Although most leagues finished the season a week ago Saturday and Sunday saw action in two competitions for which the future involves, in one case radical change and for the other the end of a history stretching back many years.
The league involved in Saturday's action was the York Senior League where a round of Premier Division matches remained to be played with the title still to be decided and on a beautiful September morning I, along with many other pcws were drawn to Clifton Park York and the match between hosts Clifton Alliance and title hopefuls Sheriff Hutton Bridge. Acomb, the only team who could prevent the title going to Bridge were in action just a couple of miles away taking on Stamford Bridge.
When I arrived drinks were being taken with SHB struggling on 71 for 6 and their large support was momentarily subdued but bit by bit and led by Ed Barnes they added precious runs to reach 127 all out in the fortieth over. Not world beating stuff but with a bowler in your ranks who might conceivably be playing for Yorkshire tomorrow (Tuesday) no sinecure for Alliance either. I had by now been joined Brian and two family members and we settled into seats in the shade with a good view from behind the bowler's arm at the pavilion end. Alliance got off to quite a quick start but some of the runs were streaky and it was not long before the Fisher brothers began to make inroads into the batting. The introduction of leg spin gave a further turn to the screw and when Brian left at 4:00 it had become a question of when Bridge would win rather than if.
Sheriff Hutton Bridge batting
During the course of the afternoon I had been introduced to Brighouse cricket enthusiast Bob Longward and his wife and in chatting to Bob I discovered he is a keen reader of the blog and a man who rarely passes up an opportunity to see cricket. A late flourish added a few for the last wicket but Alliance fell short by 31 runs with Matthew Fisher showing his pedigree with 4 for 19. Meanwhile Acomb had lost to the other bridge and this left SHB 30 points clear of Woodhouse Grange in the final table with Acomb a further ten points away in third place. Significant though winning the title is arguably more momentous is that these three along with Scarborough, Dunnington and Stamford Bridge will next year play in Yorkshire League North with trips to Hull, Scarborough, Driffield, Castleford, Weetwood and Harrogate on their fixture list. Momentous times indeed.
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