Danby Cricket Club march on in Langbaurgh League

Joe Hudson reports on a low-scoring tussle from Danby Cricket Club in the North York Moors.

As any good village cricketer knows, sometimes Lady Luck can smile down on you, other times she can be looking entirely in the other direction.

Danby Cricket Club, sitting above the River Esk on a neat slice of the North York Moors, can testify to the fickle nature of fate over the last two seasons.

Comedown after the quadruple

A year after slogging their way to a remarkable quadruple of successes in the Langbaurgh League’s first division and associated cup competitions, 2024 saw the Blackcaps lose out on retaining their league crown by just two points, thanks to more cancelled games compared to champions East Harlsey.

Their Gjers Cup campaign was also a case of what might have been, with final defeat to nearby Kildale – just a few stops back down the Esk Valley Line towards Middlesbrough – adding to getting pipped by the same team in the semi-finals of the Henry Flintoft Cup.

Langbaurgh League

League triumph in 2023 was the pinnacle of what has been a steady climb since Danby moved from the Eskdale to the Langbaurgh league in 2019.

Winning the Division 2 title in the team’s first season, consecutive third place finishes in 2021 & 2022 laid the foundations for success the year after.

2025 is the year Danby is hoping to add that second title, and a few more Cup glories where possible, and it’s taking nothing for granted.

Starting the season with five wins from five, including defeating last year’s champs last weekend by 52 runs, today was the visit of bottom of the league Norton 4th XI and – to steal from another page of the big book of clichés – could this be a banana skin?

The first Saturday of summer

It’s a lovely drive to get into the heart of the moors, leaving Teesside I joined the day trippers heading to Whitby but turned off early and headed down through a patchwork of green and brown heather into Danby itself.

Driving through the village, there were a few walkers enjoying a lunch break on the village green and a few sheep were doing a bit of impromptu gardening but the first day of summer proved to be a mixed day – a morning full of sunshine and blue skies stretching out toward the North Sea became a cloudy and blustery afternoon.

Down one side of the valley and up the other over the railway line – a blast of a train horn during the mid-innings break testifying to the closeness of the line – Danby’s pavilion sneaks up on you as you dip and dive round a twisty single-track road leaving the village.

I got there just as the first of the Norton players arrived, and pre-match entertainment came from watching some spectacular one-handed catches that were shown off as part of a catching drill with a tape ball.

Sat outside the stout & squat clubhouse – erected in 1991, according to the keystone above the door – I could just about see Danby to my right back across the valley.

To the left, the top of the valley zig-zagged by drystone walls hugging every groove and what would be a great almost-aerial view of play.

Deceptive slope

The pitch itself has a deceptive slope, climbing gently up toward the top of the valley, meaning any shots back toward to road have a bit of gravity on their side.

Like a number of grounds round these parts, the football club also has a claim on things, with a pair of goals shoved in the corner of the field – next to a trio of mobile covers that have long been taken over by weeds and plants.

A pleasant place, then, to watch Danby try to make it a sixth Division One win-in-a-row against a young Norton team I was told are looking to gain experience after promotion last season and losing a number of experienced players over the winter.

Banana skin – just about – avoided

Bowling first, Danby’s Ryan Hewison and Andy Raw – Rawry or Rawsy if you listened to his teammates – showed Norton why this part of Yorkshire is weighed down by silverware.

Hewison took a wicket in the first over, a loose shot from Joseph McNab was comfortably grabbed by wicketkeeper John Welford, while Raw claimed Alex Neal and Harry Smith’s wickets for a duck and one respectively.

Rocking after a few early wickets, Norton pulled things back somewhat and put on another 21 runs to go from 19/3 to 41/3. The home side, though, demonstrated why they’ve been so successful.

To a backdrop of a large gang of ramblers nosily walking the path behind the far boundary up to the remains of Danby Castle, Harry Horton took three wickets for nine runs and with Hewison and Raw picking up a couple more themselves, Norton found themselves skittled for just 56.

An easy chase for Danby, then? Not quite.

With confidence high that 40 overs would be enough to record yet another win, what they didn’t expect was two wickets in one over as Norton’s Mark Chapman took the scalps of James Smith & Kevin Horton with just six runs on the board.

An over later and they were another wicket down as Louis Playle-Watson prodded a gentle catch into the hands of a grateful McNab.

Was a shock on the cards? The mood in the pavilion was starting to match that of the looming black clouds gathering to the west, leading to the Norton team to banter: ‘Don’t let the rain come and save them!’.

It was slow coming, but when it did, it was torrential. The first sign change was afoot was the complete quietness. The rustle of the wind through the trees had faded away and the darkness started closing in.

Then, the heavens opened and it was all I could do to get the rain cover on the camera – my coat, which is not at all waterproof, is still drying out a good few hours after.

Like so many rain showers in the North York Moors, it lasted all of 10 minutes and having recovered to 47 for 4, it was a welcome reprieve for Norton to assess attack options.

However, the win came just a few overs later, despite the loss of Paul Snaith on 20, with Welford fine-edging to leg for four to take the victory.

To add insult to injury, as soon as the winning runs were scored, the sky cleared and sunshine shone down again. Typical.

Is the sun shining down on Danby’s season? Six wins and 120 points in the league has helped them open a slight margin over chasing Hutton Rudby and Kirby Sigston. Could this year be the season to wrest control away from Lady Luck?

✍️ Many thanks to Joe Hudson for his coverage from Danby Cricket Club, as well as his stellar photography.

📸 You can check out his images at joehudsonphoto.com and he’s @joe_hudson on Instagram.

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