When is a majority not a majority? That was the question that exercised minds after the Aire-Wharfe League’s special general meeting last Wednesday at Otley RUFC. Pool, unhappy at their second team being relegated when they finished ninth in a 12-team division, forced the meeting at the second attempt by garnering the support of the […]
Aire Wharfe Cricket League
Aire-Wharfe Cricket: Beckwithshaw vs Bolton Villas
Visiting Beckwithshaw Cricket Club has been on my radar for years. Those of us who hop around cricket club grounds tend to rub shoulders and recommendations get passed on. On a scorching Saturday, it was time to put that right with their Second Eleven at home to Bolton Villas in Inter-Division 5-6 of the Aire-Wharfe […]
The return of strawberry cheesecake and what it means for club cricket
I heard it long before the first white dots moving around Harden Cricket Club’s outfield came into view. An LBW appeal echoed through the trees of St Ives Estate in this leafy quadrant of BD16. Half a minute later, a ‘tock’ of a cricket bat striking leather reached my ears, somewhere off to the left. […]
Aire-Wharfe Cricket: Harden vs Otley
As I walked through the St Ives Estate on this latest Aire-Wharfe cricket pilgrimage, an LBW shout echoed through the trees. It was otherwise eerily quiet for a dry but chilly Yorkshire Day. At Harden Cricket Club, play was underway in this Aire-Wharfe Cricket League Division 4 encounter. After a dousing of hand sanitiser at […]
What could a Yorkshire League Knockout Cup look like for 2020?
Each summer, writer and photographer Andrew Gallon explores the length and breadth of Yorkshire cricket and further afield. Having visited hundreds of clubs across the region over the years, he knows his Hanging Heaton from his Holmfirth and Townville from Tickhill. I asked Andrew to ponder the art of the possible around a Yorkshire League […]
Post-first world war: Getting club cricket back on its feet
Author Jeremy Lonsdale examines how Yorkshire cricket clubs faced the challenges of starting again in April 1919, after the First World War. *** Exactly 100 years ago this month, the first cricket season after the First World War got under way as all over Yorkshire local clubs again took to the field. After the […]
Around the West Yorkshire cricket leagues
Our travelling club cricket correspondent Bill Marshall has rounded up a selection of news from a number of cricket leagues in West Yorkshire. Cricket Yorkshire will aim to feature more leagues from across the region in the next month. If you’d like to summarise what’s been going on in a particular league (or perhaps a […]
Aire Wharfe Cricket: Olicanian vs Calverley
After a stint covering the action at Ilkley Cricket Club on Saturday, the proximity of more cricket was too tempting to pass up so it was on to Olicanian Cricket Club whose firsts were at home and taking on Calverley St Wilifrid’s CC. From Ilkley’s ground, you scooch down Denton Road, passing Ilkley Lido on […]