Not infrequently I have reported on visits to cricket in the Cleveland area of North Yorkshire and the changes to the game in that area. Below the level of the NYSD there were until 2015 two leagues competing for players with the Langbaurgh coming out on top with a number of clubs transferring to it from the Cleveland League which was reduced to just three clubs putting out five teams before finally admitting defeat last year.
Smith's Dock CC clung to the sinking ship to the bitter end and this season like others before them have found refuge in the Langbaurgh and their ground in the Normanby area of Middlesbrough was my first port of call yesterday. The ground in Skipper's Lane has a large playing area, large square and the most fortified dressing rooms I have seen.
Yesterday's visitors in Div 2 game were Skelton Castle from the mining area of East Cleveland. The call of play was delayed by ten minutes by a sight screen that was reluctant to move to behind the bowler's arm and the reluctance of most of the home team to shift it. When play did get underway things began disastrously for 'The Dockers' and when I left after about 45 minutes play they were 18 for 7. Things did not improve for they were dismissed for 33 with Lovell and Khandalgonkar bowling unchanged and only Lewis Beaumont reaching double figures. Skelton ran out winners by 8 wickets, a result that leaves them sixth in the table and Smith's ninth of eleven teams.
From Normanby it was just a seven mile journey to my next ground, the Bassleton Lane, Thornaby HQ of Stafford Place. I had been told two things about the ground, it was hard to find but worth the visit, right on both counts for if you miss this sign then you are in trouble
but if you see it and follow the narrow lane leading from it then you can enjoy this view.
Within the pavilion there is a small bar which was not short of customers taking a mid-afternoon sharpener and in the kitchen a sign to the effect that here were served the best teas in the league. Alas I was too early to put the claim to test. On the field New Marske were batting and at drinks were 52 for 3 off 22. A Stafford source (third man) informed me that the club had played here since 1946. The club was founded in 1903 as Stafford Place Wesleyan Chapel and played behind the Royal George pub which, presumably, as Methodists they never went in. Let's hope so for it was closed in 2014 after complaints about anti-social behaviour and plans have been submitted to convert it to student accommodation which will of course cure the problem.
After I left the game turned into a nail biter with Stafford getting home by one wicket, a win that sees them top of the table. A name for the future, a young bowler called M Gaunt who took 2 for 2 off five overs and scored 13 runs in his team's total of 92 for 9. This area of Thornaby is close to RAF Thornaby which closed in 1957 but which during at times WW II housed bomber planes and it is appropriate that the winning runs were scored by somebody who on the card appeared as Bomber Smith.
From Thornaby I went next door to the Borough of Stockton and a ground which Tony visited in 2009 and like him I was under impressed for Wass Way, the home of Yarm RUFC, Preston on Tees CC and Oxbridge CC, is at the dead end of an industrial estate and is one of those grounds where just when you think your route can't be right cricketers appear. At home yesterday were Oxbridge, formed in 2010 and named after an hotel in Stockton. They began league cricket in the Cleveland League, playing at Norton but after two seasons switched to Darlington and District gaining promotion to Div B in their first season, Their visitors yesterday were Barningham II, from near Barnard Castle who when I arrived at tea had been bowled out for 69. 'The Ox' set about their task enthusiastically and won by 8 wickets. The club house is very much the home of Yarm RUFC and it is not a ground where I would have enjoyed playing but one should not decry the efforts of those who play the game in these less fashionable surroundings. 'Ox' were a friendly bunch and were enjoying their cricket and victory always helps. Barningham however will probably be pleased to get back to their picturesque ground in the Pennines where next week they will entertain Spennymoor.
Preston on Tees CC
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