The drive to the Vocation Brewery T20 Finals Day took us up over the hills beyond Oxenhope, before those Calderdale hills open out. Historical landmarks like Winny Stone and Able Cross mark moments in the vastness of it all. The twisting, steep descent into Hebden Bridge needs patience, good brakes and better fortune. We had […]
Cricket Grounds
Nidderdale League: North Stainley and Studley Royal swap fortunes
Joe Hudson reports from North Stainley with its quirky Nidderdale backdrop for the game with Division 3 opponents Studley Royal. *** North Stainley’s ground is remarkable. It doesn’t quite look real somehow, almost like a Hollywood movie set where the producers don’t quite understand the notion of village cricket, or one of those Chinese theme […]
NYSD: The tortoise and the hare at Skelton Castle
Bank Holiday Monday’s match at Skelton Castle Cricket Club brought to my mind the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare: slow and steady wins the race. That was the chief takeaway from the splendidly named Old Dog Kennels ground, where nine-player Preston-on-Tees managed to defeat, by seven wickets, Skelton Castle, their North Yorkshire & […]
Leaders Embsay blown off course against Bolton Abbey
Embsay Cricket Club passed the ultimate test with flying colours. Sometimes I tell a club I’m coming and sometimes, I’m a tad disorganised, decide on the day or change my mind and we just hit the road. From the moment we parked up outside the gates, the Embsay flag not so much fluttering as writhing […]
Booth Cricket Club: Character, cows, cramp and chirping
Booth Cricket Club was a relatively late decision for the first match of August – but it turned to be one of my best ones. The drive from Cricket Yorkshire HQ is mostly one we know well having explored the ENCO Halifax Cricket League for years now. The A629 Grand Prix chicane out of Denholme, […]
Sunday league cricket and Sweet Caroline at Keighley
I am sat on a train in Leeds station going nowhere. On the plus side, it can’t be as serious as the day before when the whole place was closed due to a signalling problem. The plan had been to Doncaster Town Women’s 1st XI versus Sessay Emeralds in the Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket […]
Flames, trains and cow-whispering at Newton-le-Willows
Reading the stories written by John and Andrew in the past week, it appears last weekend was a nightmare of plans made and then broken due to the band of bad weather that swept the UK and Ireland from the south up to the north. As the week went on, the weather improved and although […]
One weekend, short games: Kirkheaton & Upper Haugh excel
One weekend, two short games. Cricket’s unpredictable nature ranks highly amongst the sport’s many appeals, but it is very frustrating for the spectator when what looks, on paper, like being a tight contest turns out, on grass, to be nothing of the sort. So it was, on the last weekend of July, when a Saturday […]
Rain halts weekend games before Monday cup final drama
Harrogate CC Women welcomed St. Chad’s Broomfield CC, while Kirk Hammerton faced Spofforth CC in a rain-affected weekend of Yorkshire cricket, covered by Mark Doherty. High risk of pluvial One of the things that you’ll have probably noticed when reading the musings of John, Andrew or myself…is the fact that we all seem to spend […]
Scenery and sportmanship in the evening shadows at Kildale
Some cricket grounds you drive past, and think: “One day, I must watch a game there.” Thirty-odd years ago, I was domiciled in Great Ayton (on reflection, I’m not sure I’ve lived anywhere nicer), and hiked regularly on and around the North Yorkshire Moors. Many journeys to walk starting points took me along the Easby […]