Women’s league cricket: High winds and halloumi at Harrogate

Mark Doherty heads to Harrogate Cricket Club for the visit of Driffield Town in East Yorkshire Women’s Hardball Division One.

Sunday didn’t look very promising from a weather point of view. A mixture of sunshine and showers with strong blustery winds, meant that any game taking place in and around the Harrogate district could be subject to disruption.

But as I’m an optimist, I packed my bags and got in the car for the short journey down to St. George’s Road, the home ground of Harrogate Cricket Club. Sunday’s fixture was an intriguing tie between Harrogate CC Women and Driffield Town Women in the East Yorkshire Women’s Hardball Division One.

The sun was shining bright, but I had to hold onto the driver’s door as I got out due to the really strong gusts that were sweeping across the ground.

The players were already out warming up on the pitch, the boundary ropes had been positioned accordingly and the stumps were set ready for the start of the game.

Harrogate’s ground is one that I know intimately, and that I can navigate with my eyes closed to reach my favourite photo positions. I grabbed the cameras from the boot and headed off down the grass bank towards the impressive pavilion to get set up.

Looking around there were quite a few unfamiliar faces, so I approached the Harrogate coaches and introduced myself so that they would know who the strange man sitting on the boundary rope with a big camera and wearing a Stetson was.

Play-Cricket

To be honest, I think I timed my introduction a little awkwardly as the Harrogate team’s management were getting to grips with signing in to Play Cricket, trying to log on to the club’s Wi-Fi network, and trying to add the names of the players to the scoring system.

All rather taxing given the fast-approaching deadline for the first ball.

The home team won the toss and Driffield took to the field first, with the two opening Harrogate batters following shortly after. I dialled in the settings on the camera for the conditions, looking back over my shoulder nervously at the dark rain clouds threatening to interrupt the start of the game.

Harrogate got off to a fabulous start, hitting the ball confidently to all corners of the ground, seemingly able to reach the boundary easily. Amelia Oliver, Louisa Hill and Kiran Sahota played some magnificent shots to put the home side on the front foot from the off.

But it was Jess Thompson, who really caught the eye as she seemed to settle quickly and strike the ball so cleanly, and in doing so ended up reaching a top score for the day of 89 before being caught by Julie Pease.

The scoreboard had been ticking over quite rapidly in the first ten overs, and I sat trying to do some rough ‘n ready mathematics to work out what sort of score the home team could reach if they carried on at this pace. Given the initial run rate, my calculations suggested a score in excess of 300 in the 30 overs.

As Harrogate Cricket Club has a fairly open layout, I was getting buffeted by the strong gusts of wind and having difficulty keeping the big lens aimed at the play.

Windy St. George’s Road

One moment there would be no wind and taking photos of the bowler or batters would be very easy, but then, in an instant I would be hit by near hurricane-strength winds that meant I was shooting random images of the surrounding houses or trees.

To be fair, when I say ‘hurricane strength’, I may be exaggerating a little, however, the strength of the gusts was significant enough to make holding the camera and lens steady an impossible task.

The Driffield players seem to struggle at first, not having much luck against the opening batters, however, as the innings progressed, the bowling and fielding became attuned to the conditions, and they started having some real success which inevitably meant that the home team’s run rate dropped.

By the end of the allotted 30 overs, Harrogate had reached 224 for nine, a formidable total for the visitors to chase down. Driffield Town’s Brooke Potter deserves a special mention for her bowling that saw her take six wickets for just 26 runs in just six overs.

As the players walked in for the break, a few spots of rain were threatening to interrupt the start of the second innings, the weather looked in the balance with a few very dark clouds being blown over the roof of the Balcony Sports Bar.

Pagers at the ready

It was time for some refreshments, with Connor and me heading into the pavilion to grab a drink and something to eat. We ordered two halloumi burgers and drinks, heading outside with the little pager to eagerly wait for our food to be ready.

Outside, I got chatting to Richard Brown, a local amateur photographer who I have known for over a decade. I first met Richard when he was at Harrogate Rugby as their official club photographer at Claro Road, before they sold the ground and moved out to the outskirts of Harrogate and their new home at Rudding Park.

Richard lives next to Harrogate Cricket Club and is a regular sight, walking around the boundary rope, capturing images of the games taking place.

Having had a good chat for about 10 minutes, I headed back down to where I had left my camera bag and cameras to get them ready for the Driffield Town innings.

At the same time, the pager jumped into life, signifying that our burgers were ready and my son Connor went to collect them. On his return, we sat next to the side screen and eagerly devoured the food and can report that they were every bit as good as they looked. I’d highly recommend the food that Andy serves at The Balcony Sports Bar.

Back to the cricket. The rain had stopped, the darkest of the clouds dispersed and the teams re-emerged with Harrogate taking to the field first.

As the group of players scattered from the huddle to their fielding positions, something didn’t look right. A quick count, and I thought I reached 12. 

Since the players had all been moving around, I waited for them to reach their various fielding positions and did another count. Yes, there seemed to be 12 fielders.

A quick discussion with Connor, and he confirmed that my basic counting skills were up to scratch. We wondered if there were some rules or agreements that we weren’t aware of and waited to see what the umpires made of the situation.

It didn’t take long for the Driffield Town opening batter to notice and mention to the umpire – who started his own count. He reached the same total, and one of the Harrogate fielders duly departed.

Time for the game to get underway and the chase to begin.

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Driffield Town’s Deborah Nelson stood out immediately, as she was playing some nice sweep shots to direct the ball around the stumps and behind the wicketkeeper.

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However, it was quickly clear that Driffield were not matching Harrogate’s early run rate, and by the tenth over, again by a rough and ready calculation, the visitors’ score would fall just short of the total needed.

Brooke Potter, Julie Pease, and in particular Laura Connor (who ended the game 32 not out) played some delightful shots to advance the visitor’s total. However, wickets were falling on a regular basis, and that was hampering the accrual of the runs needed.

Driffield Town only had ten players available, and that in itself would mean chasing down the total would be challenging. As the wickets fell, the run rate did so too, and the final wicket was taken with Harrogate winning the game by 100 runs.

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So for a Sunday afternoon, I had watched a great game of cricket, some really skilful players, had good food and drink, somehow managed to avoid rain, and didn’t have to run and take cover from a downpour. Result!

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Harrogate CC Women and Driffield Town Women play in the East Yorkshire Women’s Hardball Division One. After this result Driffield sat in second place and Harrogate third (having played one game less). Yapham CC sit at the top of the table with Sessay and Goole Town making up the other teams in the league.

I’m hoping to get to one of St. Chad’s Broomfield CC Women’s next games for my next trip, a club that seems to have a really great set-up and a team I am really looking forward to visiting.

Scorecard: https://harrogate.play-cricket.com/website/results/5943339

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Thanks to Mark for his thoughts on the game and fantastic photos. You can see more of his work over at www.caughtlight.com. He’s also @caughtlight on Twitter.

You can also read his past articles on Pannal Ash and Bilton-in-Ainsty here on the website.