Opinion

You will read a great deal about Billy Stanlake in the coming hours and days. Notably, that he is tall (second only to the totemic Indian beanpole Mohammad Irfan by my tape-measure), fast (clocked at 151km/h or 93.8mph) and the real deal (just ask England or New Zealand in the recent trans-Tasman T20 tri-series). WICKET! New […]

The Christmas turkey is in the oven, the pigs in blankets are tucked up, there is not a sprout in sight (author’s licence) and enough roast potatoes to feed an entire cricket club. All you need are your guests…but in this utopian, sprout-free world, who would you choose to invite from the world of cricket, […]

The county cricket season is officially over for Yorkshire CCC and in the harsh light of a crushing 376-run defeat in Essex, it has been far from a classic for those supporting the White Rose. That final nail in the 2017 coffin was the heaviest defeat (by runs) in the history of the club. Ponder […]

The advent of day-night County Championship cricket with a pink ball. What would Fred Trueman have made of it all? It was tempting to suggest the historic part of this experiment was not the floodlights or late start times but the presence of all of the England players for their counties. Seeing Jonny Bairstow playing […]

This year’s Bradford Literature Festival takes place between 30 June and 9 July incorporating 400 writers and 300 events across ten days. It promises to be a wonderful whirlwind of literature, debate and entertainment for all ages and I’m delighted to be a guest panellist on 1 July at 11am in Bradford’s City Hall Banqueting […]

As the current first-class fixture between Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Leeds Bradford MCCU draws to a close on Tuesday at Headingley, spare a thought for a player no longer with us. For those that knew him, 28 November 2012 will forever be etched in the memory when the talented cricketer Tom Hardman died, just shy […]

Before my debut appearance at a Yorkshire County Cricket Club AGM, there were more pressing concerns at hand as a fine mizzle descended: where can you get a decent cooked breakfast around Headingley before 9am? Tripadvisor led to Caffe Latte on Otley Road (superb) and appreciable calm on my own, sprawled out on a leather […]

As part of Cricket Yorkshire’s #6notout birthday celebrations, we are publishing a selection of articles from past years that audiences won’t have read on this current website. To begin with, Graham Shorter on how the sensational career of Yorkshire’s first-ever overseas player and cricketing messiah captures the events of the lives of a generation. ***

The immediate answer (how often do you get that in an opening paragraph?) is that it depends if you’re a fan worried about the potential roadblock for young English county cricketers, a county coach looking to bolster an under-strength squad or a professional cricketer after financial security and a new chapter in life. Kolpak has […]

Well, well… Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s captaincy roll of honour now officially spans from Lord Hawke to Gary Ballance. Ballance has become Yorkshire County Cricket Club captain across all three formats after being approached by new First XI Coach Andrew Gale. The 27-year-old England batsman described the Yorkshire captaincy as “impossible to turn down” and […]