Albert Pagan, 88, well known in the North Yorkshire & South Durham Cricket League (NYSD) cricket circles, is reflecting on national umpiring recognition: “I’ve been very lucky to be selected to represent all of my colleagues. The effort they’ve put into setting standards in the North Yorkshire South Durham League…the players have done remarkably well […]
Club cricket
Jekyll and Hyde: Life as Nidderdale Cricket League Secretary
It comes to something when stalwarts as invested in recreational cricket as Graham Hyde decide to call it a day. We are less than a minute into a roving conversation about the health of Yorkshire club cricket and the outgoing Honorary Secretary of the Theakston Nidderdale Cricket League puffs out his cheeks. In relief or […]
Retiring from club cricket: Hanging up the bowling boots
I’ll be honest. I never thought this day would come. The decision to fold up the whites for the final time and decommission the knackered, muddy cricket spikes was neither impulsive nor thrust upon me. Yet, after 31 years of playing cricket, it is the right moment to flick off the bails and call time […]
Leeds Caribbean: Life in the Dales Council Cricket League
Rocking up at Leeds Caribbean Cricket Club for their last Dales Council match of 2017 was an exercise in crossing digits and glancing anxiously at the lashing rain pinging off the bonnet of the car. This Division A contest at Scott Hall Road against Bradford Moor looked doomed from the outset as cricketers and officials […]
Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club is back on its feet after the 2015 floods
As my fingers clatter over the keyboard to bring you this article, it is raining outside. Not chucking, tipping or siling it down but appropriate enough as this feature is all about a cricket club battered by floods, stripped to the bone but now back on its feet. Let’s rewind to August on a Saturday […]
The Laws of Cricket have had an update but what are the implications?
The game of cricket has now changed significantly as the MCC’s new Laws of Cricket 2017 Code came into force on Sunday 1 October. On the surface, amended rules may not have you frothing with excitement but these are the first changes to the laws of the game since 2000 and there are actually some […]
The Cricket Yorkshire 50 returns: Who’s in? Who’s out?
Ok, so last September I published the Cricket Yorkshire 50 – a shortlist designed to spark debate but mainly to give a nod to those from England cricketers to heros on the village green. It melted time and space and most of Yorkshire’s power supply for a year was thirstily slurped up coping with the […]
Black Sheep Final washout at Masham but hosts excel
There was a heart-stopping moment when our car breached the top of the hill before descending into the North Yorkshire market town of Masham where the expansive views are revealed and everyone gasped. It was akin to the unrolling of a treasure map before our eyes. The Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is one […]
Day of drama awaits for Yorkshire cricket clubs on Super Saturday
Super Saturday, club cricket crunchtime, call it what you will…after league cricket seasons that began for many back in April, this weekend is where titles are decided, promotion campaigns conclude and relegation trapdoors spring open. Yorkshire’s unsettled weather forecast will offer a lifeline or be a cause of consternation and with plenty of rain about, […]
Saltburn Sharks toast U19 T20 county success
Saltburn Sharks recently became champions of the Durham Cricket Board’s County U19 Club competition after a rousing finale at the Emirates Riverside stadium in Chester-le-Street. The Sharks are Saltburn Cricket Club’s under-19 side and had a long route to county honours this season given that the North Yorkshire South Durham Cricket League (NYSD), of which […]