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. […]
Miles Per Gallon
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, […]
Midweek cricket at Nostell St Oswald
England’s strolling mercenaries on the telly? Or live midweek cricket on a gloriously sunny June evening? No contest, really. Off to Nostell St Oswald Cricket Club I went. There aren’t that many Tuesday evening cricket options in Yorkshire, but the Pontefract & District League’s two-division Evening League has Tuesday as its match night. The hideous […]
Patrington edge Brandesburton in Premier Division Two race
You would expect, come mid-August, sixth against seventh, in a 12-team competition, to be a dead rubber. Not in the 2024 Yorkshire Premier League North’s second tier! The league’s new Premier Division Two, to launch next year, will comprise teams placed second to sixth from this season’s Championship East and Championship West. The two 2024 […]
YCSPL: Oughtibridge win at Conisbrough to lead Division One
August promises to be an eventful time at Conisbrough Cricket Club. On the month’s opening Saturday, I dropped by the club’s St Peter’s Drive ground to watch an absorbing third-versus-first Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League clash with Division One promotion rivals Oughtibridge War Memorial, who edged a close encounter, by three wickets, with a little […]
Edward Readman Memorial Trophy: Down to the wire at Kirk Ella
I am a big fan of club cricket leagues’ internal cup competitions. Come the second half of the season, when many league games are becoming dead rubbers, they offer meaningful fixtures. I do like a bit of jeopardy. Better still, most of these cup matches take place on Sundays, providing extra spectating opportunities. It is […]
Last-ball drama amid fields of corn at scenic Wetwang
I’ve certainly struck gold with my T20 cricket spectating this season. Augmenting a list of exciting finishes, a second midweek excursion, in 24 hours, to the scenic Wolds, this time to Wetwang Cricket Club, was rewarded with a last-ball finish. Some controversy. With the scores tied, and the bat crowded, Burton Agnes, Wetwang’s Bridlington & […]
Wolds, wickets and wonder at Thixendale
Lurking on my ‘groundhopping’ bucket list for years, a visit to the sublime, sleepy setting of Thixendale Cricket Club lived up to – nay, exceeded – expectations. Put simply, it was a slice of sporting serendipity: when each piece of the jigsaw slotted neatly into place. The weather, in what is proving to be a […]
Ryedale Beckett League: Thornton Dale defeat Ampleforth
If you don’t like the weather in Britain, wait an hour. There’s a lot of truth in the saying, usually trotted out by knowing locals to overseas holidaymakers. I was reminded of it recently when, a mere 45 minutes before the scheduled start of a Thursday evening fixture at Thornton Dale Cricket Club, whipped up […]
Pontefract & District League: Down to the wire at Feverley Hills
Two days before my trip to Thornton Dale, I had been in the markedly different surroundings of Featherstone, a former pit village synonymous with – and renowned for – rugby league. They used to say, if you were after a decent scrum-half, all you had to do was whistle down the shaft of one of […]