Caught Light: Reflections from a busy club cricket season

A rough count of grassroots cricket games I’ve been to this season, seems to come out at around 65. That is a personal best for a single season in the last decade, and I must admit for the vast majority of visits, it has been a real pleasure.

As October arrives, I wanted to sit down and write a few words about my overall impressions of how the 2024 season has gone.

Is it going to rain?

My first thoughts turn to the weather and the impact that climate change is having on grassroots clubs. I don’t want to get into any discussions about the driving factors behind climate change, but I think we can all agree that the weather has become more unpredictable and certainly there seems to be more ‘weather’ of various types.

The past two years have seen a lot of rainfall in and around the North of England, and the people responsible for maintaining grounds are having an increasingly difficult job in preparing pitches.

Clubs like Beckwithshaw have had to raise funds to install proper drainage, and the number of tales I’ve heard over the last few months about how various parts of grounds have been unplayable for the early part of the season, or that they’ve been unable to run the rollers around the outfield…are at an all-time high.

I think in the future, this is going to be an increasing challenge for most clubs, and there may be no answer other than going down the route of installing better drainage.

An expensive option and a major upheaval for those clubs impacted.

As the season was delayed due to the weather, it’s necessitated clubs to play well into the second half of September, and that brings with it its own set of challenges…poor light, rain, windy conditions, and earlier sunsets.

As heavy rain falls once again while I write this, I can only wonder what awaits us over the next six months until the 2025 season starts in April.

Finding new grounds

When the season did stutter into life, the games came thick and fast. In my locale, there was a plethora of Airedale & Wharfedale League, Theakston Nidderdale League, Yorkshire Premier League North, West Yorkshire Women and Girls’ League, Hambleton Softball League games…and let’s not forget the various cup competitions.

Simply too many to be able to do more than merely scratch the surface with any sort of meaningful coverage. Combine that with Yorkshire being a huge area to cover…good planning has been key to travelling around and trying to get something different every week.

Last season I decided to go to grounds that I haven’t ever been to before, or certainly haven’t been to since Covid was a thing. I’ve continued with those criteria this season and it has meant travelling more and more, as I tick off all the local clubs in and around Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and Skipton.

Paying the bills

I’ll be totally honest, the cost of providing this coverage has risen considerably, and that at a time of a cost-of-living crisis, is another pressure that needs considering. I’ve often been asked if I do this as a hobby…and the simple answer is no.

Any sales I’ve made of cricket photos I am so very grateful to the purchasers, as it is with your help that I can continue to devote a considerable amount of my time to supporting grassroots cricket.

🏏 If you’re a club or player who wants to buy my photos, digital images are £9.99 each (Pricing and FAQs) – email me at [email protected].

✍️ 📸 Here are all of the articles / photo albums on Cricket Yorkshire.

Next season, I plan to wander further afield. My aim will be to visit at least 10 new grounds, and revisit many that I haven’t been to for at least five years. Of course, I will be popping into many of my familiar haunts when weather or other factors dictate.

Hidden in plain sight

So much time is devoted to cricket in the cities, towns and villages around the county, however, many of the clubs are hidden away, set in fields behind buildings, down country roads, or at the end of a farmer’s lane…that often people don’t know that they are there.

Many clubs don’t take advantage of social media, websites, or other free resources open to them to publicise their fixtures. There certainly is a lack of good-quality photos for them to use to promote their clubs, which is one of the reasons why I continue to try and support the various leagues I cover.

Dialogue with leagues

It would be good to have a better dialogue with the leagues to coordinate a lot of the coverage, and perhaps be more involved in the key moments of the season.

For example, I note that the Bradford Premier Cricket League, is one of the organisations that seems to be pretty good at promoting their teams, working with local photographers and dedicated media outlets to promote the teams in their leagues every week. I wish some others would take note.

Increasingly tech like Frogbox is being deployed to live-stream games, which can only be a good thing, but there is an obvious cost to installing and operating on match days, and not every club can afford, or has the facilities to enable them to do this.

The coverage by most local media has always and continues to be a source of frustration. Unless a club is threatened with going out of existence, or the next big star emerges from grassroots…a lot of the coverage consists of a few stock photos and a line that gives little more than the headline numbers you can get in Play Cricket.

It feels like there is no soul to the coverage provided in the world of the profits-driven news cycle. There are thousands of players, families, and supporters watching grassroots cricket every week.

That could be a potential audience for those media outlets to tap into, maybe not selling to, but certainly increasing their online reach and improving their reputation for more balanced coverage.

Media coverage of club cricket

I will put my hand up and acknowledge that I’ve seen a few reports over the last six months [outside of the likes of specialist websites like Cricket Yorkshire] that have provided good coverage, but by and large, they are too few and too far between.

Turning up to watch a game, capture a few photos, and write a report is something that most teams have welcomed. My aim, like John Fuller at Cricket Yorkshire, has been to shine a light on different clubs around the region, extolling the good as much as we can.

This season I’ve been to both big and small clubs, beautiful and less aesthetically pleasing grounds, easy-to-get-to cricket clubs, and a few that you really have to know where they are.

I’ve been happy to cover games high up in the leagues and then go to teams that are at the very bottom of the divisions. It really hasn’t mattered if I am covering the first or the third team.

To me, it is all about the game and the passion that connects all players – from the professional playing for England, to the club journeyman who turns up every week for the love of the game.

I hope that has come across in the 50+ articles I have written.

You do know this is the third team playing?

Some of the best games I’ve covered this season have been in the lower divisions. Games that, on the face of it, shouldn’t be thrillers but turn out to be engrossing competitions between the two sets of players.

I was asked the above question when I turned up to cover a game in a particular league…which I answered, ‘I do’. That game turned out to be a fascinating tussle between the two teams, going down to the final overs before the home team earned the slimmest of victories.

The point being that when you go to a lot of the games, you shouldn’t expect top-class cricket played at professional levels of athleticism…instead, you should invest in the team play going on in front of you and enjoy all the nuances that come from that.

Sitting on the boundary rope, I’ve seen meticulously set fielding teams that have stifled runs…and conversely, the field set incorrectly with boundaries begging to be hit at.

Part of the joy of covering some games has been to see the thought processes going on as the captains have tried to solve these problems.

I’ve watched young players starting out on their cricket careers and I’ve seen older players playing in their final season. The varying abilities of the players have also been very abundantly clear, but in the main, everyone has been respectful and there has been a general feeling of being a part of a cricketing family.

I must admit, it isn’t all sunshine…there have been a few games with a definite edge to them, be it a historical angst between the teams playing, or a moment of something acting as a flashpoint that spills out over the innings.

However, those flashpoints are mostly forgotten at the end of the day when handshakes are offered and points handed out.

Sundays have seen me devote as much time as I could to covering women’s and girls’ cricket. I’ve loved getting to meet new teams and cover leagues that are often overlooked by many.

Over the past two seasons, those hardball and softball games have been a real eye opener for me. There is so much progress being made right now, with new players taking part, and teams becoming more driven to compete.

Stand-out moments for me, have been interviewing Rachael Mackenzie at Harrogate Cricket Club and listening to the YCB’s Katie Stewart talking with a lot of passion about how women in sport, and in particular women and girls’ cricket is coming on in leaps and bounds.

So… how was the season?

Let me start by saying that it’s been a classic season of grassroots cricket, by and large a very enjoyable journey throughout the counties of Yorkshire.

I’ve liked going back to clubs that I haven’t been to in a decade, visiting clubs like Walton Park that I have never been to, seeing players that have played for one club and now turn out for another, and meeting new people.

I’ve enjoyed watching teams bring young players into their first and second teams, knowing the experience of competing with seasoned players means that there is a bright future, with some superb cricketing talent coming up through grassroots clubs.

Investing in cricket club facilities

I’ve been impressed with the number of clubs investing in their, and the players’ futures by installing new practice nets, adding to existing pavilions, or simply redeveloping their grounds to put new facilities in to help make them the heart of their communities.

Covering a few women and girls’ hardball and softball leagues has been a real highlight of this season. I have covered games sporadically over the past decade, uncertain about those teams actually wanting me to be there…but I shouldn’t have worried about that…they have been amongst the most welcoming of all.

Women and girls’ cricket progress

The progress I’ve seen made by women and girls’ teams this season compared to some of the games I covered a decade ago is simply like chalk and cheese.

I’m convinced that I’ve seen a few future international stars this summer…women’s leagues are developing at such a pace now and is supported superbly by the Yorkshire Cricket Board. Long may that continue.

A sense of community

When the last ball of the season was bowled and the stumps pulled for the final time, I felt like the season had been a good one.

I’ve watched a few teams relegated and some promoted – that is the nature of competitive sport – but at the same time I’ve seen a sense of community, and that has been the very essence of cricket in the summer of 2024.

It has been competitive, but fun at the same time. However, times are changing, and the leagues will face new challenges as modern life, climate change, and the cost of living continue to impact their teams.

Where clubs once had three or four teams, they are finding that they can only commit to putting out one or two, primarily due to the number of players available to spend six or seven hours on a Saturday decreasing.

How the issues facing clubs and leagues are solved, is for another article, but for me, at the core of this season have been games that may not have always been nailbiters, but have been full of passion, and that’s why I’ll be out covering the various leagues again in 2025.

PHOTOS

Want to read more?

Thanks to Mark for capturing his thoughts on the 2024 grassroots cricket season, covering weather impacts, club challenges, memorable games, and the promising future of women’s cricket.

Here are all of Mark’s articles and photos on Cricket Yorkshire.

To see more of his photography, you can visit caughtlight.com or he’s @caughtlight on Twitter/X.

There’s also the Caught Light Photography Facebook page.

I also highly recommend his blog called Leica Moments which includes days out at grounds around Yorkshire.