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 & […]
Miles Per Gallon
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 […]
This, is my England: Evening league cricket at Burton Agnes
It is probably fair to say Burton Agnes, an East Riding village set amid the rolling Wolds, is better known for its Elizabethan manor house than for its cricket club. As it happens, manor house and cricket ground, sites separated by the narrow Rudston Road, are barely a couple of hundred yards apart – and […]
YPLN Hundred: Bridlington and Brandesburton shine
Always keen to increase my ‘grounds visited’ total, I leapt at the chance to watch two matches – at different venues – on the same day. The Yorkshire Premier League North’s 2025 Hundred first round provided an opportunity, on a Sunday, to take in Premier League Two Bridlington hosting Championship East Scarborough (10.30) followed by […]
Wolds apart as Hull Strikers win the Battle of Walkington
For the second time in five days, I found myself watching cricket on the fringes of the rippling Wolds, surely Yorkshire’s most underrated landscape. A quarter-final of the Yorkshire Premier League North’s Dave Conner Memorial Trophy, between teams placed second and first in Division Two Holderness, held sufficient eastern promise to tempt me back along […]
Welton win by a Furlong to top YPLN Championship East
Although cricket is a team game, individual performances frequently take the eye. An important Yorkshire Premier League North fixture, at Welton & Brough Sports Club, between Championship East promotion contenders Welton (second) and Pickering (first), featured two stellar solo contributions. Welton’s 104-run victory, in a contest whose outcome hung in the balance for much longer […]
T20: Sixes at altitude as Cumberworth United progress
On the hottest day of the year – albeit a temperature almost certain to be bettered several times in the coming weeks – I was desperate for a breeze. Heading for height seemed a sensible option for Thursday evening cricket, so I went to Cumberworth United’s Cumberworth Lane ground, which stands at 719 feet. There […]
Where does Yorkshire (and its club cricket) begin and end?
Geographically, where does Yorkshire (and its club cricket) begin and end? Plenty would say Saddleworth is still very much part of the Broad Acres, despite it being more than 50 years since this most scenic of upland districts, a West Riding outlier, was absorbed by the Greater Manchester behemoth. Yorkshire Ridings The Yorkshire Society sums […]
Clayton close on Halifax League Premier Division
Having earmarked a fixture with ‘meaning’ for each team, the final Saturday of my 2024 season found me at Clayton Cricket Club, west of – and high above – central Bradford. Clayton were hosting Halifax League rivals Upper Hopton; a crunch instalment – “huge”, according to Clayton’s social media – in the Division One (i.e. […]
125 Not Out – Wath Cricket Club claim crucial relegation win
Shortly before the start of the season, I had a look through MCC’s 2024 fixture list. Each year, ‘Egg and Bacon’ representative teams visit clubs, of all sizes, across Britain, to take part in celebration matches, often held in midweek. Sure enough, on Thursday, August 22, MCC were scheduled to play at Wath Cricket Club, […]