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.