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 14th 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
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