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.
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