Thursday 26 January 2017

The Sebastopol Cross

posted by John Winn

In the autumn of 2012 I carried out some research into the history of the Wensleydale Cricket League in which I was assisted by a number of people with connections to Spennithorne Cricket Club, members of the league from 1948, a year after its inception, until its demise in 1999. A name much associated with that club and the village was that of the van Straubenzee family who in the eighteenth century settled in North Yorkshire from what is now Belgium. The present cricket field was donated by Philip van Straubenzee as was the pavilion when the club reformed in 1947.

The family had strong military connections and Charles van Straubenzee was wounded at the Battle of Sebastopol in the Crimea but was able to bring back with him a remarkable souvenir, namely the Sebastopol Cross which today stands in the family burial plot at the twelfth century St Michael and All Angels Church in Spennithorne. Yesterday non cricketing business took me to Wensleydale and within a short distance of the village which gave me the opportunity to rectify an omission from my previous visit, namely to take a photograph of the cross.


The Sebastopol Cross

On a cold but sunny day I could not resist the short walk to the cricket field from where there are views of the church and Spennithorne Hall


And the sheep were enjoying good grazing on the outfield where cricket will be played on April 29th when Spennithorne and Harmby to give them their full title, will entertain Crakehall in a Nidderdale league Div 5 match, We might expect keen rivalry between two clubs who played against each other in the Wensleydale league many years ago


Wednesday 25 January 2017

A Remarkable Book

posted by John Winn

Tipped off by fellow blogger Tony, earlier this week I treated myself to a copy of a new book by Brian Levison entitled 'Remarkable Cricket Grounds',  described on the dust cover as 'a collection of the most astonishing places from around the world where cricket is played.' And it does exactly what is says on the tin for in the book, arranged alphabetically from Adelaide Oval to Yeonhui Stadium in South Korea, there are photographs of 78 cricket grounds each with a short history of its origins and development and each with some claim to be remarkable.

The reader has to turn to the last of the 220 pages for what is arguably the most surprising piece in the book, namely that the author has seen cricket on only six of the grounds. Never having seen cricket outside Great Britain I  can barely scrape into double figures but Tony, a much more intrepid traveller, is approaching half way. If the 78 grounds were to become part of a 'bucket  list' then you would have to be prepared to travel far and wide for more than half lie outside these isles. Not surprisingly hotspots like Australia and India are well represented but cricket grounds in St Moritz, Berlin and Rome are among the more unlikely venues. For those who take their cricket nearer to home a number of county grounds are included.

Talking to Tony about the book he said that it was the book he would like to have written. Had he done so then I have no doubt that he would have visited and photographed all the grounds included.

News continues to appear on league websites. The Wetherby League which originally hoped to announce its 2017 fixtures before December 31st now expects them to be available in the next week and in the Vale of York fixtures are with club secretaries for their perusal and will be released in February. Darlington and District were released last week.

Finally it is gratifying to announce that the memorial service for Nidderdale League stalwart Barry Gill, held last Friday drew a large congregation to Dacre Church and  there is a fitting tribute on the excellent league website.


Sunday 15 January 2017

Cricket in England in January

Posted by Tony Hutton

Delighted to see my first cricket of 2017 on Sunday 8th January with the traditional new year game between Malhamdale and Appletreewick. My first visit for about three years but the ritual is the same as ever, possibly with a few refinements. This proved yet another excellent day out in the wonderful scenery of the Yorkshire Dales.

The brief notice on the Malhamdale CC website suggested meet at the Buck Inn, Malham at twelve noon. We knew from past experience that this is only the start of negotiations, as a fair amount of ale needs to be consumed before the players actually take to the field. However this did give us the chance to partake of a very good turkey lunch, while we could overhear complicated conversations in the bar next door explaining the local rules which apply to puzzled newcomers.

Eventually signs of life in the farmer's field where a strip appeared to have been cut but in fact play took place alongside it rather than on it! Players, some still with pints in hand, and spectators gradually drifted out of the pub and somewhat reluctantly took their places ready for action.

The home side batted first and made a pretty good start. The number of fielders seemed to be more than eleven, but that did not matter, particularly as one of them held a large flask (presumably of alcohol) which seemed to be handed round for a compulsory swig either for doing something right or doing something wrong.

        Early runs for Malhamdale with the scenic Malham Cove in the background.

Dropped catches were the first offence and the poor fieldsman, both had to take a swig and then do a lap of the field. Similar swigs were taken when wickets fell and catches were taken, without the need for a penalty circuit. So it continued until one of the openers reached the magic target of 25 and was made to retire.

                                          More runs on the board for Malhamdale


Despite some rather erratic bowling, with most overs all from the same end, the cricket was being played properly and the score continued to mount helped by a good contribution from a new acquisition from Lincolnshire, Mark Harrop. He hit a couple of sixes as well as two fours and soon had to retire on reaching 25. I should have mentioned that another rule does not allow any lbw dismissals, but that didn't seem to matter either as two were bowled and two more caught.

Malhamdale ended their innings of ten eight ball overs with a reasonable score of 73-6.
By this time quite a large crowd had gathered and we met our friend Ian from Lancaster, who has been a regular here for many years. He was equally entertained by watching another event taking part in one corner of the field. This was a ladies' rounders competition between three local teams and was apparently just as exciting as the cricket.
                                                A good crowd enjoyed the action


Sadly the ubiquitous Steve Bindman, who played last year, was absent due to illness and we were missing the chance of watching him bowl in his rather unique style.
The visitors, Appletreewick, made a poor start to their reply losing two wickets in the second over. They were never really in the game after that, although three of the middle order batsmen, including both Stockdales, hit a six each, before four of them were run out and the innings came to an end with the score on 61-6.

So Malhamdale were worthy winners by a margin of twelve runs and no doubt everyone returned to the Buck Inn to finish the day in style.

A rather more low key game took place the following weekend at St Chad's cricket club based in Far Headingley, Leeds. This was a charity game in aid of Wheatfields Hospice played between two teams of St Chad's players and a few guests which included local M.P. Greg Mulholland.


No strange rules here and the game was played in a very proper manner with the majority of players in whites. The weather was fine, with clear blue skies, but still rather chilly, particularly out of the sun. It was suggested that the lone spectator in the picture above was frozen to his seat.

Deceptive winter sunshine tempts one bowler to wear shorts
 
 
It was rather difficult for the handful of hardy spectators to keep account of the score, which was being kept by one of the umpires with the help of an I-pad. Twenty overs a side was the objective here played on an artificial wicket.

       Aiming for six over square leg, but not connecting. Spectator still there!


The calls of lunch and warmth meant I left at the half way stages, but no doubt a fuller account of proceedings will appear on John Fuller's excellent website cricketyorkshire.com on Tuesday next.

Later that evening I was rather taken in by an e-mail from our racing correspondent, Keith Fenton. He said he had seen cricket on his way home from the races at Dover cricket club, with several sixes onto the pavilion roof to win the match. I could only assume he was returning from racing in France. Earlier today he put me right, he was on holiday abroad, staying in Dover, Barbados! Slightly warmer temperatures I'm sure.


                                           Dover cricket ground, Barbados

Monday 9 January 2017

Things get sorted in West Yorkshire

posted by John Winn

There have been several postings over the winter dealing with the ramifications of the closure of the Huddersfield Central League and the dispersal of the clubs from those two leagues. Most affected by this have been the Huddersfield and Halifax leagues and there are now clear statements on the websites of both organisations as to how the new clubs will be assimilated.

Last week the Drakes Huddersfield Cricket League published its fixtures calendar for 2017 and having said in my most recent posting that April 22nd was the most popular day for the start of league cricket, I now see that DHCL will stick to their traditional third Saturday in April start and thus begin on the 15th. Six new clubs to integrate here and they find themselves in Championship Two which is the fifth tier of the league. Some will start the new campaign facing familiar foes for Cartworth Moor will be at home to Flockton and Holmbridge to Nortonthorpe, all four former Central league clubs, while Almondburians will host Rastrick and Edgerton and Dalton will travel to Shepley. The full fixture list is clearly set out on the league website.

A bold heading on the Halifax website '2017 Saturday League Structure Announcement' prefaces a detailed posting outlining the difficulties faced by the league in incorporating new clubs, especially those with only one team. The league has decided on a 12-8-12 split across the three divisions for both first and second elevens, something which has been made possible by the co-operation of Bradley and Colnebridge  who have agreed that their sole team should play in the equivalent second XI competition. The full structure is available at halifaxcricketleague.co.uk but as yet without fixtures. The composition of the Sunday League will be announced shortly.

Nearer to home, while mine at least, the Nidderdale League has also announced their fixtures and they will begin on April 22nd with 97 teams across eight divisions. The league has used the fixture launch to commemorate the work of the late Barry Gill with a slide show of some of his photographs set to music. A memorial service for Barry will be held at Dacre Banks Church on Friday January 20th at 11:30am.

Champions Ouseburn will begin their defence of the title with the short trip over the Aldwark Toll Bridge to visit Alne. Masham and Goldsborough are the newcomers to Division 1, two grounds that would grace any cricket league, and while Goldsborough entertain Helperby,Masham have a tough start at Burton Leonard. Interviews with officials of both clubs enliven the posting. There is also a piece on Wath and Melmerby who have been the shooting stars of this league and now find themselves in Division Two. The article does not close without reference to the league's only newcomers, Upper Wharfedale, who have moved across from the Aire-Wharfe and will begin their new life in Division 8, hosting Dacre Banks III. I have posted links to the article on both twitter and facebook.


Galphay and Winksley CC near Ripon who play in Division 7 of the Nidderdale League and will begin the 2017 season at home to Bedale II, 1:30 start.

Wednesday 4 January 2017

Beginning to see The Light

posted by John Winn

With the festive season over and England's cricketers about to embark on the second half of their winter tours the pcw can begin to look forward to the domestic season. The shortest day is now two weeks behind us and in the evenings at least there are signs of lengthening days. A number of leagues, but by no means all, have announced their fixtures with April 22nd being the favoured day for the start of the season. There will be first class cricket (officially at least) on April 2nd which is a little over twelve weeks away and on the seventh of that month, for the first of several times during the 2017 season, I will need to decide whether to head north to The Riverside or south west to Headingley for while Durham will be entertaining DMCCCU, Yorkshire under their new management team of Gale and Balance, will host Hampshire, the luckiest team in the land, in the opening championship fixture.

For those who like their cricket to start in March some counties are taking on their local students before that month is out, Leicestershire v Loughborough U at Grace Road on March 28th for example, which whilst probably not requiring a strong police presence may just appeal to those with a decent top coat and a large flask of Bovril. Three men have been notified, the dog is thought to have a prior commitment.

Finally I must close on a sad note for the death was announced shortly before Christmas of Nidderdale League Life Member and photographer Barry Gill. The Yorkshire Post has confirmed that Barry, aged 64, 'passed away peacefully at his home in Summerbridge on December 23rd'. Barry and his tripod and camera were a familiar sight on Nidderdale grounds and always had a kind word to say about this blog. Our condolences go to his family.



This is definitely not one of Barry's photographs, it was taken in July 1949, probably with a Box Brownie, of a Haughton le Skerne 'Mixed XI' and includes at least three of the Marshall family including Haughton legend Horace of that ilk, extreme right standing, who along with my father did much to revive the club after the last war. My late brother Michael is peering over the right shoulder of the man who appears to have anticipated the arrival of the tank top by some years. It was taken at the club's Great Burdon ground where they have played for over a hundred years and where they will begin their defence of their Darlington and District League title in a little over three months time.