Club Cricket

Heading into the second half of 2022, the standings in Yorkshire’s club cricket leagues are starting to indicate who the season’s winners and losers might be. Let’s start at the top of the pyramid, with the four ECB Premier League, Premier Divisions. In the Bradford Premier League, New Farnley, Priestley Cup winners last year and […]

It’s gone high. “Don’t drop it, don’t drop, don’t drop it. You’ll never hear the last of it,” I’m thinking. Safely taken. Dream moment accomplished. ‘c Spencer b Spencer’ “No ball.” Oh, the ecstasy and cruelty of cricket in one second. Quite often it’s Dads that have inspired their kids to take up cricket but, […]

In 2019, I retired and came back to Yorkshire after 40 years away. Throughout a lifetime of working too hard, I had promised myself that I would spend my sunset years reconnecting with my roots and watching cricket at beautiful grounds. Enjoying the contest, the view, the fluffy clouds, revelling in glorious idleness, all to […]

With the 2022 season about a third complete, the standings across Yorkshire’s recreational cricket leagues are taking shape and cup competitions approaching their climactic phase. We take a close look at six appealing matches over the June 11-12 weekend: three league fixtures on the Saturday and a trio of cup ties the following afternoon. Saturday, […]

I am not one for soaking up the sun, hour after hour – whilst watching cricket or doing anything else. Acquiring a tan? Two weeks comatose on a beach? No, thank you. It means cricket grounds lacking shade, to the south and/or the west, must wait for a cloudy day before I’ll visit. Digital satellite […]

A dapper gentleman shepherds us into a car parking berth in the middle of Haworth. It transpires he is an author and has set up a stall to sell copies. It’s £4 to park all day via the machine or £10 for a copy of his book and the parking included. Rows of cars have […]

How many of the cricket matches you’ve witnessed really stand out in the memory? My visit to Altofts Cricket Club won’t easily be forgotten, simply because it was unusually brief. The Tofts took just two hours, 20 minutes – including the tea interval! – to dispose of Third Division rivals Brighouse in the Bradford Premier […]

According to club president Ken Home, Great Ayton Cricket & Football Club (to use the full and correct name, after a 1976 amalgamation) “punches well above its peers”. Ken’s eminently justifiable claim features on the second line of his welcome piece in the 2022 edition of the annual club brochure, an impressive 28-pager, available – […]

Mark Simmerson rounds up the team news with the debut season for the South Yorkshire Alliance Works Midweek League in 2022. The pandemic has changed the world and cricket has not been immune. The last two seasons have been difficult for local leagues and particularly awkward for midweek cricket leagues. But we have survived and […]