An early start from home on Saturday morning got me to Doncaster Town CC's ground well in advance of the 11:00 start and equally importantly before any extra traffic generated by racing enthusiasts heading for the St Leger. Coffee in hand I recognised several familiar faces from York, conversation with whom revealed slightly less than their usual confidence in the outcome of their semi final with Wakefield Thornes.
Champions of Yorkshire Premier North v those of Yorkshire Premier South was a juicy morsel for any pcw especially one like me for whom this was a first visit to the ground. In the past when I have mentioned that Donny was still on my list the response had usually been to the effect that I hadn't missed much. I was pleasantly surprised therefore on arrival to find a ground looking in decent shape with a well appointed clubhouse, large playing area and certainly ready to host a semi final. A £1 bought me an informative programme and as early as 10:30 refreshments were available and those participating included some who judging by their dress were having a couple of sharpeners before moving up the road to the racecourse.
York batted first against the pace and aggression of Josh Shaw and nagging accuracy of Mahmood Rasool and the early loss of Duncan Snell brought young Finlay Bean to the crease and although he stayed a while he managed only three before he was out leaving the board showing 23 for 2, the runs mainly thanks to Jack Leaning. The Yorkshire batsman was joined by Nick James who, perhaps out of character built his innings very carefully leaving the run getting largely to Leaning. Slow scoring, a turgid over rate and Thornes' incessant inane chatter made for poor entertainment and well before the York innings ended Plan B was in operation. Suffice to say 54 from Leaning, 50 from Tom Brooks and lower order runs for Toby Giddings got York up to 201 for 7 off their allotted fifty overs.
Opener James Wolfenden hit 80 for Wakefield and with Jared Warner he put on 97 for the first wicket, a decent sized bite out of the target. A steady 39 for Matthew Jordan helped by a generous portion of wides got Thornes home with four wickets and 15 balls to spare. They will now play Great Ayton at Headingley on Saturday. For what it's worth the forecast is for sunny intervals and 15 degrees c.
Doncaster Town CC
The execution of Plan B did involve me in negotiating some race traffic but I was fairly quickly heading north east out of Doncaster following the path of the River Don to my first stop and a Pontefract League Division Two game between hosts Barnby Dun and Knottingley Town. Barnby were batting and a wicket fell just as I arrived to a catch that would have graced the T20 finals at Edgbaston, 65 for 2 and a bit of drizzle in the air. A Knottingley source, third man, told me that this was the penultimate game of the season and although there was not much at stake for either side the play was keen and as is usually the case in this league there were two official umpires. The ground is not over blessed with charm, the heavily fortified pavilion and score board see to that, but the game rattled along at a good pace with Barnby Dun on their way to 229 all out to which Knottingley could only muster 153 in reply. The league table shows Knottingley 7th and Barnby 8th. Promotion celebrations next Saturday night look most likely to be at Darton and Rothwell, two unvisited grounds for me.
From Barnby Dun it is but a short trip to Hatfield and with some difficulty I found the Carr Side Lane ground of Hatfield Town CC.
Division Four on offer here with a second team game between Hatfield and Frickley. Frickley were batting and were 135 for 4 off 31 overs. I enjoyed watching a young bowler, aged about 12, pit his wits against some experienced batting and he recovered from somebody making a hash of a catch in the deep to capture a wicket while I watched. Four wickets in the end for Josh Platt but Frickley's 233 for 7 was a decent score and too many for Hatfield who were 190 for 8 when stumps were pulled. 16 points for Frickley and 5 for Hatfield which leaves Frickley second and I think assured of promotion. Hatfield are in the bottom two and I suspect they will be relegated.
My last call of the day was to another new ground, this time at Fishlake and of the three minor league grounds I visited this would get highest marks.
The premises are shared with a bowling club and they were in action too. A change of leagues here with a South Yorkshire Cricket League Division Seven game between Fishlake II and Dearne II with both teams highlighted in pink in the table, near the bottom in other words. Pleasing to see a number of youngsters in the field for Dearne and enjoying what proved to be a thriller. Dearne were batting and made 221 for 8 off their 40 overs. In reply the hosts fell just one short with five wickets in hand when their 40 overs were up.
If you followed Twitter over the weekend especially late on Saturday evening you might have got the impression that following the final of the T20 Blast the season was over but far from it of course with several leagues not finishing until next Saturday, some important finals to be played and of course two rounds of championship cricket to be played starting tomorrow. Easy choice for me: Headingley for all four days, although Thursday's forecast doesn't look too good, and a reasonable return of points from this match with Hants and next week's trip to New Road should see Yorkshire safe. Wearing my second division hat I would say that Sussex v Warwickshire holds the most interest in that division. Sussex have had a bad few days; losing to Durham and in the final of the Blast. 21 points behind Kent and a further 12 behind Warwickshire it will need a rallying cry from Dizzy if their season is not to finish in disappointment.
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