Baptism of fire for Shiregreen on return to top flight

Hard up against the southwest corner of Shiregreen Cricket Club’s compact ground are unmissable signs, mounted high on a wall, advertising an adjacent fireworks shop.

Unfortunately, at least for Shiregreen, the only sparklers on display, when I made my first visit to the 2024 Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League top-flight newcomers, were the players of the visiting team, Cawthorne.

Justifying fully Cawthorne’s decision to bowl, pacer Ben Cliff, who has played first-class cricket with Yorkshire, took 5-4 from five overs and team-mate Danish Aziz, Cawthorne’s professional, a left-arm orthodox spinner who has played for Pakistan, 4-9 from 5.4. Two maidens apiece, also, for Aziz and Cliff, who were first and second change respectively.

Spectators could scarcely believe the car crash being played out, before their eyes, as if in slow motion, on the first gloriously sunny, warm Saturday of the new season.

With Cliff and Aziz (urged on by a team-mate: “Keep squeezing, here.”) wreaking havoc, Shiregreen slumped from 44-3 to 47 all out in just 19.4 overs. 

Five ducks. 

Incoming batters struggled to keep up with the clatter of wickets. Still fiddling with his pads, one strode towards the square then realised he’d left his helmet in the dressing room.

I felt particularly sorry for Abu Sufyan, the seventh Shiregreen batsman dismissed. With the perilous situation calling for a calm head, off Aziz’s bowling, he offered up a dolly catch, gratefully accepted, at cover, by Archie Greaves. 

As the umpire’s finger went up, Sufyan leant on his bat, head bowed, in one of those ‘what have I done?’ moments that everybody has experienced, in sport and in life.

Shiregreen’s top three, Arsalan Mir (17), Mustafa Hussain (12) and Haroon Tariq (11), were the only batsmen to reach double figures.

So, for the players, ‘tea’ became ‘late lunch’. Maybe as well some had breakfasted early. It took Cawthorne 12.4 overs to reach their modest target. 

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Captain Michael Jepps (15 not out off 39 balls) advanced his team to 49-0 with a confident four, struck square to the west side boundary.

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The visitors’ reply wasn’t entirely plain sailing, mind. Sana Ullah Khan, a quick bowler, with a beautifully fluid action, was unlucky to not take at least a couple of wickets – big, big shouts unrewarded – in posting figures of 0-20 from six. 

Cool-as-you-like Aziz, ‘Dani Boy’ to his team-mates, finished unbeaten on 24 (off 37). 0-12, the points’ allocation.

Including the between-innings interval, the match was done and dusted in two hours, 42 minutes. I was back on the M1, heading north, rather sooner than expected!

Now for the mitigation: owing to domestic playing requirements beyond his control, Karan Kaila, the Indian all-rounder Shiregreen had recruited as their 2024 professional, was obliged to give back word. 

Not enough notice, however, and the replacement, from Pakistan, targeted by Shiregreen, is having difficulty securing a visa. Could be a few weeks before he is cleared for action.

In addition, for the Cawthorne fixture, a key Shiregreen bowler was sidelined through injury, and a further two players were away in Pakistan, dealing with pressing family matters. 

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On hearing I’d driven to Sheffield from York, a home official apologised. He said: “They’ve let themselves down today. They’re better than that.” The apology really wasn’t necessary. As a neutral, I had been captivated by the drama.

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Another home official, who had been “looking forward to a relaxing afternoon”, clearly startled by the turn of events, was philosophical. “That’s cricket.” 

Shaking my hand (a simple yet pleasing act, typifying the friendliness of the Shiregreen club), he smiled, broadly, before remarking: “I’d put that camera away, if I were you.” Read: photographic evidence of crimes and misdemeanours will not be required!

Before the game’s high noon start, sun blazing, I popped into the shady bar/tearoom, on the ground floor of the two-storey, redbrick clubhouse/pavilion, and found the ladies preparing the players’ teas in a state of excitement.

Shiregreen, founded in 1869, 2023 runners-up to Cawthorne in the league’s second tier Championship, were about to play their first top-flight home game in 15 years. Finally, after a month of rain, cold and cancellations, the weather was perfect. Oh, cricket can be cruel!

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As most know, although the claim is disputed, Sheffield – like Rome and San Francisco – is said to be built on seven hills. Shiregreen’s ground, bounded by Hatfield House Lane and Sicey Avenue, busy traffic arteries in a large housing estate, is high up on or around Wincobank Hill, one of the seven.

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I left the M1 at the junction handiest for the sprawling Meadowhall retail and leisure complex. Heading north, one is obliged to skirt the broadleaved Woolley Wood before swinging back south, along the inexorably rising Bellhouse Road, the B6086. 

Oxygen masks at the ready! The Shiregreen ground’s altitude at least means players and spectators catch a breeze; welcome on such a warm afternoon.

Despite periodic visits by “little angels” (as a home official described local vandals), the ground and facilities are spotlessly tidy, and maintained with obvious pride.

The small but perfectly formed clubhouse/pavilion (dressing rooms and players’ balcony on the first floor; bar, kitchen, clubroom and loos beneath) occupies the northwest corner. Scorebox adjacent. 

Chip butties and mugs of tea (at 70p, a bargain) are available below stairs. Cricket teas, too, once the players have had their fill. Home-made cakes on offer included carrot, coffee and chocolate varieties. No need to go hungry at Shiregreen!

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The pitch, in very decent condition – albeit, after weeks of rain, with an outfield inevitably on the slow side – slopes downhill, south to north, from the Hatfield House Lane end. Plenty of parking, in marked bays, at the opposite (north) end. 

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Dominating from the northeast are the hotch-potch buildings – some easier on the eye than others – of Firth Park Academy, a co-ed secondary school. 

The ground is seriously hemmed in. There is barely room to set up a folding chair alongside the south end (my chosen vantage point) and west side boundaries. By any measure, it’s a canny little arena.

As ever, particularly in urban settings, cricket grounds are green oases of calm. In that respect, Shiregreen’s facilities reminded me of Lancashire League Darwen’s. It didn’t take long to ‘zone out’ the noise of vehicles negotiating Hatfield House Lane.

With the winning runs hit, the Shiregreen players were left to dismantle the sight screens. Their oblong white sheets were bundled up carefully then stowed, safe from the attentions of nocturnal gatecrashers and uninvited ne’er-do-wells. 

“It’s all we ask them [the players] to do,” said a home official, as he toured the ground, collecting boundary markers and white discs.

A baptism of fire – or fireworks – for Shiregreen, then. But they can take comfort from the knowledge the season has months to run. Once their replacement professional arrives, and those three returnees bring them to full strength, who knows how the weeks ahead will pan out? All to play for!