Far from the madding crowd

Posted by Tony Hutton

Perhaps it is yet another sign of old age, but for once we decided not to join the throng at Scarborough and to settle for a quiet life watching cricket as it used to be played. Quite a bit of travelling involved in our latest journey but all well worth the effort.

We set off south down the A1 into Lincolnshire and watched a very mixed bag of league cricket on yet another perfect summer's day. First stop was Bourne in the Lincolnshire Premier League, a ground I did visit many years ago but could not really remember. The Abbey Lawn ground is near the centre of the town and adjacent to the Abbey Church of which little can be seen through the trees. Bourne batted first, as we arrived precisely at twelve noon, against Alford and District, who are lingering dangerously near the bottom of the league table.

Bourne cricket club.

Today however belonged to the visitors from north of Skegness who managed to skittle Bourne out for a rather poor total of 110 in 34 overs. Only two players reached double figures, opener Jack Berry with 34 and Lincolnshire's Minor County wicket keeper and captain Carl Wilson with 39. The men who did the damage were Alford's opening bowlers Steve Kirkham with 5-35 and Nick Bennett 3-41.

A pleasant ground, adjacent to the local football club, with a welcoming club house and plenty of parking with room to partake of our picnic lunch with only a handful of hard core supporters. We learned later, after our departure, that Alford scraped home by three wicket with a score of 111-7 to earn a valuable twenty points.

The scorers were kept busy at Bourne.

Next stop was Burghley House near Stamford, which had long been on my wanted list. A slight delay in traversing the town centre of Stamford due to the town's carnival parade getting under way at two o'clock and able to make our way into the park, despite a Rolls Royce owners event taking place elsewhere in the extensive grounds. This was really back to basics with Burghley Park second eleven taking on Blunham third eleven in division four of the Huntingdonshire county cricket league, even though I think we were still in Lincolnshire, but only just.

Blunham batting at Burghley House.

Here we were greeted by a picturesque black and white pavilion looking down on a sloping outfield, with an outstanding view across to the spires of Stamford town centre. The cricket at this level was obviously not of the highest standard, but with some very young players on view their enthusiasm was good to see. After an early collapse Blunham recovered well thanks to Shabz Hussain, who top scored with 42 in an innings which ended on 147 all out.

The dreaming spires of Stamford.

Burghley Park made short work of chasing down this modest total to win by nine wickets in only eighteen overs. There were fifties for both David Platt (not the footballer) and George Holmes. A wonderful setting for cricket and a nice quiet atmosphere well away from the razzmatazz of the Rolls Royce contingent far away on the other side of the park.

Out into the countryside next down the road to the attractive small village of Barnack, yet another Huntingdonshire county league side, but this time a little higher up the scale in division two. Their mainly Asian side, were again very welcoming in their modern pavilion. The home side were batting against visitors Godmanchester Town second eleven and making a pretty good job of it with an all out total of 190 boosted by a joint top score of  39 extras!

Barnack piling up the runs.

We appeared to be the only two spectators present and disappointed them by not accepting their kind offer of asking us to join them for tea, explaining that we had unfinished business elsewhere.

The rural scene at Barnack.

Our final stop of the day was at Market Deeping, back in the Lincolnshire Premier League and facing visitors Sleaford in what proved to be a high scoring game. This ground on the outskirts of the town is part of a large sporting complex, next to an industrial estate, but quite pleasant with its' trees on two sides, helping to mask the traffic noise from the nearby by-pass.

The Market Deeping pavilion with attentive spectators.

The home side had batted first when we arrived just after the interval and had made what looked very much like a winning score with 294-8 in their fifty overs. Opening bat Josh Smith had made a century with 129 runs to his name and it looked as though most of the bowlers had taken some punishment.

 Sleaford start their reply at Market Deeping.

Sleaford were not daunted and set off like a house on fire, both openers making scores in the sixties in very quick time and peppering the boundaries with several sixes. After we departed to Wisbech, our overnight stopping point, they obviously continued in this vein and won comfortable by four wickets with five overs to spare.

Another six over the pavilion roof.

Harr harr but not much hah hah

posted by John Winn

In recent conversations about the state of Yorkshire cricket and in particular their championship season my friend John Gawthrope has insisted that the club including its members should be looking over their shoulders rather than star gazing towards the top of the table. If you didn't believe him then you will surely believe him now with the White Rose just two points above the Pears and as this morning's Guardian says 'in the relegation zone'. Next championship action, the filling in a very thick T20 sandwich, is in three weeks when Yorkshire visit fellow strugglers Lancashire, Should you feel able to look to the top you will see Surrey 22 points clear with a game in hand over second place Notts. Pass the Goddard's.*

And yet it was not always like this for as five of us travelled from the Lower Ure Valley on Wednesday morning spirits were high as we looked forward to Yorkshire building on the decent position they had built up on Tuesday despite the interruptions as the harr** rolled in from the North Sea causing a loss of almost 15 overs play. Even some enterprising batting from Pope and Morkel first thing  did not set our hopes back too much, a lead of 75 on a wicket where only four batsmen had made over fifty in two completed innings seemed a reasonable cushion. By beer o'clock (12:30), all had changed, Lyth and the hapless Lees were soon gone and as others followed one of our number threatened to return home by the Coastliner bus. Even Tattersall couldn't pull these particular chestnuts out of the fire as Morkel and Dernbach wiped out memories of the indignation heaped upon them in the first innings by Brooks and Patterson. By stumps Stoneman has found some form and Burns was as convincing as ever. Surrey were cruising at 89 without loss and a deficit of 139 was not enough to convince me that it was worth making the journey yesterday morning and so it proved with the winning runs struck just after 2:15. Hah Hah, but only if you wore the Prince of Wales' Feathers.

With the sun shining again this morning and for my wife and me a weekend in the Lake District, where it is even hotter, in prospect. we must not be too downcast. By the time of The Roses match on July 22nd Williamson, Willey, Kohler-Cadmore and Fisher should be available, not too difficult to see where they might fit in and here's something from the outer limits of the left field, someone at the ECB will have spotted that Joe Root is not in great form and some red ball cricket might be just what he needs before 'testorama' begins on August 1st. Hah Hah. 

* a well known brand of silver polish

** a term used in lands bordering the North Sea to describe a sea mist arising when warm air passes over the cold sea. I have been taken to task over my spelling of harr. Under haar Chambers dictionary offers harr, hare, and hoar. Harr, my preference is from Old Norse.

Richmondshire squeeze past York

posted by John Winn

Last Sunday I was at Clifton Park to see the group final of the Club Championship KO between hosts York and NYSD outfit Richmondshire. On a lovely afternoon the two sides came into the match with contrasting records. York had had a relatively smooth passage to this stage beating both Stockton and Stamford Bridge with ease and currently sit top of the Yorkshire Premier North while the visitors had eliminated two of the giants of North East club cricket, South Northumberland and Chester le Street but in NYSD Premier whilst they sit third recent results have been poor.

Close to where I was sitting York skipper Woods addressed his men in confident terms to the effect that they were the better all round side, Richmondshire had had a drubbing the previous day from Middlesbrough and that after the next round there was a home passage to the final waiting. York won the toss and elected to bat but lost Spearman, who had made fifty just twenty four hours before, with only three on the  board. James and the always impressive Snell added 44 for the second wicket but the run rate refused to rise much above three and the Richmondshire fielding was excellent. First and second change bowlers, Marshall and McKiernan were a little more expensive but when Snell joined Ricky Ponting in the pantheon of Gary Pratt's illustrious run out victims at 92 for 3 the feeling among the visiting supporters sitting near me was that this was a winnable game. 181 for 7 when the innings closed after 40 overs did not seem a mountain to climb.

By the time RCC began their reply the crowd, basking in the sunshine and keeping the bar busy, had been joined by those who had been watching England demolish Panama. No need to check a phone for the score, each loud roar meant a goal, except for Panama's consolation which appeared to have been greeted in silence. Carr and Pratt began confidently with an opening stand  of 81 but when Woods brought himself into the attack the game became much tighter as runs at least at from one end dried up. Pratt became sufficiently frustrated to give Woods the charge and was stumped and Carr soon followed lbw. Pratt's dismissal brought Layfield to the crease and his innings of 41 brought victory within sight or so it seemed but a change of ends for Jonathan Moxon made it 139 for 3 and York, increasing the volume of their incessant chirping, choirmaster James the chief culprit, sensed the game might be theirs and at 175 for 6 the tension was evident all round the ground. Cometh the hour and all that and in this case the man was Dale Marshall who with one needed guide a four down to third man to give Richmondshire victory by three wickets with an over to spare.

Meanwhile and not too many miles east of York the Group Two final was being played at Woodhouse Grange with Doncaster visiting the East Riding. Another tight game ensued with an almost identical result, Doncaster winning by three wickets with five balls left. 192 for 6 v 193 for 7. This means that Richmondshire will travel down the A1 to Town Fields on Sunday July 15th. Could be interesting.

I have been at Scarborough for the last three days and took this picture of many of the four thousand plus crowd who were there on Monday. My report will follow in a day or two. 

A mixed bag - but nothing better.

Posted by Tony Hutton

I think it was Edward Heath who invented the three day week and that is what we had as far as cricket watching was concerned this week. Three very different games but all highly enjoyable, with good weather, good company and an exciting finish to round things off. Tuesday was very much a local affair with the two Yorkshire over 60s sides playing each other in the Northern counties group.
The first XI were playing the Yorkshire Ridings XI, essentially the second team, although to complicate matters the Ridings XI also have a second team which play in the North West Group.

Much confusion among the varied band of elderly spectators at the pleasant Kirkstall Educational ground in Leeds, where one of our number had seen the aforesaid Ridings XI second team playing Warwickshire at Streethouse yesterday. He had great difficulty, as had we all, in working out why a team from Yorkshire plus indeed Warwickshire and Norfolk apparently, are all in the North West Group!

Over sixties in action at Kirkstall.

Enough of that as the game provided good entertainment, played in the best of spirits, with quick over rates and a determination to get on with the game which one rarely sees these days. The Ridings team batted first which was not really in the best interests of the spectators as they were bowled out for a modest total of 98. Both sides contained well known names from league cricket of yesteryear with some still playing regularly today. The five bowlers were all extremely accurate as one would expect from Martin Ivill, Mick Scott an Aire Wharfe stalwart, Michael Kenyon, Robert Kettlewell and Phil Taylor, a Bradford League man, who bowled a total of nine maidens between them and gave away nothing.

The Yorkshire side return to the pavilion after bowling the Ridings out for 98.
Ready for a sit down, if not a lie down!

Zahid Ali, once the main man at St Chads CC in Leeds, but now of Sicklinghall, top scored for the Ridings with 28, and David Fairbank was not far behind with 24. Very few of the others contributed much and four of them were out for a duck. However a very different story  when Yorkshire batted as the experienced opening pair of Martin Ivill, once of Barnsley and captain of the side and John Flintoff, from Sessay, who have both scored centuries already this season, almost knocked off the runs together. Flintoff was out for 45, Ivill also 45 not out and another prodigious scorer Colin Frank of Pickering 7 not out as Yorkshire beat the Ridings by eight wickets.

Yorkshire's not out batsmen lead the procession back to the pavilion.

Final score.

The entertainment was provided by such as Brian Senior, John Rex and the unmistakable John Taplin, who all kept everyone amused throughout the afternoon. Hillary Oliver put in a hardworking stint as scorer while her husband Barry was umpiring not far away at New Rover cricket club. Later research revealed that Yorkshire and inevitably Lancashire are just two points apart at the top of the table both having won five out of six games so far. If you get the chance go along and watch over sixties cricket and sample the game as it used to be played.

Tuesday provided a very different kettle of fish so to speak with an interesting journey into the Derbyshire Dales to Belper Meadows where Derbyshire second eleven were taking on Glamorgan second eleven in a three day friendly match. Much of second eleven cricket these days is made up of friendlies which often sees sides travelling the length and breadth of the country. Why can't they play more second eleven championship games we often wonder.

Scorers hard at work at Belper.

The main problem today was the wind which blew all day. Fortunately it was a warm wind but made life a little uncomfortable for players and the handful of spectators alike. Glamorgan batted first and quickly lost early wickets. We scarely had time to identify the batsmen from the Second XI annual and the helpful scorecard provided by Derbyshire's lady scorer, as they came and went so rapidly.
The Derbyshire opening bowlers Davis and Hartley removed the first five for only 41 runs and it took captain Aneurin Donald to restore their fortunes in a big way.

Belper Meadows.

Donald made his name as a 19 year old in 2016 when he equalled the fastest ever first class double century, also against Derbyshire, which included no fewer than fifteen sixes. He has perhaps not quite lived up to that since (who could?) but played a really fine innings here at Belper which put his side back on track. He did not really cut loose until he reached his century but then hit a series of huge sixes which required running repairs to his bat. He was finally out, caught off a skier, for 127 having hit nine fours and six sixes when the score had just reached 200. Donald got very little support only Smith with 29 really contributed to the all out total of 210.

Donald hits a huge six to the leg side.

View down the slope at Belper.

Good to see Derbyshire's new president Edwin Smith, who I well remember as a young spin bowler many years ago, watching the match and deep in conversation with Kim Barnett about how the game has changed. Still easily recognisable today even at the age of 84. Happy memories from long ago.
Among the usual batch of interesting players appearing today was Derbyshire's Under 15s wicket keeper Anoop Chima, of Indian origin but born in Toronto, Canada and now attending Repton school. He looked a very tidy keeper and also batted well later in the game. We saw the start of Derbyshire's first innings with Chesney Hughes, famous for a double century at Headingley some years ago, who was re-appearing after a year's absence. It was a little confusing that three of the first Derbyshire batsman had sweaters with the name Wood on the back, only the number four was in fact the real Wood. On day two Derby made a big score 378 all out with first team keeper Smit scoring a century.
Glamorgan also made 300 in their second innings but Derby won the game comfortably by eight wickets on day three.

Donald takes the applause after a wonderful innings.

Fine view of the old cotton mill at Belper.

Yesterday (Thursday) we managed our annual pilgrimage to Sedbergh School in Cumbria, which is normally for a Minor Counties game, but this year Cumberland were unable to get a home fixture in August when the ground is available so it seemed unlikely we would get there. However our source of much information from that side of the Pennines, Ian from Lancaster, came up with two games at Sedbergh this week. Lancashire Academy were the visitors on Wednesday and we saw the Durham Academy yesterday.

The never changing scene at Sedbergh.

Not only did we have a wonderful sunny day at one of the most beautiful grounds in the country with the backcloth of the Howgill Fells, but we had an exciting finish with just ten balls remaining when the School achieved a famous victory thanks almost solely to George Hill, the Yorkshire Academy player. Only a handful of spectators present but our walk around the ground took some time as we kept finding people of similar persuasion to ourselves, who we knew, enjoying this perfect venue.

The evening sunshine as the game approaches its end.

The Academy batted first and Tom Hewitson from Stockton held the innings together and was on the verge of a century when he was clean bowled for 94 with the score on  145-3. No one else played a major innings and Durham failed to accelerate towards the end finishing with a below par 196-6 in their fifty overs. Interesting to see the school side persevering with three spin bowlers.

Durham looked in control at this early stage.

Sedbergh's reply followed a similar pattern with just one outstanding batsman, George Hill who has been a regular for the Yorkshire Academy this season and has already played for the county second eleven. Wickets fell at regular intervals and with the score on 114-6 it looked like a certain victory for the visitors. Hill eventually found good support from number eight batsman Theo Manihera, who helped him put on sixty runs for the seventh wicket. Although Durham kept it tight and gave nothing away, the school were always ahead of the rate and had overs in hand as long as Hill could stay there.

George Hill hits another four.

Stay he did, reaching his century just before the end and with continued support from the valiant tailenders hit the winning boundary from the second ball of the penultimate over. What a marvellous finish to what turned out to be a perfect day. Sedbergh is a must visit venue for all true cricket lovers. Long may it continue.

The County Championship holds sway (briefly)

posted by John Winn

In domestic cricket the championship has things almost to itself for the next couple of weeks, a rare enough event and this week, midsummer week, all eighteen counties are in action, sadly none north of Leicester, but it's festival time with matches at Guildford, Swansea, Tunbridge Wells and Arundel.
Next week is almost as good with only Gloucestershire and Sussex having time off and Scarborough hosting its first match of the season when Surrey come to the seaside.

Today's nine matches see First Division leaders Somerset face Surrey at Guildford and I believe this is the game that will be covered on Five Live Extra. Just one point between these two teams and both have played a game fewer than nearest rivals, Essex. Surrey will be missing the Currans, Foakes and Roy but have brought in Theunis de Bruyn for the next couple of weeks. Somerset are missing Craig Overton but welcome back Leach and Groenewald. Essex welcome Notts to Chelmsford, third v fourth here. Lancashire go to New Road and Yorkshire, for the second time this week, are in Southampton. Floodlights in action here. Tattersall retains the gauntlets, will we see Hodd in first team action again, which will be a first class debut the Knaresborough youngster. Pujara who did not have a happy time on Monday is in the 13 man squad as is Jack Brooks who whilst commentating on the semi final expressed his disappointment at not being able to get a game in that competition. Olly Rayner joins Hants on loan from Middlesex.

Second Division leaders, and by a few lengths, Warwickshire are at Tunbridge Wells to face second place Kent. Third place Leicestershire have Middlesex, who have only one win this season, as their opponents at Grace Road. Durham make the long trip to Arundel and have Collingwood back as captain. Not been a great season for Colly so far, 125th in the Second Division batting averages, 46 runs at 9.20, but his  13 man squad has a bit more experience than the one that took on Derbyshire last week. In the other two matches in the lower tier, Derbyshire are at Swansea and Northants take on Glos at Wantage Road, floodlights here too.

Plenty to look forward to, let's hope the weather holds. And here is a reminder of what next week has in store, only five more sleeps.

India A too strong for ECB XI

posted by John Winn

Because of Yorkshire's continued involvement in the Royal London Cup, they visit Hampshire today to decide who will face Kent in the Lord's final at the end of the month, India A took on an ECB XI at Headingley yesterday in place of Yorkshire, the originally scheduled opponents. The ECB XI was restricted to players from counties who had departed the One Day cup at the group stage but led by Lancashire's Alex Davies it looked strong enough on paper but rather disappointed in both batting and bowling.

A sparse crowd was in attendance when Davies won the toss and elected to field, a crowd a majority of which seemed inclined to support India A. The morning was cloudy with a coolish breeze but India's batsmen  were soon into their stride and the boundaries they hit in scoring 39 off the first four overs brought applause that identified that most of their supporters were in the upper tier of the North East stand. Quickest out of the blocks was Prithi Shaw, captain of India Under 19, and he was particularly severe on Craig Overton. Boosted by wides the score stood at 43 before Mayank Agarwal fell to Tom Barber but the quick scoring continued when Hanuma Vihari joined Shaw at the crease and 100 came up in the 16th over and although the two fell in quick succession Iyer, Kishan and Pandya all made rapid  contributions. Pick of the England bowlers was Middlesex man Ryan Higgins with four wickets including two in successive balls, both to catches by Bermudan born Sussex spinner Delway Rawlins, the second a particularly smart effort. The innings closed on 328 for 9, with 26 fours and 9 sixes and 9 wides.

During India's innings the crowd had grown but the sun's efforts to break through were in vain and the day remained cheerless. ECB's openers were George Hankins (Gloucestershire) and Davies who was soon out, Derbyshire's Ben Slater and Hankins batted brightly helped by some no ball problems for Prasidh Krishna which resulted in two free hits, the first too wide to reach, the second disappearing into the west stand. After Hankins went at 62 Will Jacks helped Slater keep the board moving but when they fell in close order to make it 107 for 4 a rising required rate made ECB's prospects seem fairly dim. I left when Higgins was seventh out to a direct hit by skipper Iyer and despite some late blows from Critchley, ECB fell 125 short when all out for 203. Chahar led the bowlers with 3 for 48 and he closed proceedings when he bowled Barber first ball.

During my forty minute journey home I listened to the increasingly exciting commentary on Five Live Extra from New Road as Kent closed in on Worcestershire's 306. A partnership of 115 between Huhn and Blake ended in the time it took me to get from my driveway to the living room with Blake falling to Barnard and although Huhn was out in the last over the six he had hit off the second ball left Kent needing just four off three balls and Podmore got them in one. Kent winners by two wickets and in their first Lord's final for ten years. Let's hope Yorkshire can join them today if only to prevent Sky's Charles Colvile saying that both finalists are from the stronger southern group. You may have other reasons.

A useful wrinkle

posted by John Winn

On a lovely summer's day in September 2016 Durham beat Surrey by 21 runs to finish fourth in the First Division of the County Championship, a victory that pushed the brown caps down to fifth. The Durham team that day was Stoneman, Jennings, Borthwick, Burnham, Stokes, Collingwood, Clark, Poynter, Carse, Wood and Onions. Missing were Rushworth and Coughlin (P) both injured. Only one of the team, Clark, plus the injured Rushworth played against Derbyshire earlier this week in the extraordinary game described by Tony in yesterday's posting. Stoneman, Jennings, Borthwick,Onions and Coughlin have been tempted away, Burnham through his own stupidity is banned, Stokes, Wood and Poynter are on international duty, Collingwood is injured and Carse is in the seconds. Tony has described the provenance of the players who have taken their places and we can throw into the mix Richardson, player of the month for May and Weighell, a 'sevenfor' against Leicestershire a few weeks ago, both of whom would have played against Derbyshire had they been fit.

Durham's next two games, Sussex away and Warwickshire at The Riverside, are likely to offer sterner tests and their current fourth place may prove temporary but the spirit they showed on Monday and Tuesday is all that can be asked of them. I spent part of Saturday watching the first innings debacle but left shortly before tea as Derbyshire closed in on a first innings lead. Not to go straight home however but instead diverting from the A167 just south of Durham City to drop in on Tudhoe,  a former mining village which looked splendid in the afternoon sunshine. The game I had come to see was Durham Cricket League Division 1 fare with Crook having made the short journey to be the opposition.

It was the tea interval when I arrived at the well appointed ground

.

Tudhoe had been bowled out for just 86, a bad day at the office as their scorer put it, and Crook watched by a decent size crowd began their reply cautiously against the spin of Roshan Jayatissa a Sri Lankan with first class experience. Roshan made the breakthrough with just nine on the board when Jamie Mills was caught for 7 but no more wickets fell while I watched and Crook got home with five wickets to spare, a result that puts them top of the table above Easington with Tudhoe third. 

Back to the Great North Road and down to Scotch Corner where another slight diversion took me to Richmond and the school of that name in search of Richmondshire CC V who along with the fourth team play their matches at the school. And here is the useful wrinkle promised in the title of the blog, albeit one only of use to anybody keen to see either of the two teams who call it home. Do not, unless you are fond of walking, try to gain access from the car park at the front of the school. It is possible and probably legal but a bit of a hike and lesser men might have wilted in the heat for I began to despair of ever finding cricket. I did find it in the end and RCC had just begun their reply to Barton seconds 185 for 7 in a Darlington and District B division match. A wicket fell almost immediately but largely thanks to 58 from Michael White things improved but at stumps they were still 18 short. Richmondshire find themselves bottom of the table after six matches, Barton are two places 

above. Whilst talking to a local I discovered that access is better from the Easby Road, take the B6271 (Maison Dieu)from Richmond town centre. Parking is limited but the walk is much shorter.

Finally if you are looking for something a bit different on Sunday then you might give Headingley a try. The match is an ECB XI v India A, wickets pitched 11:00. Originally scheduled as Yorkshire v India A but changed by virtue of Yorkshire's continued involvement in the One Day Cup. ECB have selected a decent looking opposition captained by Lancashire's Alex Davies and admission is free but by St Michael's Lane only. It is a fifty over game.

The North of England cricket soap opera

Posted by Tony Hutton

Whoever writes the scripts for the eventful few days just gone in the wonderful world of North of England cricket must get a top award in the field of soap operas, eclipsing anything from Coronation Street, Emmerdale or even Eastenders, to whose territory Yorkshire ventured today.

It all started last Saturday when Durham were forced to put out more or less a second eleven in a championship game with Derbyshire at the Riverside. At least half a dozen players, including skipper Paul Collingwood, were injured and two had gone off to play for Ireland. On the first morning put into bat Durham, with four new caps Harte from South Africa, Salisbury from Essex via Hampshire,
Jones from Lancashire via Scotland and wicket keeper Davies from Kent via Somerset. were predictably bowled out for 96. Derbyshire's South African opening bowlers doing the damage with 5-20 for Olivier and 3-30 for Viljoen.

Gloom at Riverside - Durham all out 96

Bowling hero Duane Olivier leads Derbyshire in.

Most followers of Durham thought another defeat imminent and play unlikely to last until the third day, never mind the fourth. How wrong they were as Durham repeated their back from the dead success against Leicestershire with another amazing victory, despite the fact Derby had a first innings lead of 110. The heroes of the Durham second innings were initially New Zealander Latham and even more so debutant South African Gareth Harte with a splendid 114, ably supported by Aussie Rimmington with whom he put on 104 for the eighth wicket and another new boy Matt Salisbury who added 99 for the ninth wicket. Olivier this time had figures of 5-105 which were a bit different from the first innings.

Derby were left 268 to win on day four and needless to say the ever reliable Chris Rushworth 5-47 and Salisbury 4-69 saw Durham home to yet another famous victory by 95 runs. We were present on the first day of this game - last Saturday. On Sunday we had very different plans closer to home as the Yorkshire Premier League North were staging the first round of their T20 competition at four different venues with three matches scheduled at each. We chose Harrogate, where the home side were due to play Driffield and Yorkshire Academy.

On arrival at the ground we discovered that late the previous evening the Academy had dropped out meaning that only one match, Harrogate v Driffield would take place starting at 10 a.m. then no more. We saw Harrogate despatch Driffield with some ease and therefore progress to finals day at Scarborough quite easily. The reasons for Yorkshire Academy's late withdrawal only became apparent during the next few days when we learnt that five Academy players had innocently played in the Bradford League T20 on Thursday nights. As all the winners of each league's competition go forward to a national club T20 they were considered to be cup-tied and therefore not eligible to play.

Added to this several of the young players had exams on Monday and others were injured so it was impossible for Yorkshire to field a side. The other side of the coin being that even if Yorkshire Academy had won the Yorkshire League North competition they could not play in the national rounds as they are regarded as contracted players. The small group of Academy followers, some of whom had travelled considerable distances were obviously not pleased, but we were able to move on to York to see two further games later in the day.

The Southport pavilion.

Tuesday seemed to pose no problems as off we went to Southport on the Lancashire coast for a second eleven three day championship game, Lancs v Yorks. Two nights hotel booked, forecast good although it might change on Thursday. All seemed well with the world on day one, except for the fact Yorkshire seconds were bowled out for 76 with quick bowler Liam Hurt (5-17) doing most of the damage and a few comments were made about the state of the pitch. However when Lancashire batted no apparent problems and they advanced to 266-3 with all their batsmen making runs.

Liam Hurt, who destroyed the Yorkshire batting, being congratulated by an enthusiastic supporter.

Train passengers get a good view of the cricket at Southport.

Lancashire make batting look easy.

It is hard to make excuses for Yorkshire's rather woeful batting, but it must be pointed out that they suffered from the knock on effect of six players from the first team being away on international duties (if you include the rather ineffectual Indian Test player). This will shortly rise to eight absentees when Kohler-Cadmore and Fisher join the ranks of England Lions.

The Yorkshire side at Southport included only three specialist batsmen. One of whom is sadly out of form and the other two are very inexperienced. The rest of the team comprised six bowlers and two wicketkeepers. Lees withdrew overnight to travel to Chelmsford to join the first team squad and a late replacement in the shape of Chris Wood, a county under 17 batsman from Woodhouse Grange was called up. He got as far as joining in the warm up but never actually got on the field of play.

Next morning to our surprise Lancashire had declared when expected to bat on at least for another bonus point. They soon dismissed Hodd and then Rafiq was hit painfully on the hand and after a long discussion between the umpires and coaches the match was abandoned because of the dangerous state of the pitch. A band of four travelling supporters all the way from Huddersfield had just arrived as the players were leaving the field after only quarter of an hours' play on day two of a three day game!
The Lancashire supporters were not in a good mood already many having seen the first team collapse in dramatic fashion on Monday to lose to Essex at Old Trafford.

Lancashire very quickly issued a statement on their website (more than can be said about Yorkshire after Sunday's fiasco) to the effect that this was a new strip which had suffered a rapid deterioration due to the very hot weather and this would not affect the county championship game to be played in August on the number one strip which had been previously used.

Fortunately about a dozen refugee spectators, who had been tipped off the previous day about two games being played at Northern Cricket Club, Crosby - not far down the road from Southport, between Myerscough College cricket academies based in both Preston and Manchester set off there to enjoy some cricket in the sunshine.

Cricketing refugees keep their eyes on two games going on simultaneously at Crosby.

Myerscough College (Preston) batting against Myerscough College (Manchester).
The umpire from New Zealand had stern words following dissent from an outgoing batsman.

Added to all this came the rather startling revelations in the business pages of the press regarding Yorkshire cricket club's chairman faced with a huge fine and a fifteen year suspension from the accountancy profession.

As I write this there seems to be some good news coming through from Chelmsford where Yorkshire are almost on the point of victory in their quarter final at Essex - surely that one can't be abandoned as well!

The next thrilling instalment may well concentrate on the vital county under 17s game between Yorkshire and Lancashire at Weetwood, Leeds on Sunday which will decide which county goes through to the national semi-finals. Other attractions available that day include an ECB XI against India A at nearby Headingley, a three county women's T20 competition at Harrogate and the Scarborough Beckett League XI v Halifax League XI at North Marine Road, Scarborough. Spoilt for choice once again.

Pioneers remembered at Trent Bridge

posted by John Winn

In 1868 a team of Aboriginal Australians toured England, the first organised group of Australians to travel overseas to play cricket. 150 years later two teams, men and women, of Australians of Aboriginal descent have been playing a series of matches on some of England's most iconic grounds. The tour came to an end yesterday with T20  matches for both teams at Trent Bridge where the original tourists played their 22nd match between the 3rd and 5th of August 1868 against Nottingham Commercial CC.

I had planned to see  the Trent Bridge  games some weeks ago but on Monday as news came through of Durham's remarkable comeback against Derbyshire my mind increasingly turned to plan B, namely that The Riverside might be a better option. The loss of four Peakite wickets before stumps persuaded me however that that game might be over by lunch and so it was at 7:30 yesterday morning I turned left at the A1 and headed for Nottingham. The women's teams were warming up when I arrived and the opposition for the AAW were England Women's Senior Academy captained by Fran Wilson. 

The Aboriginal squad

A guard of honour was provided for the two teams by girls from a local primary school and promptly at 11:00 the first of the two games began with England batting in front of a small crowd. Australian skipper Ashleigh Gardner, a spinner, opened the bowling and England's openers Emma Lamb and Linsey Smith were soon lambasting the ball to all parts. 38 came up off just three overs but even so, the guard of honour, perhaps disappointed that the innings would be more than 100 balls, were finding it hard to sustain their concentration. This despite the fact that they had gone into a huddle with 'Miss' before play began. 79 were on the board before Lamb was caught for 31 but Smith and her new partner Wilson then added 111 for the second wicket, both hitting two sixes.  

After the skipper was out in the 18th over there was a loss of momentum but 228 for 5 was an impressive total and one felt it unlikely that the visitors would be able to match it. None of their bowlers had gone for fewer than 8 an over and some of the fielding had been rather slipshod. Sure enough the Aboriginal women could get nowhere near the required run rate. Gardner led the way with 33 including seven fours but only Alice Davidson Richards of the England bowlers came in for much stick and despite Chauhan and Plane putting up a late  flourish the innings closed on 112 for 9, a win for the Academy by 116 runs.

Between the two games there was a presentation in the Museum Room which included a talk by heritage volunteer David Coy about the original tour and with a range of interesting objects on display.

During the interval the crowd grew and before the start of the second game at three o'clock there was a rather moving ceremony involving another guard of honour, this time by boys from a local school, dressed very smartly in their cricket gear. Both squads lined up and gifts were exchanged. The Aboriginal men's team was led by local hero Dan Christian and on winning the toss he elected to bat. It was fitting that Christian should be top scorer with 61 off 25 balls including six sixes. The fielding side 'A Nottinghamshire XI' was principally Notts II but included Dan Gurney who bowled his four overs then left the field. Also featuring was Bermudan Kamau Leverock who was the tightest of the Notts' bowlers. After a mid order stutter Brock Larance hit two sixes in a rapid 30, 182 for 6 looked likely to be a winning score.

And so it proved. Luke Wood, returning from illness and injury opened the batting and made 41 but this was by some distance the highest score and Larance who by dint of running back to his mark bowled his overs quickly, took 3 for 27 including the wicket of Wood. The Aboriginal XI won by 61 runs thus gaining some revenge for the heavy defeat of their female counterparts. Some of the Notts' stalwarts sitting near me were distracted during the day by events at Taunton where victory for Somerset sent them to the top of the table. I was happy to receive texts informing me of the steady loss of Derbyshire  wickets at Chester le Street and a win for a Durham side, only one of whom, Rushworth, would have played in an equivalent game two years ago and including three debutants, made the journey home not too much of a chore. Another beautiful day today but the forecast is for an abrupt end to the lovely weather. Let's hope it is not too disruptive for the One Day matches being played at Trent Bridge and Chelmsford tomorrow.

Interesting news has come out of Headingley in the last couple of days with the announcement of Hodd's retirement and Bresnan's dissatisfaction with his new contract. The latter is in today's squad, the former is not.

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon

posted by John Winn

It is ten years since I last visited Walton Park near Wetherby, surprising perhaps given it is just  ten miles from my house. After a trip to the North East on Saturday I was on the lookout for something close to home yesterday and the chance to see a quarter final in the Fred Fleetwood Cup, the senior KO competition for Wetherby League clubs filled the bill nicely. The icing on the cake, and what delicious cakes they looked, was that my friend Arthur Bartle was one of the umpires.

Arriving shortly after play had begun I pitched my deck chair in a shady spot to watch Garforth Parish Church, top of Division 1 batting and going along comfortably at four an over, a rate they maintained for much of their innings. Hosts Walton Park are mid table in Division Two and so were outsiders in this match. Garforth's innings was anchored by Michael Fisher who was sixth out for 73, caught at short leg and his reluctance to depart from the crease when given suggested some measure of disagreement with the umpire.  With another wicket following shortly I felt Walton might be in with a chance but from scoring at a little over four an over Garforth changed up several gears and in the last five overs took the game to a point where one felt it would be beyond the hosts. A flurry of boundaries took the score to 210, with the unfortunate Michael Hardy conceding thirty in his two overs where full tosses were in competition with long hops for juicy morsel of the day and we even had the rarity, the double bouncer, called no ball by Arthur. An undefeated last wicket stand of 48 between Tom Conboy, 34 not out and Darren Childe 19 not out, sent the players into the welcome shade of the pavilion with Walton red faced for more reason than one.

 

Refreshed by a cup of tea I admired the displays in the splendid pavilion built in 2004 but in traditional style, dressing rooms to left and right, club room in the centre, and amongst the memorabilia found this fixture card from 1912. By my reckoning only three or four of these clubs survive today. Captain at that time was Edward Lane Fox and President for many years as well. Put Edward in a search engine and you will be told he is Prince Harry's Private Secretary, some connection there?

Walton began their reply with lots of playing and missing and it was not long before Childe was among the wickets. At two for one, enter the bare headed Johnny Smales who had taken three wickets and he was destined to be last man out. He received some help from number five Andy Robson who made twenty but the other nine Waltonians made but 14 between them. Childe bowled out his allocated 8 overs and took 3 for 20. While the eighth wicket pair were at the crease a man sitting near me was on the phone assuring a friend that number 11 Steve could bat. 0 not out leaves the question open. 98 all out with Johnny getting to his fifty before being stumped and Garforth progressed smoothly into the semi final where on July 8th they will be away to Kippax. The other tie will be at Church Fenton where Headingley Bramhope will be the visitors. The final will be at Church Fenton at August 5th. None of which gives me an excuse to visit Walton Park again, but who needs an excuse to visit such a lovely cricket ground? 

A proper game of cricket

Posted by Tony Hutton

Wednesday 6th June was the start of a three day second eleven championship match between Yorkshire seconds and the MCC Young Cricketers, who had been beaten rather easily in the one day match which preceded it. The visitors made a couple of changes in their line up adding the former Yorkshire batsman Elliot Callis and pace bowler Alex Willerton from Lincolnshire to the side.

The view from the boundary at York.

Yorkshire brought back wicket keeper Andrew Hodd to replace yesterday's top scorer Ben Birkhead
and left arm spinner Karl Carver replaced yesterday's best bowler Jack Shutt. Yorkshire won the toss and in overcast conditions asked the visitors to bat first. This proved to be a good decision as four wickets fell very quickly as the pace of Ben Coad and Jack Brooks, with a little help from the pitch, proved too good for Curran, Barrett, Callis and Imtiaz. The early score stood at 27-4 and doubts were expressed about the strength of the opposition with some wondering whether the game would last three days.

Yorkshire's slip cordon wait in anticipation.

The next three batsman were able to dig in and rectify the position somewhat with some resolute batting which looked a lot easier when the opening bowlers were removed from the attack.The South African Marc Lezar played the major role with an innings of 65 in just over three hours and he was ably assisted by Hudson-Prentice with 40 and the New Zealander Buhla with 38. With the total on 101 Coad returned to bowl Hudson-Prentice, but Lezar and Buhla took it to 187-5 before Coad struck again. After that the tail collapsed in spectacular fashion and although Coad just missed out on a hat-trick, he had taken 8-33 in twelve overs before Shaw removed the last man Smithson.

Ben Coad takes the applause for his 8-33.

The last five wickets had gone for just four runs as MCC were all out for 191, which still seemed to indicate an early finish to this three day game. When Yorkshire batted Lees was soon out to a mis-timed hook which ballooned up in the air and Harry Brook nearly followed him after a similar miscue. Leaning went for 25 followed by Brook for 49, Hodd for 20 and Thompson for a first ball duck. So Yorkshire were five wickets down at the end of the first day.

On Thursday morning in much warmer conditions, but with a much smaller crowd in view of the mass exodus of many to Headingley for the important first team game in the Royal London competition, Yorkshire continued to lose wickets. Youngster Tom Loten just missed out on a half century after a well played 49, Josh Shaw hung around for a long time for a patient 25 but the others did not stay long. Dominic Manthorpe, a left arm quicky from Leicestershire, finished the innings off with 3-31. Yorkshire all out for 230 with a modest first innings lead of 39.

The Young Cricketers again made a poor start as Barrett and Callis both went cheaply. Barrett was caught at slip by Lees off Coad and Wainman removed Callis's middle stump. 39-2 and the visitors looked in trouble but again the middle order gave good support to opener Ben Curran, who made a very big score against Yorkshire seconds at High Wycombe last season. His innings today lasted two and a half hours until he was caught behind when Coad returned to the attack for a fine 74. He hit twelve fours and one six, when going down the wicket to Carver, which almost decapitated your photographer and his companion on the boundary edge.

Ben Curran hits his six towards the cameraman.

After Curran was out wicket keeper Saf Imtiaz, who has also been round the block a few times, with Essex, Durham, Northants, Kent and Surrey, took control of the innings. Not another overseas player, but London born, he played a resolute innings of almost three and a half hours before Carver eventually bowled him for 121 by which time MCC's lead was well over 200. Brookes and Bulha were also out before the close of day two, so eight wickets down overnight.

Carver bowling to centurion Imtiaz.

We were not present on day three but Wainman got both remaining wickets during the morning and MCC were all out for an excellent 305 and Yorkshire set off to chase 266. This they achieved around tea time for the loss of six wickets thanks mainly to another fine century from Harry Brook. Lees sadly failed yet again but there were useful innings from Loten, Hodd, Thompson and Shaw with Thompson finishing the game on 36 not out.

Two well known professional cricket watchers enjoy the sunshine.

So a proper game of cricket played throughout the three days with four completed innings and no need for declarations. The second day played in perfect weather conditions in front of a small crowd of true cricketing connoisseurs was almost as good as it can get. Nice surroundings, peace and quiet and proper cricket, what more could you want. Steve Kirby must be quite happy with how his MCC team performed and certainly some of them look good enough to play first class cricket.