Up in the hills

 By Brian Sanderson

One of the great pleasures of watching cricket is going to meet

friends at a remote cricket ground.

Yesterday afternoon , I went to see David Thorpe at Stones.

Stones  cricket ground is situated about two miles above Rippondon

near Halifax in the hills with few houses about.

The weather as normal in this ground cloudy and windy.The match

was a Halifax Cricket League Sunday League Division 3 ,

Sones against Golcar.This is Golcar first season in the Sunday 

League.

Golcar team consisted mainly of young players as young as 

thirteen whilst Stones were more mature.

Stones batted first on a damp wicket and even damper outfield.

Stones opening bat Matthew Amer batted a number of over to 

equal top score with 25 out of a total of 103.Golcar best bowler 

was a very young Max Turner taking four wickets for five runs

in 5.3 overs.

I retreat to my car at the interval to get warm and listen to

the one day test match at Old Trafford . The match was on

B.B.C for the first time in eleven  years.

When Golcar innings started they were soon in trouble 

at 28 for 9. Only a last wicket partnership between 

Jack Moorhouse and captain Michael Smith enabled

Golcar to get to 80 runs in 19 overs.

It was a horrible thought that the cricket season will soon finish

and I seem to have lost a cricket season .

Cold Day Roberts Park

 By Brian Sanderson

I had agreed to meet John Fuller at Saltaire who were playing

 Burley in the Airedale and Wharfedale first division.

I was worried if the match would start after the rain over

the last few days.However as we walked down to the

ground we saw the umpires coming out of the pavilion

which was good news in this truncated season.

Burley won the toss and decided to bowl on this

damp wicket .Saltaire were put into to bat and soon 

were losing wickets.It was good to see David Cooper

the Burley coach who  was sitting near the pavilion to 

try get away from a cold wind making it to seem

like November rather than August.It was great to see him 

again. 

Burley left arm bowler Harry Barrow was the main  wicket

taker with six for thirty four in twelve overs.The Saltaire

batsman just decided to attack the bowling on this difficult 

pitch so were bowled out for 74 runs in twenty three overs.

Burley were soon seven for two but Sam Fox batted through

to score 38 not out to enable Burley to win by seven wickets

in 19.4 overs.The teams had to go off for a few overs because

of the rain but they were soon back on.

It was great to come back home to but the fire on .Looking

forward to some sunshine tomorrow.

Break in the clouds on a very wet Saturday

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Saturday 22nd August started wet and got wetter as lunchtime approached. However we optimistically drove through heavy rain and set off in the direction of York hoping to find Yorkshire Premier League North action with several games scheduled in and around the City. We had planned to see cricket at Stamford Bridge, a regular calling point for Yorkshire second eleven games over many years, but no longer it seems. The scheduled game was very much a local derby against neighbours Dunnington. Contrary to the website, the game had started at 12 noon as opposed to the advertised 1 p.m., but the players had already left the field after seven overs due to the persistent rain. With the dressing rooms out of bounds they sheltered under quite smart gazebos pitched outside the pavilion.

With little hope of a prompt re-start the league website indicated delays at both York and Acomb, but suggested that the game at Sheriff Hutton Bridge with Harrogate was still up and running. So off we went and arrived at the Moor Farm ground to find the game continuing in bright sunshine in front of quite a gathering of spectators, no doubt in search of the one local game in progress.

Harrogate, after their first win of the season last week, had won the toss and put the home side into bat. They had started well, with a new pair of opening bowlers in Robert Horbury and Ashley Griffin claiming a wicket each to dismiss both openers with the score on 14-2. Horbury got a second wicket to dismiss Tommy Hudson, but skipper Adam Fisher and brother Mark, as so often, got the Bridge out of trouble with a partnership of 78.

Sheriff Hutton Bridge.

Mark Fisher was caught and bowled by spinner Henry Thompson for 43, but Robert Stevens supported his skipper well with 35 at a run a ball. When Adam Fisher was caught for 73 Stevens and Freddie Collins took the score beyond the 200 mark with some ease and the final total was 216-5 from the forty overs.

Black clouds had circled the ground, but only one short stoppage delayed progress briefly as Harrogate got of to a good start, despite losing consistent opener Thompson to an lbw decision he seemed none to happy about. Allinson and Kempley took the score to 60, looking confident, but Kempley was caught behind for twenty and Allinson was run out for what proved to be the top score of 35. As so often the middle order fell rapidly and only some late hitting from Griffin brought the total to some sort of respectability with 167 all out in the final over.

Black clouds surround the ground, but play continues.

The wickets were shared around with Collins taking three and overseas player Nadeem Shefta two. Amazingly after the heavy rain we had driven through in the morning and which seemed to have substantially reduced overs in other nearby games a full eighty overs had been bowled which proved to be a real bonus.

Whixley cricket club.

Our cross country journey home took us past a regular stamping ground of fellow blogger John Winn and we stopped for a few minutes to visit the tidy ground of Nidderdale League side Whixley. The game was between Whixley second eleven and Pannal Ash in league division seven no less. Although Whixley are top of the league they apparently lost this one.

North/South divide grows wider

 Posted by Tony Hutton

The great North/South divide in cricketing circles may have widened somewhat again this week following an article in the Yorkshire Post by cricket correspondent Chris Waters, which criticised the temporary re-naming of the county championship as the Bob Willis Trophy. His reason for doing so was that the former England bowler and Sky Sports pundit had been over critical in the past of several Yorkshire cricketers.

I must admit that, while being a great admirer of Bob Willis in his role as an England bowler and being present at Headingley on his greatest day in 1981, I did feel that some of Chris Water's comments were valid and needed saying. In particular because Willis was an outspoken critic of county championship cricket for many years and started a campaign, along with Atherton and others, for it to be drastically reduced. To re-name the competition after one of it's greatest critics does seem rather ironic.

However, to be fair, perhaps some of Mr Water's comments were somewhat over the top, as it could be said that many of Bob's criticisms on Sky were not confined to Yorkshire players alone and presumably were encouraged by his employers to be controversial.

Today sees a passionate response from Bob Willis' brother David in the Yorkshire Post sports letters, which normally churn out the same old stuff every week. David quite obviously leaps to his brother's defence, but he too perhaps protests too much suggesting that Mr Waters is a thin skinned Yorkshireman. The sports editor kindly points out that Mr Waters is not a Yorkshireman. I understand he was born in Nottinghamshire and brought up in Lincolnshire.

That is all rather bye the bye. One could perhaps say we should not speak ill of the dead, but although understanding David Willis' natural reaction, if his brother took the view modern day cricketers could all be subjected to abuse he should expect something in return.

All this is rather sad, more to the point we should be reading Paul Edward's excellent article on the Cricketer website about the future of county championship cricket and the hope that it returns in it's full form next season with all eighteen counties still flying the flag. Members of Yorkshire and Durham like myself want to have visits to Lord's, Cheltenham, Canterbury, Worcester and Hove etc etc rather than be stuck with local derbies for evermore.

Cricket's hidden agenda

Posted by Tony Hutton

Not surprisingly the current pandemic has already exaggerated that well known symptom of the professional cricket watcher - 'Cricket's hidden agenda'. Trawling the internet, often in vain, in search of obscure mid week cricket fixtures, of which there are plenty if you know where to look, can become almost a full time occupation.

The play-cricket sites of clubs and in particular county boards can often come up with the most surprising results. However, all too frequently intriguing matches are often listed without any sign of a venue. This is particularly relevant to county age group fixtures which can be anything between under 10s and over 70s. Enquiring e-mails often go unanswered and low and behold sometimes scorecards appear after the event just to show you what you have missed.

However word of mouth can often be far better than modern technology, as we discovered this week after visiting a league game at Harrogate cricket club on Saturday. A chance conversation revealed that there would be county cricket veterans games on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, with hints of Yorkshire's Womens team playing Scotland early in September. 

As it turned out Yorkshire over 60s played Lancashire over 60s on Tuesday and to our great surprise Yorkshire over 70s played Cheshire over 70s on Thursday. We have seen some very good cricket in recent seasons in both over fifties and over sixties cricket and there is usually excellent website coverage of the scores, particularly the over sixties. However since the abandonment of this season's county championships there has been little news of any of the many friendlies that have been arranged.

Tuesday's game produced a win for the visiting Lancastrians, who scored 155-3 in their 40 overs, thanks in the main to Mike Davies of Edgeworth with an excellent 85 not out. Yorkshire fell some twenty odd runs short. However, the game was marred somewhat by one of the umpires literally taking his bat, or at least his white coat home. After several complaints from the umpire to the two scorers regarding the figures on the electronic scoreboard, he came across the ground to harangue the unfortunate pair who were obviously not familiar with the equipment at the ground. He said that any more problems and he would go home and abandon the match.

Next over he was as good as his word and took himself off leaving the players on the field mystified. Fortunately a volunteer from the few spectators took his place and all proceeded quite amicably thereafter. Not quite the spirit of cricket at all.

Veterans enjoy cricket in the sun at Harrogate.

Thursday's game had no such problems and the senior citizens put on a good exhibition in the sunshine in front of their family members and a mere handful of curious spectators. Considerable banter between the players obviously good friends from previous encounters in their younger days. Scoring was relatively slow, with few boundaries on this large field. Although it did get going a bit with the advent of a runner when one batsman got hit on the leg by a throw and proceeded to hit out. Miles Rawlings, from the local Harrogate club, provided the backbone of the innings with a stubborn 20 and we unfortunately had to leave for another engagement with the score on 78-4 after 32 of the 40 overs.

No news or scores of either game on the internet so will have to wait until our next visit to Harrogate for the result. However a very enjoyable occasion with the fastest over rate seen so far this season and very few wides of which there has been an awful lot in recent weeks. 

Yorkshire veterans enjoying the action at Harrogate.

The hidden agenda was again in evidence on Thursday evening when the penultimate round of Headingley evening league matches took place. New Rover entertaining Horsforth Hall Park, who are title contenders along with Rawdon. Despite full scorecards for most games all season, this one was missing, but at least we saw the exciting finish with Hall Park getting a single off the very last ball to win by four wickets.

Last glimpse of evening sunshine at New Rover.

Yet another team all in black as the evenings draw in and things get darker towards the end. New Rover made 145-8 with two wickets falling from the last two balls of the innings, but by not being all out deprived Hall Park of the full six points. The Hall Park innings was soon up with the required rate with an eventful seventh over, which included the following sequence. Batsman well caught on the boundary off a no ball, the next ball a free hit clean bowled him so not out, the next one went for six and the next really did bowl him. After a flurry of sixes things slowed down and it was touch and go at the end with the field in and a scampered single brought Hall Park four points for an incomplete win.

Not too far away Rawdon managed a full six points by bowling out Cookridge in their last over after bravely declaring their innings on 172-2 in only the fifteenth over. So the standings are Rawdon 26 points, Hall Park 24 points and Adel third on 22. Last round next Thursday and guess what - Hall Park entertain Rawdon in what should be a very close contest for the league title.

 

MCC's annual match with the Nidderdale League

 Posted by Tony Hutton

The annual match between a Nidderdale League eleven and MCC has become a regular feature on the cricketing calendar since 1994 which was the centenary of the league's foundation. The first match was played at Dacre Banks on 6th September 1994 and I was fortunate to be in attendance. A strong MCC side made 191-7 in 55 overs with Andrew Fordham, then of Northants, playing one of the requisite matches required to become an MCC playing member. He top scored with 79 and obviously impressed on his way up the ladder to become part of the ECB hierarchy. The President's League XI were struggling in reply on 88-6 in 35 overs when rain ended play for the day. Phil Carrick was the best bowler for MCC with 3-17. An excellent dinner at Ripley Castle followed the game and I believe has become a regular feature over the years.

The socially distanced MCC team at Studley Royal.

The fixture is moved around every year and usually takes place on a different league ground, although in 2018 season they received the accolade of playing the game at the Nursery Ground at Lord's, which may have had some connection with the ongoing hospitality at Ripley Castle. This year the game was played at the ground of Studley Royal cricket club just outside the City of Ripon at the very spacious ground which I think I am right in saying opened back in 1997. Prior to that the club played a little further up the road on a ground still used by the Third eleven on the Studley Royal Estate, adjacent to Fountain's Abbey.

Studley Royal's cordoned off pavilion.

So on Monday 17th August, with the pavilion cordoned off and social distancing the rule of the day, the game started thirty minutes late after morning rain on the basis of forty overs per side, with as usual MCC batting first.Toby Drummond, an MCC regular for many years now, contributed fifty runs in fine style, sharing an opening partnership of 55 with David Cummings. Harry Stothard, captain of Harrogate, came in at number three but after his century on Saturday fell for only one run and MCC were 85-3 after 23 overs.

MCC get things moving.

Skipper Ryan Bradshaw then added some impetus to the innings with a fine fifty, which included five fours and two sixes. There was little other support and the innings rather fell away somewhat ending on 161-8. Best bowlers by some margin were Masham's Craig Broadley with figures of  8-1-16-4 and Darley's spinner Rob Nelson with 8-0-19-3.

First innings scoreboard.

After the tea interval for those who had remembered to bring their own refreshments, the league eleven set off in pursuit of a not too challenging target. However they came unstuck early on when opening bowler Groundwater took two early wickets and despite a valiant 36 from Whixley opening Jack Whitham, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as the spin of Ahmed, Jarvis and Stothard destroyed the middle order. Broadley again did well with a defiant 33 not out but the game ended with the last ball of the penultimate over and a final total of 138 all out. 

A splendid day's cricket in excellent surroundings complete with a large oak tree well inside the boundary and a corn field at one end with distant views of the countryside. We can look forward to a continuation of this grand tradition in hopefully a full season of cricket next year. Thanks are due to Ryan Bradshaw for providing the team picture and full scorecard of the match.

Sessay much too strong in local derby.

posted by John Winn

For the first time this season my cricket watching took me across the River Ure to a ground from which I have reported quite often in recent years, namely that of Sessay CC. 

Sessay were relegated from Yorkshire Premier North last season and are now in Division One North of the reorganised York and District League. Saturday's opponents, Thirsk CC were promoted in remarkable circumstances for when needing to take a wicket with the last ball of the season they were successful and thus pipped Ripon to promotion. There are little more than five miles between these two communities, a local derby indeed. 

When I arrived on a cold and at times showery afternoon play was underway and Sessay who had been invited to bat had lost an early wicket but from that point carnage ensued, carnage in the form of a second wicket partnership between Matt Till and Joe Watson which added little short of two hundred with no bowler able to stem the flow of boundaries. Till was first to go for 107 leaving Watson to go on to make his century as the runs, aided by 40 in wides, mounted up to reach 365 for 6. A demoralising total off 40 overs. 

Thirsk needed a good start but got quite the opposite losing two wickets with only four on the board, one of those a run out. From 16 for 4 something of a recovery was mounted by Mark Cook and Dan Magee who brought up the fifty but this was as good as it got and Thirsk were all out for 94, a deficit of 271 runs. This crushing win took Sessay to the top of the table with their run rate. keeping them clear of Knaresborough, Easingwold and Malton with all four teams on 16 points. Life is proving hard for Thirsk in this elevated company and their one point saves from bottom place which is held by Pannal. The latter entertain, if that is the right word,  Sessay this Saturday. Gulp.

Visiting Emmerdale

 By Brian Sanderson

This afternoon I went to visit Richard Griffiths,the Hampshire

memorabilia collector at Esholt which is were the orginial

Emmerdale series was shot.

Their second team were playing Ben Rhydding first team.

Next season they are transfering to the Nidderdale League.

The above photograpgh is of the old pavilion and the new 

one has a excellent bar and tables outside.

The home side batted first and were soon losing wickets 

against steady bowling .The number eleven batsman was

Mick Scott who opens the bowling for the Yorkshire

over sixties side.Today he scored 10 out of a score of 111

in the fifty overs.

It was never going to be enough and they lost by 4 wickets.

One of the umpires was Tony Bowry who has done a lot 

of work for Yorkshire Cricket Board.

Moving on back towards Leeds I called in tho Green Lane

who were playing Beckwithshaw first team who were batting.

At one stage they were 112 for 8 but with the help of an 

excellent innings by C.Irvine who scored 48 not out, they

managed to reach 196.

As I was leaving it started to rain heavily and it was cold.

Last week it was too hot now it was too cold. Great to be

in Yorkshire in the summer of 2020.

Yorkshire under 15s beat Durham

 Posted by Tony Hutton

The recently unveiled memorial (mentioned by Brian Sanderson last week)  to the late Dan Woods, former captain of York cricket club, who also played for Leeds/Bradford University and Cheshire Minor Counties.

Wednesday 12th August was a very hot day at Clifton Park, York where the under 15s of Yorkshire took on their counterparts from Durham in a 45 overs per side contest. Durham batted and soon lost the wicket of skipper Ben McKinney, caught behind by Isaac Light, already a Harrogate first teamer, off the bowling of left arm seamer Leo Diffey. His opening partner Hamish Barrie hung around for the first hour, but had only scored eight runs from a total of 50-2 when he was caught off change bowler Hashim Wajid.

We then had a fifty partnership between Ross Whitfield, from Sacriston, and Henry Hopkins before the latter was smartly stumped by Light off the bowling of spinner Caleb Bradford. This brought Mitchell Killeen to the wicket and together with Whitfield put on a century partnership. Whitfield went to an impressive century before being caught off left arm spinner Tate Miller just before Killeen reached his fifty.

Whitfield, without the helmet, celebrates his century.

Durham finished their innings on 244-6 after Killeen was bowled for 65 and this seemed a challenging total for the home side. Nobody really stood out among the seven Yorkshire bowlers used and unfortunately the two opening bowlers were a bit too erratic with a good number of wides between them.

The players kit litters the boundary line as dressing rooms still not in use at York.

One of the features of this match was how tall many of these fifteen year olds are. However, there was one notable exception when the Durham wicket keeper appeared. Much smaller than everyone else on the field my enquiries discovered that Louis Anderson is still only thirteen years old, fourteen very soon, and plays for Sacriston as does century maker Whitfield.

Nice straight bat from Whitfield.

Yorkshire also lost an early wicket when Matthew Hood was out for six, but skipper Noah Kelly from Driffield, a left hander, soon settled down to play a very composed innings. The second wicket fell at 63, but after that Joe Barker joined his captain in a partnership of 178 which virtually settled the result. 

Sadly no qualified umpires available and the duties were shared between the various coaches.

All the Durham bowlers (eight of them) suffered in the afternoon heat as did the batsmen in their helmets. Regular drinks breaks were the order of the day and although Kelly (81) and Barker (75) were out just before the end, Yorkshire coasted home with nine overs to spare and won by five wickets.

On Thursday night at Church Lane, Adel the home side went to the top of the Headingley Evening league with a last ball victory over previous leaders Rawdon, who were bowled out for 121 in the last over. Adel's reply, after a slow start, was built around opener Tom Harrison who saw them home with 64 not out. Adel have only one more game to play whereas the chasers in Rawdon and Horsforth Hall Park have two games to go including a game between the two which could decide matters.

Spellbinding book from Steve Bindman

Posted by Tony Hutton

A long awaited cricket book with a difference landed on the doormat this week. As I well know it has been many years in the planning and had become a real labour of love in search of a publisher. In the end it has provided an excellent addition to the Association of Cricket Statisticians admirable series 'Lives of Cricket'. 

The book is entitled 'Schooled in Cricket, The Johnny Lawrence story' and is written by Steve Bindman. Even at his somewhat advanced age he stills turns up at the most obscure cricket matches of Yorkshire, dressed in his whites with full kit, ready to step in to play whenever a team is one man short or to act as a permanent twelfth man. His rather modest career record is published at length in the play-cricket archive going back to the year 2001 and makes fascinating reading.

The author, Steve Bindman, ready for action Boxing Day, 2015 at North Leeds cricket club.

However to return to the subject of the book, for those who do not remember him, Johnny Lawrence was a Yorkshireman, who like so many lost the best years of his cricket playing career during the Second World War. He was a leg spin bowler and useful batsman, who became a proficient Somerset county cricketer and subsequently an itinerant league cricket professional for various clubs in his native county, taking wickets by the shed load wherever he went.

I first saw him play during a family holiday to Somerset way back in 1952. Somerset were playing Lancashire at Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare and Johnny was caught Berry bowled Tattersall for a duck. However a few days later against Hampshire at Taunton I saw him bowling nearly all day when his analysis read 42-10-97-4, in partnership with Horace Hazell, the left arm spinner who bowled nearly as many overs. Those were the days when spin bowling ruled the roost.

He was a regular performer in the long running annual Boxing Day charity fixture organised by the Northern Cricket Society in Leeds. He missed only three matches between its inception in 1948 and his last match thirty years later. Here is a picture of him padding up beside the Christmas tree in 1966.

His other claim to fame was running an indoor cricket school at Rothwell near Leeds, which eventually moved to Tadcaster and is still in business run by one of his sons. Most publicity surrounds the time spent there in the winter months by one Sir Geoffrey Boycott, but the list of county players and league cricketers who graduated with honours is substantial.

Steve has researched his subject in great depth, spending endless hours finding details of Johnny's league careers in local newspaper archives and talking to almost everyone who knew him or played with him or was coached by him. He is to be congratulated on a most interesting story of a devout Christian, who would not play on Sundays and would not allow any raffles to contribute towards his well earned benefit at Somerset. Family life and off field activities are also well chronicled and I would strongly recommend this excellent book to all cricket enthusiasts.

One final point of interest is that anyone who has read or has a copy of Duncan Hamilton's most recent book 'One Long and Beautiful Summer' should turn to page 52 where you will find that the anonymous spectator at York, with whom he has an interesting conversation, is without any shadow of a doubt none other than our friend and now author, Mr Steve Bindman.

Remembrance Weekend

 By Brian Sanderson

I arrived early on Saturday to see the unveiling of the iron sculpture of Dan Woods who recently died at a young age. He had been captain of York for a number of years andhad helped to establish it into a strongest club in the county .Also he captained Cheshire for a number of seasons.

There was a forty over match against Acomb.

The present York captain Duncan Snell was clean bowled after two balls for a duck which was not a  good start. It was left up to Nick James to help York to get to a total of 186.  James top scored with 43. against  a steady bowling attack

.

At the break  I wondered over to the next field where Clifton Alliance Seconds were playing Carlton Towers first team. There again the home team struggled to 143 and  Carlton Towers won by nine wickets.

Walking another few yards York third team were playing Sheriff

 Hutton Bridge where again the home side lost by eight wickets

.

Going back to the main match Acomb openers established a good

opening stand establishing a winning score with a few balls to  spare

On Sunday I went to see a son of a best friend Alan Swaby who died a few years ago but he is still in my memories. Alan and I played over twenty five years for Yorkshire Bank in the Bradford League .We also watched Rugby League  all over the world during the winter months .I will always remember Great Britain's victories in Australia even though there were only two. The rugby was on the television at Headingley with no spectators. A crazy world we live in. I think that is a old song.by Joe Brown.

Trip to Masham

 By Brian Sanderson

Looking at the weather forecast, I took a gamble to visit one of my 

favourite cricket grounds Masham. It is very unusual to be able to 

see cricket during the week. The match was Yorkshire over 60's

against Durham over 60's. On the way there were spots of rain 

but arriving at the beautiful ground the sun was shining. 

There was a good crowd of family members of the players

and Yorkshire batted first.

Setting up the chairs in the shade we were will able to watch

a gentle match of cricket .The wicket was a good batting 

wicket and the ground was very hard. Yorkshire scored 171

in very warm temperatures but when we heard Yorkshire

had beaten Nottingham it made  my day however I would 

have loved to been a at Trent Bridge.

At at the break I had a chance to talk to Adrian Grayson

of Bedale fame and father of Grayson brothers..He was in 

good form and it was great to see him.

We watched three Durham wickets fall very quickly and

set off back to Headingly in a happy mood.On the radio it was Warwickshire v Gloucestershire, Tim  Bresnan batting for Warwick with Josh Shaw on the bowling side, both

ex Yorkshire players. On this theme it was good to see

Jack Leaning being involved in a record stand for Kent.

Jack Leaning in Yorkshire colours.

Aldborough at The Double

 posted by John Winn

About 70 years ago I saw cricket at Ingleton in County Durham when, towards the end of his career, my father played there for Haughton CC and twenty years later I was part of a Cockerton CC team that was bowled out for 34 on the same ground. At some point  ICC crossed the road to a new ground at Nursery End where Tony saw them in 2008 when they lost to East Cowton. Not long after this the club folded and the ground was neglected for best part of a decade until, with assistance from the Ingleton Parish Council, previously Bishop Auckland based outfit King James CC took up residency .Moles and moss having been controlled King James began playing there in 2019 and on Saturday I joined a small crowd watching them entertaining visitors Haughton II

When I arrived Haughton were batting and making good progress with some lusty hitting including a six into the adjacent barley. I got into conversation with a Haughton stalwart, 94 year old Albert who had preferred to travel to watch the seconds rather than first team action back in Darlington. I stayed for about an hour which included a long delay for a lost ball by which time Haughton had made 70 without loss and I was very surprised to see on the club website yesterday that the innings had concluded after 30 overs at 141 for 9 and even more surprised that King James had won by 9 wickets. No further details available. 

Ingleton, County Durham 

From Ingleton it is but a short drive to one of the most attractive grounds in this or any other area namely Cliffe Park on the Cliffe Estate near Piercebridge, a journey which involves crossing the River Tees back into North Yorkshire. For me the pedigree of this ground is the same as for Ingleton, I recall my dad playing there and personally being on the wrong end of a pasting in a cup game there in 1968. Cliffe II were at home to local rivals Aldborough St John II who were batting and thanks to 101 not out by opener Martyn Cox, next highest scorer extras with 29, 19 of which came in wides they reached 180 for 4.This proved enough but only just as Cliffe came within six runs of that total, top score Ian Hanmer with 44. 

Cliffe Park

The grounds of the two teams involved at Cliffe are less than three miles apart and the first teams were involved at Low Green, Aldborough St John, another very attractive ground where a good sized crowd had gathered. I arrived just as Cliffe were beginning their reply to Aldborough's 117. Tight bowling ramped up the tension as Cliffe could not get above two an over and things became a little frayed when a catch, which from my vantage point clearly did not carry to first slip, was turned down after consultation between the umpires. Cliffe fell 40 short and two run outs suggests things got a bit desperate against some very accurate bowling. Honours to Dan Smith who only conceded six runs in his seven overs.

Aldborough St. John

On my way home I dropped in at Lightmire Lane where Ouseburn II were taking on Thornton le Moor in a Nidderdale league Division Four game. Chasing 178 OCC after a disastrous start were 70 for 2 and with 'unsure' making 55 and receiving good support from the Jenkins brothers  father and son combination, John and Jonty Moorhouse saw them home by four wickets with five balls to spare. The result leaves them second to Markington in the table.  

Weekend in Harrogate

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Two days of cricket at St George's Road, Harrogate provided the entertainment last weekend. Starting on Saturday with the Yorkshire Premier League North game between Harrogate and Woodhouse Grange on the main ground and a Nidderdale League first division game between Harrogate thirds and Kirk Deighton on the junior ground.

Woodhouse Grange, a club situated almost in the middle of nowhere, was set up originally during the 1940s for the benefit of local farmworkers literally in a farmer's field. The nearest village is Sutton on Derwent and the nearest town is Pocklington. Over the years the ground has developed into two playing areas back to back with excellent facilities and the club now has a very thriving junior section.

They have a wonderful record in the National Village Cup between 1995 and 2015, having won the trophy at Lord's on four occasions and been runners up three times. They have lost one of their long serving batsmen Andrew Bilton who has moved to Dunnington this season, but are captained by his brother Chris, who proved to be the backbone of the batting almost single handed on Saturday.

Woodhouse Grange at Lord's 2015.

The Grange won the toss and batted and were in some trouble at 42-3. Gamble was caught at square leg by Allinson off Parker and then Abdi-Hasan Ahmed struck twice in two balls, having Young brilliantly caught one handed by Topham and then removing Henry Wilson's off stump first ball. Some improvement this from the Harrogate pace bowlers this season, where they are missing Tom Geeson-Brown who has apparently moved from Leeds Rhinos to Norwich City as sports nutritionist.

Chris Bilton took control of the innings, despite a middle order collapse when the spinners came on, and Woodhouse Grove struggled to 94-6. Tom Neal (14) then helped his skipper put on a valuable fifty runs for the seventh wicket and Josh Jackson assisted in another thirty stand. The Grange ended on 179-7 with Bilton narrowly missing out on his century on 94 not out. Second highest scorer, with several wides going for four, was extras with 38.

Harrogate started reasonably well in reply, until young Harry Allinson was bowled neck and crop by Tom Neal for 15. The batsman's disgust was very evident as he banged his bat on the ground and then as he neared the pavilion threw each item of equipment angrily to the ground. No need for that and time he grew up a bit. The experienced Henry Thompson stayed around, much as Bilton had done, and top scored with an excellent 70. The middle order just disintegrated against the spin of Josh Jackson who ended with 5-58, including four lbws. Thompson almost carried his bat, but was last man out and Harrogate's very young side were all out for 148 and lost by 31 runs.

Harrogate junior ground.

On the neighbouring junior field Harrogate thirds bowled out Kirk Deighton for 172 and knocked of the runs in fine style in only 28 overs to win by eight wickets. Skipper Robert Stanworth scoring a century off only 74 balls, which included twenty fours on this smallish ground where no sixes are permitted.

Sunday brought an action reply of last week's womens' double header between Yorkshire Women and the newly founded Northern Warriors from Durham and Northumberland. An even bigger crowd than last week with cars completely ringing the ground, many of course belonging to the two squads of players. Everyone enjoyed another splendid day in the sun and enjoyed the facilities of the balcony bar and barbecue later in the day organised by the new catering management team.

Yorkshire Women batting at Harrogate.

The first of the day's two T20 games went to Yorkshire, who won both games last weekend. A total of 142-4 with 42 from Heath and 64 not out from skipper Hollie Armitage proved too much for the visitors who could make only 70-8. Phoebe Graham, grand daughter of former Bradford League legend Peter Graham, was the star bowler with three wickets.

What counts as a full house on the popular side at Harrogate.

In the second game Yorkshire juggled their squad and batting order which seemed to help the Warriors gain their first ever victory. The visitors batted well with Jones 37 and Tipton 29 top scoring, but still only managed a below par score of 112-7. Trying to give everyone a bat backfired for Yorkshire who lost wickets at regular intervals, three of them to Robson and two brilliant run outs. One was a direct hit by Helen Fenby and another a very long accurate throw from the boundary edge by Lizzie Scott. In addition two excellent catches by Campbell from powerful shots into the covers brought about victory by just nine runs for the Warriors.

High summer at Harrogate.

One must say however that Yorkshire's running between wickets was the main reason for their downfall. Darlow made a valuable 38 but most of these came in singles. If the players had run the first one hard and put pressure on the fielders they could have turned ones into twos. Perhaps they should watch a video of Root and Bairstow batting together to show how it can be done.

A day out for families at Harrogate.

However only a minor criticism as womens' cricket generally has come a long way in recent seasons and most of the fielding today was exceptional.

Turned out nice again - eventually

 Posted by Tony Hutton

For the professional cricket watchers of this world, starved of their staple daily diet of cricket as they are, the search for obscure fixtures taking place where they can is another full time job. Trawling the internet can be a soul destroying job but just occasionally it can come up trumps. Yesterday revealed an unlikely game at Knaresborough Forest cricket club against the local branch of the Forty Club, an admirable organisation which provides middle aged cricketers with a whole host of midweek fixtures against clubs and schools (when such things are in operation).

The stage was set at Knaresborough Forest.

Promptly at 1.30 p.m. we were in position at this attractive ground in a bowl of what appears to have been an old quarry to the rear of the Cricketers Pub, which provides an ideal vantage point to watch the cricket from an elevated position behind the bowler's arm in it's beer garden. The players were in position, all in whites (another blessing) and all seemed well with the world. Unfortunately the feeling of well being all too soon ended abruptly. At the end of the first over loud music blared out from speakers in front of the pavilion and continued at regular intervals every time a boundary was scored or a wicket taken as well as between overs!

Calcutt Oval, Knaresborough

Knaresborough Forest Pavilion

Whose brilliant idea was this! One can only surmise it was not the choice of the visiting Forty Club members. Certainly not to the liking of local residents, beer drinkers in the pub garden or the handful of spectators. Probably only the person whose idea it was thought it of any benefit to the proceedings. It will not surprise regular readers to know that twenty minutes or so of this was enough and off we went.

View from the beer garden at Knaresborough Forest.

This was rather a shame as we later discovered, thanks to the play-cricket scorecard, that the home side made 200-6 in 40 overs and the visitors 162-9, which in olden times would have been regarded as a draw but today probably a victory by 38 runs. The odd point about this was that a a very well known batsman in local club cricket circles, one Geoffrey Barker, came in at number eleven for the Forty Club to make top score of 29 not out. Very strange, except he protected his long career average by notching up yet another not out!

Later in the day it was again the turn of the Headingley Evening League where New Rover were taking on St Chads in yet another of the interminable local derbies in the area of north Leeds. Plenty of room for social distancing, for the minority of people who take any notice of this, but again not ideal for old fashioned cricket watchers as St Chads turn out in yellow shirts, one of only two or three teams in this league who bother with such sad customs.

The yellows batting, but not for long.

However, as George Formby used to say it did eventually all turn out nice again. New Rover's opening bat Adam Patel provided exceptional entertainment, with the first century of this shortened season which we have witnessed. His innings was peppered with a whole series of enormous sixes into neighbouring fields and one which must have almost reached the adjacent Leeds Ring Road. He was finally out for 107 as the home side's total reached over 200 for the loss of only four wickets.

Runs a plenty in the New Rover innings.

Another huge six from Adam Patel at New Rover.

Nice to see New Rover take the field all in white when St. Chads two men in yellow started their response. Sadly the visitors had no response to the daunting target and were all out for 89 in 15.1 overs.Only three batsmen reached double figures with the difficult name of number five, Tom Erxleben, not a typing error, top scoring with 35. All seven New Rover bowlers got at least one wicket so you could say a good team performance. However, no doubt whatsoever about the man of the match, centurion Adam Patel who made the whole day memorable after rather a bad start. Turned out nice again after all.

Applause for Adam Patel as the centurion leaves the field.

Female cricketers emerge from lockdown

Posted by Tony Hutton

Sunday 2nd August saw our first women's cricket of the season when Yorkshire Women took on a new side the Northern Warriors, created from the counties of Durham and Northumberland, at St George's Road, Harrogate. The format, which seems to have become the norm, was two T20 games, the first of which got underway at 10.30 a.m. With the current regulations being strictly observed car parking was at something of a premium, with presumably all twenty two players plus coaches etc travelling in their own vehicles. This added to the quite frequent comment of 'more cars than people' evident at several sporting events.

Harrogate have new ground sponsors this season.

Good to see Yorkshire's county team back in action after being swallowed up by various national competitions, with players appearing from far and wide. Particularly pleasing to see Hollie Armitage, Yorkshire's very own talisman back in good form, after severe injury problems, with a splendid fifty in the first match total of 138-4. The Warriors never really challenged against some experienced bowlers like Langston, Thompson and Levick and only an innings of 29 from Ami Campbell stood out. A final total of 94-8 gave Yorkshire a comfortable victory by 44 runs.

League cricket at Harrogate last weekend.

The second game in the afternoon, after a short rain break, was a much closer affair. The Warriors batted first this time and a fine 49 from Layla Tipton and 21 not out from Jones helped them to a competitive total of 112-4. This time Yorkshire were made to work hard for their runs and an innings of 35 from North held them together and led to a last over victory by five wickets. Only one qualified umpire was available, who had the unfortunate job of doing both ends and must have ended up  with aching arms as he had to signal what appeared to be a world record of wide balls! However a good day's entertainment which will be repeated again next Sunday, 9th August, when the same two teams will do battle again with a 10.30 start at the same venue.