Loftus at last

posted by John Winn

This time last year I made  a trip to the former iron mining area of Cleveland in the north east corner of North Yorkshire and on my list of grounds to be visited was that at Whitby Road, Loftus. Arriving at 3:30 I was just in time to see the players leaving after an easy victory for the home team over Smith's Dock. On Saturday I repeated the trip, this time placing Loftus top of my list and, arriving in good time for the 2:00 start, I was relieved to see a young man putting out the boundary flags and he confirmed that the opponents would be The Paragonians, a long established team from Hartlepool. I have written on the blog before about the woes affecting cricket in this area and in particular the steady decline of The Cleveland League to the point where it has only three clubs putting out five teams.

Precisely at 2:00 two of the five teams took the field with Loftus batting but with Paragonians able to put only seven in the field. At the conclusion of the first over a car arrived in some haste from which there emerged two men dressed in whites and who swelled the visitors to nine. The older of the newcomers then bowled the second over of the day and quite a steady over it was too, so much for warm ups. With the square rather in a dip and the outfield slow after the rain earlier in the week Loftus' progress was sedate and I did not stay long. They went on to make 216 for 5 off their 40 overs to which Paragonians replied with 140 for 9 which suggests that they were aided by the arrival of at least one more player.

 

The saddest thing about this occasion was  that the only other match scheduled in the league for Saturday and which had been on my list of grounds to visit, that between Smith's Dock II and Loftus II was abandoned because Loftus could not raise a team. Fortunately I was made aware of this before leaving Loftus and thus saved a wasted trip to that part of Middlesbrough.

From Loftus it is but a twenty minute drive to the leafy suburb of Nunthorpe and the Guisborough Road ground of Nunthorpe CC who until this year were members of the withering Cleveland League. During the winter Nunthorpe took the decision to play their cricket elsewhere with the first eleven being accepted into The Darlington and District League and the seconds heading for The Langbaurgh. The firsts were placed in Division C and have proved more than a match for most teams in that division and were undefeated before Saturday, enough to take them to the top of the table and in with a good shout for promotion. Saturday's visitors to the spacious and well appointed ground were Cockerton II whose record so far this campaign has been modest. When I arrived Cockerton were struggling at 19 for 3 off 11 overs and there were glum faces amongst the waiting batsman.

 

Nunthorpe pavilion

 

A quite heavy shower occurred on my arrival and I took shelter in an impressive conservatory complete with palm trees and redolent of Max Jaffa's Palm Court. Jaffa of course gave his name to the unplayable cricket delivery but  older readers may remember his orchestra graced The Spa, Scarborough for many years. The shower was not enough to halt play but it marked a turning point in the game with Cockerton mounting a revival to reach 163 for 9 which proved ten too many for Nunthorpe, a defeat which caused them to surrender top spot to Barningham II.

 

Nunthorpe with Rosebery Topping in the background

 

Another twenty minute drive took me to my third and last ground for the day, this time to Francis Park and a NYSD Div II match between Maltby CC and Sedgefield II. Maltby have an interesting history for until 2010 they were members of The Langbaurgh League but the ground deserves a higher standard of cricket and they are an ambitious club with a thriving junior section. The club house, opened in 1998, is of a high standard with plenty of photographs of past teams and I can recommend the cup of tea and carrot cake. I arrived just  before tea and the electronic scoreboard showed Maltby at 261 for 3, shortly after which they declared having used only 37 of their overs. Top scorer was Matthew Crofts with 86,

Sedgefield began badly and were soon 14 for 3; a middle order rally brought some respectability  but 82 all out left them 189 runs short of Maltby who now stand third in the table but with only one team to be promoted this year there is much to be done if they are to catch current leaders Stokesley II. They do have a game in hand however. Sedgefield, as both batting and bowling suggest, are not a power in this division and currently are bottom with only one win to their name. Long before their last wicket fell I was on my way down the A19 having enjoyed cricket on three different grounds in three different leagues but wondering if The Cleveland league will last beyond this season.


 
Francis Park (pavilion and score box)