I picked you John Fuller, of Cricket Yorkshire fame and author, to set off to see the first round of the Davidstow Village Cup. The two sides were Streethouses ,who are in the Pontefract League and Houghton Main who are in the South Yorkshire Cricket League Championship. Finding the ground was not easy even using a fancy phone and AA route map.like a lot of cricket grounds you can see it but finding the road in is not easy.
The rain was starting to fall and there was talk of not playing the match as Houghton Main had five players missing.However to both of our delights the Houghton Main walked on to the ground.
It had been reduced to a 36 over match rather than 40 overs. Soon the home side lost a wicket and in strode Johannes van Ee from South Africa.
On the last man stands web site it states his is World Batting Ranking is 14001 with World Bowling Ranking 14743 also he played for Brighouse last season. He is aged 35 with Dutch nationality. He scored 71 out of the team score of 135.He smote a number of six's into the near by field. Over all the Houghton bowling was tight on a responsive wicket. However they used a sixth bowler so causing the total to be 20 runs above par.
Whilst we were walking round the field to keep warm I noticed a large toad in a local garden. It much have been great to watch behind windows and the fire on .
Houghton Main struggled against steady bowling including Mr Ee who had injuried his leg batted but still bowled. After 19 overs they had reached 43 for 3. They required two good partnerships to win.
At this time they had cold drinks when the wind chill factor must have been 2 degrees. Why they did not have had a warm drink in I do not know. In the meanwhile Mr Ee was involved in a "Mankading" which John explain this is what it is called when a bowler runs a batsman out. who backed up to far. Also he appealed to the umpire when the batsman picked up the ball and throw into to the bowler. The square leg umpire give him out handled ball, but Streehouses captain withdrew the appeal. and the batsman stayed.
Meanwhile wickets were falling and no partnership were established.. One of Houghton Main batsman wore his hat the wrong way round and I was pleased when he was out. He should be told to wear the correct way. Houghton reached 116 for 9 at the end of the match which they could have won even with Mr Ee playing.
Streethouses next match will be either Great Preston or Thornton on the 15 May. Hope it is warmer.
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