The North Yorkshire & South Durham Premier League appears to have more cup competitions than you can shake a stick at. Spectators are spoilt for choice! Always keen to try something new, in this case the Ken Welsh Cup, I had a drive up the A19 to Teesside, an old stomping ground of mine, for […]
Cricket Grounds
Wildflower meadows and special branches at Hundhill Hall
A season or two ago, whilst exchanging emails with a very helpful Pontefract & District League secretary, I asked if he could recommend any particularly attractive and/or interesting cricket grounds in his competition. Hundhill Hall Cricket Club’s ground, off Sandygate Lane, in the farming village of East Hardwick, three miles south of central Pontefract, made […]
Tough day in the sun for Bilton at Pool Cricket Club
In the past two weeks, my concerns with how much rain is going to fall each day and how I’m going to dry my waterproofs for the next pitch-side visit have abated. Being honest, after around seven months of atrocious weather, I am still leaving it late in the week to make a final decision […]
Never change, Crakehall
In a roundabout way, I can thank Bradford’s inner-city development for discovering the delights of Crakehall Cricket Club. An expectation of traffic congestion meant that Woodlands of the Bradford Premier League would have to wait. Instead, something very different indeed. A 100-mile round trip to Crakehall, a village in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, off […]
Ryedale Beckett League: Lost balls and stained whites at Harome
In common with every other cricket enthusiast, I found April a frustrating month, as rain, rain then a bit more rain dashed my spectating plans. So, the early May arrival of long overdue sunshine and warmth saw me scrambling to find a midweek fixture belatedly to get my 2024 season up and running. Keen as […]
Baptism of fire for Shiregreen on return to top flight
Hard up against the southwest corner of Shiregreen Cricket Club’s compact ground are unmissable signs, mounted high on a wall, advertising an adjacent fireworks shop. Unfortunately, at least for Shiregreen, the only sparklers on display, when I made my first visit to the 2024 Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League top-flight newcomers, were the players of […]
Grass half full: Keith Boyce on cricket pitches at New Rover
Keith Boyce, Head Groundsman at New Rover Cricket Club since 1999, knows a thing or two about cricket pitches. The former groundsman at Yorkshire County Cricket Club for 30 years (below right) is talking about plotting safe passage across a boggy outfield to get the heavy equipment on: “It’s very restricted getting machinery out to […]
Coming home: Village cricket returns to North Cave
“Village cricket is dying” is a common soundbite but there are reasons for cheer, if you seek them out. North Cave is a village in East Yorkshire, separated from the River Humber as it makes its way inland by the M62. Cricket returns to the village in 2024 as it welcomes the newly formed North […]
Club cricket groundskeepers face race against time to be ready
In something of a repeat of last year, the wet weather has played havoc with pitch makers who face the usual race to be ready for April fixtures. In 2023, my article on Yorkshire’s leagues postponing fixtures caught the attention, on account of the fact that we’d had record-breaking rain and many clubs had been […]
New beginnings: Merger sees Warley & Elland CC at Hullen Edge
A merger that sees the formation of Warley & Elland Cricket Club has kept cricket alive at a historic ground in West Yorkshire. Warley CC, of the ENCO Halifax Cricket League, have joined forces with Elland Cricket Club; the latter resigned from the Huddersfield Cricket League towards the end of last season. The new club […]