Andrew’s ground-hopping: 11 cricket grounds in Yorkshire

I’ve done quite a few more cricket-watching miles – inside and outside Yorkshire – than my 2024 Miles Per Gallon reports suggest.

Nice to reflect, briefly, on visits to 11 Yorkshire grounds which, for one reason or another, didn’t receive a ‘full’ write-up.’

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One sultry June evening, I was very pleased finally to see cricket at the historic Park Avenue ground in Bradford.

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My only other visit had taken place in the late 1970s, when the adjacent football ground, and a shared, back-to-back grandstand, was still in place.

I went along, with my late father, and friend of his and his friend’s son, to watch a Sunday League game between Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Owing to the cloudy, occasionally wet weather, we didn’t see a ball bowled. 

During the afternoon, the friend’s son and I, bored of the hanging about, went off to explore the abandoned football ground, eventually to be demolished in 1980.

Looking back, I am amazed we didn’t plunge through rotten floorboards and break a leg.

In 2024, the Park Avenue cricket facilities are a bit of a halfway house.

The Dome netting facility, built on part of the former football pitch, and adjacent support building, is impressively state-of-the-art.

But parts of the ground itself, shorn of its pavilion, continue to crumble. I guess the amount required to restore Park Avenue to its former glory is prohibitive.

It does boast one of the most memorable backdrops at any Yorkshire ground: the Al-Jamia Suffa-Tul-Islam Grand Mosque, on the far side of Horton Park Avenue, not far from the site of a railway station that once transported thousands to cricket and football.

The game, the Bradford Inter-League Charity Cup T20, was won by a Quaid e Azam Premier League XI, who defeated, by three wickets, a Bradford Premier League XI.

Danish Hussain scored 65 for the winners, Steven Bullen 45 for the losers.

Three weeks earlier, I visited Saxton Cricket Club – and was blown away by the quality of their facilities.

Saxton, a tiny village, south of Tadcaster, were playing Copmanthorpe, in a Foss Evening League, Division Four fixture.

The super-smart, corner pavilion at Saxton is a visual treat. Its design is echoed by the scorebox opposite. A lovely touch.

Fringed by mature trees, the pitch has an intimate feel. A grass bank, along its west side, provides onlooker elevation.

Thanks chiefly to an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership between Andrew John Raison (38 not out) and James Hunt (30 not out), Saxton won, by seven wickets. 

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The Saxton ground is very close to the site of the 1461 Battle of Towton, the bloodiest event of the Wars of the Roses. Naturally, historians cannot agree how many died. Anything, it seems, between 3,000 and 28,000!

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Before the cricket, on a breezy, intermittently sunny afternoon, I walked a chunk of the Towton Battlefield Trail, threading a shallow, wooded valley. 

As I find with most battlefields, it is difficult to conjure, in one’s imagination, dramatic events of – in this case – five-and-a-half centuries ago.

A few days before the trip to Park Avenue, I paid an unexpected visit to Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club.

Gridlocked M62 traffic – it took 45 minutes to cover the six miles between junctions 27 (Birstall) and 26 (Chain Bar) – forced me to abandon plans to watch a Huddersfield League fixture at second tier Slaithwaite Cricket Club.

A quick check of nearby, unvisited options suggested my best alternative was a Halifax League derby between Premier Division neighbours Sowerby Bridge and Copley.

Bailing from the M62 at Chain Bar, I dropped into the Calder Valley – barely a handful of miles from where I did most of my growing up – via the A58, Halifax and King Cross.

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The Sowerby Bridge ground, next to the flood-prone Calder, is a perfect reflection of the district: signs of industry, certainly at its east end, coupled with stunning scenery.

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After repeated floods, Sowerby Bridge have redesigned their pavilion, to alleviate the worst of any future inundations.

Out of harm’s way, the first-floor bar is tastefully presented. Beyond picture windows, a balcony provides a grand platform from which to watch the cricket.

On a glorious afternoon, Sowerby Bridge, propping up the league table, were beaten by six wickets. Gav Whipp (54) and Oliver Thorpe (3-53) were fifth-placed Copley’s key contributors. For the hosts, James Taylor scored 45.

Despite a far from promising weather forecast, I chanced, also in June, a midweek visit to the spacious Farndale Avenue ground of Northallerton Town Cricket Club.

Third Division leaders Town hosted Hartlepool, second in the Premier Division, in round one of the North Yorkshire & South Durham Premier League’s Collingwood Hundred.

Having checked out Town’s admirable facilities – dominated, from the east, by a two-storey pavilion – I settled down to watch what proved to be a one-sided tie.

Despite lacking absent county professionals Johnny Bushnell (Durham) and Yash Vagadia (Yorkshire), fielding five Second XI players, and being handed a 48-run handicap, Hartlepool won, by 45 runs.

With cloud building, from the west, it was very much a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ the rain would arrive. Eventually, it bucketed down – for about 20 minutes.

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When the game resumed, the pavilion was lit by a brilliant setting sun. Yet beyond its roof was the inky blackness of the retreating storm. A dramatic spectacle!

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For the first time, this season, I watched two ties in the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League’s Mick Savage Trophy, a knockout competition, celebrating a Darfield Cricket Club legend, for clubs in divisions One and Two.

A not overly warm August Sunday found me at King George’s Playing Field, for a semi-final between hosts Warmsworth and Division One rivals Upper Haugh.

Very pleasant park setting, I thought, with an impressive redbrick pavilion. Thankfully, owing to its location in a cutting, the adjacent A1 was neither seen nor heard. 

I perched at the south end, next to and beneath a disused, tree covered railway embankment. A local told me it had been part of a short branch line serving the Yorkshire Main colliery at Edlington.

The trees would have offered useful shade – had the sun put in an appearance!

Looking up a gently sloping pitch, I saw Warmsworth win, by two wickets, after a tense finish.

There were two half-century makers: Dean Smith made an unbeaten 55 for Upper Haugh, Siddarth Ahhuja 50 for Warmsworth.

Also, this season, I broke my duck in the Harrogate & District Evening League. 

Having now ‘done’ all four divisions of the Foss Evening League, I can foresee the big Harrogate comp providing entertainment on a few 2025 summer evenings.

In mid-June, amid simply perfect conditions for cricket, I popped over to Scotton Cricket Club, whose tidy little ground is located on the edge of a similarly appealing village.

Scotton no longer have a Saturday team, but I was told their well-tended ground is used, at weekends, by the Third and Fourth XIs of the Knaresborough Forest club.

The north end, not far from the ground’s neat pavilion, was the ideal spot from which to watch Scotton edge, by three runs, Addison Cup semi-final opponents Knaresborough.

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Knaresborough, who were unbeaten in the Harrogate Evening League’s Division One, needed six runs off the last over then four from the final ball. 

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But Third Division Scotton’s Josh Barnard (3-15 from four) took two wickets in that last over, the second dismissing the visitors, who fell agonisingly short of a modest target.

Australian Blake Weymouth, Knaresborough’s rated young overseas amateur, claimed 2-4 from four then, opening, contributed 27 (from 21).

A Scotton player, unable to start because of a tea-time traffic-induced late arrival, did get on the field, belatedly, when he replaced a team-mate who had tweaked a hamstring. Just no time to change out of his leisurewear and source some spikes!

Another sunny evening, towards the end of July, took me to Nawton Grange Cricket Club, for a Ryedale Beckett League fixture with their Division One rivals Great Habton. The game had been arranged for a Monday; not ,generally, a busy day for midweek cricket.

With the Beckett Recreation Ground located next to the A170 Helmsley-Pickering road, I’d passed Nawton Grange’s home on numerous occasions. Good to ‘tick’ it off!

Hemmed in by mature trees

The ground’s smart, modern pavilion, shared with fellow site users Kirkdale United Football Club (the pitches overlap), is positioned at the A170 end.

I opted for a vantage point within the overlap, looking down the wicket, towards the bank of mature trees that hems in the ground to east and north.

Nawton Grange, desperate for points in a battle with Duncombe Park to avoid the division’s relegation spot, went down, to third-bottom visitors, by 83 runs.

Jack Corner (36) and Sam Owen (33) shone with the bat for Nawton Grange, for whom Jack Garrity – a professional jockey, I was told – then took 3-6 and Tom Owen 3-12.

Much closer to home – had I felt more energetic, I could’ve walked to the ground – was a revisit to Clifton Park, to take in a mid-June game on York Cricket Club’s second pitch.

It may be a second pitch, but it boasts a superb pavilion, dedicated to former York captain and ex-Cheshire player Dan Woods, who died, at 32, in 2020.

In a Foss Evening League fixture, York beat, by six wickets, Division One (and cross-town) rivals Ovington.

Defeat was hard on Ovington’s Tom Armes, who scored an unbeaten 63 – more than half his team’s total. 

But York’s batting strength in depth – Ashton Wilson 31 not out, Cameron Hall 26, Matt Swaddle 22 – proved decisive.

Two other grounds I squeezed into 24 hours in July: the Scarborough Beckett League’s Scalby Cricket Club and the North Yorkshire & South Durham Premier League’s Bedale Cricket Club.

At Scalby, a remote-feeling ground accessed via a bumpy, potholed track, I saw Staxton win, by 36 runs, a Cayley Premier Division Cup semi-final.

Scalby have a modern, wood-clad pavilion, shared with the village’s football club.

The Wrea Head Hall Hotel overlooks the site. It was built, in 1881, as a desirable residence for John Edward Ellis MP, grandson of a former Midland Railway chairman.

Cayley Premier Division Cup

Staxton’s Kyle Outhart (45) and Dylan Bolton (33) featured in a first-wicket stand worth 77. Unusually, all nine of the visitors’ wickets were catches.

Scalby’s reply began well: openers Lachlan Cooke (41) and Kristian Johnson (38) put on 45. Once Cooke went, however, the hosts lost momentum.

Bedale’s open, rather exposed ground, a low, large clubhouse at its west end, is also laid out side-by-side with the pitch of football counterparts.

Certainly, I caught the Wensleydale men in hot form: they battered Darlington’s Second XI, by 93 runs, in a quarter-final of the NYSD’s Division One Hundred.

Telling contributions from Bedale’s Australian overseas Dom Coote (46 not out off 24), George Spink (46), James Kelly (45) and Dan Rafiq (35). Bedale made 199-2!

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To be frank, it has not been much of a summer for weather. Yet Bilton-in-Ainsty Cricket Club, in late May, is the only ground at which I’ve been stymied.

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A hefty shower resulted in the start being delayed two hours. I saw only 50 minutes’ cricket before the rain returned, forcing the abandonment of a Championship West fixture, with Malton & Old Malton, in the Yorkshire Premier League North.

If nothing else, the need to be ‘indoors’ at least afforded ample opportunity to admire Bilton’s wonderful pavilion. As you can imagine, it got busy in there!

📸 Photo: Mark / Caught Light Photography – caughtlight.com

With the blessing of a friendly landlord, Bilton’s ground has changed quite a bit in recent years. From what was said on the day of my visit, more changes could happen.

The action I did witness wasn’t lacking incident. On a wicket generating variable bounce, Malton & Old Malton – relegated from the Premier Division in 2023 – slumped from 29-1 to 39-5. Two wickets went down with their score on 35 then two more at 39.

Pacer Matt Ross (4-10 from seven overs) and Rory Coe (2-36 from six) wreaked havoc after Shaun Harland (24) and Jordan Ludgater (11) had put on 29 for the first wicket. Such a shame the rain had the last word.

Now, I wonder what 2025 has in store?

Enjoyed the read?

You can check out other club visits by Andrew in his column, Miles Per Gallon.

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