I began my acquaintance with the Langbaurgh League in 2010 when, in two separate visits I saw cricket at Hutton Rudby, Crathorne, East Harsley, Kirby Sigston, Scruton and Thimleby. The following year when I began writing for the blog I added Kildale and Ingleby Greenhow to my list, a visit I described in a posting on May1st of that year under the title 'Great Uncle Bill appears at tea.' Since those days the league has undergone changes, of those listed above Crathorne and Scruton have gone but reinforcements have arrived mainly from the now defunct Cleveland League and in most years since I began I have made a trip to at least one new ground. Thus I found myself at the beginning of this season needing just two grounds to complete the full set and last Saturday both were at home and the weather forecast was favourable.
First port of call was Dormanstown CC on the outskirts of Redcar. The town was built in the early twentieth century by the Dorman Long Steel Company, famous for its construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge, to house the many hundreds of steel workers and their families. Dormanstown CC, fairly recent incomers from The Cleveland League gained promotion to Division 1 on the last Saturday of last season but have found the going tough in the top flight. Their opponents on Saturday were bottom club Kildale with 'Dormo' just one place above them.
The fifty mile journey from home took just under an hour and I was pleased to see the stumps in position and players arriving. It would be hard to be dewy eyed and romantic about the ground for its facilities are basic, the outfield would have benefitted from another cut and about 15 minutes before the call of play it started to rain and this continued steadily for over an hour. To the credit of the players there was an obvious willingness to play and shortly after three o'clock Kildale took the field with the home openers in close attendance. In a match reduced to thirty two overs DCC made a brisk start and when I left after 45 minutes the openers, Steve Johnson and Phil Lloyd were still at the crease and were not parted until there were 132 on the board. A final score of 182 for 4 was too much for Kildale who were bowled out in 23 overs for 82, a result that eases Dormanstown out of the relegation places but leaves Kildale bottom, still pointless after five games.
My second new ground was not entirely so for in 2017 I had turned up at Danby CC expecting to see a game with Goathland in the Eskdale League only to find the neat pavilion bolted and barred. No such disappointment this time for I arrived in time to see the closing of overs of Danby's innings in a Langbaurgh Division Two match. For their first season in this competition Danby have merged with near neighbours Fryup, although the latter retain their separate identity in the Evening League. High scoring was the order of the day with D and C hitting over 250 and Thimbleby falling well short but with only 9 down.* The table shows Danby third and only Yarm III keeping Thimbleby off the bottom.
With help from Tony and Ron Deaton I hade been made aware of matches in the Whitby Gazette Cup and my original plan had been to take in the game at Glaisdale which is just a few miles from Danby down the Esk Valley. The rain at Dormanstown having disrupted my schedule and wary that the match might have been conceded I headed for home having achieved my main objective. The Eskdale league has only six clubs left and one feels it will not be long before that follows The Cleveland into oblivion with Langbaurgh providing a home for those clubs wanting to carry on. If so Saturday might not be my last visit to that corner of North Yorkshire.
Fryup is just over the hill.
The Danby heavy roller provides a welcome resting place for my cup of tea
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