EVENING IN THE DALES

By Brian Sanderson,

While Tony and John have been watching First -Class cricket ,I have been watching cricket tonight at a lower level. This was the Dales Evening League which consist of six teams. These are Kettlewell, Burnsall, Threshfield, Cracoe , Linton and Grassington.

The first match we went to was Kettlewell, view of the ground above. What could be more rural that this photograph and is a contrast to some of the inner city grounds of West Yorkshire. The home side were playing Burnsall in a twenty over match which should have started at 6.30 but it was more 6.45.

Before the match started the fence had to be removed and the sheep moved to the top of the field.

The wickets and scoreboard are kept in a locked container in the field. After walking round the field , I updated the scoreboard.

The players park their cars and vans in the field. Kettlewell batted first and reached 120 for 8 by the end of the first innings.

We moved on to the second match at Grassington were Threshfield were playing Cracoe. Cracoe had scored 156 in their innings.

Threshfield tried hard to beat the score with the help of a short boundary. However they finished about twenty runs short.

I would recommend a trip to these grounds if you wish to see cricket enjoyed in beautiful surroundings. and players clapping the players into the wicket.