen minute walk away and there we enjoyed refreshment at The Falkland Arms before returning to the ground where the game was just under way with Cropredy (from the Banbury area) batting and making slow progress. As one might expect this was very much 'lads and dads' cricket, but encouraging that these two clubs can put out third and fourth teams at this late stage in the season. When we left Cropredy were 35 without loss after 13 overs but something of a collapse seems to have followed for they were bowled out for 90, a target which Tew reached for the loss of five wickets. They will play their semi final next Saturday

The Home Counties League at its highest level is dominated by two teams, Henley and High Wycombe who between them have won 11 out of the last 14 championships and after next Saturday you can make that 12, because the two meet in the last match of the season and currently occupy the top two places, well clear of Banbury who are third. The competing clubs are spread over five counties, Oxon, Bucks, Berks Hants and Middlesex.

The other pavilion at Tew

President Taylor while naturally disappointed about Dinton's failure to honour the match, and we agreed it was a poor show at this level, is keenly awaiting Tew's final match of the season next Saturday when they will travel to Shipton-under-Wychwood needing just three points to clinch the title and with Shipton third from bottom that ought to be a formality. As for the relegated Dinton's fate I'm not sure but as there are only two divisions in the Home Counties League I think they may well be in the Cherwell League in 2016.


A very wet morning in The Lower Ure Valley and things will have to brighten up considerably before I make the journey to Harrogate where Yorkshire Women, who yesterday beat Surrey by 1 run, take on Sussex.

DEWSBURY DISTRICT LEAGUE

By Brian Sanderson


After my trip to Wembley yesterday , it was back to watching cricket.Ron Deaton again came up with a very interesting trip round the above league. Originally the league was called The Dewsbury @ Disrict League and was formed in 1911. While we travelling round a spectator said the league had five  divisions in the 1980,s.

There are 19 teams in the league mainly based round to grounds and there is two divisions.. We visited Sandy Lane in Dewsbury not far from Savile Park were Yorkshire used to play. There is three pitches and is the base of  six teams. These are Azad,Dewsbury,Al Murud,Driftwood, Kashmir and Savile Stars Shaheen.

Today the three matches were as follows:

Saville Stars Shaheen v Kashmir. As we were eating or sandwiches there was an appeal for LBW which caused a massive argruement and the umpires pulled up the stumps but the row carried. on . Photographed above.

Dewsbury v Savile Town

Moving on to the next ground the match was proceeding peacefully.The grounds are next to the River Calder
and on a flood plain of the river so are very flat.The photograph is of a bridge over the river. At the moment Savile Town are lending the first division by two points with three matches to play.

Moving on to the third ground were  Driftwood v Al Murud, were another quite match was progressing. The ground is overlooked by a beautiful stone houses and you would not believe you were in the  woolen town of Dewsbury. Both these teams are in the second division.

As we walked back to the car we noticed that the Savile Star match had started again even after both umpires had abandon the match. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of the match will be and if anything the league do about the incident.

Moving on to the next ground of the league at Ravensthorpe were Dewsbury Elite should have been playing Greenshirts but there was no sign of a match.

Moving on we went through Mirfield when we noticed two matches been played at Mirfield and the ground next door Moorlands. At Mirfield there was a friendly match between a Mirfield team of twenty five years ago and the present team. A beautiful ground with trees behind.

Next door Moorlands over 50,s were playng Hepworth @ Idle . Is this the only two team next to each other with the initials M.C.C

Back to the league on Huddersfield Sports ground four pitches and all occupied by teams in the Dewsbury District League

The first match was  on number 1 pitch was New Sanam v Kismet who,s home ground was number 2 . Both sides are in the first division and had no chance of winning the league.

Moving on to pitch 4      Friends Eleven v Azad.

It was the end of the innings for the home side with the last wicket bring the score up to 140 in the forty overs. Azad was founded in 2004 accord to Cricket Heritage web site but one of the play said it was established thirty years ago.

Next pitch was Scout Hill v PAK with the home side batting. The ground is overlooked by ICI factory.

Both sides are in the first division.

The last match on the ground was Dewsbury Young Stars v Gujarkhan Star. As we were having a cup of tea there was big argument about  whether the batsman was stumped. After five minutes , this time the batsman  decided to walk off . So we had seen nine matches on three grounds, is this a record ?

Moving on to our final match Birkby Allstars v KKK on the Rosehill ground which is used in the  Huddersfield League on Saturday.So this is the only ground used by the league which is proper cricket ground ie pavilion , scorebox and covers. The above photograph is a KKK player coming of the pitch with a injured side.While he batted he score 17 sixes  in his team score of 299 in the forty overs.He said he only plays cricket on Sunday.He must have a  great hand -eye coordination. Another great day with plenty of stories but one thing I did not enjoy at Birkby was a bowler bowling with his cap the wrong way round. He was not Geoffrey Boycott.

Lancashire win the Sanderson Cup

Posted by Tony Hutton

Honley's unique pagoda-style pavilion

 

Just to bring Brian Sanderson's report on the Yorkshire under 19 game with Lancashire at Honley up to date, I can confirm that Lancashire won the game on first innings but could not bowl Yorkshire out a second time for an outright win. However that was sufficient for the visitors to claim the trophy which has no connection with our own Mr Sanderson.

Lancashire's second wicket
pair of Chris Laker, from Delph and Dobcross, and Harry Dearden, from Hyde and Lancashire 2nd XI, both scored centuries in a big second wicket partnership. The declaration on the second day came at 318-7, but Yorkshire equalled their first innings score of 174 with only seven wickets down. Again spinner Shafiq was the best bowler with 3-64.

An enjoyable game at a very pleasant ground, with good company and good facilities all round. The Honley club are to be congratulated for staging the match and hopefully it will return here again in the future. Just a shame Yorkshire were not quite at full strength, but this was due to the proliferation of fixtures from the top downwards at all age groups.

Derbyshire win 2nd XI Trophy

Posted by Tony Hutton

Thursday 27th August saw Derbyshire second eleven win the one day trophy against all the odds at the Riverside, Chester-le-Street. The start time had been put back to 2 p.m. as Derby had been engaged in a three day game with Warwickshire at Coventry on the previous day. It meant a long day for the hard core cricket supporters with the fifty overs a side game not finishing until around 9 p.m. under the splendid floodlights installed by Durham this season.

Riverside under the lights

However those who did turn up enjoyed warm sunshine well into the early evening and the slight coldness near the end was rewarded by a last ball finish which saw Derby winners by just ten runs. The visitors batted first and got off to a good start and compiled an opening partnership of 70 between skipper Durston and Slater. Both were dismissed in the forties, with Slater staying longer and playing the sheet anchor role. Chesney Hughes hit some powerful blows and just as you felt the charge was on, suddenly was totally becalmed in the sixties and was eventually out to a marvellous catch by Jennings for 69.

At that stage you still thought a big score was on the cards, but the middle order collapsed dramatically and 196-3 became 218-8. Only a final fling by Critchley and Milnes saw Derby to a final total around par of 247-8 after fifty overs. The best bowling performance came from a new member of the Durham staff, 19 year old George Harding, who is a tall left arm spinner from Leek in Staffordshire. He not only bowled a steady line and length but dismissed both Cork (another catch from Jennings)and Taylor (caught and bowled) to finish with excellent figures of 8-1-27-2.

So all to play for and something of a slowish start for Durham by Jennings and Mustard. The long serving wicketkeeper possibly playing his final innings for the county. He hung around for a long time but was then lbw to Critchley's googly for 31. That was the story of the early batsmen all twenties and thirties but nothing more. Macleod did make top score of 41 but they really needed someone to play a big innings and that never came.

Some hefty blows by Weighell brought Durham back with a chance at the end but when he was clean bowled by Milnes for 37 Durham still only needed 24 to win off 16 balls. The tail end batsman were not up to the task and when Harding was out off the last ball of the match, Milnes had finished with 3-43 and Derby were the winners by just ten runs.

Derbyshire take the cup

An excellent day's cricket for the modest crowd with refreshment facilities available throughout the day and a great view from the long room near the end. The floodlights are excellent and gave a wonderful view of the final stages, but I still feel that floodlit cricket is not suitable here due to the British climate and is much more appropriate for the southern hemisphere. More disappointment for Durham after the first team exit from their 50 over competition earlier in the week at Trent Bridge, but delight for Derby which was well deserved.

MCC visit Goldsborough

posted by John Winn

After overnight rain there was a delayed start to yesterday's annual match between the Nidderdale League and MCC, this year hosted by Goldsborough CC at their attractive ground near Knaresborough. The day had an autumn feel to it, despite the strong sunshine, with a strong wind blowing across the ground which had some patches of fallen leaves and although we were near noon the players cast quite long shadows. The MCC flag and that of the hosts flew proudly assisted by the breeze.

The league side, captained by Ouseburn's Dave Cummins took the field as is customary in these matches giving MCC first knock. Opening the bowling was former Leeward Islands U19 star, Del Phillips but MCC got off to a confident start and were 58 off 12 without loss before a bowling change was made. Wath's Ben Kettlewell finally made the breakthrough when keeper Jackson took a smart catch to make it 100 for 1. Before lunch I was joined by Ouseburn President Anton Lodge, on whose coat tails I was invited to eat with some members of the league committee. Anton predicted a declaration at 250 and the MCC skipper obliged at 251 for 5.

Whatever hopes the league XI might have had of chasing down such a score were soon in tatters with Pannall's Rob Ellis dismissed in the first over followed by a run out when the score was still nought. 0 for 2 became 12 for 3 and 44 for 4 at tea.  Things improved with sixes being hit into the surrounding and recently harvested cornfields but 183 all out left the league well short.

 

Goldsborough CC

 

It is three years since I last attended this fixture when it was held at Burton Leonard. It is a pleasant occasion, not least because batsmen walk when they get an edge and the Goldsborough ground provided a fitting setting yesterday. Off to Chester le Street today for the SET final at the inconvenient time of 2:00 but this is I believe at the reasonable  request of Derbyshire who were playing at Coventry yesterday. It will mean however that those who rely on public transport and live at a distance from the ground and who are regular supporters of second team cricket, will probably not be able to attend. Shame.

SANDERSON CUP

By Brian Sanderson,


I arrived early at Honley, Huddersfield for the Sanderson Cup between Yorkshire Under 19 against Lancashire Under 19 in two day match. The weather was sunny after the rain during the early morning.

The first person I met was Peter France who brought a Bradford Park Avenue programme with his photograph in his younger days.Yorkshire batted first and the crowd started to arrive including the Lancashire PCW  as i t " was quite over in Lancashire in repect of cricket "

Yorkshire struggled with their batting against a steady bowling. The conversation did not stop during the day as numerous Huddersfield Cricket League ex players and supporters came to discuss the new rain delay system which Broad Oak  had problems on Saturday.

By lunchtime Yorkshire had reached 79 for 4 in 31 overs. During the lunch time break David Thorpe and myself walked down to Honley Graveyard to find the grave of Alonzo Drake ex Yorkshire cricketer who died  in 1919.

We found the grave with the help of Philip Paine book which had a photograph of the grave. Back to the cricket ground to see Yorkshire batters struggle again against the spin bowling of Furgan Shafriq who,s club is Monston @ Weaste.. He took 5 for 31 which helped to bowl Yorkshire out for 174. Only Bailey Worcester from Horsforth score over 50 .

Again a Yorkshire struggled with their batting and at this stage I went home to beat the traffic on the M62 which I did. It looks as Lancashire will win the Sanderson Cup tomorrow.

Yorks II face battle at Stamford Bridge

posted by John Winn

After the heavy rain that had brought Monday's play to an early end good work by the ground staff at Stamford Bridge and the laying of matting on two parts of the square enabled the game to resume only 30 minutes late yesterday morning.

As Brian has described Monday had not been a good day for the young Yorkshire side but the balance was redressed somewhat in the early overs with Smith and Wood soon removed by Wainman. Enter Root to join Libby who had been batting since Monday afternoon, although to some it seemed longer, and it was not long before Root had overtaken his stolid partner with an attractive fifty that contained five fours.

 

Lunch, which for some meant fine dining at a nearby pub, gave me  the opportunity to try and clarify what was riding on the match for I still had not been able to find an up to date table. Poor show ECB. I consulted Yorkshire scorer Howard Clayton whose view matched mine, namely that whilst Durham might mathematically be able to catch Notts it was unlikely, especially given the East Midlanders strong start to this match, and the news from our Hartlepool Correspondent that there had been no play between Durham and MCCU on Monday reinforced this view. No doubt exists that who ever does emerge as winners of the Northern Division will play Middlesex and one authority was prepared to go as far as saying that the final would be at Radlett and ask how I would be getting there.


The dismissal of Root to the persevering Wainman brought Will Gidman to the crease. Gidman who scored heavily for Gloucestershire in second division championship games last year, has struggled to break into the Notts first XI, but a young Yorkshire attack held no terrors for him and bets were soon being taken on when he would overtake Libby. Whether these whispers reached the young Cornishman at the crease is not known but he emerged from his coma to reach his hundred with a flurry of boundaries and by the time the declaration sent him to tea, corn beef sandwiches no doubt, he was unbeaten on 152 with Gidman in his wake on 79 and a lead of 247.

Yorkshire's openers survived five overs before bad light intervened by which time I had circumnavigated the York Outer Ring Road and was nearly home. The afternoon had turned very cold and I was not alone in leaving just before tea. I woke to rain this morning, but it has stopped now and the forecast is for a brighter afternoon which may give Yorkshire's youngsters the opportunity to shape better than on Monday. If things do improve I'm off to Goldsborough to see the annual match between MCC and The Nidderdale League then tomorrow to Chester le Street for the SET final between Durham and Derbyshire. Whoever wins there will be a new name on the trophy. That's nice.

Championship double header followed by deluge

Posted by Tony Hutton

Saturday 22nd August and a change from normal routine of watching Yorkshire Academy at Weetwood as they were due to play Barnsley on two successive days in league and then cup matches. Sunday got the vote and today it was off to Trent Bridge to see the second day of Nottinghamshire v Warwickshire.

Interesting message at Trent Bridge

 

Notts had batted on day one and amassed 404-5 thanks largely to Alex Hales and Steve Mullaney who had both scored centuries and put on 257 for the second wicket. The overnight batsmen were Samit Patel and young bowler Luke Wood, who was out early on and skipper Chris Read joined Patel to continue the run fest.

The conditions were ideal for the Notts family fun day with lots of activities for the good number of children who had turned up attracted no doubt by the £1 admission charge for all ages, which my travelling companion was able to take advantage of. It became a really hot day and we needed to seek a viewing point in the shade as the runs continued to flow.

Action at Trent Bridge

Patel had a stump removed by Chris Wright on 46 with the score on 453-7 and Read was joined by my namesake Brett Hutton (born in Doncaster) who seems to have secured a regular place recently. He batted very confidently and put on almost a hundred with the belligerent Read, who always looks such a good batsman. Hutton was out for 37 and Read eventually for 69, including ten fours, when caught by Trott off Rankin. That was 560-9 and many thought Notts would declare, but they batted on.

Notts pass the 500 mark

The next few minutes provided high entertainment and the youngsters in the crowd really enjoyed Jake Ball's innings of 49 off only 20 balls. He hit three sixes and two fours in one over from Jeetan Patel to take the total to exactly 600 before his partner Harry Gurney who had failed to score in a partnership of 40 had his stumps demolished by Wright.

The Warwickshire bowling figures made sad reading. Suffice to say three of them had over a hundred runs scored off them and two others were in the nineties. Patel, normally the Warwickshire star bowler, finished with 1-155. So in what appeared perfect batting conditions the visitors started their reply. O Calamity! As so often happens when chasing a large total wickets fell early.

The two local lads Jake Ball and Luke Wood had Warwickshire reeling at 10-3 in no time at all. Wood had Westwood caught behind for 1 and Ball similarly dismissed the other opener Porterfield for the same score. Ball then got the prize wicket of Jonathon Trott lbw for 8 and Warwickshire were in tatters. Some defiance came from Evans but when Hain was dismissed by Gurney the score was 41-4. At that point just before tea, we decided to make the short journey to Derby along Brian Clough Way to see the final session of Derbyshire v Kent.

It was a relief to leave the constant sound of bongo drums adjacent to the Trent Bridge Inn, as part of the children's entertainment, for the peace and quiet of the county ground at Derby. Or so we thought until we heard a public address announcement to the effect that the umpires were keeping the players off the field due to the threat of thunder and lightening from the large black clouds passing overhead under a new directive from the all powerful ECB.

Lights on in the gloom at Derby

Fortunately the clouds soon passed over and the action restarted with Derbyshire already into their second innings at tea on day two. Billy Godleman, the former Middlesex boy wonder, was batting again after scoring a century in the modest first innings total of 253. His partner Chesney Hughes also looked comfortable against the rather innocuous Kent attack. Kent had been dismissed for a paltry 159 by the pace attack of Footitt, Cotton and Palladino.

Godleman went on to complete his second century of the match on day three, but the game petered out into a tame draw on day four, after more interruptions from the weather. It was certainly the weather that had the final word on our journey back to Leeds up the M1. Torrential rain started at Alfreton and continued all the way home. In heavy traffic it proved a real nightmare as rain of biblical proportions fell unabated.

I failed to mention another plus point of a very entertaining day as the gatemen
at Derby had abandoned their post when we arrived my companion got in for free, so claiming the very unusual distinction of seeing two county championship matches in one day for the grand sum of £1.

The Second XI trophy final

Posted by John Winn

Both Durham and Derbyshire have confirmed that the SET Final will be played at The Riverside Chester le Street on Thursday August 27th wickets pitched 2:00 pm

STAMFORD BRIDGE

By Brian Sanderson,


Today was my last chance to see a three day Second Team match this season. It was Yorkshire Seconds against Nottingham at Stafford Bridge.There were two interesting Umpires in this match James Middlebrooke,above, and Ian Blackwell both played Championship cricket and were now picked out as up and coming umpires. There had been some more rain last night but the match started on time with Nottingham winning the toss and decided to bowl.

Yorkshire were soon 6 for 2 in the second over. At this stage the two batsmen were Harry Brook, from Burley, nd Aaron Finch, Yorkshire overseas player. Finch is just recovering from injury and is contracted to play to the end of the season. The two of them put on 45 before  Brook was bowled.

Aaron Finch by lunchtime had reached 59 out of a total of 102 in 36 overs.He batted very sensible but the other batsman could not cope with the bowling. The next highest was Brook with 19 who was only playing his second second team match.

After lunch Finch was out when just adding one run  and the team was bowled out for 106 in 43.5 over . Very poor by Yorkshire. The best bowler was Benjamin Kitt who is only twenty years old. His figures were 10.5-3-21-5.

When Nottingham batted both openers were in no problems against four bowlers.Greg Smith, Nottingham captain , was on 51 when the thunder rain came and we decided to go home. Nottingham total was 65 for 0 which did not give the Yorkshire supporters much hope for the future players.

LAST MATCH AT WEETWOOD FOR 2015

By Brian Sanderson

Today was the semifinal of the Yorkshire League Cup at Weetwood. There had been thunder rain at Weetwood which had washed out the league match between the Academy and Barnsley. Richard Robinson, the  groundsman, had been working during the early morning to have this match on. Great work. Again the Academy were playing Barnsley who had a weaken side out due to holidays.

Barnsley won the toss and batted at a windy but sunny Weetwood. We decided to sit  out side of the pavilion with some protection from the breeze .Soon Barnsley were in trouble at 26 for 5  and thoughts turn to watching other matches. However Shaw and Jahangir but on a partnership of 51 which was the major partnership of the innings. The Academy dropped two catches but were able to keep Barnsley down to 132 and bowling them out in the forty first over. The top scorer was extras with 31.

Matthew Fisher finished up with figures of 8.3 -3-15-4 and the major bowler was James Logan with figures of 10-5-15-2. The Academy had a weak batting side out but were still favorites to play York in the Final.

Callis was soon out  caught out off the overseas pro Ahmed for 13. Hussain managed to have Waite run out with the total on 54 in the thirteenth over

It was then left to Hussain and Fisher to put on a partnership of 77 before Hussain was run out for 57. The major worry was the weather and the Academy won the match with eighteen overs to spare when the rain came again. Not the most exciting match but it was good to see the Academy in the final again after last years win.

NEW CLUB BROOK-WALTON

By Brian Sanderson,

Myself and John Fuller, of Cricket Yorkshire fame, decided to visit the club Brook- Walton which was established in 2013 and now play in the Pontefract Division 2 and are equal top. They were today playing Hatfield Town who batted first. The ground is situated in a middle of a sporting complex.

While  I was walking round I had a chance to talk to Richard Wild father who also had  played in the Pontefract League and obtained ten wickets.Richard is now forty-two and is trying to achieve a similar feat before he retires. Good luck.

Moving on about a mile we called into Sandal who was established in 1874 and is also in the Pontefract League and equal top with Brook-Walton. Today they were playing Stainborough who were bowling. It is well kept ground with trees down one side of the ground and the main Wakefield to London railway line at the bottom of the ground.

The match was abandon due to thunder rain but they play each other  again tomorrow  in the play-offs starting at 12.00PM and a forty-five over match.

Moving on to the other side of Wakefield to Wrenthorpe who are still recovering from losing the Jack Hampshire Final within two hours. Today Wakefield Thornes had scored 288 with seven overs spare. Wrenthorpes team were short of five players which caused the second team to play with nine players.

Wakefield Thornes had a fast bowler called  Faisal Irfan who  was the fastest bowler seen today

.

Moving on to Lightcliffe who play in the Bradford League and were playing East Bierley. Among the spectators was Bob Procter who was supporting the  way side. Also arrived was Peter Davies and his father. As we arrived the rain also came but it did not stopped Bierley been bowled out for 69 and again they were short of players. Not a good situation but I can not see it changing in fact it will get worse.

CHESTERFIELD

By Brian Sanderson

Myself and Bob Procter decided to go an see the Second Team  semi-final between Derbyshire and Surrey on Friday.
As I was parking the car I saw Tony Hutton  coming to collect his chairs. So we all settled down to watch the match next to the pavilion. The weather was rain showers which made it hard to watch the match  in the first thirty overs of the Surrey batting.

We were able to obtain some coffee and a piece of cake for £1.20 ,excellent value. The Surrey innings was dominated by two partnerships. The first between Chris Green ,who was born in Natal and has played for New South Wales and Bradley Erasmus who was born in Chertsey Surrey. They put on 76  and the second partnership was between Green and Tim Linley . They put on a partnership of 56.

Green went on to score 101 in a total of 241.The two best Derbyshire bowlers were Taylor and Milnes taking five wickets for seventy seven in twenty overs. The feeling was that the score was short of at least forty runs. by this time the sun was out and some people were buying  ice cream.

Derbyshire started quickly with Will Durston who put on 72 in eleven overs which set up Derbyshire to win the match by five wickets and five overs to spare.

I was asked  why I liked this ground so I enclosed two photographs which can not be seen on any other County ground.

The miniature railway running round the lake

The second one when the ball got lost in the bushes. There is talk of reducing the Champion matches next year and grounds like Chesterfield would be deprived of matches which would be a shame.