Another old favourite ground

Posted by Tony Hutton

Sunday 17th July and another old favourite appears on my ever changing itinerary.
Netherfield cricket club in Kendal overlooked by the ruined hilltop castle which once
belonged to the family of Katherine Parr, is a wonderful sight on a fine day. Minor Counties cricket has its problems, particularly with finance, but this sort of day was a great advert.

Although the wind blew towards the hardy spectators on top of the bank, who have a perfect view of the action, later in the day we had another wonderful summer evening in the sun.

Strange how the best weather always seems to appear after the tea interval but this has been a familiar story in recent weeks. Good to be back at this picturesque ground, after a gap of a few years, and interesting to see the improvements to the facilities in the pavilion and as ever to meet old friends. A familiar story emerged from my discussions with the hard working Cumberland officials. It has been very difficult to keep the same side together this season, with clubs having first call on their professional players for Sunday cup ties.

Cumberland in the field at Netherfield

So a few new names amongst the Cumberland ranks with one very late replacement after an injury yesterday. How do you find a man late on a Saturday night to play cricket for the next three days? Well skipper Garry Pratt did the trick with one of his Richmondshire team mates. There is also a shortage of wicketkeepers in Cumbria and a young 18 year old, Ben Howarth, from Blackpool made his debut and produced two smart stumpings.

Cambridgeshire batted first without the services of long time captain Paul McMahon, once with Notts, who has a long term injury and is working for the I.C.C. in Dubai. His replacement as professional is Ben Smith, once a high scoring batsman with both Leicester and Worcester. Not today however as when the two spinners took over the attack the leg spinner McKiernan removed opener Butt and Toby Bulcock, the slow left armer, had Smith leg before wicket for only one. So Cambridge 44-2 and up against it.

 

Distant view of the castle

The two spinners then bowled in tandem for the rest of the morning and almost all the afternoon session. Opener Richer held things together with a hard earned fifty and later in the day number seven Williams played a fine knock of sixty eight to give some respectability to the total. For once Toby Bulcock came in for a bit of punishment towards the end of the innings but stuck to his task and finished with figures of
31.3-9-85-4. His spin twin young McKiernan bowled even more overs and ended with
39-8-101-5. This young man is unfortunate to have been overtaken by another youngster Parkinson now bowling leg spin in the Lancashire first eleven.

Cambridgshire hit out

Cambridgeshire were 260 all out, with three and half overs left out of the first innings maximum of ninety. Probably more than most people expected. Cumberland with so many regulars missing took the unusual step of opening the batting with Toby Bulcock, usually a tail ender. However he stuck around to good effect making 31 in a century opening partnership with Dutton, who was first out after making a rapid 70 off only 72 balls. Cumberland ended day one on 120-2 and the game was nicely poised.

The evening sunshine continued all the way home through the Yorkshire Dales with clear views in all directions over Ingleborough and Pendle Hill. A marvellous end to a perfect day.