Booth Cricket Club: Character, cows, cramp and chirping

Booth Cricket Club was a relatively late decision for the first match of August – but it turned to be one of my best ones.

The drive from Cricket Yorkshire HQ is mostly one we know well having explored the ENCO Halifax Cricket League for years now.

The A629 Grand Prix chicane out of Denholme, the long straight past Ogden Water before dipping through Mixenden. Up on Wainstalls Lane with the sunshine smiling at magnificent, lofty views; a Sainsburys delivery driver is parked up by the side of the road, having his break.

Bank House Lane takes a steep descent, a brief run over cobbles to slow the pace and rattle the teeth. The road narrows, a few places to cross digits and hope for no-one coming the other way and then we’re in the village of Booth.

I stop off at the local library just down from the cricket club; it’s a telephone box stuffed with books to which I add a signed copy of All Wickets Great and Small.

The first thing – but not the last – to surprise me about Booth Cricket Club is that for a small, rural club, it has generous parking and a two-lane cricket net. Neither of those are unheard of yet appreciated all the same.

A slab of stone with the club name in golden serif font and a Yorkshire white rose motif quietly announces we’re in the right place. I have wanted to come to Booth for years since seeing the ground in Laurence Griffiths’ book, From the Boundary’s Edge.

I take my camera up the public bridleway and over the grassy flagstones, with the tall stone wall to my left, to get a photo of Booth’s cricket ground in the distance, settled in the landscape.

A black and white Collie trots out of a doorway to bark my arrival; I smile encouragingly as its half of the conversation echoes across the valley. Back at the cricket, we say hello to those sat outside of the timber-clad clubhouse enjoying the afternoon sun.

The visitors are Mount Cricket Club for this 2nd XI Premier Division match in the Halifax Cricket League. Batley-based Mount are in mid-table while Booth head the chasing pack at the near-summit, with Illingworth St Mary’s the runaway leaders by the proverbial country mile.

In some ways, Mount and Booth could not be more different but to me, they represent the welcome diversity of Yorkshire brought together by the game we all love. Some 14 miles West, via the centre of Halifax, is the drive for the visitors, swapping WF13 for HX2.

Suleman, Mount’s captain, tells me that the the addition of cows while playing cricket is something of a novelty for some of his team though it’s known as a true batting track. Can be tricky fielding down the slope.

Apparently, the Mount lads were all talking about the sound you hear when ball strikes the bat at Booth as being fairly unusual. That is likely because of the way the cricket field is cocooned by a high stone wall that doubtless creates its own acoustics.

It is just one of the marvels of coming to Booth that has nods to other grounds (the elevated, grassy walkway reminds me of Copley while the breathtaking views through the trees has a nod to Luddendenfoot up top) yet is very much its own destination.

Everywhere you look there is care and attention to the ground, the experience at being at the cricket and local pride. From the flowerpots to the sightscreens with the club name on top to the volunteer who walked round to collect empties.

An outside bell, Oli’s Bell, is a poignant way to remember Oliver Collinge who played for the cricket club and died in 2016, aged 28, after a battle with cancer. The teacher was a junior coach at Booth Cricket Club but also a keen cyclist and the five-mile Cragg Vale hill on the B6138 was re-named The Oliver Collinge Climb.

For those who like to feel the burn on two wheels or on foot, it is the longest continuous gradient in England and there’s the annual relay race by school children (all power to them) to get the Coiner’s Coin (a baton) the full distance.

The bell was sounded for the second innings after tea and its chime made me smile because it’s a beautiful, timeless way to remember someone that fits so well with a cricket match.

I’ll tell you what else made me smile. Sand martins. My best guess, having discounted swallows and house martins. The chatty, swooping little birds perched in a line on the barbed wire of the field next to the ground.

I’ve never got so close to the nippy fliers who were content to pause for a few overs of Halifax League action. The field was filled with chirping, darting flashes amongst the deep, guttural groans of cows.

According to their captain, Booth’s batting effort of 200 was some way short of a par score. The ball fairly flew for boundaries at times but Mount’s bowling attack beat the bat regularly too.

Stuart Verry (49) and Mark Johnstone (41) had set up the home side for a later surge but from 99-3, they lost wickets regularly. Matthew Lumb (33) and Bradley Holt (27) got starts in the middle order but a few runs were left on the (immaculately maintained) table after Booth were dismissed in 42.5 overs.

Ibrahim Sokat Shaikh (5-50) and Zaid Seedat (4-50) were the highlights for the bowlers and it was good to see both pace and spin brought to bear with effect.

In reply, Mount lost a couple of wickets but played aggressively from the off with Suleman Ravat (below) offering up some camera-friendly cuts and punchy straight drives.

Adnaan Rawat retired with cramp early on to the bemusement of the locals (“You’ve only been batting six overs!”) but speaking as something of an expert of ailing body parts, cramp arrives when you least expect it sometimes.

Harry Cockroft, at 13, was making his second-team debut for Booth and bowled a couple of overs at the end. The young seam bowler who has a smooth run-up and generated good pace, was treated respectfully by the opposition (2.1 overs, 0-5).

Skipper Ravat deserved a hundred but found himself stranded on 99; about the only thing he mis-timed all afternoon. Young Harry was warmly clapped off and we hopped back in the car, satisfied to have found one of the most attractive cricket grounds I’ve been to.

Booth really is a gem of a place to watch a game of cricket. It was just what I needed that particular afternoon and delivered on all fronts.