The drive from Cricket Yorkshire HQ to Long Lee Cricket Club took us around the edge of the St Ives Estate up a road that felt like we were abseiling. Eventually, you zigzag up and reach the summit with wilderness and farmland for company, along with rolling, verdant valleys. Keighley Road, back at Harden, becomes […]
Cricket Grounds
Can cricket clubs find an undiscovered audience?
Charles Cowling, a fellow club cricket ground-hopper, shares his thoughts on how clubs might be able to tap into a new audience. (Image by John Fuller/ Cricket Yorkshire, a spectator at Upper Wharfedale CC) I love cricket. I love watching it played in Yorkshire’s loveliest landscapes. So every Saturday, I jump in the car and […]
What is the hardest cricket ground to find?
We have a lot to thank Google Maps and Street View for, even if it felt at the time as if permission was retrospective. By the way, we’ve mapped your road and house, hope you don’t mind. As someone who seeks out cricket in nooks and crevices across Yorkshire, finding my way to a ground […]
Ingleton Cricket Club: Paradise in the Yorkshire Dales
Ingleton Cricket Club is an outlier, as the only Yorkshire side in the Westmorland Cricket League that covers three counties. A cricket club AND a cricket league new to me? Time for a road trip. If you like caves and waterfalls, the village of Ingleton is a scenic hotspot; situated in the Craven district of […]
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 […]
Which is the most iconic pavilion in Yorkshire cricket?
Which is the most iconic pavilion in Yorkshire cricket? Now there’s a topic for debate, but aficionados in the Bradford Premier League would probably vote for Lightcliffe. It was therefore an emotional morning on a Saturday in March when the iconic 101-year-old red and white structure was demolished to make way for a more spacious […]
Even having one of the best grounds in Yorkshire might not save Glasshouses
Recently, I spotted news on The Stray Ferret about the fact that Glasshouses Cricket Club in the Nidderdale Cricket League was in danger of folding. I was horrified. ‘No, this will not do!’ I said out loud to no-one in particular. Our cat looked up a little concerned. You see, Glasshouses Cricket Club is one […]
Why the Leeds & Wetherby Cricket League is no more
The demise of a cricket league is always a moment to pause. There’s usually a lot of history and memories jumbled in with that reluctant decision to call time. Inevitably, there’s also reflection on whether another league gone is a sign of a wider shrinkage of club cricket and what the landscape will look like […]
Bradford Park Avenue: Our hybrid cricket pitches
It was a relentlessly hot day at Bradford Park Avenue cricket ground for Interlink versus Cookridge in the Dales Council Cricket League. For this content collaboration with SIS Pitches, I returned to the city of Bradford to learn how hybrid pitches are helping this famous cricket site. *** Once a neglected former county ground, Park […]
Yorkshire clubs at the forefront of hybrid cricket pitches
Hybrid cricket pitches are an exciting new opportunity for club cricket. In this partnership with SIS Pitches, we’ll look at what they are, the benefits and which clubs in Yorkshire are already using them. What is a hybrid cricket pitch? Hybrid grass is a blend of natural grass with artificial fibres. SIS achieve this by […]