The ECB National Club Championship is back – and with it comes the prospect of Yorkshire’s cricket clubs showing what they’re made of against the best in the country. The Royal London Club Championship (current sponsor) is 40-overs knockout cricket with a Lord’s final inked in for Saturday 9th September 2023. Here, I’ll share some […]
Club cricket
Melanie Mahmood: Umpiring and participation in South Yorkshire
Mel Mahmood is a cricket umpire and Participation Manager for the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League. Here she shares her journey in cricket, the women’s and girls’ game in South Yorkshire as well as a formal link-up with the Premier League. *** I was 45 years old when I first picked up a cricket bat. […]
Birds of prey, boundaries and beeping phones: Cricket is back
Perhaps inevitably, having no firm plan to see any cricket meant I ended up catching two games in the first full weekend of league action. Saturday was a drive over to Knaresborough; the A658 offering ample opportunity (if you’re not driving) to spot red kites circling. One flew low, perhaps 20 feet above our car, […]
Forge Valley lose points and fined for late withdrawal
Amongst the cat videos on Facebook and dodgy ads, occasionally something else leaps out. I was scrolling through and a strongly-worded statement from the Scarborough Beckett Cricket League stood out: “The League Management Committee (LMC) has reluctantly agreed to a request from Forge Valley CC to withdraw from the Premier Division for the 2023 season. […]
Heavy Woollen Cup: History, heritage and plenty at stake
It’s particularly in an Ashes year when the Heavy Woollen Cup comes into sharper focus. The England-Australia rivalry is as old as it gets – and yet, this club cricket trophy in Yorkshire first took place less than a year later in 1883. Once limited to 32 clubs who were based within a strict distance […]
Women’s and girls’ cricket: The magic happening in Huddersfield
2023 is going to be a huge summer of cricket for women and girls in the Huddersfield area, shares Sara Begg, as she charts its growth and updates us on developments and opportunities. The ‘Huddersfield’ group of the West Yorkshire Women and Girls Cricket League’s softball cricket competition has grown a remarkable fourfold, from 4 […]
Many cricket leagues postpone their season start in Yorkshire
Nothing gets us quite so fired up as the weather – especially when it affects the cricket season. The North Yorkshire & South Durham Cricket League’s decision to postpone the start of their cricket season by a week was a big call. Unusual but not quite unprecedented – and sensible given March was the wettest […]
Malton & Old Malton: Ready for the top of Yorkshire’s pyramid
Shaun Harland “can’t wait” to captain Malton & Old Malton Cricket Club’s first team this season as they make their ECB Premier League, Premier Division debut. Shaun’s entire cricketing life, from under-nines to the age of 24, has been spent with Malton & Old Malton, who in 2022 secured promotion, as runners-up to champions Stamford […]
Paul Cummins: Taking the helm at the Yorkshire Cricket Board
Paul Cummins, the Yorkshire Cricket Board’s Director of Recreational Cricket, is talking to me from Headingley about what lies ahead. Three months into the job, the honeymoon period (if there is one in that role) has seen him zip around the region, meeting some of the staff and no doubt getting a feel for the […]
Pudsey St Lawrence: Primed, proud and ready on all fronts
The last time I saw Chris Marsden or ‘Spike’ as he’s known in Bradford Cricket League circles, was a visit in 2019 to their Tofts Road ground for their rain-affected game against Methley. It was for a feature in The Cricket Paper and a lot has happened for all of us since. I tend to […]