John Fuller

Foreward to Scarborough with Sir Michael Parkinson

February 11, 2019 by John Fuller

I am delighted to share the news that Sir Michael Parkinson has written the foreword to my new book on the Scarborough Cricket Festival, that’s out in May.

It’s a privilege to have a broadcaster, journalist and author of Michael’s standing associated with my second cricket book and particularly apt, given there was the Michael Parkinson World XI in the Scarborough Cricket Festival between 1988 and 1990.

Desmond Haynes, Imran Khan and Dennis Lillee were just three of the stars in the side that walked out at North Marine Road in 1988. Were any of you there as Yorkshire won by 7 runs, courtesy of a hundred from David Byas?

The book celebrates the incredible atmosphere at Scarborough with a host of interviews of ex-players, coaches, club officials and fans within its pages. From Darren Lehmann to Geoffrey Boycott and Jim Love to Jacques Rudolph, there are fantastic stories from over the years.

Jason Gillespie talks about what Scarborough Cricket Club means to him, John Helm re-lives the Festival on Yorkshire TV and the Yorkshire CCC Chief Executive Mark Arthur discusses the future.

Like cricket at Scarborough? You won’t want to miss this…

HOW TO PRE-ORDER

You can pre-order a signed, limited-edition hardback, priced £17.99 including postage, and as part of that offer, you’ll have the name of your choice printed in the list of subscribers at the back of the book.

Exploring Remarkable Village Cricket Grounds

January 17, 2019 by John Fuller

Remarkable Village Cricket Grounds by Brian Levison is a treasure map that has sat on my office desk for months. I have flicked through and marvelled but now a new year demands an expedition or two.

The eye-catching hardback with evocative, glossy photographs of cricket grounds, by David Major and Jill Mead and complemented by Brian’s background biographies, makes you want to fire up the Sat Nav or dig out a rail timetable.

From a Yorkshire perspective, there are plenty of clubs to choose from within the book’s list that nearly reaches its century. From Haworth to Honley and Saltaire to Sicklinghall, you won’t be disappointed.

I’ve featured many of those clubs before here on Cricket Yorkshire but below are a few I’ve yet to get to. More broadly, the book achieves what it sets out in capturing some of the most photogenic grounds in the country.

I’ve picked out three Yorkshire grounds I’ve yet to visit and will try to get to before too long. Beyond Yorkshire, the book features 18 other counties from the thatched beauty of Bridgetown in Somerset to the craggy fells of Cumbria where Keswick are based.

Kildale

To the West of Stokesley, on the fringe of the North York Moors National Park is Kildale Cricket Club, who play in the Langbaurgh Cricket League on Saturdays and the Esk Valley Evening League for some T20.

Kildale’s appeal is that it’s simple, rural cricket where those in whites get to turn over their arm or loft it past square leg’s head within a gorgeous, verdant amphitheatre. John Winn wrote an engaging article if you want to learn more about the lesser-known delights of the Langbaurgh Cricket League.

Mytholmroyd

Mytholmroyd is another example of idyllic village cricket within the Aladdin’s Cave that is the Halifax Cricket League. I have waxed lyrical before about the likes of Triangle and Queensbury on this website and Mytholmroyd looks to be another peaceful landscape where white dots scurry around a lush green chessboard.

There is plenty of literary kudos in Mytholmroyd as the birthplace of late poet laureate Ted Hughes and I’ve been reading the Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers about the counterfeiters gang called the Cragg Vale Coiners. A summer walk with some league cricket has just shot up the list of priorities.

Hovingham

Yorkshire has every form of cricket ground you can care to think of. While some can be located tucked in rugged landscapes or within a city limits, there’s something about playing your home games slap bang next to a country pile.

Hovingham Hall is believed to be the oldest private cricket ground in England and has been home to the Worsley family since 1563. Am I the only one thinking it wouldn’t take much of a hit to reach those windows?

Remarkable Village Cricket Grounds by Brian Levison illustrates and celebrates what it says on the cover and is available to buy via Waterstones and other retailers. Further details are available on the Pavilion Books website.

Freedoms and forward-defences: Bats, Balls and Bradford Girls

January 11, 2019 by John Fuller

Picture Shows: Sabeha
(C) RAW TV Ltd – Photographer: Gussy Sakula-Barry

The BBC Three film Bats, Balls and Bradford Girls is an absolute must-see documentary available on iPlayer. There are moments of wit, courage, selflessness and from the accents to the urban landscape, it is unmistakably Yorkshire.

At its heart are the stories from an Asian girls’ cricket team who formed at Carlton Bolling College in Bradford and grabbed headlines by becoming county and then North of England champions.

Along the way, they have broken down cultural barriers in the Muslim community by showing that girls can play cricket too and also do their families proud. They’ve had to push against strongly-held views that girls should not be involved in sport but study and stay at home instead.

Bats, Balls and Bradford Girls is the reunion of the girls cricket team for one final tournament after their GCSEs. It is a challenging time without the routine of school and the critics and doubters have not gone away.

It is a delight to spend some time in the company of the narrator, Zainab, a star bowler who is chaperoned to games by her dad, Sajid. That dynamic is in contrast to a team-mate Hanfia, who was kicked out of school but tempted back by the lure of playing cricket but her mum is supportive of her push to begin a creative course in Leeds.

Made by Raw

It is a documentary that will surprise and sadden but it’s impossible not be swept along by the bubbly camaraderie between the girls, despite the prejudices they are faced with. We also meet Jasmin whose family are Rohingya and fled persecution from Myanmar.

She was born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh after her father died and now cares for her mother who is partially paralysed and unable to feed herself. Jasmin is a talented young sportswoman who has turned down a football scholarship in America to focus on the daily realities of being a carer.

Cricket has given these girls a way to socialise and to be themselves but I’m left worrying for their futures and hoping they get the chance to be whatever they want to be.

BBC scheduling is probably no less convoluted than trying to placate everyone who tears their hair out at the county cricket calendar – but I wish this had been on BBC One or BBC Two with its bigger audiences.

It has made me think about the challenges in different communities but also the dangers of one-eyed cultural stereotyping and questions over integration. Many of the girls idolise Joe Root and are beside themselves at getting a selfie with Jonny Bairstow.

They have found cricket just at the time (in their teens) when the game has such struggles with retention. Will they continue their involvement?

On the eve of the BBC Three film being broadcast, I spoke to Sabeha Salam (above), 17, who was one of the girls in the team. She is doing some voluntary coaching at the Karmand Centre in Bradford.

It’s for the Wicketz programme, delivered in the city by the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, that supports 8-16 year-olds in areas of deprivation who don’t have easy access to sport.

Sabeha is initially nervous on the phone, I can’t imagine she gets too many press requests before her 18th birthday. But, like a batsman who becomes more comfortable after a few overs at the crease, she comes out of her shell soon enough.

She’s an all-rounder who likes bowling and firing down yorkers at batsmen but has only been playing cricket for three years, since getting involved at Carlton Bolling: “I just joined it for the fun of it then I started to like it. My coaches were encouraging me.”

Now at Bradford College, Sabeha is taking charge of indoor cricket sessions and looking forward to getting involved with games when summer arrives, as well as trying to set up a Bradford College girls team.

She has done her ECB Coach Support Worker course and with the help of Nasa Hussain, the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation’s Community Development Officer for Bradford, there’s scope to go on and progress further.

The publicity around the Carlton Bolling girls cricket team was considerable and they became role models for other girls wanting to tread the same path and win more freedom. Now, Sabeha plans to use this momentum to help others follow in her footsteps:

“I still want to carry on with cricket. My family wants me to do it. Cricket’s my passion but I also want to coach to encourage other people. I want them to think positive and have fun.”

Importantly, Sabeha has the backing of her family who naturally want the best for her. As she puts it herself, she has to put her head down in her Health and Social Care course for sure but can also embrace the other targets in life.

One of which seems to be taking her cricket seriously and seeing where it leads. It needn’t be one life choice or the other after all. The overriding feeling you’re left with is one of admiration for these forward-thinking young women and who knows where their cricket journey goes next?

What do you think?

Have your say about the article and the BBC documentary on Twitter by tweeting @cricketyorks or leaving a comment on the Cricket Yorkshire Facebook page.