The lure of Scarborough.

Posted by Tony Hutton

In my younger days I rarely missed a game at Scarborough. However the prejudices of old age mean that visits nowadays are few and far between. However I was there last Tuesday to see Yorkshire play Hampshire in the Royal London Cup, notwithstanding a largish crowd, coloured clothing and black sightscreens, which all are among my present day aversions. 

A postcard view of Scarborough some years ago with the North Marine Road ground centre stage

First stop was to buy a scorecard from my friend Nick Briggs, resplendent in his Yorkshire Cricket Foundation's pink shirt as a member of the Welcome Team. Next stop our ritual morning coffee in the Trafalgar Square End tea room, surprisingly quiet with so many people already in the ground. Two well positioned seats at that end of the ground provided an excellent vantage point with, for once, not too many noisy neighbours.

A bit of Scarborough history.

We were anxious to see the majority of the young Yorkshire side whose careers we have followed through the ranks of the Yorkshire Academy over the years. The Academy's withdrawal from the Yorkshire Premier League this season has left a large void in our cricket watching activities every Saturday. As a lifetime follower of each and every county side, it was also a pleasure to see a new generation of Hampshire players in action.

Nick Gubbins, acting captain of Hampshire in the absence of James Vince, is also well known to us from his years with Leeds/Bradford University and with Middlesex. Today he opened the batting with Ben Brown, an experienced batsman/wicketkeeper recruited from Sussex, where he often made lots of runs against Yorkshire. Despite playing and missing a few times against the opening attack of Waite and Coad, after Yorkshire had put them in, the pair put on an impressive stand of 87. Dominic Bess, the one 'incomer' in the Yorkshire side had Gubbins lbw for 38.

Brown continued in good form along with young Tom Prest, who we saw on TV last winter with England under 19's in the World Cup. We knew that Prest could score quickly and he did not disappoint. However when Brown was out for a well made 60, enter Welshman Aneurin Donald, who has a reputation for scoring even quicker than Prest. So it proved as Prest made an admirable 55 from only 65 balls, but Donald, obviously well recovered from injuries which have blighted his career, made an even bigger impact with 76 from only 31 balls. This included five fours and six huge sixes, one of which sailed between the gap in the houses at the Trafalgar Square end.

Aneurin Donald (Hampshire)

Yorkshire's bowlers stuck to their task well under this onslaught and Revis was rewarded with some late wickets as the Hampshire tail rather fell apart. Coad had a tidy spell until a last over went for a few, but all in all Yorkshire did well to contain Hampshire, already qualified for the semi-finals, to a score of 313-9. Yorkshire in reply were never really in the hunt after a disastrous early clatter of wickets saw them struggling on 31-4 against Hampshire's opening bowlers, Turner from South Africa and Holland from the USA.

A full house at Scarborough on a previous occasion.

To be fair Yorkshire never really gave up, as the middle order rallied well, with good efforts from Waite (on his way to Worcester next season), Revis with a useful 41 and Loten with a defiant 41 not out at the end with two sixes. Unfortunately Bess was struck on the back of the helmet by a throw from a Hampshire fielder when going for a quick single and had to retire hurt. Harry Sullivan took his place later as a concussion substitute rather than Will Luxton, as the substitute has to be as near like for like in cricketing ability, i.e. one spin bowler replaced by another. 

Three late tail end wickets for Turner gave him the best bowling figures of 5-41 as Yorkshire were bowled out for 241 in the 46th over, but a good all round performance by the visitors. Good to see left arm seamer Campbell, a Hampshire born player, returning with his home county after a spell with Durham which began when he was at Durham University. The majority of the large crowd stayed to the end to salute both teams for providing fine entertainment in wonderful weather for most of the day. The obvious joys of cricket at Scarborough remain unchanged. Other results elsewhere, notably Lancashire being beaten by Kent, ensured that Yorkshire would not qualify for the quarter finals.

Batsmen in charge at Weetwood.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

The Under 18s championship is yet another strange competition operated by the E.C.B., who have already decimated the three day games of the former Minor Counties and the Universities. The three main groups, comprising the first class counties, are regionalised, but unlike the former Under 17s competition I am reliably informed that there are no end of season play-offs between the four top teams. The northern group of six have produced some very high scoring games, including several double centurions already. Several of the three day games have already ended in draws, as was the case with this week's game at Weetwood, Leeds between Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

It is hard to escape the fact that the game seems to be developing plenty of batsmen of quality but it would appear that bowlers of the same standard are hard to find. Admittedly this season has produced sun baked pitches which favour the batsman, but there does seem something lacking in the bowling department. Yorkshire, fresh from their victory over Durham in their last match, faced a Derbyshire side also in winning mood, having recently beaten Leicestershire by an innings at Marehay. The visitors however were without their century making captain Archie Harrison, who has been promoted to the first team squad.

Noah Kelly's long innings gets underway at Weetwood.

 On Monday Yorkshire won the toss and batted, but were soon in difficulties at eight for two. The rescue job was then in the hands of Driffield left hander Noah Kelly and a young man making his debut at this level in Will Bennison. We had heard good reports from fellow blogger John Winn some time ago about young Mr Bennison, who started with Ouseburn cricket club in the Nidderdale League. We saw him last season at Yorkshire under 15 level and were suitably impressed. This season he appears to have gone from strength to strength, having moved to Sheriff Hutton Bridge in the Yorkshire Premier League and scored a fifty in his first match. Since then he has scored a century for the winning North side in the recent Bunbury Festival at Loughborough.

Will Bennison gets off the mark for Yorkshire.

So we were not surprised when, after a few early scares, he scored another debut half century here, with a confident 58, which included eleven fours. Noah Kelly batted, as he does, at his own pace and was in sight of his own fifty when wickets suddenly tumbled at the other end. 121-2 became 143-5 as Bennison, Light and Redshaw all quickly returned to the pavilion. Enter Jack Luxton, younger brother of batsman Will currently with the Yorkshire first team. He made a resolute 40, including eight fours, in a partnership of 76 with Kelly.

Luxton departed with the score on 219-6, when Kelly was on 91, and Yorkshire were still under pressure, but Clarke Doughney turned the tide for the home side with an innings of 56, adding a further 113 which took Yorkshire well beyond the 300 mark. They were thinking of declaring on Monday evening but the light was so bad they thought Derbyshire would not be asked to bat. So they continued on Tuesday morning and George Booth helped Kelly to pass the 200 mark before Yorkshire finally declared on 450-7.

One happy man. Noah Kelly celebrates his double century.

Kelly's acknowledgement to his proud Dad.

Kelly's marathon effort, scoring 222 not out from 273 balls, included thirty fours and just one six, was a study in concentration, playing out several maiden overs and never losing patience, and very rarely hitting the ball in the air. Hopefully he will have a bright future ahead of him.

Noah Kelly returns to the pavilion - 222 not out.

So Yorkshire set off in search of an innings victory and when Derbyshire wee soon 36-3 hopes were high, but the middle order batsmen proved more resolute. Led by captain Callum Hawkins' excellent century, well supported by Shaikh's 58 and Veitch's 34, they reached 249-5. One memorable dismissal came when Lachlan Doidge's second ball pitched about half way down the pitch, did not bounce, and clean bowled the unfortunate Shaikh. Not sure who was more embarrassed, the batsman or the bowler!

Derbyshire captain Callum Hawkins celebrates his century.

After that the tail subsided to the pace bowling of Luxton and McMurran and they were all out for 287. Derbyshire were required to follow on and the unfortunate opener Vedant Somal soon went for a pair, leaving the visitors 9-1 at the end of day two. On day three Derbyshire batted with great resolution against Yorkshire's varied attack of four seamers and four spinners, none of whom could make an early breakthrough. Only skipper Vagadia, later in the day, posed a threat with 3-17 from thirteen overs.

Shaikh, with a second 50 of the game, and Veitch batting with freedom at the end of the day with 72 not out, took Derbyshire to a lead of over 100 and with five wickets still remaining, the players shook hands at 5 o'clock on a drawn game. There were one or two unfortunate incidents during the game and clear cases of dissent from at least two Derbyshire batsmen. The umpires did not help matters, continually slowing down the game with endless stoppages, one effort to change the ball seemingly going on for ever. Both teams were deducted a penalty point, presumably for the abysmally slow over rate.

Pudsey Congs revisited

 Posted by Tony Hutton

We visited Pudsey Congs cricket club only briefly earlier in the season for a Leeds Beckett University match, but returned on Sunday last for an over 50s county quarter final between Yorkshire and Middlesex. For so long the top side of the Bradford League the host club have fallen on hard times on the field, but are coming back strongly this season, with Saturday's overwhelming victory over Wrenthorpe their fifth in a row. They are now in second place in the First Division table, just behind promotion rivals Jer Lane. It appears that the last match of the season, scheduled for September 12th between these two sides, could well decide whether Congs return to what many would consider their rightful place in the Premier Division.

The Pudsey Congs pavilion.

The game on Sunday was a much lower key affair with the  Bradford League's Priestley Cup Final going on just down the road at New Farnley, between the home side and Methley, as well as something we need not mention at Headingley. Having seen the Yorkshire side narrowly beat Surrey at Elsecar in the previous round great things were expected on a very hot day at Pudsey. Indeed the home side got off to an excellent start with an opening partnership of 78 between Nick Gaywood and Iqbal Khan.

The view from the shade at Pudsey.

However a sudden clatter of wickets changed all that. Middlesex had a battery of excellent spin bowlers and Kamlesh Desai removed both openers, while Pawan Malik had former Pudsey star Barbar Butt lbw for nought second ball. Gaywood, who I remember scoring runs for Devon Minor Counties as well as Sheffield Collegiate for many years, had reached an excellent fifty before being given out to a questionable lbw decision, with his front foot well down the wicket.

Yorkshire looking for runs at Pudsey.

Skipper Stephen Foster, usually so reliable, also went cheaply and Yorkshire were suddenly 97-4. Bandula Ranjith (24) and wicketkeeper Paul Fenn (31) pulled things round somewhat, but when Fenn was run out to another rather debateable decision the score became 173-7. Jason Meadows and last man Luke Jarvis just managed to scrape the total beyond the two hundred mark, but Yorkshire's innings ended well below par on 208-9 in 45 overs.

The Yorkshire side not happy with the scoreboard.

Whether the Middlesex side adapted to the hot conditions better than their opponents seemed a possibility, as they proceeded to dominate the match with all their early batsmen making runs as they raced to victory by seven wickets with ten overs to spare. James Williams with 51 not out and Naseer Ahmed with 69 being the top scorers. Yorkshire have been champions at this age group several times in recent years, but sadly on this occasion they ran out of steam.

So the most northerly team left in the competition are Nottinghamshire, who will face Middlesex at Uxbridge in the semi-final on August 28th. The other semi-final sees Essex at home to Gloucestershire at Saffron Walden on the same date.

Lancashire's last ball win in Under 18s cup.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

 In the Under 18s fifty over cup quarter final at Castleford cricket club yesterday Yorkshire Under 18s, fresh from their victory over Durham in a three day game, faced a confident Lancashire side who had overwhelmed Derbyshire in their three day clash at Belper last week. Derbyshire were bowled out for 240 in their first innings with paceman Harry Birkman taking 5-39 and slow left-armer Charlie Barnard 4-52. When Lancashire batted the top four all had a field day. Keshana Fonseka made a modest 58, his opening partner Harry Singh a massive 270 not out, Matty Hurst 156 and Arav Shetty a mere 69.

This all added up to final total of 592-4 declared, to which Derbyshire had no answer being bowled out for 101 in their second innings. Barnard with amazing figures of 8-22 being the main destroyer, as Lancashire cruised to victory by an innings and 251 runs. However, yesterday's game was a much closer contest and early on Yorkshire were on top having dismissed all Lancashire's high scoring top four with the total on only 51. 

The junior Roses match in action at Castleford.

Charlie McMurran, the Yorkshire opening bowler, had dismissed three of them and George Booth the other. However, the visitors' recovery was led by a man who has played league cricket on both sides of the Pennines in Cian Dickinson, who played for Scarborough cricket club while at college in the town, but is now back with Bradshaw cricket club in Lancashire. Yet another in the long line of Bolton cricketers.

Cian Dickinson with Craig White, his coach at Scarborough College.

Initially Dickinson got good support from Alfie Dobson who helped him put on 116 for the sixth wicket. It took Yorkshire's seventh bowler, Lachlan Doidge from Bingley, to break the partnership with the score on 191-6. Yorkshire perhaps thought they could get rid of the tail quickly, but even when Dickinson was finally dismissed for 93, at just about a run a ball, stubborn resistance from Corey Flintoff and Charlie Barnard helped Lancashire to a final total of 242.

With the hot sunshine throughout the game Yorkshire no doubt fancied their chances in good batting conditions, but they got off to the worst possible start losing both Harrogate openers, Isaac Light for 1 and Harry Allinson for 10. Skipper Yash Vagadia played himself in, but was then clean bowled by a beauty from Corey Flintoff, which his dad would have been proud of. 

We then had a long partnership between the left hander Noah Kelly, from Driffield, and Alex Cree, from Methley. Both seemed to find the fielders with regularity and much of the scoring was restricted to singles. The pair had put on 66 before Cree, losing patience, fell over to be stumped by Hurst off Dickinson for 33. Harry Finch, who had bowled well with 3-34, immediately showed more urgency as Yorkshire were dropping behind the required rate. A quick fire 22 helped the cause, but after becoming Barnard's only victim at 157-5, next man Noah Priestley from Todmorden, looked like Yorkshire's best hope.

Noah Kelly

Kelly too at last began to accelerate and Priestley's 30, including a six and three fours, took Yorkshire's target back to a run a ball from the last few overs. However the pressure got to them both and Kelly was caught behind for a most valuable 90, before a fine spell from the returning Harry Birkman decided the match. His final over proved decisive and with four required to win from the last ball of the game he got his second wicket of the over to leave Yorkshire just short on 239-9. Birkman completed his ten overs with fine figures of 4-40.

Another good day's cricket with lots of talented youngsters in both sides. It will be interesting to see how many of them develop into regular county cricket players in the future, if indeed such a thing still exists.

Time for Tea in Northumberland

 By Mike Latham

The nature of the game of cricket attracts statisticians and record-keepers of many different types. These days my two main records which I keep are a record of centuries seen and new grounds visited.

Circumstances meant I was unable to add to the latter list on Saturday and instead I opted for a tour of some of the beautiful village grounds in north Northumberland, barely expecting to add to the former list. That’s the great thing about cricket, I guess, that you can never predict anything.

The Northumberland & Tyneside Cricket League has six divisions, the levels five and six split geographically north and south. Fixtures can be called off late on due to teams conceding, as many clubs in the area field a single XI and maybe operate on a squad of 20 players or less.

With the preponderance of second homes in the area, many locals are priced out of the market and move away to find affordable accommodation or employment. On my travels on Saturday one cricketer told me that offers for houses can often sell for 60 percent above the starting price. He’d recently bid £195,000 for a house needing a lot of renovation and been confident of securing it, only for the property to be eventually sold for £310,000 to a London based buyer who’d never seen the property.

Howick Cricket Ground

As a result, many businesses in the area have staff shortages to service the increasing tourist boom and the local people despair of their children ever being able to afford a property to buy.

The knock-on effects for local cricket are huge, not least that village teams find it increasingly hard to keep going. I saw one team on Saturday with eleven men from a squad of 14-15, of whom four were aged 60 and over. Without new blood, it’s hard to see them surviving for too long. And those that invest in youth, promote junior teams and specialist coaching find that many youngsters get to 16 to 18 and discover new things to spend their leisure time, or move away to study or find a job.

Post Covid the world is a far different place and cricket has struggled to adjust. Many former cricketers have taken up golf or other individual sports like cycling, while there’s still a reluctance to mix in a social situation to the extent that was done before.

All of which are real issues that the ECB should be targeting and addressing instead of promoting tournaments that many long-standing followers of the game are totally against. Instead of pouring vast sums into the Hundred, grass roots cricket needs nurturing and some tender, loving care. Without a strong grass root, a sport can easily wither, as history has shown us.

A glorious clearing in the woodland at Howick

As someone who has zero interest in attending an international game, a Hundred game or even a county game, but who watches over one hundred days of cricket a year, I set off to the remote location of Howick Hall near Alnwick. After some of the intense Bradford League games I’ve watched of late, a game in Division 6 North featuring Howick, Alnmouth & Lesbury (effectively Alnmouth’s third team) against Bomarsund Seconds was quite a contrast.

For a start there are no umpires, commonplace in the lower reaches of this league, and another crisis to which cricket’s administrators must attend. I was told the league lost half a dozen experienced umpires at the end of one recent season and sadly new recruits are thin on the ground. Retired players often prefer to take up golf than put something back into the game. But with some of the stories you see or hear first-hand of umpire’s experiences in league cricket, in particular a growing dissent and abuse from players, who can blame them?

This particular game did something to restore one’s faith in grass roots cricket- and produced another entry into my list of century-makers. Alongside names like G Boycott, IVA Richards and Javed Miandad I am now able to add R Bell, R being short for Ryan.

Ryan Bell on his way to 110 not out

The Bomarsund opener batted throughout his side’s innings, making an undefeated 110 of his side’s 159 for 9 in their 40 overs, a quite splendid effort. Play Cricket informs me it was his second century of the season, having scored 145 not out against Ulgham Village Seconds four weeks previously. His only previous century was scored in 2011, 126 against Ashington Rugby Seconds. Howick reached 132 all out in reply, losing an excellent game by 27 runs.

The Howick cricket ground is a clearing amidst the woodland of the beautiful Howick Hall Gardens and Arboretum which attracts many thousands of visitors a year. The ancestral seat of the Earls Grey since the early 14^th century, the famous tea, named after the second Earl, can be enjoyed in the tearoom.

The sight screens at Howick

The cricket ground is lovingly mown and maintained, and the small pavilion looks to have had an excellent roof renovation since my last visit. The sight screens are rudimentary, sheets affixed to poles, but do the job effectively. Enthusiasts man the scoreboard, keep score and all the other jobs that are needed to get a cricket match going. Around twenty spectators enjoyed the sunshine and the efforts of the players.

The young players, of whom there were several, were encouraged and applauded for their efforts and everyone gave the impression of enjoying themselves. The game was played in a great spirit, the batting team providing the umpires who performed their duties without favour. Grass roots cricket, I suppose at its most basic, and a reminder that the ECB should ignore this form of the game at its peril.

Ryan Bell returns to the pavilion after his innings

 

 

 

 

Three excellent days at Park Drive, Hartlepool.

Posted by Tony Hutton

The attractive ground of Hartlepool cricket club has long been one of my favourites. Situated in a pleasant residential area, adjacent to an attractive park, this well run club are long standing members of the North Yorkshire and South Durham cricket league. I managed to work out that my first visit was forty years ago for a Minor Counties game between Durham and Cheshire. Since then I have seen county championship matches in the early days of Durham as a first class county, together with county second eleven games and various age group matches.

Hartlepool pavilion.

Welcome to Park Drive, play gets underway.

This week they staged a three day game between the under 18s of Durham and Yorkshire. As previously reported Durham were fresh from a major victory over Lancashire, whereas Yorkshire were probably on the wrong end of the draw with Leicestershire. Durham won the toss and asked the visitors to bat on a morning when rain was forecast, but fortunately failed to arrive. Yorkshire were captained by home team player Yash Vagadia, who opened the batting with Alex Cree. Sadly Vagadia was soon caught behind by Hayden Mustard, son of Phil Mustard the former Durham wicketkeeper. The young man from Methley soon followed however, becoming another victim of Luke Robinson, from the Philadelphia club, who produced the bowling performance of the day with an admirable 7-38 in fifteen overs. Yorkshire in trouble at 19-2.

Yorkshire batting carefully on day one.

Noah Kelly from Driffield, who has been playing first team league cricket since the age of 14 and Harry Allinson from Harrogate were just short of a fifty partnership when Allinson was caught out from the bowling of Rohan Vagadia,  younger brother of the Yorkshire opener, who was appearing for Durham. Kelly stuck around to make a workmanlike 41 and Harry Finch made a good looking 36 before wicketkeeper Isaac Light, from Harrogate, who has been in good form recently, made top score of 68. Robinson returned to the attack to demolish the tail and Yorkshire were all out for what appeared a below par 271 all out. Can't fail to mention the youngest player on the field 15 year old leg spinner Charlie Scorer from Hartlepool, who bowled seven good overs.

Best view of the ground at Hartlepool.

Durham started well in reply with skipper Ben McKinney, who I understand will captain England under 19s later this month against Sri Lanka, looking in good form. Together with Ramisetty he had put on sixty before his partner was bowled by George Booth for 36 just before the close. On day two McKinney and Ross Whitfield, scorer of a double century last week, looked comfortable against the Yorkshire pace attack. Then Whitfield was caught behind off Jack Luxton, younger brother of Will, Yorkshire's first team batsman. That wicket seemed to give Yorkshire more confidence.

Looking towards the Park Drive end of the ground.

When Dawson followed with an identical dismissal it was 139-3 and very soon 142-4 when Luxton got his third and most vital wicket dismissing McKinney for 60 when he was caught by Vagadia. Twenty runs later the tables were well and truly turned when Maloy was bowled by left arm spinner Clarke Doughney and Ditta brilliantly run out be wicketkeeper Light. 163-6 and really no way back for Durham. The later batsman all seemed to look for quick runs but Vagadia, with a tidy spell of off spin, finished them off with four quick wickets, one of which fell to a brilliant catch by Hoyle to dismiss Mustard. Durham 214 all out, Yorkshire led by 57 runs.

Can't see the wood for the trees.

After this dismal pre-lunch session for Durham, they were soon happy again when Cree was bowled by Harry Lumsden for a duck. Yorkshire then proceeded to progress the game, despite the slow over rate involved by both sides, which resulted in play going on to 7.45 p.m. on day two. Vagadia set the tone with a fine fifty supported by a more restrained 32 from Noah Kelly. Allinson then made a rapid 42 putting on 57 with Finch, who top scored with another impressive innings of 78. Later in the day runs really came quickly with 45 from Light and 47 from Doughney, which enabled Yorkshire to declare at 347-9, setting Durham the unlikely target of 405 to win.

The sunshine prevailed for most of the match.

Durham set off quickly in the late evening session and, despite losing Ramisetty, were well past the fifty mark in only ten or so overs before the extremely late finish. The intention was clear Durham would go for the win despite the size of the target. Day three, when the windy conditions earlier in the game dropped somewhat, was fine and sunny, and the cricket of a high standard as both sides went for the win. Initially McKinney and Whitfield looked confident and their partnership of 115 gave every confidence to the home side. Leg spinner Josh Hoyle, from Shepley in the Huddersfield league, eventually broke the deadlock having Whitfield caught by Finch for 54 with the total 150-2.

McKinney went to a well deserved century just before lunch, but by then had lost both Dawson and Ditta to a stumping and a catch by Kelly, who had taken over as wicketkeeper. The 200 also came up before lunch so virtually another 100 per session would give Durham victory. When Maloy became Doughney's second victim just after lunch it was 214-5 and the game seemed to be going back Yorkshire's way. Even more so when McKinney finally fell, caught at mid wicket off Vagadia, when the Yorkshire captain returned to the attack.

Yorkshire applaud McKinney's century.

The scoreboard tells the story Durham almost half way there.

However Durham fought back with a vengeance and a partnership between Hayden Mustard and Luke Robinson put on 82 for the eighth wicket, leaving Durham with just 63 runs to get with plenty of overs left. All to play for still at the tea interval, any result still possible. Robinson hit two huge sixes into or over the pavilion and the most unlikely of victories looked on the cards.  The turning point came when Robinson was sent back by Mustard and Doughney hit the stumps direct with a splendid throw to run him out for 42. Rohan Vagadia followed at the same total and the game finally ended on the stroke of 5 p.m., with still another hour possible, when Allinson completed a tumbling catch on the boundary to dismiss Mustard for a splendid 74. Durham 363 all out in an epic run chase, Yorkshire won by 41 runs.

Yorkshire celebrate Allison's catch to win the match.

Yorkshire led off the field by skipper Yash Vagadia.

Finally sincere thanks not only to our friends in the north, but to the players and umpires, all connected to Hartlepool cricket club and last but certainly not least to the one and only Mrs Mulholland, the Queen of cricket caterers, for feeding everyone as well as ever. It was certainly a memorable three days.

Handshakes all round, the coaches congratulate the winners.