Two weeks of ground hopping.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Apart from my recent report from Richmond, the last two weeks have been filled by a sort of tour of the north of England, re-visiting some of my favourite cricket grounds and also ticking off one or two new ones. If we start back on Wednesday 15th June our local ground at Weetwood, Leeds saw Leeds University beat Cardiff Met. University in the semi-final of the University trophy. This is the second tier competition with Leeds/Bradford U.C.C.E. having already reached the top tier final.

Cricket at the Leeds University ground, Weetwood.

A week later Leeds/Bradford rather easily beat Loughborough University in their final at Kibworth, Leicestershire and the following day Leeds Beckett beat Leeds University in the trophy final at the same ground. Which all goes to show the strength of University cricket in the city of Leeds.

Thursday 16th June brought us to Kirkstall Educational cricket club, a favourite haunt for many years, just round the corner from the Headingley cricket ground. The Yorkshire Cricket College were taking on the north eastern branch of the Forty Club, who produced two centurions on the day in Imran Patel and Kevin Owens. The College put up a good fight finishing on 254-9 just 35 runs short. Only a handful of spectators on a hot, sunny day and, as ever, good to see top groundsman and club chairman Dave Hodgson.

The Forty Club batting at ' The Field of Dreams', Kirkstall.

The weekend brought a return to my old ground-hopping days, this time around the North Yorkshire coastal area. Starting off at Grosmont, once of the defunct Esk Valley League (now only an evening league) and currently in the Scarborough Beckett League. A pleasant spot in this busy village on the North Yorkshire Moors Steam Railway.

Grosmont batting at home to Ravenscar.

Then across towards the coast to Ravenscar, a high cliff top ground with distant views of Robin Hood's Bay. A second team match in progress with much time spent looking for lost balls in the surrounding long grass, but some enterprising batting from the visitors Forge Valley. 

Ravenscar, where the vegetation is not ideal for finding cricket balls.

Further down the coast to Scarborough Rugby club, whose cricket section appear to be the poor relations, with no pavilion or other facilities in comparison to the substantial premises of the rugby club next door. Here the main attraction was the distant view of Scarborough Castle. Visitors Flamborough claimed a rather easy victory.

Scarborough Rugby club (cricket section).

On the other side of Scarborough we found the attractive ground of Folkton and Flixton, who are past winners of the Village Trophy at Lord's. A fine pavilion and well kept ground, under the shadow of the Yorkshire Wolds, saw a high scoring encounter between the village seconds and Bridlington seconds. The home side's run chase got off to a remarkably speedy start, but unfortunately petered out.

Flixton and Folkton chasing runs against Bridlington.

We missed out on games at Scalby and Muston due to visiting sides having conceded, presumably unable to raise a team. Apparently, this ever increasing problem, brings a deduction of sixteen points in the Scarborough Beckett League. On to Filey cricket club on the coast, but sadly not an attractive ground. My previous visit here for a benefit game was shrouded in sea mist and little was seen of the action.

Filey cricket club pavilion.

Sunday 19th June saw us much nearer home at the pleasant ground of Bradford and Bingley cricket club of the Bradford League. The game was a Heavy Woollen Cup quarter final between the home side and New Farnley, league leaders with a wealth of talented players, many with first class experience. The visitors won, thanks to a century from Dan Hodgson, a former Yorkshire seconds player, but not before the youngsters in the Bingley tail put up stout resistance led by Jack Luxton, younger brother of Yorkshire's Will.

Bradford and Bingley's Wagon Lane ground.

Then on to Richmond, as already reported, before two more local games at Weetwood where the Northern Diamonds Women's side was surprisingly beaten by the boys from Yorkshire cricket college with the help of a century from G. Fisher from the Doncaster Town club. Then a brief visit to Woodhouse Grove School who managed to draw their annual game with M.C.C.

Woodhouse Grove School. The sight screens highlight the slope.

We then travelled to the Lake District for some league cricket on Saturday 25th June. First Keswick v Haverigg in the Cumbria League at Fitz Park, a lovely ground in a public park alongside the river and overlooked by the massive Skiddaw mountain. Another longstanding favourite ground, beautiful when the sun shines as it did that day, together with a century from Sri Lankan professional Risith Upamal.

Fitz Park, Keswick.

 Then just up the road for a brief visit to Threlkeld cricket club, certainly an all time favourite, with the unbelievable view of Blencathra in the background. Sadly Threlkeld of the Eden Valley League were all out for 95, losing to Lanercost by nine wickets.

The wonderful view at Threlkeld.

The following day Cumbria were due to play Northumberland in the National Counties Trophy for a place in the semi-finals. Sadly the rain, so prevalent in this area, returned for the day and it was soon obvious no play would be possible. However, we were happy to meet up in the pavilion with old friends with long connections with the Cumbria (formerly Cumberland) County Club, in Eric Carter and Gilbert Johnstone. Gilbert, despite his recent illness, was in full flow as usual and it was great to catch up with him again.

Gilbert Johnstone.

The day before the rains came to Keswick.

We headed back to Yorkshire and were soon out of the rain belt, back into the sunshine, and stopped off at the Olicanian ground in Ilkley where the Sunday third eleven league of the Aire/Wharfe competition was in full flow. We were delighted to visit the brand new pavilion, opened this season after the tragic fire which destroyed the old one. Yet another century this time from the home side's Louis Anderson with a flurry of sixes against Alwoodley.

Olicanian cricket club Ilkley, with brand new pavilion.

Next day we completed full circle, back to Richmond for yet another Durham seconds game this time against Kent. Would you believe it, yet another century, this time from South African David Bedingham, trying to regain his form after rather a difficult spell. We only saw the first day this time, but apparently the game was abandoned after a much shortened day three, with no play on the final day at all. However Bedingham's century took our total for the month of June to fifteen, so eat your heart out Mike Latham (another man who keeps a list of all the centuries he sees).

Delighted to see two Durham second eleven games at Richmond.

Obviously Yorkshire seconds game at Nottingham this week has hit the headlines with an amazing innings by Finlay Bean of York cricket club, making a record breaking second eleven score of 441 in a record total of 814-7. Quite an achievement for a young man who seemed to have been written off by the county not long ago.

Finlay Bean with his overnight score on Wednesday.

One final note, wishing fellow blogger John Winn a speedy recovery from his recent operation, which I understand went well. Hoping to see him back to cricket watching very soon.

Memories of Root and Bairstow 2009 - Jennifer Ellison

Posted by Jennifer Ellison

Bairstow and Root at Headingley yesterday.

Kevin Sharp, now Head of Player and Coaches Development at Worcestershire, yesterday jogged my memories from way back in 2009, by tweeting the scorecard from a game between Leicestershire second eleven and Yorkshire second eleven at Oakham Town cricket ground. This sets the scene for yesterday's dramatic partnership between Joe Root and Jonathan Bairstow to win the Test Match at Headingley. Kevin of course was a major influence in the development of both players at Yorkshire. Here is the second innings scorecard he posted - 

I was there, together with my late husband John, along with another couple from Yorkshire and Joe Root's grandad Don, among a mere handful of spectators. As you can see Leicestershire had a first innings lead of 140 runs. When the Yorkshire first innings ninth wicket fell at 181, 15 more runs were required to save the follow on, and the last pair of Finch and Ashraf saved the day with a partnership of 25. Leicester then made 261 in their second innings and set Yorkshire the daunting target of 402 to win on the final day. Yorkshire started badly and lost three wickets for 44 during the first hour. 19 year old Bairstow and 18 year old Root then took control.

Bairstow takes the applause at the tea interval at Oakham.

Bairstow led the way and by tea the score was on 294-3.  Both players passed the century mark, then made short work of the remaining 100 or so runs after tea and Yorkshire won the game by seven wickets with an hour of play to spare. Bairstow just reached his double century shortly before the end of the game. In the process the pair had added an unbroken partnership of 358 which was then the highest for any wicket in the Second Eleven Championship. In addition the second innings total of 402 was the highest ever recorded in the competition.

Here is the rather flimsy scorecard which records the two teams, but did not have sufficient space to fill in all the details.

A truly memorable occasion which will always be remembered. How good it was to see these two great players grow up with the Yorkshire Academy and Second Eleven to become the major Test stars they are today. Such a shame that now we so very rarely see them in County Championship action for the county which developed them.

Wigan earn a share of the pie

By Mike Latham

The Liverpool & District Competition still operates on a time cricket basis and the recent Premier League game I attended was a great advert for this format.

All too often league cricket can be too stereotyped with its fielding circles and bowlers’ restrictions and in many games leg-side wides comprise a significant contribution to the batting total.

The Liverpool Comp has six-and-a-quarter’s playing time, including a last hour where a minimum of 20 overs must be bowled.

Other than that there are no restrictions, though bonus points are limited to the first 55 overs of the first innings, requiring the batting team to reach 220 to gain maximum points. And bowling teams lose points for not reaching 17 overs per hour.

The Wigan-Birkenhead Park game was a classic of its type and kept the interest to the last ball.

Sunshine on a rainy day at Wigan as Park build their innings

Park, newly promoted but in the bottom two despite having a strong team on paper, batted first on a blustery day. The threatening clouds all but by-passed the Bull Hey ground, leaving just 15 minutes or so lost to rain.

Park’s opening batter Michael Barnes compiled an excellent 112, adding 137 for the third wicket with his captain, Tom Foster, who made 52.

Pakistan pro Ahmad Safi Abdullah weighed with an aggressive half century leaving Foster with the dilemma of when to declare after his side passed the magic 220-mark.

In the end he called a halt with his side 267 for 7 after 54 overs against a Wigan bowling attack that tried manfully but which lacked the services of three regulars.

Given Wigan’s coal-mining roots, the Bull Hey ground is dominated on the town side by the old mining college which used to be attended by mining students from all over the world. Nowadays this historic building is part of Wigan & Leigh College.

Wigan captain Charles Taylor took 3/51 with his left arm spin and was to feature significantly in the second half of the game after tea, remaining on the field throughout.

Foster’s declaration looked on the conservative side to some observers but Wigan have a powerful batting line up and bat deep into the order. Moreover, with ex New Zealand Test bat Aaron Redmond in prime form, they can be a tough proposition.

Birkenhead Park’s Ahmad Safi Abdullah

Left arm spinners feature large in the Comp’s bowling averages and Park have two of the best in their pro and Ashraf Nawab,

But the Wigan captain, a left-hander, never really looked in trouble and gave a most accomplished batting display to lead his side’s reply.

Abdullah made early inroads and at 62-4 and 102-5 Wigan’s best hope seemed to be to close out for a draw with Taylor leading the defiance. Redmond failed for once, caught in the close field for a first ball duck, much to Park’s jubilation.

But the middle order Wigan batters gave much needed support to their captain and never seemed to give up on the chase.

Adnan Miakhel, a highly promising Afghanistan born all-rounder Wigan recruited from Euxton, hit 22 in quick time. Jordan Hampson (33) and wicketkeeper Patrick Howley (23) maintained the momentum while Taylor closed in on a century.

Only when Howley was out did Wigan give up the chase and Taylor had to marshal the tail to earn a draw.

Charles Taylor celebrates his hundred and

survives an lbw appeal off the final ball

He finished undefeated on 103 and saw out a tense final over from Abdullah in the gloaming, surviving a concerted lbw shout off the final ball. He has now scored 302 league runs in his last three games without being dismissed.

Wigan ended 232/9 and a fascinating game ended in a draw.

The Comp rules heavily favour the win and runaway leaders Wallasey, who now hold a commanding 58-point lead at the top after playing 10 of 22 games, again picked up maximum 25pts after beating Southport & Birkdale.

With no points for a draw, both sides earned a share of the pie, as Park picked up nine points and their hosts eight from this gripping encounter.

The distinctive ‘WCC’ marking on the grass banking at Bull Hey

The Comp at the top level is as competitive as ever this season with Formby, despite an enviable array of batting talent, currently bottom after failing to bowl sides out. Park is second bottom but is one of four sides separated by only six points.

2021 champions Northern are second, Ormskirk third with Borough rivals Wigan and Leigh tied in fourth place.

Foster banked on getting 50 overs in at Wigan when he declared and, in the end, got 49. On another day that extra over might just have made the difference. But he can take comfort that his side look more than capable of maintaining their hard-won Premier Division status if they carry on this vein.

Wigan’s town centre Bull Hey ground is a lovely place to watch cricket and this was another rewarding afternoon’s cricket watching in this most fascinating of leagues.

Big hitting at Goose Green

By Mike Latham

The Southport and District Amateur Cricket League is one of the lesser-known leagues but provides an excellent standard of competition for recreational cricketers in West Lancashire.

The league was formed in 1898 and currently operates three divisions, its member clubs spread over a wide area from Southport down the coast past Liverpool to Birkenhead on the Wirral and inland to Wigan.

The Premier Division in theory feeds into the Liverpool and District Competition but recently the champions have not taken up the promotion, and so the Liverpool Comp currently operates with 35 member clubs, and its third tier is one club short.

I took in part of the Premier Division game between Goose Green and Birkenhead St Mary’s and was rewarded with a run-soaked game of high drama.

Goose Green CC

Goose Green CC are a relatively new club, formed in 1984 and have developed a beautiful compact ground on the site of the old Pony Dick Colliery in the Winstanley area of Wigan.

The colliery was so named after the favourite white pony of Squire Bankes of Winstanley Hall, who owned all the land in the area including the colliery.

Approached through a modern housing estate, the ground opens below and is a small but beautifully maintained cricketing arena surrounded by woodland.

Goodness knows how many cricket balls are lost during a season, as on the evidence of this game the toll must be considerable.

Big hitting in the Birkenhead St Mary’s innings

Usually 45 over contests, this league game was shortened to 40 overs per side by rain, and the visitors set about the home bowling. Their innings closed on 257 for 6 with Mike Bowe undefeated on 143.

Goose Green lost five early wickets in reply, but the middle order pair of Adam and Josh Ward set about fashioning an astonishing revival. The former, who doubles up as captain and wicketkeeper, hit an undefeated 111, the latter 62 and Goose Green earned a famous victory by two wickets with nine balls to spare.

There are some beautiful grounds to explore in this league, which has 22 member clubs.

Winstanley Park CC

Winstanley Park, for instance play in the grounds of Winstanley Hall, Whitefield (Roby) in a woodland flower park.

There are some modern grounds with impressive pavilions and facilities such as Skelmersdale, Haydock, and Burscough while Birkenhead St Mary’s ground is located within the beautiful Birkenhead Park.

Mossley Hill CC

Village grounds such as Halsall, Hesketh Bank and Dalton compared to inner city locations such as Aigburth and Mossley Hill in Liverpool.

One of the biggest grounds is as Prescot & Odyssey where Merseyside Commonwealth Conference CC groundshare using the second pitch.

The league has an informative Play Cricket website and many of the day’s matches are covered by live scoring, so if you are in the area, I’d recommend calling in to watch a game or two.

Cheshire Lines CC

Cheshire Lines CC, who play in the Allerton area of Liverpool currently top the Premier Division with Earlestown leading the Second Division, with the season reaching its halfway point next weekend.

Like many leagues the Southport League has faced challenges in recent years losing some member clubs to the Liverpool Comp or Palace Shield and seeing Newburgh and Moorfield (Widnes) sadly fold.

Looking back at the Lancashire Cricket Annual of 1970, from 52 years ago, the Southport League had 22 member clubs and of these five remain members- Burscough, Halsall, Hesketh Bank, New Victoria, and Skelmersdale.

Lots of comings and goings at Richmondshire.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Having greeted the return of four day second eleven championship matches with a visit to Richmondshire cricket club in North Yorkshire, for a Durham seconds home game against Yorkshire, we were able to enjoy two very hot days in this ancient market town. After our departure the game took a few surprising turns with six Yorkshire players leaving the action, for either first team duty or for duties as substitute fielders or net bowlers at the Test Match at Headingley. Several Durham players also left the scene presumably due to a T20 game at Blackpool later today. Many of the players will have been puzzled by the strange contours of the ground with a steep slope and many undulations at the pavilion end.

The game has just reached it's conclusion by mid afternoon on the fourth day, with Yorkshire victorious by the narrow margin of four wickets and some uncertainty whether they had any more batsman left despite the importation of several substitutes. More of all this later but perhaps better to begin at the beginning of the game.

Richmond Castle in the background as play gets underway.

Durham batted first on Monday morning opening with skipper George Drissell, a recent import from the West Country and Ben McKinney, a promising 17 year old from Sunderland. This pair put on 71 for the first wicket before McKinney was caught behind by Harry Duke off George Hill (two players not required in first team T20). McKinney made a useful 35, including eight fours, and looks a useful prospect. Drissell went on to make 60 and there were also good contributions from Bushnell and wicket keeper Macintosh.

Spectators and their dog enjoy the sunshine.

However the battery of five Yorkshire seam bowlers did well in the hot conditions and chipped away until Durham were all out for 269 in 70 overs. One new face among the bowlers was Biswick Kapala from Whitley Hall one of several South Yorkshire teams he has played for. The only spinner on show was left armer Harry Sullivan who went for several sixes into the road on the short straight boundary. He stuck to his task well with good figures of 2-42 from fifteen overs.

The short, straight boundary was a tempting target.

When Yorkshire batted Wharton and Hill put on a century partnership, only for Hill to be dismissed from the final ball of day one for a well made 64. They managed to cope well with the opening attack of first team seamers Rushworth and Salisbury, again not playing in the current Vitality Blast for Durham. Number three for Yorkshire was another newcomer, Andrew Umeed who is Scottish born and has played representative cricket for Scotland and had a brief career with Warwickshire, during which he scored the second slowest hundred in Championship history. On Tuesday he played a sensible innings making a careful 62 in two and a quarter hours.

View of the Richmondshire C.C. pavilion.

The scoreboard took some deciphering at times.

Without doubt the performance of the day was from Will Luxton, who we have seen score centuries for the under 17s and the Academy in the past. He now matched this with his first second eleven century hitting fifteen fours and one six. In fact he was caught on the boundary with his six, but the fielder just stepped over the rope. A grand innings and hopefully the first of many for Yorkshire. Luxton was helped with a partnership of 141 with Harry Duke, who made his highest second eleven score of 82. At the end of day two Yorkshire were in command with a score of 464-9.

Will Luxton reaches his century.

On day three, after our departure, Yorkshire were all out for 481 and players began to go elsewhere and were replaced by others. The original newcomer, Kapala, took three wickets at the start of the Durham second innings. However Durham managed to bat on into day four, thanks mainly to a fine innings from Luke Doneathy who fell just short of his century on the fourth day. Even so Durham's all out 321 set Yorkshire a victory target of 109 and they had something of a struggle getting there, but eventually managed it by four wickets.

Some of the comings and goings involved Wharton taking over the Yorkshire captaincy from Hill, then being replaced by a Durham player J. Oswell, who batted in the second innings for Yorkshire. J. Priestley then took the place of Harry Duke (presumably Josh Priestley from Pudsey St Lawrence). Umeed took over as the third Yorkshire captain of the match. Other newcomers were Harry Allinson and Isaac Light (wicket keeper) both from Harrogate CC. Light scored 34 to help Yorkshire to victory. A bowler from Lancashire Ed Moulton also appeared for Yorkshire and Drissell and Bushnell left the Durham ranks presumably on first team duty to be replaced by Oliver Gibson and Academy player Joe Defty. All very confusing for the spectators and not least the two scorers.

Durham get things wrong at the Riverside

 Posted by Tony Hutton

The current round of County Championship games, sandwiched as they are in between the current plethora of T20 cricket, produced some fascinating results. A majority of the games were won by the teams batting last, one obvious exception being Nottinghamshire's innings victory over Leicestershire. So in most cases a close contest with both teams well in contention until the last afternoon.

Sadly the game where it all went wrong was the one at Riverside, where we spent the first three days watching Durham play Worcestershire. Durham did not seem to have learned from the recent game at Worcester where the home side batted throughout the last day losing only one wicket in a drawn match, after Ben Stokes' remarkable innings earlier in the game. The home side's tactics in batting on, and on, during day two here were hard to fathom.

Durham of course were weakened by the absence of Lees, Potts and Stokes all on England duty, as well as missing their prolific scorer Sean Dickson through injury. Keegan Petersen, the South African batsman has returned home and several second team players were also injured, which meant that Durham engaged the services of New Zealand batsman Ravi Ravindra. He is a member of the touring squad but apparently not in the reckoning for Test Match selection. In addition they brought in home grown product Jonathan Bushnell for his first class debut, after scoring well in the second eleven.

Worcestershire were also without two regulars in opening bat Ed Pollock and all rounder Joe Leach. They also gave a first team debut to Lancastrian opening bat Taylor Cornall who has done well with the seconds since joining from Leeds/Bradford University. Durham won the toss and batted. After Jones was caught behind early on the rest of day one was dominated by a partnership between Ravindra and skipper Borthwick. The New Zealander, a left hander, looked in confident mood and Borthwick, after a slow start, soon got in on the act.

Borthwick and Ravindra, not out at lunch.

The pair added 230 for the second wicket at over four an over against the four man seam attack of Morris, Gibbon (from Cheshire), Pennington and Barnard. The bowling completed by slow left armer Baker later in the day. Ravindra went to his century in mid afternoon and Borthwick looked likely to follow him until he unwisely attempted to sweep Baker on 96 and fell lbw. The distraught batsman left the field with bat clutched in front of his face realising he had missed out on a century once again.

Ravindra reaches his century.

Bedingham, who has been out of sorts, did not stay long and Bushnell came in with the score on 271-3. He played himself in cautiously but by the end of the day he had not only completed his half century, and added a century partnership with Ravindra who was 178 not out by the close when Durham  were 375-3.  Unfortunately Bushnell was out for 66 soon after the score had passed the 400 mark on Monday morning. However Ravindra passed the 200 mark before being caught behind off the persevering Gibbon, who also quickly disposed of Eckersley and Trevaskis.

The distraught Borthwick leaves the stage for 96.

So with the score on 429-7, some members of the rather thin crowd, braving the strong westerly breeze and overhead cloud, thought that the declaration might come at 450. Not so, surely 500 would be enough, not so. The two new batsmen Ben Raine and Paul Coughlin took full advantage of the obviously disheartened Worcestershire side. They matched each other run for run, completing their fifties, then both passing their previous best first class scores (Raine 82, Coughlin 90) the total by now well past 600 and still no sign of a declaration.

The scoreboard tells the story.

Two happy batsmen, Coughlin and Raine both with maiden centuries.

Both men completed their maiden first class centuries in the same over to well deserved celebrations, closely followed by the long delayed declaration on 642-7 at the tea interval on day two. In the process the two batsman had created a new eight wicket partnership record for Durham of 213.  Four of the unhappy Worcestershire bowlers had passed the century mark and Morris was only three short. One can only question Borthwick's tactics in batting the visitors out of the game, obviously in the hope of being able to bowl them out twice.

Paul Coughlin celebrates.

Initially, when Rushworth produced a trademark dismissal of debutant Cornall with the second ball of the Worcestershire innings, by removing one of his stumps, this distant prospect looked a possibility. However Libby, Azhar Ali and the in form Haynes showed determination to take Worcester to 140-3 at the end of the second day. Day three produced better weather, with the strong winds having dropped, but not much hope for the home side when Haynes making 68, followed by an almost 200 partnership between Worcester's stubborn captain Brett D'Oliveira and Ed Barnard, put all thoughts of an easy victory out of the window.

D'Oliviera, like his opposition captain, was visibly annoyed when given out lbw on exactly one hundred, but he had done his job well taking his side beyond 400. Barnard remained 116 not out at the close, by which time we were on our way home, quite pleased we had not decided to stay for day four. 

This enabled us to listen to Test Match Special on the car radio to take in Jonny Bairstow's remarkable innings at Trent Bridge which saw England to an amazing victory over New Zealand.

For the record on day four Worcester batted on to make 550 all out and Durham batted a second time to make 102 for no wicket by ten to five when they declared. Match drawn. I assume even less people were there on the last day and hopefully Borthwick, and presumably his coaching staff, may have learned the lesson that the game should be played to win not just for a draw.

A day at Trent Bridge

By Nickolas Spachis

(Nick Spachis is a very welcome guest writer to the blog. He has been an outstanding member of the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation's Reminiscing series on Zoom during lockdown and beyond, with a great sense of humour and a real enthusiasm for cricket at all levels.)   

Eighteen years ago, as part of a birthday present, I visited Trent Bridge on Sunday, to watch England v New Zealand. At the time it was the best day of cricket watching by a mile. I drove to Nottingham, and parked at the prepaid car park, without having paid for a ticket. The steward took pity on me and let me through without paying. The car was dwarfed next to the Bentleys and Range Rovers of those higher up on the food chain.

The Radcliffe Road End at Trent Bridge

Walked to the ground, picked up my ticket from the office, how things have changed since, and proceeded into the ground. My seat was at the end of the Radcliffe Road End stand in the middle tier. The view was spectacular, the fellow spectators very vocal, and those six lads from Leeds, that came down on a minibus, were a laugh a minute all day. God help you if they found out you were from Lancashire or of the female persuasion (how things have changed). Having said that the only thing the stewards pull them up on, was the start and control of the beer snake, which kept us amused all day long.

My memory of the match stats has faded over the years, so it's a good thing Google is available. The main thing of that day was the enjoyment of the match, the excellent bating, and the weather, warmer than the Caribbean. So the journey continues to the present day.

Ordered and received a ticket, printed it, and pinned it in my office, and it was was the first thing that I saw when I went into work, counting the days to the match, Sunday 12th June. My wife asked me what would make it the ideal day watching cricket, and my reply was more in anticipation than expectations in the following order:

1. Good weather

2. Excellent cricket.

3. And see Joe Root bat.

Well, I could not have planned it any better. I decided to drive to Nottingham, which meant that I was restricted on my alcohol content, which is a good thing as I didn't miss a moment of an extraordinary day's cricket. The weather was great, temperatures in the high 70s and my umpire's hat came in very handy against the scorching sun. My decision to wear shorts was vindicated, but also I managed to work on my tan.

My seat, row D seat number 119 at the East Stand of the Radcliffe Road End, could not have been any better, close to the action, and surrounded by some characters. A couple from Birmingham, who worked and lived in Bradford and Leeds, members of Warwickshire. A chap from Holmfirth, with his German friend in tow attending his 2nd Test Match, always ready with questions, especially trying to understand Leg Byes and Silly Mid-on.

A couple of chaps from Newcastle; spent all day talking about Newcastle United football club, bemoaning their lack of trophies over the years. Also six New Zealand fans were sat in the front row, and I bet they wished they hadn't. The ribbing was relentless especially when Root was hitting it to all corners. To be fair to them, they gave as well as they got. Found my seat, settled down and play was called.

Joe Root

I was there to see Joe Root, and if truth was to be told, I was fearful that he might be out early doors, missing the opportunity to see the master bat. Well, he did not disappoint. His cover drive early on just set the tone. It's not his ability to hit the ball that I admire, but the way he hits the right ball, and always knows where his off stump is. In my mind he is the best player I have ever seen live, surpassing Petersen's knock at Headingley against the South Africans.

The day got hotter, the drinks were flowing all round me and I couldn't believe my luck. Test cricket does not get any better than this. You can keep your bish, bash, bosh of 20/20 or indeed the 100. I am writing this as I am listening to the conclusion of the Test Match, with England and especially Jonny Bairstow seeing them to a famous series win. I must admit that I was sceptical about England's ability to win Test Matches, but I am happy to be proven wrong.

Memories do not get any better than this, to some sitting watching a match of cricket is sheer madness, but not for me.  I am only sad that I wasn't there to witness the win, but one day watching Joe Root bat was a lot more than I could have wished.

I must say a few words about Trent Bridge; it is a fantastic venue to watch cricket, and God willing I will go again soon.

Queen's Park Delights

 posted by John Winn

I have spent the last two days with two good friends watching an endangered species, county championship cricket, on what in the opinion of many is the most beautiful out ground in the country, namely Queen's Park, the home of Chesterfield CC. 

With my friends John Gawthrope and Arthur Bartle I travelled down to north east Derbyshire on Monday morning where on the first day Middlesex had been bowled out for 251, with Pettman, on a short term loan from Notts, taking three wickets. By stumps  Derbyshire had eased to 28 without loss and we were in plenty of time to see them resume their innings on Monday. With the splendid Shan Mahood a delight to the eye receiving good support from Godleman, Guest and Madsen, Derbyshire reached a strong position by mid afternoon at 170 for 2. Enter TS Roland Jones who blew the middle order and tail away with five wickets to leave the hosts all out for 229 and we had seen ten wickets fall before tea time. 

Middlesex extended their lead to 117 by the close mainly from the bat of Mark Stoneman, formerly of Durham and Surrey, who hit nine fours to be 60 not out at stumps. A slightly later start still saw us in our seats in good time before the third day's call of play. Rather like Derbyshire's innings the previous day Middlesex slid down the hill in quick time assisted by some poor shots and a crazy run out which saw Simpson on his way. 157 for 4 became 196 all out, three wickets apiece for Reece and and Anuj Dal. 

So Derbyshire needed 219 to win and the Lower Ure Valley trio, deciding that a finish was likely in the day, especially taking into account the possibility of an extra half hour being taken, changed our plans and determined to see the match through. We were treated to another gem of an innings from Mahood, whose family were present to watch him. He lost opening partner Godleman, another run out, for just two, and when Guest went to make it 49 for 2, the game seemed evenly balanced but Madsen joined Mahood and by the time the latter was dismissed for 98, leaving him 9 short of his 1000 for the season, it had become Derbyshire's to lose. Aggressive innings from du Plooy and Reece made it clear that The Peakites fancied a day off and Middlesex began to look resigned to leaving the delights of a Holiday Inn behind them and returning to London that evening. 

In the event there was no need for the additional 30 minutes as Reece hit 35 off 34 balls and Madsen was content to keep him company until the target was reached and Middlesex suffered their first defeat of the championship campaign. Notts, after crushing Leicestershire yesterday, are now top ten points clear of Middlesex and Derbyshire with their second win are third. 

Leaving Chesterfield an hour later than on Monday meant we avoided the heavy traffic in the town centre and despite some congestion on the M1 we were back on home ground a little after 7:30 content in our minds that we could not have had two better days cricket watching but uneasy as to what the ECB plans to do next in its plan to step by step kill off championship cricket.

Braving wind and rain at glorious Berwick

By Mike Latham

The Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League covers a vast area, from Berwick-upon-Tweed in the far north-east to Hexham (home of Tynedale CC) and Allendale west of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The league has an excellent Play Cricket website and operate six divisions, divisions five and six being split into north and south.

Despite recently losing several clubs, including Ashington, Shotley Bridge and Lanchester to the North-East Premier League the league continues to offer a fine range of opportunities for cricketers of every ability. The top two divisions, from my experience, provide some good, competitive cricket played in fine spirit. The further down you go the standard of play drops, as you’d expect, but it’s still fun to watch and there are some glorious grounds to enjoy.

This year division one, the top division, operates with 11 clubs after Leadgate CC stood down after the fixtures were compiled. Happily, their Second XI competes in Division 5 South and they still run junior teams so hopefully they will build up again. Newcastle City currently head the league with Tynedale in second and recent champions Alnmouth & Lesbury and Consett in mid table.

On a day of very windy and mixed weather I chose to go to the division two game at the Pier Field between Berwick and Bedlington. Cricket has been played here since the 1840s and it’s a great ground for spectators, who can watch from the comfort of their cars should they so desire.

Some spectators brave the strong wind, others watch from their cars

Having two Collies, I always try to choose a dog friendly ground, and this ticks all the boxes for them. The Pier Field is located high above the sea and there are glorious views down the coast to Tweedmouth, Spittal, and towards Holy Island and on a warm and sunny day there are few better places to watch cricket.

The famous painter LS Lowry spent many holidays in Berwick and there’s a Lowry trail around the town that features some of the landscapes he painted. The distinctive red and white lighthouse, which can be seen from the cricket ground, features on the trail.

LS Lowry’s lighthouse

To the north of the cricket ground the Magdalene Fields Golf Club is situated, then a large caravan park that recently featured on a television programme featuring Julie Walters, the famous actress. As part of his series on railway journeys the former MP Michael Portillo also featured Berwick in some detail.

The town walls run just inland from the cricket ground and within them a charity football tournament operates during the summer. This attracts many entrants and provides excellent entertainment. I was mindful that a game was due to kick off at 6-30pm, so had a ‘Plan B’ should the cricket end early.

On two sides of the football pitch are sheer drops from the town walls, at the top of which spectators perch looking down on the action. It’s a remarkable sight to behold. Known as the Stanks, the tournament has a long history, and its excellent Facebook page provides a lot of information on fixtures and results. For football enthusiasts it’s not to be missed.

Despite threatening weather, the cricket started on time at 1pm, Berwick batting. I was keen to see how they were adapting to life in the second tier after promotion last season.

Bedlington bowled and fielded keenly but Berwick got a lightning start from their overseas amateur, Lakhvir Singh, who comes from New Zealand and is known in these parts as Lucky. He hit 36 of the opening 39 runs before he was run out. The home side eventually were bowled out for 200, just short of their 46 overs, four having been lost to a heavy downpour.

Jordan Woodcock, who I saw score a fine century last season, top scored with 56 and skipper Elliott Keenan made 41. There was a famous name in the Bedlington line-up, young Charlie Harmison, son of Ashes hero Steve, who bowled impressively in his six over spell.

Jordan Woodcock acknowledges his 50

It was great to see the Bedlington team give lots of encouragement to their younger players and plenty of opportunities to be involved in the action.

The wind, if anything, got even stronger as Bedlington batted and dark cloud built up in the southwest. With one eye of the weather the visitors went for quick runs and left-handed opener Connor Leason looked in fine nick, making 29 in quick time before he was caught behind.

The Berwick bowlers mastered the tricky conditions well and the fielding was sharp. The opening bowler James Thompson captured wickets of three of the top four and when Singh replaced Michael Shearer from the golf club end, he quickly made light work of the match.

Michael Shearer bowling from the golf club end

Bowling a lively medium pace he took five for 25 off only 4.3 overs and Bedlington’s innings concluded on 96 in the 22^nd over.  I got the impression that Bedlington had some talented players in their ranks but hadn’t really done themselves justice on this occasion. Berwick’s win lifted them to fourth in the table and was accomplished just before the heaviest and most prolonged downpour of the afternoon.

A glorious rainbow out to sea

Berwick’s ground looks immaculate, their scorer maintains live scoring on the Play Cricket website, and they are a friendly and welcoming club. If you’re in the area I’d recommend a visit to the most northerly cricket ground in England. Thanks too to the umpire, not named on the scorecard, who officiated at both ends while the batting team provided the square leg umpire. He was an unsung and anonymous hero of the afternoon.

Football at The Stanks

The match had finished in time to catch the football at the Stanks between Longamble from down the coast and a team from Prudhoe. Despite the heavy rain and continuing wind, the standard of football was excellent but, wet to the skin, and weary of braving the wind I called it a day and soon headed homewards.