Boxing Day cricket

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Unfortunately I do not possess an oversize loft which Mike Latham seems to own for his vast store of sporting memorabilia. However I did come across a small volume which produced some memorable photographs of Boxing Day cricket played by the Northern Cricket Society each year without fail since 1949, until the current pandemic brought a halt this year. This is the Northern Cricket Society booklet for 1996 of which I was the editor. I was indebted to one of the Society's founder members and long time Patron, the late Len Horton, for his vast collection of photographs.

The cover picture is from a match played at Alwoodley cricket club, Leeds during the 1960s with three of the participants, Brian Close, Brian Stott and Geoff Carter waiting for the groundsman to sweep the snow off the wicket. This game apparently also features in an article in this month's Cricketer Magazine, which has not yet reached me, presumably stuck somewhere in the Christmas post. The Cricketer has now appeared but the article about Boxing Day cricket has not. Apparently it is only available on the Cricketer website.

The first game played soon after the founding of the Northern Cricket Society was played at Collingham cricket club on Boxing Day 1949. Here are two pictures taken on that day which show the two captains tossing up and the opening batsmen taking the field in front of an enthusiastic female audience.

Maurice Leyland had by this time retired from first class cricket but was still a much revered figure for his pre-war performances for Yorkshire and England.

The early games then did the rounds of various cricket clubs in the Leeds area which included Whitkirk, Bramhope, Thorp Arch and Alwoodley, before settling on what has become a permanent home of North Leeds cricket club close to Roundhay Park. This club has hosted the annual charity match every year since 1973 and has always provided a much needed warm welcome to players and spectators whatever the weather.

The next picture shows the Northern Cricket Society's team in 1950 in a match played at Whitkirk, with the larger than life figure of  wicket keeper Arthur Wood, of Yorkshire and England, captaining the team. 

Johnny Lawrence of Somerset is seen far right. He became a regular for many years and that tradition has been kept up by his son Stephen to the present day.

The following year, 1951, the game was played at Bramhope and this picture shows Arthur Wood along with Bob Appleyard, of Yorkshire and England, who was an umpire. Appleyard had just completed his wonderful season in which he took 200 wickets and was soon afterwards stricken with tuberculosis.

Arthur Wood and Bob Appleyard.

In the 1959 game the two umpires began an essential tradition of taking what became known as the 'Courvoisier Sip' from their hip flasks both before and during the game.

In 1960 the weather was not that bad and the picture of Society regular for many years Roger Turner batting at Alwoodley clearly shows shadows from the wintry sunshine.

However the weather changed for the worse in 1961 when the game was moved to Thorp Arch, not far from Wetherby where the racing had been called off due to the heavy frost. A report at the time said that the muscle men of Rugby League and the supertax prima donnas of soccer took one look at their grounds and called off matches by the dozen. At the ground of Thorp Arch and Boston Spa cricket club the players simply lit a fire under the heavy roller to free it from its ice-trap and got on with the game.

The temperature was said to be ten degrees below zero, three sweaters essential and coke braziers placed at strategic points round the boundary. Unfortunately the official scorecard seller got too near to one of them and started sending out smoke signals. It was reported that 'we solemnly buried the charred remains of his overcoat'.

A whole collection of first class cricketers turned out that day including skipper Ronnie Burnet, Brian Close, Johnny Lawrence, Duncan Fearnley, Geoff Keith (Somerset), Stan Metcalfe (Oxford University) and Freddie Millett (captain of Cheshire). Don Wilson and Geoff Boycott guested for the village side. The home side totalled 189-10 in this twelve a side match and the Northern's star-studded side set off in hot pursuit. The hundred was up in 43 minutes with Close and Keith hitting everything out of sight. Then wickets began to fall, fourteen required off the last over, two more wickets fell, last man in, overthrows, a mighty smite brilliantly stopped and the villagers had edged home to a famous victory.

1962 also at Thorp Arch, with Brian Close batting and Don Wilson and Brian Bolus in the field.

The tradition of county players appearing in the game continued into the 1970s as Ian Chappell, former chief executive of the Yorkshire Cricket Board and long serving North Leeds official detailed in an article bringing things up to date to the 1990s. The first game at North Leeds in 1973 included Geoff Cope and Chris Old of Yorkshire and Mike Page of Derbyshire. Set 150 to win the home side won with six off the last ball by Ian Foster, who repeated the trick the following year with another last ball six.

So the story continues without a break throughout the years. Peter Chadwick and Peter Kippax, giants of league cricket were outstanding for many years. Kevin Sharp turned up and scored a century in 1977. In 1981 the game even made the front page of the Daily Telegraph when three feet of snow had called off virtually every other sporting event in the country. The non-turf pitch was brushed clear  with a minimal run up and a most competitive match took place. Steve Lawrence, son of the early years pioneer Johnny Lawrence, wrote his name in the record books with centuries in 1989 and 1992.

So the games have continued without a break, whatever the weather, until this year. Always a great social occasion for the local cricket community and an opportunity to meet up with friends you would not normally see outside the cricket season. It has never become joke cricket and is always played properly with fierce rivalry between the two teams.

However we can end with a light hearted combined team picture from the snowbound year of 2009.

Fingers crossed that this great tradition will be restored again on Boxing Day 2021.