A sad end

posted by John Winn

If the above image seems a little familiar then it may be because I used it in a posting I made in January. The man in question is William Wilfrid Whysall, a stalwart of Notts for over twenty years and one whose career and life were brought to an end by a seemingly innocuous accident. He featured in my previous posting by virtue of topping his native counties' runscorers in 1927, and it was to my embarrassment that at that time I had no knowledge of 'Dodge' as he was known, despite him having played four tests, all against Australia

Whysall was born at Woodborough, a village seven miles north east of Nottingham, in 1887 and when 21 he joined the ground staff at Trent Bridge. Despite this relatively late start and three first class matches in 1910 when only once did he pass fifty, it was not until after World War 1 that he really emerged to become Notts' most reliable batsman in the twenties. In his last season, 1930, he made nearly 3000 runs and averaged almost 50. Whysall had a second string to his bow for he was a useful wicketkeeper and toured Australia under Gilligan in 24-25 and in the third test which England lost by 11 runs he top scored in the second innings with 75. After three tests on this tour and with an average of 37.20 'Dodge' might have considered himself unlucky not to have been selected again until 1930  when he played in the final Ashes test at The Oval. Despite scoring over 400 in the first innings England lost by an innings largely thanks to a double century by Bradman. Whysall made two very modest contributions, coming in  at three after Hobbs, in his last test, and Sutcliffe had opened. Salt was rubbed into WWW's wounds by criticisms of his fielding, a weakness in his game that Wisden had commented on as far back as 1911.

Notts' averages for 1930 show Whysall top and well ahead of the other batsmen and the feeling was that despite his 43 years and lack of mobility there were still plenty of runs to come from a solid defence based on a very open stance. Alas this was not be for in November of that year Whysall went to a dance in Mansfield and where he slipped and injured his elbow, Sepsis set in and a fortnight after the accident William died in hospital in Nottingham. Large crowds attended his funeral and a posthumous benefit raised nearly £1400 for his widow and children, a record for the county at that time.

Whysall's record shows he made 51 centuries, four in successive innings in his last season and he was amongst the five Wisden cricketers in 1925. Let Wisden have the final word in this extract from his portrait of that year.

'Whysall is a product of the new school, facing the bowler in the ultra-modern fashion. For this reason he will never look quite as good as he is. Otherwise he would not make such big scores.'

Now is the winter of our discontent almost ending.

Posted by Tony Hutton

Hopefully what seems to have been a very long winter, particularly on the weather front, but also in terms of cricketing controversies, appears to be coming to an end. Yesterday's snow is fast disappearing here in Yorkshire and despite endless pictures of cricket grounds under snow all over the country the new season is almost upon us.

Admittedly as John Winn has pointed out, some pre-season county games have already been postponed or venues changed, but that is perhaps par for the course with these games often being treated as part of cricket's secret agenda, with very little if any publicity. Come what may we will be making our way to the Midlands (often sodden and unkind as someone once wrote) next week with high hopes of seeing cricket of some description somewhere.

We are already aware that the three day game between Worcestershire and Leeds/Bradford MCCU on Easter Sunday has been moved from the County Ground to Worcester Royal Grammar School, last visited some twenty years or so ago for a 2nd XI game. Knowledge of what facilities are available seems unknown so far.

However, cricket has been going on unabated around the world during the last few days and I am indebted to our Paris correspondent (resting between jobs) for pointing me in the direction of Sky Sports coverage of Zimbabwe v West Indies today in The World Cup qualifying tournament. Good to see a big crowd enjoying the occasion and the home side having recently dismissed danger man Gayle might be in with a chance. Saw a bit of Ireland v Scotland in the same competition yesterday, what a pity only two teams will qualify.

Then again we have had the England Lions in West Indies and now we have games between the North and South which seem to stretch the geographical knowledge of the ECB to almost breaking point.

They have always seemed to struggle with neighbouring counties having fixtures at home simultaneously but the team selected for the North, which I always think of as north of the Trent, seems to take in most of the Midlands as well. Not to worry several young men will no doubt do well and may be on the road to untold riches in the game of the future. Nice to see Mr Gubbins of Middlesex, a graduate of Leeds/Bradford MCCU, get a century.

Yorkshire have been enjoying themselves on a pre-season tour of South Africa with plenty of runs being scored. Centuries for Harry Brook, Alex Lees (two), Jack Leaning, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and more unusually Jack Brooks, just to show his century at Old Trafford last year was not a flash in the pan. Also in South Africa are Leeds/Bradford MCCU with a new squad of twenty two players, details on their website, together with fixtures.

Another Yorkshire century maker this week was Joe Root in one of these ridiculous warm up games for the Test series in New Zealand. Meanwhile Kohler-Cadmore is off to Pakistan to play in the local T20 competition. Adil Rashid of course is going nowhere following his decision to abandon red ball cricket, but one can hardly blame him given the treatment he has received while on international duty. Something that does not appear to have been mentioned in all the press controversy is the fact that he has been given a benefit by Yorkshire in this coming season.

With hard line members calling for him to be sacked one wonders whether the benefit will in fact take place. A pity if it doesn't as it recognises the service he has already given the county over many years. All the winter's controversies have washed over me somehow, I could not summon up the energy to comment on them as with the latest on Mr Graves' position. We traditionalists have almost given up the ghost as far as county championship cricket is concerned, so let's just get on with it and enjoy it while we can.

Amazingly have just this minute received an e-mail to say that Warwickshire's three day friendly with Somerset is still on for Monday next March 26th. Let's hope it stays fine!

A surprise at The Rectory

posted by John Winn

 The Dupuis Family at Sessay Rectory was the title of last week's talk at my local history society and despite the splendid achievements of that village's cricket team being the subject of several postings I did not attend in anticipation that the talk, given by Janet Ratcliffe and Sue Thorne would produce material that I could use in the blog. A pleasant surprise awaited me.

The  talk was centred on the family of the Reverend George Dupuis, Rector of Sessay from 1877 to until his death in 1912.My interest in George and his family was heightened when we were told he had played first class cricket. Of cricketing stock,, his father played four  first class matches, George was educated at Eton from 1851 to 1853, he played in all three years against Harrow and eight first class matches, seven for Cambridge University and one for the Gentlemen of England against the Gentlemen of Surrey and Sussex at The Oval in 1856. In this last match batting at ten in the first innings he scored 30 which gained him promotion to open in the second knock, but alas George went for nought in a match won by Surrey and Sussex by two wickets.

Dupuis gained his blue in 1857 when he made decent scores in both innings but finished on the losing side. He was elected captain for the following season but resigned the post on being appointed to the staff of his alma mater. A strapping man for his time George was over six feet and his 1913  Wisden obituary quoting from Scores and Bographies describes him as ' A fine free hitter and in the field was generally long-leg, cover-point and middle-wicket off'.

Like most of his time George had a large family and the 1891 census list shows him with his wife Annette and seven daughters in residence at the rectory with a large domestic staff. Absent are his two sons, Arthur and Frederick who both played Minor Counties cricket for Staffordshire.

Linking the story to the present day is not difficult for George was one of the founders of the Sessay village team although I believe the ground at this time was to the west of the railway line and not in its current spot in the centre of the village. Janet and Sue brought with them copies of a book published as a community history project, Essays from Sessay, which at just £5 is an excellent read. Not surprisingly some of its content is related to the cricket team including a section on the Till family who came to the village in the late nineteenth century and rarely has a Sessay team taken to the field without at least one Till in the XI. Three were members of the team that won at Lord's in 2010 and two when the win was repeated in 2016.
 
These are exciting times for Sessay after their promotion to Yorkshire Premier North and they will be looking forward to their first match at this level when on April 21st they host Driffield Town. Let's hope the weather improves by then. In my last posting I mentioned that Somerset and Gloucestershire were hoping to play a friendly at Taunton today but that match was abandoned a day or      two later. Just as well given that this morning brings news of roads closed in the south west and people spending the night in temporary accommodation. There is a precedent for such weather at this time of year for on March 23rd 2013 the 9th Pennine Cricket Conference due to have been held in Huddersfield was cancelled because of heavy snow. Further friendlies are planned for later in the week but it would be wise to check before travelling.

Bristol this morning

A blow for the Darlington and District League

posted by John Winn

A friend whose sporting interests are on the golf course rather than the cricket field asked me recently  when the cricket season would start and as our time together was limited I confined myself to the observation that Yorkshire's first championship match was on April 13th although they were playing the university a week before that and that friends of mine would be at Edgbaston on March 28th when Warwickshire take on Northants in a two day friendly. I could have added that next Monday, yes the 19th of  March, Somerset and Gloucestershire have a couple of T20s lined up at Taunton but spotting a glazed look coming over his face I reined myself in and asked how his golf was going.

I have complained in the past through this medium how poorly marketed the opening of the cricket season is and made the comparison with baseball where 'Opening Day' in the US is akin to a national holiday but in a second commendable display of restraint I will not go down that path again and simply let the new season creep up on me with its usual soft shoe shuffle and take solace from the various signs along the way.

One reliable sign that the call of play is not too far away is the arrival of Cockerton Cricket Club's excellent handbook and sure enough its 22nd edition hit the coconut matting on Friday with the usual gentle reminder from 'Mr Cockerton', Richard Cowan,  that a contribution to club funds would not come amiss. Within Richard's accompanying letter was the sad and very surprising news of the demise of Lands CC. When I visited Lands, near Bishop Auckland, last August to see them take on Barton it was second v third in the top division of the Darlington and District League and their season was crowned with victory in the Eggleston Cup, a competition whose origins go back to the 1930s. A search on line threw up an article from The Teesdale Mercury outlining the reasons for their  resignation from the league, and, no surprises here, the club recognised last month that they had not enough players to embark upon a new campaign. Lands, founded in 1898 joined the D and D in 1983 but two years ago were forced to drop their second team and the fixture list for the new season has been reissued without the South West Durham club. Middleton in Teesdale now find themselves reinstated in Division A where they will be one of twelve sides. Much interest here will focus on West Park RA who as I reported in 2016 were only formed that year but successive promotions have seen them reach the top flight. Park will start the season on April 21st with a visit to the attractive ground at Aldbrough St John near Scotch Corner.

After a very poor 2017 Cockerton find themselves in Division B where they will be one of only ten clubs and Richard laments on the loss of revenue this means for them with only nine home fixtures for each of their two sides, Division C having only ten teams as well. Some crumb of comfort can be found in the decision of the once powerful Spennymoor to reintroduce a second XI in Division C but the withdrawal of Lands is just one more example of how grassroots cricket is struggling to attract players.

Checking through the league's fixtures I find there are still four grounds I have not visited, Etherley, King James, Witton le Wear and Richmond School, the home of Richmondshire Fourths and Fifths. Catch them while you can must be my mantra, weather permitting expect an early season report from the north east.

Lands CC 

Arthington - August 1901

Posted by Tony Hutton

Today's offering of cricketing memorabilia comes from our Headingley correspondent, Brian Senior, who researches old newspapers in search of unusual cricket reports. This one comes from the Armley and Wortley News and is something of a classic. The Arthington cricket festival, as regular readers will know features in these columns from mid September to mid October every year.

If only BT Sport had been around in those days and we could see some really sensational action.

We'll meet again

posted by John Winn

Matches in the Pembrokeshire League Division 1 rarely make the headlines but last September one did and for the wrong reasons. The game in question was between Carew and Cresselly and a act of gamesmanship by Carew skipper Brian Hall which gave his team the title but was considered sufficiently contrary to the spirit of cricket by league officials that, whilst the official record will show Carew as 2017 champions, they will begin the new season on April 22nd with a Division 2 game against Cresselly II. Hall's decision to declare his side's innings at 18 for 1 handed the match to Cresselly on a plate but denied their opponents the opportunity to gain sufficient points to take the title thus ensuring the tarnished crown went to Carew. In the words of The Cricketer, Hall's action 'saw an ocean of opprobrium engulf him'. Oh my Brian Rose of 1979.

There is however another twist in the tail for with both clubs having entered the Village Cup, two of only five teams in the Dyfed Group, fate has decided that both having received byes in the first round the two sides will meet on Sunday May 27th in Round Two. Away from the crucible that is Pembrokeshire cricket, holders Reed from Hertfordshire will begin the defence of their title with a trip to Langleybury. Defeated finalists Sessay who because of their promotion to Yorkshire Premier North can only enter a second XI this year will make the short trip to Silton near Northallerton.

Last year's semi finalists were Worcestershire outfit Astwood Bank who will be at home to Exhall and Wixford, members of the Cotswold Hills League, and Aston Rowant from Oxfordshire who will travel to Kingston Bagpuize.

First round matches are scheduled for April 29th and  I am tempted to make the short journey over the River Ure to a game at Alne who take on Heslerton, based near Malton and members of the Scarborough Beckett League. The full draw can be found at nationalvillagecup.com together with more about the unsavoury events involving Carew.

Westerdale ready to roll

Following the AGM of the Langbaurgh League, and as expected, Westerdale have served their year's probation and were entered into full membership by a unanimous vote and an application by Yarm CC to enter their third XI, previously members of the NYSD Sunday League, was equally well received. One item remains to be settled before the new fixtures can be finalised. Nunthorpe from the leafy suburbs of Middlesbrough, who since leaving the Cleveland League in 2014, have made their way through the divisions of the Darlington and District League but have maintained a second XI in the Langbaurgh, have been accepted into the NYSD but as yet have not decided where their second XI will play. The players will decide 'as soon as possible' whether this will be the D and D or the Langbaurgh.

Mentor to Many

In a posting I made in the spring of 2012, NYSD Memories, I recalled a time in the 1950s  when my Saturday afternoons would be spent watching Darlington CC playing in the A Division of the NYSD League and of particular interest were the performances of the man in the photograph above, a stylish opening bat for club and county and master in charge of cricket at my school, Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Darlington. The posting came to mind yesterday when, through social media I heard of Mr Camburn's death aged 88. Following the announcement many tributes were paid to JMC as a cricketer, coach and teacher.

John Martin Camburn was born in Thirsk, North Yorkshire in 1929 and came to the attention of the Darlington cricketing public when in 1953 he scored 114* in an unbeaten opening stand of 233 for Darlington II against Stokesley partnered by skipper Geoff Gillow (still alive at over 100), against Stokesley. He soon established himself as a regular opener in the first team, a team that dominated the NYSD in the 50s. His partner at this time was Arthur 'Hank' Saunders and they became one of the league's most successful opening pairs. In his history of the club the late Bob Hattersley writes of Camburn's period as captain, 1967-68 and how, whilst teaching at QEGS he encouraged his charges to join the town club. To this day I remember being told that JMC wanted to see me in his classroom at break but was relieved on arrival to see two other cricketers, Keith Black, a lifelong friend and captain of the U13 side and Mike Sheil, a seam bowler and a discussion followed as to what fields Keith might set when Mike and I opened the bowling against Grangefield Grammar, Stockton the following day. This was to be our first 'school match' and I was both pleased and proud to be told I would be sharing the cherry with Mike. Mr Camburn would not be present of course as it was a Saturday match and he would be opening the batting for DCC that afternoon.

By the time I returned to teach at my old school in 1968 JMC had moved on to teach at one of the town's new comprehensive schools and with his departure and the change of grammar school to sixth form college cricket at Abbey Road would never be the same. Shortly after this I played in a match at Feethams against Darlington III who played their home matches on Friday evenings and towards the end of the game John Camburn appeared to take his Friday evening pint and watch the closing overs. On learning that I had taken eight wickets, a one off occasion,  my former mentor spent a long time inspecting the wicket before announcing that if Winn had taken eight then, given Feethams' reputation as a good batting track, it might be best not to use that strip again. Not one to let you get too big for your boots.

1973 saw the end of John's Darlington career, having scored almost ten thousand runs for the club. His son Clyde was a useful cricketer but excelled on the hockey field where he achieve international honours. His company was amongst the sponsors at last year's Scarborough Festival.  I have made only passing reference to John's county career but he made 22 appearances for Durham between 1955 and 1960, scoring 830 runs at 23.71 with a top score of 95, one of five fifties he made.

'A true gentleman and a real teacher'  'the best cover drive in the NYSD'  'a thoroughly good bloke' three tributes to John Camburn posted on social media yesterday. RIP