Abeysekara dazzles Stamford Bridge as Harrogate win

Not so much a battle but a skirmish.

I can hear the collective groan, “Not Harrogate again! You only visited there last week!”. I know…I know. Apologies, but hear me out.

I headed to St. George’s Road last week when the weather was poor, knowing I had two potential games to cover, in two different leagues.

I originally intended to cover the first team’s Yorkshire Premier League game against Driffield Town, but that game was delayed by four hours, and I ended up featuring the Harrogate fourth XI game against Rainton in the Theakston Nidderdale League.

First team coverage

I somehow haven’t managed to cover a first-team game this season, so vowed to head down to the Kirbys Solicitors County Ground before the season came to an end and get some photos of a team that is in a rich vein of form at the moment.

I was thinking of making this visit in a few weeks’ time but sitting down and planning around the teams and grounds I still wanted to see this season (yes – I do try to make plans and not make it up as I go along), I realised that it was sensible to get this particular trip done sooner rather than later.

There would be no issues with the weather this week, as it was a rather muggy summer’s day with no rain forecast at all. Unusual in these times, but welcome.

The playing surface has changed dramatically since the first weekend of the season when it was a mixture of muddy brown and dark patches of wet green. It is now an almost uniform bright green, pretty much in peak condition, and as the teams were to find out – a bowler’s pitch.

I arrived at the ground and parked up as the players were emerging from the pavilion. I really hate getting to games when they are about to start as I always feel like I’m being hurried to get into place on the boundary rope.

Camera, cricket, action!

A quick rummage through the camera bag and I pulled out one of the oldest cameras I own, popped on the big lens, and switched it on to format the cards and check the battery charge.

Monopod attached, seat picked up, and car boot closed…I headed down to the nearest point of the oval and settled down to get my bearings and take a proper look around the ground to see what was going on.

Looking at the pavilion, there were quite a few people sitting outside. There also seemed to be a birthday party going on at The Balcony upstairs.

To my left, the grass embankment that overlooked the ground was parked up with a line of cars and a decent number of spectators sitting on folding chairs that they had brought with them.

The visitors to St. George’s on Saturday were Stamford Bridge, a team that haven’t had the best of seasons, having won only three games and lost nine. They are hovering towards the bottom of the Premier League and are in danger of being relegated.

Conversely, Harrogate have won nine and lost only three games this season, sitting third in the league, chasing Castleford and Clifton Alliance at the top of the table.

Bridge won the toss and decided to bat first, and to be fair got off to a pretty good start, with openers Martyn Woodliffe and Christopher Wood looking solid at the crease, defending well and scoring runs regularly.

It looked like it was going to be one of those frustrating days for the home team, as they seemed to be struggling to get wickets.

How wrong an impression that was.

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The opening pair had put on 76 runs and reached the 17th over, looking like they had settled in for the afternoon when Ishan Abeysekara struck, bowling Martyn Woodliffe who had scored 30.

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Two overs later and Ishan struck not once, but twice, getting the remaining opener Christopher Wood for 43 runs, and then James Pick.

Next over that Ishan bowled and another two wickets. Then in his next over…another two wickets! Something special was happening!

I chatted briefly to one of the Stamford Bridge players who had been dismissed, and was told the ball was turning a lot, and given how good Abeysekara is with the ball…it was paying dividends for the home team.

‘Gate’s Jack Shutt joined in, catching Matt Beckett leg before, with the visitors having just about reached their century.

An opening ball dispatched for six in the 29th over was followed by Ishan getting his eighth wicket of the innings as Richard Bannister was caught by William Harwood. Stamford Bridge ended the over on 110 runs, with only one wicket remaining.

Three overs and five runs later, it was all over as Jack Shutt got his second wicket, trapping David Chaplin leg before wicket.

With the ground being quite large, a total of 115 is around 50 runs short of a defendable total. It would take a really huge effort by the Bridge bowlers to save this game.

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Ishan Abeysekara had been the star, taking eight wickets for just 41 runs; a devastating display of spin bowling.

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It was time for something to eat and drink, so I headed inside and grabbed a soft drink from The Balcony and asked what food they had on.

They had a visiting kitchen set up outside, providing street food, so I ordered fully loaded fries and halloumi, and wandered to watch the game taking place on the ground behind the Pavilion.

Settling down on my seat [while I waited for my food to be ready], I took a few photos of the Harrogate Thirds who were playing Knaresborough Forest Firsts in a Theakston Nidderdale Division Two fixture.

Pitchside service

After a few minutes, a tap on the shoulder and I was handed my delicious-looking food. To be honest, I was a little surprised as I wasn’t expecting to have pitch-side service!

The last time this happened was at Bramham International Horse Trials, when the media had lunch served on silver platters while sitting next to the water jumps at the bottom of the cross-country course (I can confirm that sandwiches taste so much better when provided this way).

Now, please don’t think this happens regularly – the Bramham sandwich silver service happened back in 2016 but lives long in the memory!

The food on Saturday tasted every bit as good as it looked. I can highly recommend Jack in a Box Street Food (you can find them on Instagram as @jackinaboxcatering).

Suitably fed and watered, I could see the first team heading out, so I wandered back to the boundary rope to see what Stamford Bridge could do in response.

Could they get the ball turning as much as Ishan, to cause problems for Harrogate?

I had imagined that the game could go two ways…either Stamford Bridge managing to turn the ball and get wickets, or Harrogate would hit big and get the game done quickly.

By the tenth over, the home team had scored just 31 runs without loss and it appeared that the game would take a while to reach some sort of conclusion.

It was the 13th over when Harrogate lost their first wicket, Ben Carr being run out for 20 runs, with the team on 42. Could this be a start of something?

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The crowd in front of the pavilion was growing by this stage and I noticed a few familiar faces from years gone by, including George Ross, who was the captain in 2016 when Harrogate won the league. George was at the ground for the club’s Past Players’ Day, and it was good to see so many attending.

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By the 24th over, Harrogate had doubled their score and lost their second wicket. This hadn’t been an explosive innings – it was more assured and evenly paced. The home team were playing with a confidence, knowing the game was won and weren’t taking risks.

With such a low total being chased, even the singles being run were hurting Stamford Bridge, and by the 29th over, Henry Thompson hit a four to reach his half-century and inevitably guide Harrogate over the finish line (winning by eight wickets).

The win keeps Harrogate in touch with the top two (both won their games on Saturday); meanwhile Stamford Bridge dropped to second from bottom as a result of the loss.

Next week I’ll hopefully, weather permitting, be travelling to a ground I haven’t been to for nearly a decade…but you’ll have to wait to find out all about that!

MATCH PHOTOS

Want to read more?

Thank you, Mark, for capturing the highlights of Harrogate CC 1XI v Stamford Bridge CC 1XI in Yorkshire Premier League North.

Here are all of Mark’s articles and photos on Cricket Yorkshire.

To see more of his photography, you can visit caughtlight.com or he’s @caughtlight on Twitter/X.

There’s also the Caught Light Photography Facebook page.

I also highly recommend his blog called Leica Moments that include days out at grounds around North Yorkshire.