Remembrance Weekend

 By Brian Sanderson

I arrived early on Saturday to see the unveiling of the iron sculpture of Dan Woods who recently died at a young age. He had been captain of York for a number of years andhad helped to establish it into a strongest club in the county .Also he captained Cheshire for a number of seasons.

There was a forty over match against Acomb.

The present York captain Duncan Snell was clean bowled after two balls for a duck which was not a  good start. It was left up to Nick James to help York to get to a total of 186.  James top scored with 43. against  a steady bowling attack

.

At the break  I wondered over to the next field where Clifton Alliance Seconds were playing Carlton Towers first team. There again the home team struggled to 143 and  Carlton Towers won by nine wickets.

Walking another few yards York third team were playing Sheriff

 Hutton Bridge where again the home side lost by eight wickets

.

Going back to the main match Acomb openers established a good

opening stand establishing a winning score with a few balls to  spare

On Sunday I went to see a son of a best friend Alan Swaby who died a few years ago but he is still in my memories. Alan and I played over twenty five years for Yorkshire Bank in the Bradford League .We also watched Rugby League  all over the world during the winter months .I will always remember Great Britain's victories in Australia even though there were only two. The rugby was on the television at Headingley with no spectators. A crazy world we live in. I think that is a old song.by Joe Brown.

Trip to Masham

 By Brian Sanderson

Looking at the weather forecast, I took a gamble to visit one of my 

favourite cricket grounds Masham. It is very unusual to be able to 

see cricket during the week. The match was Yorkshire over 60's

against Durham over 60's. On the way there were spots of rain 

but arriving at the beautiful ground the sun was shining. 

There was a good crowd of family members of the players

and Yorkshire batted first.

Setting up the chairs in the shade we were will able to watch

a gentle match of cricket .The wicket was a good batting 

wicket and the ground was very hard. Yorkshire scored 171

in very warm temperatures but when we heard Yorkshire

had beaten Nottingham it made  my day however I would 

have loved to been a at Trent Bridge.

At at the break I had a chance to talk to Adrian Grayson

of Bedale fame and father of Grayson brothers..He was in 

good form and it was great to see him.

We watched three Durham wickets fall very quickly and

set off back to Headingly in a happy mood.On the radio it was Warwickshire v Gloucestershire, Tim  Bresnan batting for Warwick with Josh Shaw on the bowling side, both

ex Yorkshire players. On this theme it was good to see

Jack Leaning being involved in a record stand for Kent.

Jack Leaning in Yorkshire colours.

Aldborough at The Double

 posted by John Winn

About 70 years ago I saw cricket at Ingleton in County Durham when, towards the end of his career, my father played there for Haughton CC and twenty years later I was part of a Cockerton CC team that was bowled out for 34 on the same ground. At some point  ICC crossed the road to a new ground at Nursery End where Tony saw them in 2008 when they lost to East Cowton. Not long after this the club folded and the ground was neglected for best part of a decade until, with assistance from the Ingleton Parish Council, previously Bishop Auckland based outfit King James CC took up residency .Moles and moss having been controlled King James began playing there in 2019 and on Saturday I joined a small crowd watching them entertaining visitors Haughton II

When I arrived Haughton were batting and making good progress with some lusty hitting including a six into the adjacent barley. I got into conversation with a Haughton stalwart, 94 year old Albert who had preferred to travel to watch the seconds rather than first team action back in Darlington. I stayed for about an hour which included a long delay for a lost ball by which time Haughton had made 70 without loss and I was very surprised to see on the club website yesterday that the innings had concluded after 30 overs at 141 for 9 and even more surprised that King James had won by 9 wickets. No further details available. 

Ingleton, County Durham 

From Ingleton it is but a short drive to one of the most attractive grounds in this or any other area namely Cliffe Park on the Cliffe Estate near Piercebridge, a journey which involves crossing the River Tees back into North Yorkshire. For me the pedigree of this ground is the same as for Ingleton, I recall my dad playing there and personally being on the wrong end of a pasting in a cup game there in 1968. Cliffe II were at home to local rivals Aldborough St John II who were batting and thanks to 101 not out by opener Martyn Cox, next highest scorer extras with 29, 19 of which came in wides they reached 180 for 4.This proved enough but only just as Cliffe came within six runs of that total, top score Ian Hanmer with 44. 

Cliffe Park

The grounds of the two teams involved at Cliffe are less than three miles apart and the first teams were involved at Low Green, Aldborough St John, another very attractive ground where a good sized crowd had gathered. I arrived just as Cliffe were beginning their reply to Aldborough's 117. Tight bowling ramped up the tension as Cliffe could not get above two an over and things became a little frayed when a catch, which from my vantage point clearly did not carry to first slip, was turned down after consultation between the umpires. Cliffe fell 40 short and two run outs suggests things got a bit desperate against some very accurate bowling. Honours to Dan Smith who only conceded six runs in his seven overs.

Aldborough St. John

On my way home I dropped in at Lightmire Lane where Ouseburn II were taking on Thornton le Moor in a Nidderdale league Division Four game. Chasing 178 OCC after a disastrous start were 70 for 2 and with 'unsure' making 55 and receiving good support from the Jenkins brothers  father and son combination, John and Jonty Moorhouse saw them home by four wickets with five balls to spare. The result leaves them second to Markington in the table.  

Weekend in Harrogate

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Two days of cricket at St George's Road, Harrogate provided the entertainment last weekend. Starting on Saturday with the Yorkshire Premier League North game between Harrogate and Woodhouse Grange on the main ground and a Nidderdale League first division game between Harrogate thirds and Kirk Deighton on the junior ground.

Woodhouse Grange, a club situated almost in the middle of nowhere, was set up originally during the 1940s for the benefit of local farmworkers literally in a farmer's field. The nearest village is Sutton on Derwent and the nearest town is Pocklington. Over the years the ground has developed into two playing areas back to back with excellent facilities and the club now has a very thriving junior section.

They have a wonderful record in the National Village Cup between 1995 and 2015, having won the trophy at Lord's on four occasions and been runners up three times. They have lost one of their long serving batsmen Andrew Bilton who has moved to Dunnington this season, but are captained by his brother Chris, who proved to be the backbone of the batting almost single handed on Saturday.

Woodhouse Grange at Lord's 2015.

The Grange won the toss and batted and were in some trouble at 42-3. Gamble was caught at square leg by Allinson off Parker and then Abdi-Hasan Ahmed struck twice in two balls, having Young brilliantly caught one handed by Topham and then removing Henry Wilson's off stump first ball. Some improvement this from the Harrogate pace bowlers this season, where they are missing Tom Geeson-Brown who has apparently moved from Leeds Rhinos to Norwich City as sports nutritionist.

Chris Bilton took control of the innings, despite a middle order collapse when the spinners came on, and Woodhouse Grove struggled to 94-6. Tom Neal (14) then helped his skipper put on a valuable fifty runs for the seventh wicket and Josh Jackson assisted in another thirty stand. The Grange ended on 179-7 with Bilton narrowly missing out on his century on 94 not out. Second highest scorer, with several wides going for four, was extras with 38.

Harrogate started reasonably well in reply, until young Harry Allinson was bowled neck and crop by Tom Neal for 15. The batsman's disgust was very evident as he banged his bat on the ground and then as he neared the pavilion threw each item of equipment angrily to the ground. No need for that and time he grew up a bit. The experienced Henry Thompson stayed around, much as Bilton had done, and top scored with an excellent 70. The middle order just disintegrated against the spin of Josh Jackson who ended with 5-58, including four lbws. Thompson almost carried his bat, but was last man out and Harrogate's very young side were all out for 148 and lost by 31 runs.

Harrogate junior ground.

On the neighbouring junior field Harrogate thirds bowled out Kirk Deighton for 172 and knocked of the runs in fine style in only 28 overs to win by eight wickets. Skipper Robert Stanworth scoring a century off only 74 balls, which included twenty fours on this smallish ground where no sixes are permitted.

Sunday brought an action reply of last week's womens' double header between Yorkshire Women and the newly founded Northern Warriors from Durham and Northumberland. An even bigger crowd than last week with cars completely ringing the ground, many of course belonging to the two squads of players. Everyone enjoyed another splendid day in the sun and enjoyed the facilities of the balcony bar and barbecue later in the day organised by the new catering management team.

Yorkshire Women batting at Harrogate.

The first of the day's two T20 games went to Yorkshire, who won both games last weekend. A total of 142-4 with 42 from Heath and 64 not out from skipper Hollie Armitage proved too much for the visitors who could make only 70-8. Phoebe Graham, grand daughter of former Bradford League legend Peter Graham, was the star bowler with three wickets.

What counts as a full house on the popular side at Harrogate.

In the second game Yorkshire juggled their squad and batting order which seemed to help the Warriors gain their first ever victory. The visitors batted well with Jones 37 and Tipton 29 top scoring, but still only managed a below par score of 112-7. Trying to give everyone a bat backfired for Yorkshire who lost wickets at regular intervals, three of them to Robson and two brilliant run outs. One was a direct hit by Helen Fenby and another a very long accurate throw from the boundary edge by Lizzie Scott. In addition two excellent catches by Campbell from powerful shots into the covers brought about victory by just nine runs for the Warriors.

High summer at Harrogate.

One must say however that Yorkshire's running between wickets was the main reason for their downfall. Darlow made a valuable 38 but most of these came in singles. If the players had run the first one hard and put pressure on the fielders they could have turned ones into twos. Perhaps they should watch a video of Root and Bairstow batting together to show how it can be done.

A day out for families at Harrogate.

However only a minor criticism as womens' cricket generally has come a long way in recent seasons and most of the fielding today was exceptional.

Turned out nice again - eventually

 Posted by Tony Hutton

For the professional cricket watchers of this world, starved of their staple daily diet of cricket as they are, the search for obscure fixtures taking place where they can is another full time job. Trawling the internet can be a soul destroying job but just occasionally it can come up trumps. Yesterday revealed an unlikely game at Knaresborough Forest cricket club against the local branch of the Forty Club, an admirable organisation which provides middle aged cricketers with a whole host of midweek fixtures against clubs and schools (when such things are in operation).

The stage was set at Knaresborough Forest.

Promptly at 1.30 p.m. we were in position at this attractive ground in a bowl of what appears to have been an old quarry to the rear of the Cricketers Pub, which provides an ideal vantage point to watch the cricket from an elevated position behind the bowler's arm in it's beer garden. The players were in position, all in whites (another blessing) and all seemed well with the world. Unfortunately the feeling of well being all too soon ended abruptly. At the end of the first over loud music blared out from speakers in front of the pavilion and continued at regular intervals every time a boundary was scored or a wicket taken as well as between overs!

Calcutt Oval, Knaresborough

Knaresborough Forest Pavilion

Whose brilliant idea was this! One can only surmise it was not the choice of the visiting Forty Club members. Certainly not to the liking of local residents, beer drinkers in the pub garden or the handful of spectators. Probably only the person whose idea it was thought it of any benefit to the proceedings. It will not surprise regular readers to know that twenty minutes or so of this was enough and off we went.

View from the beer garden at Knaresborough Forest.

This was rather a shame as we later discovered, thanks to the play-cricket scorecard, that the home side made 200-6 in 40 overs and the visitors 162-9, which in olden times would have been regarded as a draw but today probably a victory by 38 runs. The odd point about this was that a a very well known batsman in local club cricket circles, one Geoffrey Barker, came in at number eleven for the Forty Club to make top score of 29 not out. Very strange, except he protected his long career average by notching up yet another not out!

Later in the day it was again the turn of the Headingley Evening League where New Rover were taking on St Chads in yet another of the interminable local derbies in the area of north Leeds. Plenty of room for social distancing, for the minority of people who take any notice of this, but again not ideal for old fashioned cricket watchers as St Chads turn out in yellow shirts, one of only two or three teams in this league who bother with such sad customs.

The yellows batting, but not for long.

However, as George Formby used to say it did eventually all turn out nice again. New Rover's opening bat Adam Patel provided exceptional entertainment, with the first century of this shortened season which we have witnessed. His innings was peppered with a whole series of enormous sixes into neighbouring fields and one which must have almost reached the adjacent Leeds Ring Road. He was finally out for 107 as the home side's total reached over 200 for the loss of only four wickets.

Runs a plenty in the New Rover innings.

Another huge six from Adam Patel at New Rover.

Nice to see New Rover take the field all in white when St. Chads two men in yellow started their response. Sadly the visitors had no response to the daunting target and were all out for 89 in 15.1 overs.Only three batsmen reached double figures with the difficult name of number five, Tom Erxleben, not a typing error, top scoring with 35. All seven New Rover bowlers got at least one wicket so you could say a good team performance. However, no doubt whatsoever about the man of the match, centurion Adam Patel who made the whole day memorable after rather a bad start. Turned out nice again after all.

Applause for Adam Patel as the centurion leaves the field.

Female cricketers emerge from lockdown

Posted by Tony Hutton

Sunday 2nd August saw our first women's cricket of the season when Yorkshire Women took on a new side the Northern Warriors, created from the counties of Durham and Northumberland, at St George's Road, Harrogate. The format, which seems to have become the norm, was two T20 games, the first of which got underway at 10.30 a.m. With the current regulations being strictly observed car parking was at something of a premium, with presumably all twenty two players plus coaches etc travelling in their own vehicles. This added to the quite frequent comment of 'more cars than people' evident at several sporting events.

Harrogate have new ground sponsors this season.

Good to see Yorkshire's county team back in action after being swallowed up by various national competitions, with players appearing from far and wide. Particularly pleasing to see Hollie Armitage, Yorkshire's very own talisman back in good form, after severe injury problems, with a splendid fifty in the first match total of 138-4. The Warriors never really challenged against some experienced bowlers like Langston, Thompson and Levick and only an innings of 29 from Ami Campbell stood out. A final total of 94-8 gave Yorkshire a comfortable victory by 44 runs.

League cricket at Harrogate last weekend.

The second game in the afternoon, after a short rain break, was a much closer affair. The Warriors batted first this time and a fine 49 from Layla Tipton and 21 not out from Jones helped them to a competitive total of 112-4. This time Yorkshire were made to work hard for their runs and an innings of 35 from North held them together and led to a last over victory by five wickets. Only one qualified umpire was available, who had the unfortunate job of doing both ends and must have ended up  with aching arms as he had to signal what appeared to be a world record of wide balls! However a good day's entertainment which will be repeated again next Sunday, 9th August, when the same two teams will do battle again with a 10.30 start at the same venue.

Convincing win for North Leeds

Posted by Tony Hutton

League cricket close to home on Saturday afternoon provided an interesting game at The Homestead, home of North Leeds cricket club who took on village side Follifoot, near Harrogate, in the first division of the Airedale and Wharfedale Senior cricket league. More often than not my previous visits to this pleasant spot, on the edge of Roundhay Park, have been for the annual Boxing Day fixtures with the Northern Cricket Society. So it was a pleasant change to see cricket on a sunny afternoon, with quite a reasonable gathering of local spectators.

The home side batted first and the visitors were soon on top with four early wickets by the time fifty runs were on the board. Opening bowler Istikhar Hussain did most of the damage dismissing all of the top three in the order. Nuaman Khan at number five improved the situation with a brisk 36, but nobody threatened to play a big innings. The score had plodded along somewhat in mid innings and it required the advent of captain and wicket keeper Dominic Cowley, at number nine, to rescue proceedings. 

The total had slumped to 171-9 by the time last man Archie Ralphs joined his skipper and the early thoughts of two hundred plus now looked a very distant prospect. However Cowley took control of the situation especially when Istikhar had bowled out with exemplary figures of 15-3-29-6. With careful manipulation of the strike Cowley contrived to hit eight fours in an innings of 44 from only 45 balls in an unbroken tenth wicket partnership of 49.

With the two hundred mark passed with ease, even the last man was confident to take strike at the end and managed to hit a four of his own as the total reached the remarkable figure of 220-9 in the fifty overs. Cowley looked to have made top score until it was realised that the extras total was even higher with no less than 45, of which 25 were wides!

The Follifoot reply was rather a sad affair as only three batsmen reached the twenties and two of them were run out. Wickets fell at regular intervals throughout the innings, with the best bowling figures going to Taran Chana with 3-27 and Tom Hudson 3-30. So a convincing victory for the home side, their second win in three games, which leaves them in fifth place in the table some way behind leaders Otley and Rawdon, who have both won all three matches.