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 the coal mines in and around ‘Fev’.

My visit to Featherstone Town Cricket Club was the first time I’d been to ‘Feverley Hills’ (a self-deprecating nickname) for anything other than to watch rugby league, either the semi-professionals of Featherstone Rovers or the amateurs of Featherstone Lions.

By any measure, even now, with the pits a distant memory, Featherstone, sleeves rolled up, is a workaday sort of place.

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Imagine, then, how I purred with pleasure on arriving at the cricket ground: an oasis of tree-fringed greenery, the calm of which is broken only by the occasional clatter of a train along the Wakefield-Pontefract line, a hundred yards away.

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Getting to the cricket ground is straightforward only if you know the code to a huge gate blocking an access track leading around the back of Rovers’ Post Office Road stadium.

I didn’t, of course – and neither did a coach, outside the rugby league stadium, preparing to host a women’s training session.

Asking the nearest other person, a navy and white hooped Rovers-shirted bloke, walking a dog, paid dividends.

After a moment’s pause, he launched into: “Go back up Post Office Road then turn right on Station Lane. At the lights, after the level crossing, turn right, on Green Lane. Where it bends left, keep ahead, on Halfpenny Lane, then take the first right, South View. Follow a footpath, over the railway, and you’ll see the cricket ground.”

He added: “You can leave your car on South View. There’s never any trouble.”

I couldn’t resist asking him about what’s happening at Rovers, whose season, in rugby league’s second tier, isn’t panning out as supporters would have liked or expected.

He had a healthy grumble about the coach, James Ford, whom he didn’t feel was equal to the size of the task. “I’ve stopped going recently,” he remarked. Judging by his expression, that cannot have been an easy decision. “If we lose on Sunday, at home to Whitehaven, well…” Not many clubs lose at home to Whitehaven.

Featherstone Town’s cricketers were entertaining their Allerton Bywater (a former pit village near Castleford) counterparts, in a third-versus-second fixture in the Pontefract & District League’s Evening League Division Two.

Having checked the weather forecast, I was prepared for the possibility of rain. But, from a cloudless sky, the sun beamed down. Perfect.

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Town’s ground, pretty much circular, is a good size (no sixes registered in my game!). Its southernmost half is edged with tall trees, some of them windbreak poplars. Lovely.

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To the east is a crop field, stretching away to the buildings of a farm. Immediately to the north is a football pitch then the railway. To the northeast there is a rugby league pitch, on which a couple of teenage lads were practising kicks at goal.

I wonder if Rovers goalkicking legend, the late Steve Quinn (a club record 2,656 points, including 1,200 goals, in 393 appearances), as a kid, did the same.

Town’s pavilion, according to a plaque opened in 1993, stands amidships on the west side. Relatively small it may be, but within its dimensions are shoehorned changing rooms and a bar.

The scoreboard, complete with a nameboard revealing the club’s formation year, 1919, is in the northeast corner. Cast adrift, it seems rather lonely.

Dotted along the curving east boundary are backless benches, painted neatly in white.

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The groundskeeper has fun with the pitch, cut in eye-catching concentric circles.

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In wrought iron, topping the sightscreens, the initials FTCC are a lovely detail.

Away to the south is evidence Featherstone, like everywhere else, is expanding: plentiful new houses, lining an extension of Post Office Road.

I’ve heard the Featherstone Town cricket ground described, appositely I can now confirm, as a “little piece of paradise”.

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An exciting game went down to the last over, by which time the sun had gone; replaced with a nagging breeze. I was told Featherstone’s ground can be a cold, windy spot.

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After a remarkable Sam Martin (2-7 from four) 19th over double-wicket maiden, witnessed by the lad’s proud father, Featherstone required three runs from the last six balls. Two were enough. 96-7, and a three-wicket win.

Victory enabled the hosts to leapfrog Allerton Bywater in the standings. Leaders Altofts, who won, by 28 runs, at Hundhill Hall the same evening, moved 11 points clear.

Some fightback from Featherstone, who, after just 10 balls of their reply, were rocking at 1-3. Town were indebted to No 4 Tony Rusling (36 not out off 47) and No 6 Mike Hill (30 off 19), who put on 58 for the fifth wicket, transforming the game. 

Crucially, Rusling was dropped twice, in the 12th and 13th overs. Along with Martin, left-arm pacer Luke Kayne bowled very well, and finished with 2-10 from four.

No 2 John Pinkerton (19 off 24) and No 1 Mike Wade (13 off 18) gave Allerton Bywater’s innings a solid start, with a first-wicket partnership worth 33. Then, things went wrong for the visitors, who slipped to 56-5. 

The influential Rusling (3-18 from four) and Richard Colley (also 3-18 from four) did the damage. Captain and wicketkeeper Michael Sunderland (16 not out off 17), in at No 6, did most to push Allerton Bywater’s total towards three figures, 95-9 off their 20.

Medium pacer Santhosh Nouduri (2-8 from three) provided a watchable cameo. Featherstone put down three catches.

Enjoyed the read?

You can check out other club visits by Andrew in his column, Miles Per Gallon.

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