Here’s the incredible tale of a Yorkshire university student getting the call to play in the world’s highest-profile T20 league. Ex-Leeds Bradford MCCU bowler Zafir Patel recalls swapping Bradford University for the Indian Premier League. *This article originally appeared in Cricket Yorkshire’s Best of 2013 Magazine.** It was a bitterly cold winter’s evening at Headingley […]
Cricket Games: Battrick – Hours of fun agonising over tactics
It’s Battrick deadline time. The clock ticks down. But not nearly fast enough for my liking. This is the world of free, addictive cricket games. The pressure of managing a club cricket team. Five minutes. Two minutes. Refresh the page for the umpteenth time and check the transfer market for updates. Nope, still the highest […]
Launching: Diary of a cricket writer
Hi everyone, we are all trying to wrap our heads around the extraordinary times in which we find ourselves. Here on Cricket Yorkshire, there will be plenty to digest and ponder in the coming month and I’ve been mulling over how to add something new for website readers. What I’ve come up with is a […]
Coronavirus: Recreational cricket on pause
It’s official, we have hit the pause button on grassroots cricket. The ECB has issued a statement on the recreational game in light of the developing COVID-19 situation. They are recommending that all forms of recreational cricket are for now suspended. This extends to training, pre-season friendlies and any associated cricket activity. As you’d expect, […]
Competition: Win Opening Up Cricket Pack for your Club!
***COMPETITION HAS CLOSED*** For March 2020, Cricket Yorkshire has teamed up with Opening Up Cricket to bring you a brilliant competition prize. Does your cricket team or cricket club want to win a Club pack? We are offering five cricket clubs/teams a chance to win! It’s a way to show your support for the important […]
Leeds Bradford MCCU aim for consistency in 2020
Meeting up with Leeds Bradford MCCU Head Coach Andrew Lawson to hear about the 2020 season and future of the scheme proved enlightening – but briefly faltered at Leeds. The city has a shiny new rail station (tick), there are fewer trains constructed of bus parts in service (insert gag about medium-Pacers here) but the […]
Come and say hello at Wombwell Cricket Lovers Society
This Thursday 5 March at 7.45pm, I will be speaking at the Wombwell Cricket Lovers Society at Ardsley Oaks Club (outside Barnsley) – and you’re all invited! The focus of the Q&A with Wombwell’s Chairman James Greenfield will be my book on Scarborough Cricket Club, Last of the Summer Wickets. I’m sure we’ll also dip […]
How can cricket clubs think differently about sponsorship?
Sponsorship continues to be an integral part of how cricket clubs, of all shapes and sizes, fund all that they do. You only have to scan social media to see that there are a variety of methods employed to try to persuade companies and brands to support the grassroots game. One such tactic caught my […]
200 not out: Back to the future for Otley Cricket Club
As Bill Marshall reports, Otley Cricket Club are going back to the future as part of their 200th-anniversary celebrations. The Pool Road club, formed in 1820, is holding a single-wicket competition this summer – an event involving all-rounders that was more prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s. Otley CC chairman Chris Smith said: “We are […]
National Village Cup: Houghton Main rebuild
Houghton Main, who play in the South Yorkshire Cricket League, are back at indoor nets and already hoping for another sensational National Village Cup run in 2020. The South Yorkshire outfit came through eight rounds in 2019 beating the likes of reigning champions Folkton and Flixton as well as Worcestershire’s Astwood Bank, en route to […]