More about Westmorland

posted by John Winn


The historic county of Westmorland was stripped of its administrative powers in 1974, powers that were taken over by the new administrative county of Cumbria. Westmorland lives on as a historic county and its legacy is maintained  by many organisations and businesses such as The Westmorland County Agricultural Show, The Westmorland County Football Association and as I reported last week, The Westmorland Cricket League. Coverage of the league is to be found in The Westmorland Gazette, a weekly newspaper founded in 1818. The excellent Mitchells' newsagent in Northallerton carries a range of newspapers with catchment areas outside North Yorkshire, and following my trip to 'Westmorland' last week I picked up a copy of The Gazette to investigate its cricket coverage.

The edition of July 25th had three pages of cricket reports, scores and tables. Most prominent is The Northern Cricket League whose teams include Leyland, Garstang, St Anne's and Barrow but the main focus was on local sides, Netherfield and Kendal. Kendal find themselves in a battle to avoid relegation, a situation not helped by a defeat at the hands of fellow strugglers St Anne's. 'Batting frailties haunt Kendal' sums it up nicely, 113 all out gives the cold facts. Netherfield are  better placed, fifth in the table, but well behind leaders Leyland. Last Saturday's deluge has left the table unchanged.

Coverage of the Westmorland League is headed by the line 'Leaders are locked together after wins', the leaders being Westgate and Carnforth.. The league extends to four divisions and apart from these  two teams sides include Arnside, Heysham and Cartmel . All 19 matches scheduled for last Saturday were abandoned without a ball being bowled so Carnforth and Westgate CC remain tied on 154 points with Milnthorpe just four points adrift.  Silverdale and Holme occupy the relegation spots but Trimpell are  only just squeak above the pink zone and demotion to Division two seems certain to be the fate of two of these three elevens. Milnthorpe v Carnforth seems to be the pick of this week's matches. The forecast for Saturday in the area suggests a decent day, let's hope the grounds can recover from the thunderstorms predicted for the interim period.

A day to enjoy Headingley

Posted by Tony Hutton

Regular readers of this blog will realise that Headingley is not really one of my favourite places for watching cricket, most certainly not when packed with T20 enthusiasts as it will be over the next few weeks. I would far rather be visiting some of my old haunts in the Lake District which John Winn enjoyed on Saturday.

However it was a rare occasion at Headingley as the Yorkshire Academy were playing their only match of the season on the hallowed turf. This was a Yorkshire League North encounter with Sheriff Hutton Bridge, now well established as one of the county's leading clubs and with county players such as Ed Barnes and Karl Carver in their ranks. Another, Matthew Fisher was on first team duty and unfortunately suffered another serious injury in the game at Chesterfield.

The new Emerald Stand at Headingley.

So in front of the usual sparse crowd which attends all Academy games, it was certainly an opportunity for players of both sides to not only play on a Test Match ground but to see their names in lights on the two giant scoreboards. The visitors batted first and opened with Ed Barnes who has been doing well with the bat in recent weeks, although very much a genuine all rounder. He certainly got the Bridge off to a very positive start hitting six fours and a six in an innings of 30. Obviously not too keen about running singles.

Barnes achieves a unique scoring rate.

So with a scoring rate of over five an over from the word go it soon looked as if a total in excess of 250 was on the cards. The top eight batsmen all got runs in either the twenties, thirties or forties and although nobody got a really big score this consistency paid off with a final flourish bringing an unassailable total of 292-8 in fifty overs.

One lone spectator in the comfortable new seats.

The home side were missing three players, George Hill, Dominic Leech and Finlay Bean, all on England Under 19 duty and certainly their bowling today was not up to it's usual standard. The two Sullivan brothers, both spinners, did not have one of their best days although Harry the younger of the pair bowled quite economically. Archie Greaves only came on towards the end and picked up two quick wickets but could possibly have bowled more overs.

Names in lights for the visitors.

The Academy innings got off to the worst possible start when opener Will Luxton, a century maker for the Under 17s last week, was hit on the helmet by Barnes after facing only seven balls and had to retire hurt. The other opener James Wharton, who batted very slowly for the second eleven recently was in similar mode and had made only 21 when he was caught behind. The two main men Revis and skipper Loten had already gone cheaply and to all intents and purposes the game was already over.

Harry Sullivan treated with respect.

However some late aggression from the tailenders brought the Academy into the last over before they were all out for 167. Archie Greaves made a quick fire 40, including three fours and two sixes, but this was only token resistance against a good all round bowling performance by the Bridge. Two wickets each for Henstock, Carver, Mark Fisher and Sri Lankan Udayanga doing the damage.

The majority of the 'crowd' in the Trueman enclosure.

So rather a one sided affair on the day but Sheriff Hutton Bridge are only seven points behind the league leaders Woodhouse Grange and will no doubt be serious contenders for the league title. They certainly enjoyed their day in the sun at Headingley, but it was a day to forget for the Academy who will no doubt do much better in the weeks to come.

A gem in The Lake District

posted by John Winn


Recently  I read that the ground of Patterdale CC was considered by some to be the most attractive in The Lake District. Thus it was not coincidence that whilst my wife and I were staying in The Lakes  at the weekend that our Saturday morning outing took us to the area south of Lake Ullswater. Having parked up in Glenridding we walked the short distance to Patterdale Village passing the ground on our right. Heavy overnight rain had cleared and the forecast was for a fine day with sunny spells. The ground did not look ready for business but there was still plenty of time before play was due to commence.

From Patterdale a path takes you round the south end of Ullswater and opens up a most attractive walk on the lake's eastern shore. We followed the clearly defined path for about 45 minuts then retraced our steps to Patterdale and the cricket ground but with only about half an hour before wickets were due to be pitched the scene was unchanged. A closer inspection revealed a very soggy outfield and it was pretty clear that there would be no play. 

A noticeboard  by the pavilion (above) showed plans for a new structure and an appeal to raise £250,000 is nearing its target. The match, which the league website confirmed had indeed been cancelled, would have been an Eden Valley Cricket League Division 1 meeting between the first teams of Patterdale and Stainton. The league table shows Patterdale having a rough time of things with minus two points to their name which suggests that they have been forced to concede at least one match. Stainton are mid table in a division headed by Appleby Eden.

From Patterdale we followed the Kirkstone Pass to Windermere and headed north through the busy streets of Ambleside. Quite by chance we alighted on Rydal Park, the ground of Ambleside CC and what a gem. Better judges than me have thought the same as this plaque shows.

Our journey had taken us from The Eden Valley League to The Westmorland League and Ambleside were playing Morecambe based Trimpell, Division 4. 

We fell into conversation with a lady busy with some knitting but not too busy to answer our questions about the match and she explained that the club was now reduced to one team and to put out an eleven on Saturday had had to rely on some who might have thought their playing days were over. These included her husband. The overnight rain had slowed the outfield and while we were there no fours were hit. Trimpell were recovering from a bad start in which they had lost three early wickets but managed only 102 for 8 in their 40 overs, a target Ambleside achieved with six wickets and five overs to spare, a result that leaves them top of the league. Our very helpful informant turned out to be i/c teas and a glance inside the pavilion showed a handsome spread awaiting the players. 

As well as the Wisden accolade Rydal Park also features in Laurence Griffith's lovely book of photographs, 'From The Boundary's Edge'. The photograph on page 9 of the book was taken before the erection of the pavilion shown on my photo above. Griffith's collection also includes pictures of Coniston CC and lovely that looks too. A return to Cumbria is on my agenda. 

County second eleven at Stamford Bridge

Posted by Tony Hutton

Tuesday 16th July and off to Stamford Bridge to see Yorkshire second eleven play Warwickshire, this time in a three day championship game. This is an under rated competition already nearing it's conclusion for this season. There are two divisions, north and south, with nine teams in the northern section who play just eight matches and ten teams in the southern group, due to the addition of MCC Young Cricketers. At the end of the season the two top teams meet in a three day grand final.

This was Yorkshire's seventh game with just one more away to Northamptonshire still to be played. Currently Lancashire, Leicestershire and Yorkshire are very close in the top three positions. Always a pleasure to visit this very popular second eleven venue which for some reason missed out on a three day game last season. The amazing tombola stall with endless prizes available was in full swing and is really the main attraction, if we discount the wonderful bacon sandwiches. It was very late in the day when my numbers came up although the Foster's lager T shirt was not as welcome as the bottle of Pinot Grigot.

The crowd enjoying the sunshine at Stamford Bridge with deck chairs to the fore.

There was some debate as to when Yorkshire played their first second eleven game at this ground. It took some considerable research to finally settle on September 2000, when Yorkshire seconds played Hampshire in a game which the visitors won by 88 runs. One of our number, who was there, remembers it best for trying to fill in the scorecard when someone was caught Brunschweiler bowled Stephenson.

Today Yorkshire won the toss and batted. The innings was held together by James Wharton whose marathon innings of 59 took three and three quarter hours. Never quite in touch, he stayed there and showed the powers of concentration required by an opening batsman in proper cricket. His partner Anjam went for 27 falling during a good spell of quick bowling by Logan Hughes, a young man from Staffordshire, who also dismissed Tom Loten, on return from injury, and George Hill, about to join England Under 19s.

James Wharton.

Matthew Waite added a quickfire 40, before Jack Leaning coming in at number six increased the tempo and ended up with top score of 75. Ben Birkhead also made a very useful fifty and Yorkshire ended on a very reasonable 327 all out. One of the highlights of the day was a fine spell of bowling by that man again, 15 year old Jacob Bethell, whose figures of 17-1-40-1 were very tidy indeed.

Nick Hammond in the runs for Warwickshire.

On day two Warwickshire struggled after losing two wickets cheaply overnight, but opener Hammond and wicket keeper Mellor put on a century partnership mainly against the Yorkshire seam attack which showed little variation during the morning's play. Many could not understand why Logan had not bowled, but it later emerged that he had a back problem and was advised not to bowl by the strength and conditioning coach, who now has the final say in who can do what.

Left hander Alex Mellor did well in both innings for the visitors.

The other young spinner, Jack Shutt, did not appear until well after lunch and again it was hard to understand why Jack Leaning had bowled so many overs. Barnes took two wickets to finally end Mellor's innings of 66, after Waite had taken his third wicket to remove Hammond for 59. Shutt then finished off the tail to end with the day's best figures of 4-43.

Matthew Waite bowling at Stamford Bridge.

We were not present yesterday (day three) when Yorkshire declared their second innings on 172-9 and then bowled Warwickshire out for 179 to win by 88 runs. Shutt again ended with four more wickets. I understand that the highlight of the day was yet again produced by young Mr Bethell, who managed to take three wickets in an over and to finish with splendid figures of 5-42 before Yorkshire declared. I am sure we will hear much more of this young man in the years to come.

With twenty four points from this game Yorkshire are just one point behind Leicestershire, who also had an easy win. Lancashire, who are in the last day of their game at Notts today have so far been delayed by the weather and so are unlikely to get maximum points and will now be in third place with all three teams having one more game to play.

Cricket's strange effect on people.

Posted by Tony Hutton

Monday morning 15th July, the morning after the night before. The moment after the Cricket World Cup final ended my son and very excited youngest grandson were on the phone checking up that I had actually seen it. Having not really been involved in the competition at all until that point, I confirmed that I had returned from Riverside just in time to watch the last eventful half hour.

Obviously I was glad to have seen such an exciting finale but like many people my sympathies were with the New Zealanders. They seemed to have been robbed of victory by a rule change, which in retrospect seems ridiculous. Why could not the previous rule of a tied match being decided in favour of the team losing less wickets apply, rather than on the number of boundaries scored? Even more sensible would have been a decision to share the trophy.

However what is done is done, but to a grumpy old man like me everything in the game is being changed and very little of it for the better. I try very hard to grow old gracefully but it is very difficult to do so with all these things going on around us. Another example came later that same morning.
Like John Winn, we had the choice of county championship cricket at Headingley, Riverside or even Chesterfield, but instead chose to go to our local ground to watch two county second eleven T20 matches.

Consternation all round from many people. Pictures of Brian Senior, traditionalist supreme, also in attendance at Weetwood watching T20 appeared on Twitter. Why was he not two miles down the road watching Yorkshire? I think Brian probably had thoughts similar to our own, in that being at a pleasant rural ground watching young cricketers was preferable to watching two South Africans doing all the bowling for Yorkshire County cricket club.

Not that I have anything against South Africans. Some of my best friends (and cousins) are South Africans. What I object to is Yorkshire of all counties, employing overseas players and players from other counties, instead of giving opportunities to their own youngsters to continue the tradition which produced the likes of Root, Bairstow and Rashid. I will say no more but just find it hard to understand.

So T20 it was and one of the first discoveries of the day was when a very young looking boy entered the field for Warwickshire second eleven. This turned out to be none other than Jacob Bethell, who at first we thought might be a member of the South Yorkshire cricketing family, except they have only one letter l at the end of their name. This boy had two. He was fielding on the boundary and I asked him if he was from Yorkshire, no he replied but from Barbados, although his father Graham Bethell had played league cricket for Sheffield Collegiate. He confirmed this was just his second appearance for Warwickshire at this level.

Our brief conversation ended and I asked one of his team mates how old Jacob was. Fifteen years old,
attended Rugby School and a member of the Warwickshire Academy. He is a left arm spinner and batsman. Later in the day I was able to do some more research and found a video on Facebook of Jacob scoring a century for Barbados under 15s at the age of 13. I also discovered that he was player of the tournament at last year's Bunbury Festival held at Millfield school, where he scored another century and took several wickets. He came on to bowl against none other than England Test player Tim Bresnan and kept a good length from the word go.

Jacob Bethell, on the left, returns to the Weetwood pavilion, having made the winning hit.

Yorkshire lost the first game by four wickets with three balls remaining. Guess who made the winning hit for Warwickshire? Of course a very composed Jacob Bethell. During the second match which Yorkshire won with overs to spare young Bethell took the wicket of Revis, who was on 49.
The batsman came down the wicket looking for his fifty, but the young man saw him coming and fired one wide down the offside to have him smartly stumped off a wide. That made my day.

Last county championship games for a while

Posted by Tony Hutton

With the T20 season almost upon us a chance last weekend to see action from two county championship games, which will not reappear until much later in the season, i.e. mostly in September. Saturday 13th July saw day one of the game between Yorkshire and Somerset at Headingley. The main attraction in some ways was the fact that spectators could sit in the brand new double sided Emerald Stand which caters for both cricket and rugby league supporters. In fact it's main purpose in life is catering as the huge banqueting suite is expected to generate by far the most income in the future.

First impressions were favourable, certainly the new padded seats with straight backs are far better than anything else available on the cricket circuit, where back sufferers can rarely find the right support for a whole day's sitting. We did not venture as far as the upper storey with it's steep angle, which might bring on vertigo for some of us, but those who did spoke favourably of the view from the top.

As far as the actual cricket was concerned it was somewhat slow going with Lyth and Fraine putting on a valuable open stand of 80 before Jack Brooks (who got a good welcome on his return) had Fraine caught by Bess (who will soon return on loan from Somerset to play for Yorkshire in the T20). It's hard to keep up with all this I know. Lyth soon followed for 45 and the new pairing of Ballance and Kohler-Cadmore got off to what could only be described as a turgid start. However they built the foundations of a total over 500 which proved to be a winning score of course.

As Ballance eventually approached his fifth century of the season my thoughts went back to a game I saw on this ground almost exactly ten years ago. It was a Yorkshire League Cup semi-final between the Yorkshire Academy and Sheffield Collegiate. The Academy's opening pair were two young teenagers Gary Ballance and Joe Root. Playing for Sheffield Collegiate were Joe Root's father Matt and younger brother Billy. The two precocious youngsters put on no less than 296 for the Academy's first wicket, with Ballance very much the dominant partner scoring 236 not out whereas Root made only 85!

Headingley scoreboard from 19.7.2009 following the fall of the first wicket.

Back to the present and during Saturday afternoon's play I absented myself for a while to take league cricket legend Reg Parker to watch his first cricket of the season at Adel. Reg has been very ill and spent five weeks in hospital, but is now well on the road to recovery and enjoyed his visit, and meeting several old friends, very much.

Sunday saw us off to Durham for day two of the the game with Worcestershire. As ever a much more pleasurable experience to visit Riverside than Headingley. No bag searches, no pass outs required, you can sit anywhere you want in the ground, everything just seems so much more relaxed. The two former Leicestershire men, Ben Raine and Ned Eckersley, whose signing John Winn expressed great pleasure about recently, did the job yet again. They rescued Durham from the depths of despair at 47-6 and put on a partnership of 115 to put the home side back in the game with a vengeance.

As we gave come to expect several times this season, Chris Rushworth  took a wicket in his first over.
A confident lbw appeal from the first ball of the innings was turned down by umpire Middlebrook, but the second ball to veteran Mitchell had him lbw without any doubt at all. After Harte clean bowled the stubborn Wessels early in his brief spell, wickets began to fall quite quickly and Worcester were bowled out for just 151 in reply to Durham's 212. Two days later it gave us great pleasure to see the video of Rushworth removing Morris's middle stump in style to bring Durham another victory.

Championship goes on hoilday leaving me cheerful.

posted by John Winn

Stoneman, Jennings, Borthwick, Burnham, Stokes, Collingwood, Clark, Poynter, Carse, Wood, Onions. This XI represented Durham in a match played in September 2016 against Surrey when on the last afternoon of the Riverside season Durham won a magnificent match by 21 runs with Stokes bowling his boots off to take 4 wickets. Two weeks later the ECB's hammer fell on Durham relegating them to Division 2 and deducting enough points  to make a return to Division 1 virtually impossible the following season. Since that September day Stoneman, Jennings, Borthwick, and Onions have been lured to other counties, Collingwood has retired, Poynter is kept out of the first team by the excellent Eckersley, Stokes and Wood are on England duty which leaves only Burnham, Clark and Carse as part of the team that just after four o'clock yesterday defeated Worcestershire by 109 runs. And I was there, only the second occasion in the last two seasons that I have been present when my native county hit the winning jackpot.

On Monday evening I was on the horns of a trilemma, go to Riverside to see what looked like a Durham win, go to Headingley for a possible Yorkshire victory over Somerset or join two friends in a trip to Queen's Park Chesterfield, never a bad idea at anytime. Blood being thicker than water, or possibly Brampton Ale, I opted for the first and so it was that my friend of nearing fifty years, Alan Pinkney and I took our seats at a sparsely populated ground to see if Durham could dismiss seven Pears' batsmen before close of play. As I have already revealed they were successful but not before we had seen enterprising innings from Barnard and Cox and a last wicket partnership lasting 54 minutes between D'Oliveira and Morris, finally broken when Rushworth bowled the latter to claim his sixth wicket and ten for the match taking him to 55 championship wickets for the campaign, second only to Harmer of Essex.

The 20 points Durham garnered from the game took them to fourth place in the table, just one point off a promotion spot. And all this after losing the first four games of the season since when they have gone undefeated in six, winning four. If there is ever to be a good time to borrow a fiver from me this might be it, but don't count on it.

During the day we became aware that the games at Headingley and Queen's Park had finished but I had spent time at the former on Sunday when Yorkshire laid the foundations for their stunning victory over Somerset which served to knock the West Country men off the top of the table where they have been replaced by Essex. I spent the afternoon session in the top tier of the new north stand from where there is a splendid view but I am aware that not everybody is comfortable sitting so far above Terra Firma. Good work by Brook and Maharaj saw Yorkshire past five hundred and Brook to his hundred before he was well caught on the boundary just below my seat in the crow's nest. That was my signal to join the World Cup bandwagon and I watched the last couple of hours in the company of friends at the house of a neighbour whose accent betrays her Kiwi sympathies. Thank you, Fiona and like your team you were magnanimous in defeat.

Apart from the Cheltenham Festival games there is no more championship cricket for over a month when a round of matches will provide respite from T20 but only briefly for the white ball returns until early September leaving the championship a clear run for the last three weeks. In the last round beginning on September 23rd Somerset v Essex looks a bit tasty.

Under 17s county championship gets underway.

Posted by Tony Hutton

Tuesday 9th July saw last year's Under 17 county champions Yorkshire start their 2019 campaign with a home three day game against Durham. Unusually, when most of the side's home matches are played at Leeds University's Weetwood ground, this game took place on the ground of Sheriff Hutton Bridge some miles north of York. It was drizzling with rain as we left Leeds and the outlook did not seem very good. However the further we travelled the drier it got and we did get a full day's play. On paper this year's Yorkshire side looks almost as good as last year's vintage. Certainly plenty of bowlers in the ranks and the slight doubt that the batting might not go a long way down was soon out of mind with an opening partnership of 160 between Finlay Bean and William Luxton.

Father Time weather vane brings memories of Sheriff Hutton Bridge at Lord's in 2005.

Bean, from York cricket club, scored a double century in this competition last season and was soon looking in good form again, being particularly strong on the leg side. He reached 50 from only 62 balls including seven fours. The hundred partnership soon arrived in the 23rd over with Bean on 60 and Luxton, content just to keep his end up, with 30. It was not until the introduction of the sixth bowler, leg spinner James Hindmarsh, that the first wicket fell. Bean tried to pull him onto the leg side but didn't quite go through with the shot and was easily caught for a very good innings of 88.

Finlay Bean pulls one away to the leg side.

Revis took some time to play himself in and the scoring rate dropped for a while until he was bowled by Pentland for 32. Luxton at this stage was 83 not out and put on a partnership of 32 with Ramkumar, who has done well this season with both Academy and county second eleven. Just before tea Ramkumar was out for 18, leaving Luxton on 96 not out with the total now 271-3.

Fortunately the interval did not disturb the young man from Bradford Grammar School and Steeton cricket club and he went to a well deserved century in just over four hours, showing great powers of concentration and knowing when to leave the ball wide of the wicket on a regular basis.

Will Luxton lets one go by outside the off stump.

Yorkshire batted on when play re-started on Wednesday morning. We were absent having a day out at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, but Yorkshire batted Durham out of the game with a fine fifty from Harry Duke and useful contributions from Archie Greaves, Harry Harding and James Mukherjee. Final total 442-7 declared after 116 overs. The Durham bowlers, all eight of them, stuck to their task well in what must have been a new experience to be in the field for so long.

Despite an innings of 44 from opener Jack Bushnell and 28 from number ten Jack Johnson Durham were bowled all out for 138 in their first innings and were asked to follow on. They lost four more wickets before the close of day two, meaning that we were not certain of too much play on our return for day three. Yorkshire had also used eight bowlers and the wickets were well shared between them with no one particularly outstanding.

Thanks to the tea ladies on the pavilion wall.

Fortunately in front of a rather sparse crowd on day three, Durham held out until about half an hour after lunch and made a respectable 197. They certainly did not throw in the towel and Yorkshire had to work hard for their wickets. Again they were well shared between the bowlers until Huddersfield's Archie Greaves finished things off in style with three quick wickets and figures of 3-38. Durham's top scorer was skipper Lucas Parry with 42, but Kelly, Hindmarsh, Marron and Oswell all made useful contributions.

Some good cricket from Yorkshire but they still have to face Cheshire, Derbyshire and the always strong Lancashire, who knocked up over 400 themselves yesterday against Derby, with two century makers. So greater challenges to come but a great start by the Yorkshire lads.

Cumberland at Netherfield

Posted by Tony Hutton

Sunday 7th July and off to Kendal to see the first day of Cumberland v Cambridgeshire at Netherfield cricket club. Always a pleasant spot to watch Minor Counties cricket with the banking at the Castle end of the ground giving an elevated view of proceedings. Parking somewhat restricted due to a junior game on the second ground during the morning and a Westmorland League division three game in the afternoon between Netherfield fourths and Windermere. So plenty of action to watch on both fronts during the day.

Cumberland fielded a rather unfamiliar side without such regulars as skipper Gary Pratt, Toby Bulcock, Sam Dutton, Marcus Stables and Sam Wood. Grateful as ever to Cumberland treasurer Eric Carter for giving me details of some of the players who were new to me.

The Netherfield pavilion at Kendal.

Cumberland batted first and seemed unfortunate to lose opener Mark Sempill to a caught behind decision for nought early in the proceedings. However Ross Zelem and Ben Davidson, from Carlisle, added fifty for the second wicket before Zelem was more clearly caught behind. The Cambridgeshire wicket keeper who took both catches, turned out to be Lee Thomason, the brother of
Aaron Thomason, who has recently left Warwickshire to join Sussex.

Another wicket fell quickly when Grey, from Northern CC at Crosby,  also departed for nought, but Greg Platten from Cockermouth, re-appearing for the county after a few years absence,  gave Davidson good support with a useful 26 before falling lbw to the perservering Rippington, the left arm opening bowler from Cambridge University. This made it 114-4, but the tide then turned back in the home side's favour with a 120 partnership between Davidson and Jacques du Toit, the Cumberland skipper in the absence of Gary Pratt.

Cumberland batting at Netherfield.

Du Toit the former Leicestershire county player, who joined Cumberland from Northumberland last season, soon set about the Cambridgeshire bowlers with a flurry of boundaries and the scoring rate improved considerably. He had almost caught up with Davidson, who was playing the sheet anchor role, when the introduction of off-spinner Calum Guest, yet another Cambridge University man, saw him caught and bowled for a fine 75.

When Davidson eventually went for 86, which had taken him almost four hours, Cumberland were
252-6 and the tail, apart from a quick fire 37 from Cockermouth's Alex Grainger, rather disintegrated against the spin of Guest and Rob Sayer, formerly with Leicestershire. Guest finished with 4-51 and might have been introduced sooner into the attack.

Rob Sayer bowling his off spin at Netherfield.

We were not present for the last two days of the match when the game petered out into a rain effected draw on Tuesday. However Cambridge replied with 229 all out of which Thomason made 104 not out. Gareth Wade, who has played for Northants, was the pick of the bowlers with 5-72. Cumberland then declared on 236-4 in their second innings, with a further century from Du Toit, and Cambridge were left with a target of 305 to win. With Cumberland looking set for victory after good bowling by Grey, Cambridge recovered from 97-6 to the relative safety of 173-6 when the game ended in a draw due to rain.

Watching cricket from The Cricketers'

posted by John Winn

Non cricketing business took me to Knaresborough on Saturday and I took the opportunity to drop in at the ground of Knaresborough Forest CC situated behind a pub which until recently was known as The Union but which is now called The Cricketers'. To celebrate what is obviously a step in the right direction I took a pint into the beer garden from where I had this view of the cricket. 

The match in progress was in Division Two of the Nidderdale League, the river flows just

a six hit from the ground, with KFCC hosting fairly near neighbours Boroughbridge and Staveley. Since I last visited this attractive ground the clubs have experienced varying fortunes. Knaresborough were relegated from Division One last season and are currently propping up Division Two while Boroughbridge since their merger with Staveley in 2015 have moved up in the world, gaining two promotions and are comfortably placed in their new home.

Forest were batting and after a promising opening stand lost wickets steadily to finish on 139 all out in a whisker over 30 overs. During the innings I moved closer to the pavilion where there was a knot of away supporters, mostly refugees from their second team match which had been cancelled when Middleham II conceded. After tea the game produced a good finish with B and S losing early wickets but knocks of 39 by Cameron Binns and 45 for Karl Young saw them home by two wickets. 

This is a picture of me with my neighbour Henry Taylor. Henry, aged 6 has had his first season with Ouseburn Under Sevens, a team that reached the semi final of a tournament two weeks ago. He is one of about 80 youngsters who attend Friday practice night at Lightmire Lane and two weeks ago Henry hit his first six. One for the future!

Back to basics. League cricket around the Humber Bridge.

Posted by Tony Hutton

Saturday 6th July saw us without our usual Yorkshire Academy game, as the youngsters I believe were in the middle of a net bowling stint at Headingley involving the various visiting teams in the World Cup. Good experience for the lads and hopefully they will have enjoyed it.

In the end I decided to turn the clock back a few years to the days when I would do a circuit of league cricket grounds not merely to tick them off, but to take photographs which enabled me to decide which were worth a further visit for a full match and those where one visit was perhaps enough.

Having studied the location of cricket grounds on Google Earth, which on it's own is quite a fascinating hobby, one that had stood out for many years on my most wanted list was the ground of Hessle cricket club near Hull. The attraction being that not only is it very close to the Humber Bridge, but actually borders the Humber Estuary with a local footpath along it's boundary.

I then picked out a few more in the vicinity and we set off towards Hull on the M62 motorway with a cunning plan in embryonic form only. A set of brief notes giving me guidance for navigation which can be a very taxing business, as I know only too well. However, all went according to plan and we found ourselves first at the pleasant ground of Welton and Brough two adjacent villages just off the dual carriageway heading into Hull. I knew from a blog some years ago now by Brian Sanderson that the club had connections with one of the greats of Yorkshire Cricket, Sir Stanley Jackson and in fact the ground is situated on Stanley Jackson Way.

There are several items of interesting memorabilia about Jackson in the modernised pavilion bar section, opened just two years ago. A nice patio area in front of the pavilion was a good spot to sit and watch the home side batting against visitors from Heworth in York. In recent seasons the York and District Senior League has swallowed up the various East Riding leagues and this game was in Division one, only below the Premier League in a set up of no less than twelve divisions in the pyramid.

We understand from a club member that the cricket club is growing rapidly, due in part to several  housing developments in the area, with large numbers of youngsters turning up for practice on Friday evenings. They are actively looking for land for a second ground to accommodate this influx of players. So a very progressive club and an excellent start to our mini-tour. Later in the evening the website confirmed a winning draw for Welton, who were all out for 177 and Heworth in reply finished on 154-9.

On to the next village, North Ferriby, made famous by the local soccer side, which for several years was one of the most successful non-league sides in the country, they even won the F.A. Trophy at Wembley. However they have recently fallen on hard times and the club went into liquidation only a few months ago. There is hope that it will be resurrected with a new club taking over the attractive ground, which is right next door to our next stop at the village cricket ground.

North Ferriby cricket club.

North Ferriby cricket club were entertaining Newlands in Holderness Division three, some way down the York Senior league pyramid. The ground was another very pleasant spot overlooked by the village church and surrounded by trees. The visitors were batting and piling up what proved to be a considerable winning score of 288-7. The home side certainly looked the part in their bright red caps, but were having trouble dislodging the earlier batsmen although we did see two wickets fall in one over. As we learned later North Ferriby were bowled out for 143.

Plenty of shade for the fieldsman at North Ferriby.

Next stop, after some very intricate navigation, brought us down almost to the Humber foreshore beyond the mighty bridge to the home of Hessle cricket club. This turned out to be a large open field, used also by the local rugby union club but certainly in a unique location with wonderful views of the Humber Bridge. What soon became obvious was that the visitors Walkington were piling up a huge score against Hessle Seconds in Holderness Division four. We had arrived with the score on 220-2 with runs coming, mostly in boundaries, thick and fast.

Cricket under the shadow of the Humber bridge.

View of Hessle cricket ground from Jean's Walk on the Humber bank.

Runs just kept on coming, in front of one man and his dog in the distance.

Soon afterwards Walkington's opening batsman Chris Cook was caught out for a magnificent score of 155 with the total on 233-3. He had hit thirty fours and one six in only 105 balls. This was quite an innings whatever the strength of the opposition. The runs continued to flow and the final total at the end of the allotted 45 overs was an impressive 319-3. Number four batsman Alastair Wardle also made 53 not out in very quick time. What makes Cook's innings more impressive was that he had made a duck on his last appearance two week's ago! Today the home side were bowled out for 98.

Another boundary on it's way.

Some research on the Walkington club produced some interesting facts. The club was founded in 1874 but only in 2012 were they able to field two sides. The first team won the league that season and have finished in the top two for the next five years. They too, like Welton, have a flourishing youth section.

Walkington bring up the three hundred.

We lingered for a while on the Humber foreshore with time for an ice cream and to take a few more photographs for the Landscapes of Yorkshire Facebook site. Then it was time to head north to Cottingham where the home side were taking on Patrington, probably the furthest east cricket club in Yorkshire, in Holderness Division two. This visit was a bit of a disappointment where the New Hill Top Club proved to be a multi sport complex covering large playing areas and a rather dated pavilion facility. Patrington had batted first and finished on 200-7 and the home side were already beginning to lose wickets during our short stay, before finally being dismissed for 95.

 Cottingham cricket club.

So overall an excellent day with four new grounds visited and quite a lot of photographs taken. Still a lot to cover in this part of the world and high on the list next time around will be Patrington, whose ground, overlooked by a lovely church, I have seen only out of season.


(As ever click on the photos to enlarge them).

Are Yorkshire papering over the cracks?

Posted by Tony Hutton

Many thanks first of all to John Winn for his observations on events at both Sedbergh and Scarborough last week. We spent all four days at Scarborough, not entirely at the cricket as the call of both the splendid Spa Orchestra and the Stephen Joseph Theatre at times provided better fare. I try not to be over critical of the Headingley management team but recent events do persuade me that some comments should be made.

The Yorkshire cricketing press do seem to toe the line somewhat, as if they do not want to upset the men in control. For instance the continued signing of short term reinforcements appears to meet with general approval, whereas I find it totally alien to Yorkshire's ethos and tradition. I pointed out on the first day that the South African flag was flying proudly at North Marine Road in the absence of both the Yorkshire and Surrey flags. This was remedied on day two when the Yorkshire flag and the Surrey championship pennant both appeared.

The South African flag flies high at Scarborough.

However I found it very hard to stomach the general enthusiasm created by two South African bowlers leading the attack in tandem for much of the time. Lip service is paid to the development of the county's home grown talent, but too many bowlers in particular have been left to stagnate in the second eleven for far too long and end up going on loan to other counties.

The short term fix has not worked very well in the past and when repeated over and over can do little for team spirit and even less for the hopes and aspirations of the current crop of Academy players. A recent management statement suggested that Yorkshire have no experienced spinner. I would suggest they never will until such time as Logan is played on a regular basis to get experience.

Spectators enjoy the sun as Yorkshire are in the runs on day one.

There are other questions to be answered such as the signing on three year contracts of two rejects from other counties who hardly seem to have strengthened the squad at all, despite their obvious keenness to succeed. I could go on but will try and restrain myself to praise some aspects of what was after all a wonderful four day cricket match played in perfect weather. The most notable success was Will Fraine, not only for his century and the way he played international bowlers like Morkel and Curran, but for his short leg fielding.

Ben Coad's two wickets just before lunch on the final day really turned the match against a side which appeared to bat all the way down. This of course was in addition to his splendid performance with the bat earlier in the day which you felt might have taken the Surrey target just a little too far - as of course it did in the end.

Possibly Mr Winn and friends to the right of the pavilion.

In some respects Surrey shot themselves in the foot on the final day, firstly by sending in Ryan Patel at number four when the run chase was well under way. He could hardly put bat on ball, not my comment but from several Surrey supporters. Then he compounded his slow scoring by running out the main man - Dean Elgar.

Bilal Anjam fielding sub for Yorkshire.

One further minor point - when substitute fielders are on the field they should be announced over the public address. At one stage both Anjam and Birkhead were fielding for Yorkshire and very few of the assembled throng knew who they were.

Whatever my complaints, it was still a great game of cricket at a venue which grows in popularity and is well celebrated in John Fuller's new book 'Last of the Summer Wickets' which I was lucky to obtain when he had almost sold out on Monday lunchtime. I specially enjoyed the story of Ken Rutherford's 300 in a day for New Zealand which I saw back in 1986.

There have been several references during the week to the great 'Yorkshire Post' cricket correspondent of the distant past J.M. Kilburn and his famous description of the old Scarborough Festival as 'Cricket on holiday'. One can only imagine his comments, and those of an equally eminent League cricket correspondent, Peter Snape, on two South Africans bowling for Yorkshire with another West Indian now on the way.