Between Wakefield and Doncaster

posted by John Winn

A trip to grounds in the Pontefract League has become something of an annual fixture in my cricket watching calendar and with the end of the league cricket season not too far away and with bigger fish to fry next weekend yesterday saw me heading down the A1 in search of new grounds. First stop was scheduled to be a Division 1 game between Brodsworth Main CC and Hooton Pagnell but relying on the advice of a man whose parting words to me were 'I'm not from round here' I ended up at the wrong ground in the wrong league and was misinformed as to the name of the opposition. Things could only get better, and they did, but first up I saw a few overs of a game in the South Yorkshire League Division Four  between Adwick le Street I and Conisbrough II, not Penistone as I was informed by an Adwick supporter. Conisbrough were batting and according to a couple of their players second was the best they could hope for and so it proved for their 143 for 7 off their 46 (sic) overs caused Adwick little trouble and a nine wicket win ensued. Adwick are by no means high fliers in this league but find themselves this morning well clear of the relegation zone while for Conisbrough Division Five looms.

Having taken fresh counsel within five minutes I was watching Brodsworth batting who were  finding the going tough against Hooton Pagnell aka The Black Rams. Fine leg filled me in on the few overs I had missed and he turned out to be on loan from Fenwick CC, a team I had planned to see later in the day. Would his temporary status mean the ignominy of fine leg at both ends? Not so for when bowling switched to the other end he rose to the dizzy heights of backward square leg.

Thanks to 52 not out from John O'Neill, Brodsworth reached respectability at 162 for 8 but Hooton got home with almost five overs in hand and with only five wickets down. 

Two miles away and a Division Four game between South Kirkby II and Fenwick and runs coming much more quickly. The visitors were batting and on a hot afternoon Kirkby's fielding grew increasingly ragged with a catch dropped and the captain's ire rising as the ground fielding became sloppy. 55 were scored off 7 overs while I watched with runs for numbers three, four and five and a final total of 210 for 7. Kirby tried nine bowlers, one of whom, Scott Smith bowled just one ball and conceded seven runs. Led by opener Matt Tarbuck who hit 64 the home team made a decent start but with seven batsmen getting only single figures subsided to 172 all out. This morning's table shows Fenwick third but Kirkby just one place above the pink ink. 

Still in postcode WF9 my next stop was at Frickley Colliery CC and a top of the table clash with Horbury Bridge in attendance. The visitors were batting and effecting a recovery through a sixth wicket stand which was broken by a good catch from first slip who had to turn and run before taking the ball over his shoulder. 144 for 6 became 189 all out but Frickley II could only manage 142, a result that widens the gap between the two teams to 47 points.

My afternoon was completed with a trip to Hemsworth Miners' Welfare CC. whose ground is in Fitzwilliam, the birthplace of you probably know who, and ground of the day to my mind. This gave me the opportunity to see Frickley I in action and their innings was drawing to a close as I arrived. Much of their total of 137 had come from the top order and numbers six to eleven made only 11 between them. Fortunately our old friend wides chipped in with 20 and the mood amongst  the decent sized home crowd was one of confidence that this was gettable. 

After an excellent cup of tea I watched the start of Hemsworth's reply but they were soon in trouble against the quick, straight and full length bowling of Jason Mills who took 4 for 37 while 'Unsure' captured 3 for 6. Top scorer Phil Crapper was the only one to make double figures and Hemsworth were all out for 70 on a square that is to be relayed over the winter. Amen to that say the Hemsworth batters. You need to look to the bottom half of the Division 1 table to find these two teams and Hemsworth might be a little anxious about their proximity to the relegation zone. A 12 point advantage over West Bretton is not a lot when there are 16 points for a win. 

Players from the past - number 2 - Roly Jenkins

Posted by Tony Hutton

A discussion on Test Match Special yesterday regarding England's latest Test player Oliver Pope, went on to remember other players with the same Christian name. One that came up was Roland Oliver Jenkins, known to everyone simply as 'Roly'. He was a leg spinner who played for Worcestershire and England with great distinction and was a good enough batsman to have completed the double of one thousand runs and one hundred wickets in a season.

I remember him so well from my schooldays in the early 1950s when I watched him play for Worcestershire at Worcester and Dudley. Always outwardly cheerful, he bowled with his cap on often in partnership with slow left armer Dick Howarth, who did likewise. He appeared to walk with a nautical, rolling gait and was always good for a laugh. In a team of memorable characters including stalwart opening bowler Reg Perks, wicketkeeper Hugo Yarnold and a young batsman called Don Kenyon, Jenkins was always the life and soul of the party.

Chris Oldnall, former cricket correspondent of the Worcester News recalls Jenkins' first ever wicket in county cricket which came against the very strong Yorkshire side of 1938 at Bradford Park Avenue. The 19 year old had the temerity to clean bowl none other than Yorkshire and England batsman Maurice Leyland. To his credit Leyland strolled down the wicket to say ' Very well bowled, sonny'. The first bit would be appreciated, but not sure about the final comment.

His sense of humour apparently did not go down well with the powers that be and he was only selected to play in nine Test matches when many people thought he should have been a regular. Never one to appreciate the amateurs who dominated the game he wrote a piece on spin bowling for the Cricketer and R.W.V. Robins of Middlesex said to him 'That was a very good article, Jenkins. Who wrote it for you?'. To which he immediately replied 'I wrote it myself, sir. Who read it for you?'.

Stephen Chalke recalls a remark he made once in Glasgow when he beat the Rev. Jim Aitchison, a very useful basman, repeatedly before coming down to the wicket to come out with the following -
'They say your a vicar. With your luck you'll be Archbishop of Canterbury. Other sources suggest a similar remark was once made to the Rev. David Sheppard of Sussex.

After touring South Africa in 1948-49. without much success in the Tests but plenty of wickets in other matches, he probably had his best season in 1949 when he took most wickets and also completed over a thousand runs to become one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year. He continued to play the odd game for England in 1950 and 1952, but his later cricketing years were spent as a valuable senior professional and occasional captain of his beloved Worcestershire.

After problems with injuries his form deserted him in 1957 and his contract was terminated
during 1958. However his cricketing days were far from over as he joined West Bromwich Dartmouth as professional in the Birmingham League and continued to play for them for a full fifteen seasons. A remarkable record for this splendid cricket enthusiast. He would still watch Worcestershire, walking round the ground, smoking his pipe, and always willing to talk to anyone about cricket.

Trying to keep up with cup competitions

Posted by Tony Hutton

Trying to keep up with all the national age group competitions, and the local league cups as well, is proving a daunting task, but here goes with a summary of where we are in many of them.

The county over fifties competition has reached the quarter-final stage and Yorkshire entertain Cornwall at Malton cricket club at 13.00 on Sunday 12th August. This should lead on to a semi-final on 26th August and a final on 9th September. The Yorkshire over 50s are unbeaten so far this season and are  well worth watching.

The Yorkshire over sixties are having a good season too. They travel to Lancashire on Tuesday next 14th August for their quarter-final at Heywood cricket club with a 12.30 start. If successful they will play their semi-final on Tuesday 28th August with a final on Tuesday 4th September at Aston Rowant CC in Oxfordshire.

Yorkshire over sixties in action.

Yorkshire under 17s have now reached the semi-final of their three day county competition and face Nottinghamshire away at Caythorpe C.C. starting on Tuesday 14th August, 11 a.m. The under 17 final against Somerset or Surrey, at a venue to be decided, will be played over three days commencing 28th August.

Two centuries for Yorkshire under 17s at Darlington recently.

Turning to Yorkshire under 15s they too have reached the quarter final stage and will entertain Shropshire at North Marine Road, Scarborough this coming Wednesday, 15th August in a one day 50 over game. If successful Yorkshire could well meet Lancashire again in a semi-final on 22nd August with a final the following day, both at a venue to be decided. (It was Kibworth, Leicestershire last season).

At club level the situation is perhaps a little more confusing with an apparent media black out as to when Richmondshire and Ormskirk will do battle in the quarter final of the National club knockout.
The original date was postponed due to Ormskirk's involvement in the National club T20 knockout and they will play at Nantwich in the T20 quarter final this Sunday. The north eastern area winners Hanging Heaton are away at Bracebridge Heath, Lincoln on the same day. The semi-finals and final of the national T20 will be played at Derby on Sunday 16th September.

Cricket at Derby.

Returning to the National club knockout, two of the semi-finalists are known, Stanmore (Middlesex) and Northern (Lancashire), but the two other quarter finals (including Richmondshire v Ormskirk) are still to be played. The semi-finals are due to be played on 2nd September and the final of this competition will not be played until Wednesday 26th September at Bristol, when surprisingly county cricket will still be going on!

The one competition where the two finalists are already known is the Village knock out where Folkton and Flixton of Yorkshire will take on Liphook and Risley from Hampshire at Lord's on Sunday 16th September.

This is probably enough to take in for now, although of course there are many other competitions going on at local Yorkshire level which may also take some unravelling. Something for next time perhaps.

A good weekend for Harry

posted by John Winn

On Friday night at Headingley Harry Brook spent time at the crease with Kane Williamson at the other end  in front of a crowd close to 10000, coming in with the game against Derbyshire almost in the bag he hit 7 not out from four balls. A steady enough start to the weekend for this most promising young cricketer, well established in all forms of the game for Yorkshire but still available for the Academy and it is for this team I have seen him play two splendid innings over the weekend.

 On Saturday I dropped in at Clifton Alliance where the Academy were the visitors. Alliance have not found life easy in the Premier (North) and with Acomb seemingly doomed are one of four other clubs who are not far above the pink zone.

YCC were batting as I pitched my deck chair in the shade of this tree with Brook partnered by Tom Loten who had made a hundred for the second XI  earlier in the week and the score was 138 for 3 before Loten was bowled by Hope-Shackley. Brook continued to boss the show but when on ninety and with three figures there for the taking he indulged in some frippery which saw his stumps disturbed and he returned to the pavilion for 90. Enter Benjamin Birkhead and his 46 was largely responsible for the Academy reaching 262 for 9, a total which proved too much for Clifton who despite 82 from Scott Hopkinson fell 68 short, a result which leaves them just six points above Sessay. Next week's fixtures offer no comfort when York will cross the rugby pitch that separates the two clubs. 

Yesterday, frustrated by the postponement of the Richmondshire Ormskirk match, I travelled to Weetwood for another game involving Yorkshire Premier sides, this time north v south with the Academy hosting Barnsley Woolley Miners, henceforth known as Barnsley, in a semi final of the Rudgate Cup. A lovely afternoon of course and with Tony and Jennifer I sought shelter at the southern end. The game presented an opportunity to compare standards between north and south with the Academy in mid table and Barnsley a somewhat distant second to Wakefield Thornes in the south. Barnsley took first knock and the dismissal of Jonathon Trower brought the prolific scorer and IPL participant Harpreet Singh to the wicket. Wickets fell at regular intervals however and it was not until Harpreet was joined by Jahangir that Barnsley made significant progress. Main man for the academy was Matthew Taylor who took 4 for 20 including Harpreet for 81. Jahangir got 38 but there was not much else except wides and the innings closed on 192 all out.

Would just  short of 200 be enough? This question could be answered with a resounding no within about three overs as Brook and Birkhead got stuck into the Barnsley attack. Harpreet replaced Daniel Waldron after just one over but the former under 19 player went for 40 off his two overs before being asked to take a rest. Brook went for a rapid 52 at which point Birkhead took up the onslaught and YCC were only 9 short when he fell to Ali Jahangir for 88. Start the car was reached at twenty past five with 14 overs to spare and victory for the academy by seven wickets. Oliver Jackson the only Barnsley bowler who will not be averse to being reminded of his figures, 2 for 19 off 8 overs. The other semi is scheduled to be played next Sunday at Woodhouse Grange when Aston Hall travel to East Yorkshire. 

Stunning scenery with a little cricket thrown in.

Posted by Tony Hutton

The Eskdale cricket league in a small area near Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast has always been one of my favourites. It is a valley very much of ups and downs, often with extreme weather and like many others prone to to the problems of small villages trying to preserve their cricket clubs and actually find eleven men to put into the field.

Saturday 4th August was a rare opportunity to visit yet again in an effort to see cricket on some of the grounds not yet visited. The league's fixtures are hard to come by, but this season I was fortunate to contact the secretary of the only club in the league with a website, Hinderwell, and he kindly sent me the full fixtures. Earlier visits had found matches called off at short notice and I was a little apprehensive with some football starting today whether this might happen again.

Sure enough our first call at Sleights in the valley bottom found nobody around and the pavilion boarded up. However we were rewarded by the sight of a steam train on the nearby North Yorkshire Moors railway just pulling slowly out of Sleights station. It was packed to the gunnels with tourists.
We had already seen a glider being towed in the air at Sutton Bank, a splendid viewpoint on our journey and other attractions also made up for the lack of cricket.

Moorland scenery at Danby.

Our next call at Danby proved more fruitful with a game in progress and visitors Goathland in some trouble at 24-3. Despite a couple of fours soon after our arrival another four wickets fell very rapidly and it soon became apparent that the game would not last too long. Opportunity for a few nice pictures however and almost a hat trick with two more wickets in two balls.

Looking towards Danby village.

When the very young schoolboy at number eleven went to the wicket the end seemed nigh, but he managed to survive while his partner hit a few more boundaries to take the all out score to 52. Danby are top of the league and you could see why, although  Goathland were obviously fielding a weakened team.

The young number eleven awaits his turn.

Moving on to an old favourite at Castleton there seemed to be a better game going on against Grosmont, who managed to bowl the home side out for 136 and looked pretty confident when they set off in pursuit of the target. A welcome call at the neighbouring Eskdale Inn saw us well refreshed as we journeyed on towards Westerdale, now in a different league having moved up to the Langbaurgh League.

Two views of the Castleton ground.

Here again we were thwarted by a road closed sign and had to give that one a miss as we diverted back to the moorland road going west across the lonely moors populated only by a lot of sheep.
Our final call after a very scenic journey was at another new ground to us at Broughton, not far from Stokesley, also members of the Langbaurgh League.

Two views of Broughton and Kirby cricket club.

Here the game was moving towards a conclusion with magnificent views of the Cleveland Hills. Visitors Moorsholm making short work of a target of 138, with several overs to spare and losing only one wicket in the process. One straight drive for six smashed the pavilion window and involved a lot of clearing up, as the evening sun lit up the neighbouring hills. A wonderful end to a rather special journey, where for once the scenery proved more than a match for the cricket.

Yorkshire over 60s and under 17s go marching on.

Posted by Tony Hutton

On Tuesday 31st July after the decision for no play today at Harrogate we managed to find cricket elsewhere in the shape of Yorkshire over sixties in their last sixteen play off game with Hampshire at Hullen Edge, Elland. Some years since we had been here and unfortunately Elland cricket club are not the force they once were in the Huddersfield League. Nevertheless the well furnished bar provided a nice refuge even if the scoreboard, which seems to have been there for ever, is not quite up to the standard you would expect.

Elland's ancient scoreboard.

Hampshire batted first and started quite slowly against the as always accurate Yorkshire bowlers. Evergreen Mick Scott as tidy as ever with figures of 9-1-21-1. Martin Ivill, the skipper, had an injury problem and had to take himself off after four very economical overs. Hampshire also had injury problems when opening bat, Neil Trestrail, a former Hampshire seconds player, pulled a muscle and retired hurt.

Distant sunshine at Elland, on a day when cloud predominated.

The scoring rate did eventually improve thanks to runs from the middle order but left arm spinner Micheal Kenyon tied down one end for Yorkshire with 9-3-16-1. Then it was the turn of Bradford League veteran Phil Taylor to destroy the lower order with a fine 5-33 and it was only when Hampshire's injured man returned, with the aid of a runner, that things improved. Trestrail hit several boundaries at the end to finish with 46 not out from a total of 166-9 in the 45 overs allowed.

End of the Hampshire innings with Trestrail 46 not out.

A bigger target than seemed likely had no problems for the Yorkshire top order despite the dismissal of stand in opener Graham Copley. The heroes of the previous match at Shotley Bridge, John Flintoff with 76 and Colin Frank 62 not out saw them comfortably home with five overs to spare and a quarter final match with Lancashire comes next.

View across the ground at Elland.

The following day, as planned, was off to Darlington for day two of the Under 17 three day game between Durham and Yorkshire. Durham had been bowled out for 185 the previous day and although Yorkshire had made a slow start to their innings, things changed rapidly in their favour on day two. After Revis, Bean and Ramkumar had all gone cheaply a wonderful partnership between captain James Wharton and George Hill put on 210 runs for the fourth wicket.

 Wharton and Hill take a break on the way to a two hundred partnership.

Wharton in particular played very correctly, with a straight bat and hitting the ball along the ground. It really was an excellent innings following his century against Lancashire last week and showed a lot of maturity in his play. Hill was equally effective, if not quite so stylish, but he went to his century first, followed very shortly by Wharton. Hill was the first out to a soft caught and bowled for 122 and Wharton eventually followed also to a soft catch after tiredness probably took its toll for 152.

 Hill plays a rare defensive shot.

 Wharton comes down the wicket to smother the spin.

 Congratulations as Wharton reached his century.

An impressive looking scoreboard.

Duke and Sharma added more quick runs near the end of the day and Yorkshire eventually declared on 399-8 which most onlookers thought would be sufficient for an innings victory on day three.
So it proved, if rather more quickly than expected, with the brothers Sullivan yet again taking the bowling honours. This time left arm spinner Harry led the way with 5-18 while brother Josh who took six wickets in the first innings with his leg spin, ended with 3-19.

A great performance by the Yorkshire lads which sees them through to the semi-final stage in which they will have to play away from home. Details of the opposition not yet available as further matches have to be played next week.

All in all a very good Yorkshire Day with five Yorkshire players reaching the century mark, Wharton and Hill as described above at Darlington, followed by Tom Loten and James Wainman both with maiden county centuries for the second XI at Harrogate, together with Bilal Anjum with a century for Yorkshire under 19s at Pudsey Congs.

Vipers bear the Brunt

posted by John Winn

Before yesterday Yorkshire Diamonds' 2018 campaign had to say the least of it lacked sparkle, just one point from four games and that courtesy of a washout but hope springs if not eternal at least for an afternoon and Liz and I joined a decent crowd at Clifton Park in the hope that Southern Vipers would provide a first win.

We were joined by good company from Huddersfield on what was close to a perfect summer's day. Diamond won the toss and elected to bat and Lauren Winfield and Beth Mooney got things off to a flying start before the latter was lbw for 13. The run rate remained at close to ten an over while Whinfield and Chamari  Atapattu, seemingly no less competitive than a year ago,  took the score past a hundred but once the former was out the rate slowed and even though one of our number forecast 200 for a final score the more cautious of us settled for various numbers between 170 and 180. 175 for 5 suggested we were about right and just about defendable summed up the mood of our party. Winfield top scored with 64 and Katherine Brunt added useful runs at the end.

When Vipers began their reply Brunt struck almost immediately to remove Danni Wyatt and most of Diamonds' bowlers managed an economy rate below that required. Leaving aside a couple of minor blemishes the fielding was of a high standard and some excellent catches were taken. When Arran Brindle was bowled by Atapattu to make it 140 for 6 , the rate had risen to almost 12 and despite conceding 19 wides by the time Brunt returned to bowl the final over a Diamonds' win seemed very likely. Two wickets in two balls, both lbw, set up the prospect of a most unusual hat trick, and although it was not to be no more runs were forthcoming and Vipers fell twelve short to send them to the bottom of the league and push the Diamonds to within touching distance of Surrey Stars. Woman of the match was Kathrine Brunt with 5 for 26 and 21 not out. Diamonds are next in action on Sunday at Scarborough when high flying Western Storm blow into town. Nearer to home, for me at least, Diamonds face Surrey Stars at Clifton Park on Sunday August 12th. Wickets pitched 2:30 in both of these games.

Finally the more observant of our readers may have noticed a fixture added by me to Tony's list for this Sunday, namely Richmondshire v Ormskirk in the National Club KO. I have now removed this fixture for Ormskirk are otherwise engaged in a competition held over from last Sunday. No new date as yet for the match at Richmond.