Harrogate Women 1st XI impress against Menston before the rain

Harrogate Cricket Club’s St George’s Road HQ was the venue for this West Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League Division One match against Menston. Mark Doherty reports on an impressive display with the ball from the hosts’ Women’s 1st XI before the rain came.

The Weather Gods

Zeus was supposed to be in a bad mood on Sunday; the weather forecast seemed to reflect all his specialities…rain and generally stormy conditions. He’d also commanded Astrape and Bronte to make an appearance with their thunder and lightning.

Saturday during the day had been a bit blustery, and there had been a few spots of rain – but nothing that bothered anyone for more than a minute or two. But as Saturday gave way to Sunday, clouds gathered, and the mood changed.

With rain starting to fall, the number of postponements for Sunday’s fixtures gathered pace. In recent weeks, I’ve realised the early season luxury of picking one fixture to cover on any given day is now a recipe for disaster, accordingly on Sunday I had three in the mix.

And so it came to pass that two out of the three were postponed, but luckily the closest game to me survived, meaning the bags were packed and the short distance to Harrogate’s ground travelled.

The visitors to St. George’s Road on Sunday were one of the few remaining teams I’ve yet to cover in the West Yorkshire Women & Girls Cricket League Division One this season – Menston Cricket Club. I’ve still to get to see Pudsey St. Lawrence and Holmfirth this season…but I will make sure they feature in the coming weeks.

The Arrival

If you’ve read any of my musings over the past few seasons here on Cricket Yorkshire [or indeed on my own blog, Leica Moments], you will know that Harrogate Cricket Club is one of about ten in and around where I live, all of which are exceptionally easy to get to…and provide me with a chance to cover four different leagues.

I’ll skip the usual descriptive paragraphs of the ground, as it hasn’t changed since my visit last week! Suffice to say that this is an impressive cricket club, with two ovals around the pavilion, and brilliant four lane practice nets, installed by total-play.

Parking up on the grassy embankment that runs down one side of the ground, I could see the covers were still on and looking directly where the clouds were blowing in from…it looked dark and miserable.

Getting out of the car, I was met with a brisk south-westerly…something that was to change constantly throughout the day…and end up as a north-westerly towards the end of the afternoon that would eventually bring in the promised bad weather.

The ground was still a little damp from overnight rain in Harrogate, but being honest, cricket pitches all around the area needed it, with the excess water being soaked up easily.

Game On

At the start of the day, the visitors sat just above Harrogate in the table, but with the hosts having played three games less. Both teams are predominantly filled with younger players, and very much building for the future.

Menston won the toss and decided to put Harrogate into bat first, with Tia Metcalfe and Joanne Harrington forming the opening partnership for the home team.

Both openers settled exceptionally quickly, stroking the ball around the ground to pick up runs and get ‘Gate off to a good start. As they both got into their stride, Joanne seemed to pick up an injury – although I didn’t see what happened – and she had to retire having scored 16 off just 21 deliveries.

Tia was joined in the centre by her sister Caitlin and the pair were to terrorise the Menston attack with some great hitting and scoring runs regularly. By the time Emily Young brilliantly caught and bowled Tia, she had reached 73 from 72 balls, and Harrogate had posted just about 150 runs in 24 overs.

Any hopes that Tia’s replacement, Immy Hartley, was there to see out the remaining 36 deliveries were quickly dispelled as she took up where Tia had left off.

By the end of the innings Caitlin Metcalfe had scored an unbeaten 65 from 71, and Immy had raced to 31 from 20 deliveries.

They had helped the home team to a total of 208 for one in 30 overs…a formidable score, and only a few runs less than the men’s first team had achieved the previous weekend…a game they had gone on to win with an impressive bowling display.

A short break between the innings allowed refreshments to be taken…but the wind had changed direction and in doing so had picked up strength. We’d had a few spots of rain as Harrogate batted, but somehow it hadn’t turned into anything terminal.

As the players emerged for the reply, I looked nervously around the ground at curtains of rain falling in the distance on three sides…with a narrow avenue of slightly brighter cloud blowing directly over the Kirbys Solicitors ground. How long our luck would hold out was anyone’s guess.

Sarah Woods and captain Kelly Jenkins opened for Menston, but that pair were not to last as Sarah was dismissed in the second over with Lilly Barker’s fantastic catch, picking the ball deftly out of the air, off the bowling of Immy Hartley.

Three overs later and it was to get worse for Menston as they lost the wickets of Amelia Fowler and Annabelle Forster. The visitors weren’t being helped by the conditions [as it was spitting with rain intermittently, and there was a constant stiff wind blowing across the ground], but it’s got to be said that Harrogate’s bowling was fast, accurate, and causing plenty of problems on its own.

Another wicket fell in the eighth over, leaving Menston still shy of 50 having lost four batters. Emily Smith and Kelly Jenkins then dug in, aiming to blunt the sharp ‘Gate attack…succeeding for the next eight overs, and in doing so, pushing the team’s total over the half century.

By now, any lighter clouds near the ground had disappeared and the first spots of rain that would surely signify a rain delay were starting to fall. At the beginning of the 16th over, the vital wicket of Kelly Jenkins was taken as she was clean bowled by Immy Hartley.

Worse was to come with the final ball of the 16th over as Emily Smith joined her captain back in the pavilion when Immy struck again, this time Chloe Pipe somehow grabbing and holding on to a well hit ball.

It was now 19 minutes past five and with what appeared to be serious rain starting to make an appearance…it seemed impossible that the game could continue too much longer…but both teams were racing around to get the overs completed and the game played out to a natural conclusion.

Another wicket fell in the next over, but there was still a lot of fight in the tailenders, stubbornly defending and picking off runs from the odd wayward delivery. As we reached the 20th over, the sky had lightened slightly, the rain had abated a little and Menston were showing signs that they could potentially bat out the 30 overs.

Immy had other ideas, and she picked up the wicket of Emily Young midway through the 20th. The final two wickets fell in the 23rd and 24th overs with the visitors all out for 69 runs.

As the players left the pitch, the rain started to fall once more and to be fair, within 20 minutes was raining heavily enough…that if they had still been playing, the game would have had to end anyway.

Reflections in the Rain

As with the men’s team the previous week, Harrogate had shone with the ball in the field. Immy Hartley being the pick of the bowlers with four wickets for just ten runs in her six overs.

As umpire Liam Cope rightly said on social media later, Tia and Caitlin Metcalfe had shone with the bat for Harrogate, with both reaching a half century and putting their team in a match winning position.

It was a tough day for Menston, but there are plenty of positives to take away from this game. Captain Kelly Jenkins led from the front with the bat…and Emily Smith, Isobel Lawson, Emily Young, and Scarlett Williams all showing tenacity as they tried to guide the visitors to the 30th over…the conditions certainly not helping them.

With the win, Harrogate leapfrogged Menston in the table, and with games in hand on all the other teams in the league, I expect them to improve that position in the coming weeks.

I think the main problem for both teams, is a combination of being relatively young and this season building for the future; and playing against some very accomplished teams like St. Chad’s Broomfield, Bradford Park Avenue, Crossflatts and North Leeds – with those teams fighting it out at the top of the table.

I think I’ve said it in my previous few articles covering games in Division One…this is easily the best standard of cricket being played in this league that I have ever seen. There are some outstanding individuals playing in each of the teams, but I have to emphasize that these are now ‘teams’ and not a squad of players built around one or two players.

Week-in, week-out…I’ve seen all the teams in the league playing as one unit. Each member of the matchday eleven are contributing and that is making this 2025 season the most competitive in the history of the league – and perhaps a classic.

📸 PHOTOS

Want to read more?

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.