Mark Doherty heads to Little Ribston Cricket Club where their 1st XI hosted Knaresborough Forest CC 3rd XI in this Theakston Nidderdale League Division Seven fixture. It’s a Bit Chilly – Not! If I had found myself standing where I was at 1pm on Saturday 31st May…maybe 20,000 years ago…Little Ribston’s ground would potentially have been […]
Lofthouse and Middlesmoor: Sawdust and scenic Nidderdale
As Douglas Adams wrote in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy… “Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the galaxy, and it is in order that this situation should not be in any way exacerbated, that the following facts now be revealed in advance.” It did in fact rain […]
Life lessons at Airedale as Denholme triumph
Mark Doherty heads to Airedale Cricket Club where their 2nd XI hosted Denholme CC 2nd XI in this Craven and District Cricket League Division Four fixture. Argricultural at Otley I wasn’t sure if it would be a portent for my day as I filtered into the traffic that surrounded the Otley Show midmorning. I hadn’t […]
A King’s first: Super Kings debut at Collingham & Linton
The weather has been glorious over the past few weeks; chatting to one groundsman last weekend, they had noted that there had only been 0.7cm of rain in the past month, which was actually too little for keeping the grass in good condition and that the playing surface was suffering. Being a little selfish, it […]
Wilson double act leads Studley Royal to victory over Bolton Percy
My first game of the 2024 season was supposed to be at Goldsborough. I remember the day was pretty warm, the sky filled with fluffy white clouds dotted around the blue backdrop, and there was a light wind blowing from the farmer’s fields across the ground. The real problem was we’d had one of the […]
Caught Light: Reflections from a busy club cricket season
A rough count of grassroots cricket games I’ve been to this season, seems to come out at around 65. That is a personal best for a single season in the last decade, and I must admit for the vast majority of visits, it has been a real pleasure. As October arrives, I wanted to sit […]
Close call: Sicklinghall snatch second and go up on net run rate
The last day of the Theakston Nidderdale League threatened to feature the same weather that dominated it in April. The forecast on Wednesday/Thursday suggested an overcast day with spells of light rain, and potentially the worst weather of the weekend at any rate. However, on Saturday morning I pulled the bedroom curtains apart like a […]
Beckwithshaw win promotion to the Aire-Wharfe Premier Division
Looking back to September 2022, Beckwithshaw faced probably their fiercest local rivals, knowing that they had to win to retain their top-flight status. Ultimately, the visitors to The Stag Den, Bilton, dominated the game, relegating Beckwithshaw’s first team to Division Two. I was sitting on the boundary rope that day, covering what had been another […]
Darley beat the rain and claim the points over Birstwith
The weekend’s weather forecast was poor, with Saturday’s oulook slightly better than Sunday. In the end, Sunday was a complete washout with persistent rain falling most of the daylight hours. Looking out of the window on Saturday morning, it was murky and damp. Autumn had arrived in force, with a healthy mist blanketing a lot […]
Blubberhouses rain boundaries on scenic Birstwith
It’s becoming tough to select games to cover at the weekends – this isn’t down to a lack of fixtures available to choose from, but more to do with trying to select games with teams that I haven’t covered in at least the past couple of seasons. Looking through the fixture list on Play Cricket, […]