The Kerridge Cup, the premier ko competition for the NYSD League has been played for since 1920. The cup itself was presented by Charles Kerridge JP of Marske and its early days it attracted crowds of over 3000 but nothing like that many were present when this year's final was played at Northallerton last Sunday. The contestants on a somewhat cool afternoon were holders Richmondshire and Middlesbrough who with 17 wins to their credit have won the competition more than any other club.
Taking shelter from the stiff breeze I was joined by Tony and Jennifer and league cricket mastermind Steve Mashiter. Richmondshire batted first and lost both openers Robert Carr and Gary Pratt with the score at 33. Indeed the latter might have gone even earlier had not the umpire disagreed with everybody else on the ground that he was caught behind, an incident that brought on a fit of toddler tantrums from bowler Jamie Burke. Enter Matthew McKiernan who it has thought has aroused the interest of Yorkshire CCC, rightly so for there were over 200 on the board before he was dismissed for 87. He received good support from Matthew Cowling, 71 not out, as the pair added 128 for the fourth wicket. A couple of catches went down and when the innings closed after forty overs on 231 for 5 the expert opinion was that that would be too much for Middlesbrough for that man McKiernan would 'tie them in knots' with his leg spin.
The Middlesbrough innings followed a similar pattern to that of The Dalesmen, two down for 39, both to Robert West, followed by a substantial partnership between Gleeson and Reeves and at 150 for 2 the group of 'Boro supporters camped next to us were looking reasonably chipper. But while McKiernan didn't' induce a granny or a reef he went for less than four an over off his permitted ten overs and we reached a point where victory was still possible but unlikely for the men in black and who thought that colour was a good idea?
An excellent catch by Cowling in the deep got rid of Gleeson and while South African Steve Reeves muscled in on the act with 83 not out wickets fell at the other end and Middlesbrough pulled up 23 short and the task of polishing the handsome trophy will fall to Richmondshire for the next twelve months.
Congratulations to Northallerton on their staging of the final, shame more weren't there to see it, and especially to the ground staff for producing a wicket that yielded almost 450 runs at this late stage in the season.
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