Bradford Premier League: Wrenthorpe win the Battle of Adwalton

Visiting cricket grounds and sites of famous battles. Would that combo work for you?

I gave it a shot last week: Saxton Cricket Club (Foss Evening League, Division Four) and the Battle of Towton (1461); Northallerton Town Cricket Club (North Yorkshire & South Durham Premier League, Collingwood Hundred, Round One) and the Battle of the Standard (1138); Adwalton Cricket Club (Bradford Premier League, Division Three) and the Battle of Adwalton Moor (1643).

From a cricket perspective, I saved the best match until last. Adwalton’s game with Wrenthorpe, a meeting of fourth and third, behind tearaway leaders Great Preston, turned out to be the most interesting contest I’ve witnessed this season.

In pursuit of Adwalton’s 273 from 49 overs, Wrenthorpe put on 69 for the first wicket before slipping to 79-4 then 159-7. From there, however, Muhammad Addas (61 not out off 91 balls) and Mounam Ejaz (77 not out off 51) steered the visitors to 277-7 from 40.1. As comfortable a win as, at one stage, it appeared unlikely. 

Addas’s and Ejaz’s unbroken partnership for the eighth wicket was worth 118. Victory was secured when the confident Ejaz struck, for six, behind the scorebox, the first delivery of the 41st over. More shortly.

For years, I was told, Adwalton Cricket Club didn’t really have a badge. Rather nicely, though, they now do – crossed swords and a lobster-tailed pot helmet – reflecting the village’s connection to the Civil War’s Battle of Adwalton Moor, during which (in case you’re wondering) the Royalists gave the Parliamentarians a hell of a beating.

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A non-user of satnav, I had a job finding Adwalton’s ground, the tongue-in-cheek titled ACG. It is hidden away, amid a maze of residential streets, all of which look alike and all of which have the prefix ‘Moorside’. Must be a tough place to deliver the mail. 

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After at least two wrong turns, I stopped, in neighbouring Drighlington, to seek advice. “Oh, it’s the other side of the village,” informed a woman, walking with a friend.

After a moment’s thought, she suggested I turn right, after the lights, the pharmacy and the Seven-Eleven Chinese.

“I think it’s Fairfax Avenue. But I’ve never been up there [the cricket ground]. It’s in the middle of nowhere,” she added, in a tone suggesting only Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton might have attempted the expedition. 

Best entry to the ‘Moorside Maze’, I discovered, eventually, is Moorside Approach. Via Moorside Drive, Moorside Parade and Moorside Walk, I found myself on Moorside Green. A right turn, and the ground was visible, a hundred yards or so ahead. Phew!

Black-painted, wrought iron gates, with the club’s name and formation date, and decorative finials, picked out strikingly in silver, create a positive first impression.

There isn’t much parking at the ground (certainly not if you’ve had trouble getting there!), so I left the car on Moorside Vale. Until the mid-Seventies, most of what is now Moorside Green and Moorside Vale was, in fact, the Adwalton cricket ground. 

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Short of money, and with a pavilion that needed replacing, the club sold part of their land to a housing developer then relocated, immediately to the south.

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Today, the ACG is hemmed in, on all four sides, by houses. A taste of what life in a straitjacket might be like. Must admit, I loved it. You cannot beat a compact little ground, which afford the onlooker an opportunity to get very close to the guts of the action.

So constricted is the site, there is barely room for spectators. “We’d never stage a cup final,” a home supporter quipped.

Aside from a few benches and tables in front of and to each side of the two-storey clubhouse, the only other places to find a bench, or erect a chair, are the northeast and southeast corners, and on a shallow bank at the south end.

Catch netting at Adwalton

Adding to the sensation of enclosure is tall ‘catch’ netting, protection for windows and windscreens, running the length of the east and west (which features an odd kink) sides, and across the north end. During the off season, these doubtless intrusive ‘catch’ nets are brought down. 

Just one example of the Adwalton club’s determination to maintain cordial relations with their neighbours. It works, too. At least three residents watched the game from their back gardens. Via their own gates, in the ground’s perimeter fence, a couple of them even ventured into the ground. You don’t see that often!

This really is a smashing arena in which to watch cricket.

Must be fun to play here, too. The pitch is small, notably side-to-side. You’ll not witness many twos or threes scored, and there isn’t much margin for fielding error.

From the south end bank (nice to get above the play!), you can look straight down the wicket, after which the pitch falls away. Anyone fielding on the boundary, in the northeast corner, is invisible below the thighs.

You’re high up – the clue is in the name, Adwalton Moor – which means there is a view. Beyond the roof tiles and chimney pots of Moorside Green is the north flank of the Aire Valley.

. . .

Sharp eyes will detect planes, their wings and fuselages glinting in the sun, taking off from Leeds-Bradford airport, Yeadon way. Get in exactly the right spot, and you can pick out Ilkley Moor, to the northwest.

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The Adwalton club have spent £60,000 in the last five years, improving facilities at the ACG. Committee and players work hard to raise money.

At present, a new, large home dressing room is being added to the tall clubhouse, which, located in the northwest corner, dominates the ground. Should be finished in a few weeks. Access to the new home dressing room, above the beer store, will be via the recently refurbished tearoom.

A bar and function room, tastefully decorated in darker shades, occupy the clubhouse’s ground floor, with the dressing rooms and players’ balcony above. The descent, on a metal staircase, from dressing rooms to pitch, must rival, for going A over T potential, especially in cricket spikes, that at Huddersfield League club Rastrick.

Two pleasing memorials I spotted: the scorebox is dedicated to Peter Goor, formerly a tireless worker for the club; and a bench, at the south end, to Stuart Jackson, who died in 2022. The inscription reads: His ability was stronger than his disability.

. . .

It was windy. Boy, was it windy. The groundkeepers would see it as ‘drying’ weather.

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Adwalton have an interesting history. They started, in 1871, as the cricket section of the White Hart Social & Sports Club. Matches took place behind the eponymous coaching inn, now pub, on Adwalton Lane (now Wakefield Road), above the former Feast ground, at the bottom of Moorside Green. 

In 1875, the cricket club adopted the name Adwalton Queen Elizabeth. Reputedly, Queen Elizabeth I once slept at the White Hart. Mind you, Lizzie had a ‘freeloader’ reputation. Pitched up, anywhere, at all hours, expecting gratis board and lodging. Reputedly.

A 1920 merger with a local free church led to another name change: Adwalton Cricket & Athletic Club, which remains their official title. As well as the cricket, athletics, football and tennis were part of the club’s sporting activities. Galas, picnics, flower shows, band concerts and walking matches featured in the AC&AC’s social happenings.

Back in the Twenties, Adwalton was bigger and more important than neighbouring Drighlington, which then was little more than a crossroads.

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Adwalton boasted brickworks, coal mines, farms, railways (the nearby A650, the Wakefield to Bradford road, now uses an abandoned railway trackbed) and textile mills. Work was plentiful.

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Having contested local leagues, friendly fixtures and the well-known three-day Whitsun Gala games, Adwalton, the 1895 and undefeated 1907 Gildersome & District League champions, in 1908 became a founder member of the Bradford Central League. 

The club’s best years, which included lifting the 1945 Waddilove Trophy and a 1946 Division One championship, were the Forties and Fifties.

In 1949, Adwalton assured their future by reaching agreement, with a Mr Brennan, to buy the ground, for £500. Lean times in the Sixties and Seventies prompted, in 1974, that land sale for redevelopment. As outlined, Adwalton went south.

Adwalton had a flirtation, in the late Seventies, with the Dewsbury League. Finally, in 2009, they switched from the Bradford Central to the Central Yorkshire, which seven years later was absorbed by what is now the Bradford Premier League.

And, so, I return you to the Wrenthorpe game. Adwalton were looking to bounce back from the previous Saturday’s 130-run defeat at all-conquering Great Preston. That loss had seen them drop down the league table, from second place to fourth.

Put in, Adwalton began impressively, with Will Cutt (62 off 111), back at the ACG for 2024 after a season with fellow Bradford Premier Leaguers, Second Division Hopton Mills, and Matthew Donohoe (47 off 61) putting on 79 for the first wicket. 

When left-hander Cutt completed his half-century, Wrenthorpe started to look a bit disconsolate. Having constantly to accommodate a left-hand/right-hand batting combination cannot have helped. Sensing the mood, a fielder reminded: “Long way to go, boys. Come on!” At 164-3, however, things still looked pretty good for the hosts. 

. . .

Then, a wobble. 181-4 became 192-6. But captain Matty Waller (56 off 34 including two sixes) produced a timely knock in helping to add 59 for the eighth wicket. 

. . .

The two Wrenthorpe bowlers with whom Adwalton struggled to come to terms were Mustafa Idris (6-64 from 10), the visitors’ captain, and Parvaz Khan (4-89 from 15 including two maidens). “Wait until you see me bat,” the former told me.

Wrenthorpe’s reply set off at the speed of an LNER Azuma pulling out of York station. Wicketkeeper Imran Dawood (40 off 26) and Ubaid Zia (28 off 25) galloped to 69 inside six overs. 

Then, Adwalton’s former Middlesex and Sussex professional, Chris Batt (3-52 from nine), got amongst the wickets. His left-arm medium bowling earned two in one over. Some frankly silly shots saw the visitors subside from 69-1 to a parlous 79-4.

Amusingly, when the fourth wicket went down, the incoming batter, harried and slow to emerge from the dressing room, had been so busy getting ready, he didn’t even see the incident.

“How did he get out?” close fielders were asked.

Thrilled by this about-turn in fortunes, an Adwalton player bellowed: “Turn the screw, boys. Turn the screw.” Another warned: “Don’t leave it to Battsy to grab them all.”

Amid the poor decision-making, Addas, in at No 4, remained studiously calm. A steady accumulator of runs, he kept his head, whilst others lost theirs. Even so, winning, from 159-7, looked a stretch. Enter No 9, Ejaz. From the off, all flamboyance and aggression.

It was telling how the two brought up their half-centuries: Addas with a scampered single (taking the only risk of his innings, he just got home before a direct hit of the stumps); Ejaz with a bludgeoned six, one of six he belted, along with seven fours.

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We had controversy: Idris, the fifth batsman out, was caught, as low as you’ll see, by Dilip Sarathy, off Victoria-born Australian Nathan Cant (3-53 from eight).

. . .

The finger went up to dismiss Idris. Even a lengthy, on-pitch discussion, featuring both umpires, couldn’t change the verdict. 

It seemed like a turning point but, in the event, Addas and Ejaz were able to see the job through. Twenty match points enabled Wrenthorpe to leapfrog Crossbank Methodists into second place, 37 points behind 100 per centers Great Preston, who chalked up a seventh consecutive league victory, winning by 86 runs at Crossbank. Coincidentally, Crossbank are at Adwalton, still fourth, this Saturday (June 15, noon start).

Now, what other cricket/battlefield adventures might I consider?

I’ve been to most of the cricket clubs in the vicinity of the battles of Fulford (1066), Stamford Bridge (1066), Wakefield (1460) and York (867). Maybe, then, Ferrybridge Power Station Cricket Club and the Battle of Ferrybridge (1461) or Hatfield Town Cricket Club and the Battle of Hatfield Chase (633). 

** With grateful thanks to Reg Nelson, of the Bradford Premier League website, and to the Adwalton club’s Ian Lindley, for earlier research on which the historical information in this article is based.

Want to read more?

Check out these club cricket travels by Andrew this season in his Miles Per Gallon column.

We also have incredible match photography and travel writing from Mark of Caught Light.