Heading into the second half of 2022, the standings in Yorkshire’s club cricket leagues are starting to indicate who the season’s winners and losers might be. Let’s start at the top of the pyramid, with the four ECB Premier League, Premier Divisions. In the Bradford Premier League, New Farnley, Priestley Cup winners last year and […]
Miles Per Gallon
Easingwold make Hunters Cup Semi-Finals
After a Saturday drive up to County Durham, to watch a game in the North East Premier Cricket League First Division, at the splendid Philadelphia Cricket Club, overlooked by the Penshaw Monument, I fancied something closer to home the following afternoon. Forecasters indicating a continuation of the summer’s indifferent weather – cloudy and breezy albeit […]
Rothwell Cricket Club: Rhubarb and rockets at Royds Lane
Despite a lifelong sweet tooth, I’m not overly keen on rhubarb. In common with gooseberries (unfortunately, the only edible thing that grew in our South Pennine childhood garden), its bitterness makes me shudder. Adding custard helps. Rhubarb – vegetable not fruit – was on my mind as, courtesy of a courtesy car, I trundled, west, […]
Welcome to The Parish: Runs and red kites
The long innings of my 2011 vintage Volkswagen Polo is over. With 146,222 miles (note the Double Nelson element!) on the clock, the reliable old campaigner expired last week – albeit only a month before I’d planned to scrap it. No way, without major expense, would it get through a mid-July full service and MOT. […]
Foss Evening League: Stockton & Hopgrove host Rufforth
Stockton & Hopgrove Cricket Club field one of just six First XIs contesting the three-division York Vale Cricket League. The others, on the off chance this crops up as an obscure question at your pub quiz, are Ben Johnson, Hirst Courtney, Melbourne, South Cave & Brantingham, and Thorpe Willoughby. Stockton & Hopgrove’s ground, part of […]
Six of the Best: Leagues, cups and ambitions across Yorkshire
With the 2022 season about a third complete, the standings across Yorkshire’s recreational cricket leagues are taking shape and cup competitions approaching their climactic phase. We take a close look at six appealing matches over the June 11-12 weekend: three league fixtures on the Saturday and a trio of cup ties the following afternoon. Saturday, […]
Ryedale Beckett League: Midweek cricket at Duncombe Park
There is always a danger, with midweek cricket, one will arrive at a ground to discover a team – maybe both! – has scratched and the game been called off. Many clubs don’t seem to bother posting social media information about the activities of their midweek XIs, which adds an element of ‘wasted journey’ risk […]
Bradford Premier League: Birstall beat Baildon at Leeds Road
I am not one for soaking up the sun, hour after hour – whilst watching cricket or doing anything else. Acquiring a tan? Two weeks comatose on a beach? No, thank you. It means cricket grounds lacking shade, to the south and/or the west, must wait for a cloudy day before I’ll visit. Digital satellite […]
Jack Hampshire Cup: Altofts beat Brighouse
How many of the cricket matches you’ve witnessed really stand out in the memory? My visit to Altofts Cricket Club won’t easily be forgotten, simply because it was unusually brief. The Tofts took just two hours, 20 minutes – including the tea interval! – to dispose of Third Division rivals Brighouse in the Bradford Premier […]
NYSD Cricket: Great Ayton edge past Thornaby
According to club president Ken Home, Great Ayton Cricket & Football Club (to use the full and correct name, after a 1976 amalgamation) “punches well above its peers”. Ken’s eminently justifiable claim features on the second line of his welcome piece in the 2022 edition of the annual club brochure, an impressive 28-pager, available – […]