Albert Pagan, 88, well known in the North Yorkshire & South Durham Cricket League (NYSD) cricket circles, is reflecting on national umpiring recognition: “I’ve been very lucky to be selected to represent all of my colleagues. The effort they’ve put into setting standards in the North Yorkshire South Durham League…the players have done remarkably well […]
Jekyll and Hyde: Life as Nidderdale Cricket League Secretary
It comes to something when stalwarts as invested in recreational cricket as Graham Hyde decide to call it a day. We are less than a minute into a roving conversation about the health of Yorkshire club cricket and the outgoing Honorary Secretary of the Theakston Nidderdale Cricket League puffs out his cheeks. In relief or […]
Retiring from club cricket: Hanging up the bowling boots
I’ll be honest. I never thought this day would come. The decision to fold up the whites for the final time and decommission the knackered, muddy cricket spikes was neither impulsive nor thrust upon me. Yet, after 31 years of playing cricket, it is the right moment to flick off the bails and call time […]
Leeds Caribbean: Life in the Dales Council Cricket League
Rocking up at Leeds Caribbean Cricket Club for their last Dales Council match of 2017 was an exercise in crossing digits and glancing anxiously at the lashing rain pinging off the bonnet of the car. This Division A contest at Scott Hall Road against Bradford Moor looked doomed from the outset as cricketers and officials […]
Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club is back on its feet after the 2015 floods
As my fingers clatter over the keyboard to bring you this article, it is raining outside. Not chucking, tipping or siling it down but appropriate enough as this feature is all about a cricket club battered by floods, stripped to the bone but now back on its feet. Let’s rewind to August on a Saturday […]
What are the lingering questions for Yorkshire CCC fans?
The county cricket season is officially over for Yorkshire CCC and in the harsh light of a crushing 376-run defeat in Essex, it has been far from a classic for those supporting the White Rose. That final nail in the 2017 coffin was the heaviest defeat (by runs) in the history of the club. Ponder […]
Restrictions on overseas cricketers are damaging club cricket
The news that Frinton-on-Sea Cricket Club lost their appeal to a Tribunal of the Two Counties Cricket Championship (TCCC) over the eligibility of their Australian player, Blake Reed, could have far-reaching implications for club cricket. If you’re unfamiliar with the saga to date, it revolves around an Essex club defending the status of one of […]
The Cricket Yorkshire 50 returns: Who’s in? Who’s out?
Ok, so last September I published the Cricket Yorkshire 50 – a shortlist designed to spark debate but mainly to give a nod to those from England cricketers to heros on the village green. It melted time and space and most of Yorkshire’s power supply for a year was thirstily slurped up coping with the […]
Black Sheep Final washout at Masham but hosts excel
There was a heart-stopping moment when our car breached the top of the hill before descending into the North Yorkshire market town of Masham where the expansive views are revealed and everyone gasped. It was akin to the unrolling of a treasure map before our eyes. The Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is one […]
Yorkshire Cricket Foundation celebrates a blockbuster summer
The Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF) has been at full throttle this summer delivering education and community programmes all over Yorkshire with a cricketing twist. As the final feature of our series of articles showcasing what the cricket charity (based at Yorkshire County Cricket Club) does, we thought a roundup of their activities would offer readers […]