Wildflower meadows and special branches at Hundhill Hall

A season or two ago, whilst exchanging emails with a very helpful Pontefract & District League secretary, I asked if he could recommend any particularly attractive and/or interesting cricket grounds in his competition.

Hundhill Hall Cricket Club’s ground, off Sandygate Lane, in the farming village of East Hardwick, three miles south of central Pontefract, made his list of about 10.

Finally got there, on May 12, for a Sunday ‘Round of 32’ tie in the league’s 40-over Dyson-Skidmore Trophy. Reader, it was worth the wait! Everything, and more, you would want from a classical village cricket ground.

We drove through then out of gridlocked ‘Ponte Carlo’ on the A639, the former Great North Road, constructed by those what-did-they-ever-do-for-us Romans. Barely a decent hit from the square, the road bisects East Hardwick.

The cricket club are named after a late eighteenth or early nineteenth century country house, in the Georgian style. A hundred yards from the ground’s north end boundary, Grade II listed Hundhill Hall is visible across a delightfully unmanaged wildflower meadow, bursting with the colour because of the ideal-for-growing wet spring. 

One of the Hundhill – ‘hill where dogs are kept’ (hunting dogs associated with Pontefract Castle?) – Hall players told me the cricket club, established in 1897, have a thousand-year lease on the site. That’s what I call security of tenure!

Being on a breeze-arresting hill, the ground offers fine views, notably to the south. Beyond the boundary fence, undulating crop fields – one ablaze with vivid oilseed rape – slope away towards a skyline of low, wooded higher ground.

A bench in the southwest corner is dedicated, “in loving memory”, to Mark Crowther (1964-2019). An additional inscription reads: 54 not out.

Immediately to the west is another wildflower meadow (is this why the cricket club have a butterfly as their logo?), again a riot of colour, beyond which crop fields lead the eye in the direction of tree-masked Ackworth, a former town that claims, according to a Hundhill Hall player, to be the longest village in Europe. Hadn’t heard that.

There isn’t any on-site parking at the cricket ground, which means the verges and lay-bys of single-track Sandygate Lane become seriously congested on matchdays.

Entry is via one of two wrought-iron gates, each featuring cricket-themed decoration. When we visited, only the gate behind the clubhouse/pavilion was unpadlocked.

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This first sight of the ground, from its northeast corner, is a perfect introduction. So many delights, spread out before the eye, as if on a jeweller’s baize.

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The clubhouse/pavilion, extended (I’d hazard) and nicely refurbished recently (I’d hazard again), is small yet manages to shoehorn inside dressing rooms, a bar, a kitchen, a smart seating area and loos. Mugs of tea for a quid. Out front, picnic tables are provided. That used by the scorers is protected by a parasol.  

More seats, beneath trees, are positioned immediately to the left. On the other side of the clubhouse/pavilion, at the north end, beyond the groundsman’s store, a practice net and a sight screen, are picnic tables.

A popular spot. Hundhill Hall is to the rear. Only in this area is there any space. Otherwise, the ground is about as compact as it could be.

Mature trees – including horse chestnuts, exhibiting their blossom – line Sandygate Lane and overhang the eastern boundary.

Same applies, opposite, to two very large trees, in whose shade we were happy to set up our seats. As a Hundhill Hall player adjusted the boundary rope, ensuring we had just enough room to pitch camp, he revealed: “If the ball hits the branches, it’s a six.”

We arrived, to find cars lining Sandygate Lane and a game in progress. Had I got the start time wrong? No. On the ground’s solitary artificial wicket, Hundhill Hall were playing Featherstone in an under-13s T20 match. Some Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Club apparel in evidence, I noted, amongst the onlooking parents and grandparents.

We watched the last few overs, although not as closely as the groundsman, clearly concerned the junior game was over-running. Keen to tend to the men’s grass match wicket, he climbed aboard his motorised roller and fired up its engine. 

The junior game concluded at 12.37, a mere 23 minutes before the scheduled men’s start. A whirl of activity ensued. Observing, an umpire advised the start had been pushed back 15 minutes to 1.15. In the event, play began at six minutes past one.

Owing to a quirk of the fixtures, these Premier Division rivals had met, in the league, on the same ground, the previous afternoon. West Bretton won, by 31 runs.

Two very different line-ups for our visit, an indication (as if one were needed) of how difficult clubs are finding fielding teams on Sundays.

Comparing the sides sent out each day, Hundhill Hall showed eight changes and West Bretton four. I learned the visitors had been obliged to raid their Sunday ‘social’ team, whose game, as a result, was cancelled. I attended last year’s Dyson-Skidmore Trophy Finals Day. Then, it was a T20 competition. Has it been altered to 40 overs?

Hundhill Hall captain Elliott Fletcher played on both days. After bowling his first Sunday over, Fletcher was to be found, away on the boundary, massaging his shoulders. “I’m so stiff after yesterday. I don’t know how they play Test matches!”

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Later, a team-mate of Fletcher’s confided the weekend had been the first time he’d picked up a bat since last season. You can’t beat a wet spring.

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Lovely to look at those wildflower meadows and buzzard-patrolled crop fields may be, but they do lead to a lot of searching for balls despatched into their knee-deep foliage. We’d barely started before the shout went up: “Watch where it goes!” Followed shortly by: “Spare ball!”

Having elected to bat, West Bretton, assisted by the addition of 49 extras, including 42 wides, amassed 320-8 from their 40 overs. The position of the wicket in use meant a short, productive boundary on the Sandygate Lane side. 

Information on a noticeboard outside the clubhouse/pavilion reveals the record team score at this tiny ground is 468-4, posted in June 2023 by Hundhill Hall’s First XI against their Stainborough counterparts. Richard Earnshaw clubbed 148, Matthew Ramsden 102, Jordan Harvey 68 (off 29 balls) and Reece Johnson 62 (off 14!), in laying the foundations for an astonishing 352-run victory.

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A sharp catch went down at 85-0. Fletcher, the bowler, offered a consoling pat. Openers Jake Chapman (62 off 56) and his captain, Luke Smith (53 off 44), matched each other’s run-scoring for a long period. They put on 111 for the first wicket. Then, the dreaded Nelson separated the pair.

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Tom Clifford (42 off 48) and Lewis O’Connor (45 off 27 including four sixes) kept the West Bretton juggernaut rolling. In such backs-to-the-wall circumstances, ‘Rambo’ Ramsden did admirably well to finish with figures of 5-41 from six overs.

Blocked loos in the clubhouse/pavilion were causing consternation. Is there a plumber in the ground? An exasperated woman emerged from the ladies, and declared: “If I pee in there, it’ll flow over.” Seeking relief, my wife drove to the nearby Rustic Arms pub!

An eight-runs-an-over asking rate sounded daunting, and Hundhill Hall’s reply didn’t come near reaching it. They gave it a considerable stab, though, and 213-8 from 40 was respectable. Therefore, the margin of West Bretton’s second win at the ground in 24 hours was 107 runs.

From 40-1, Hundhill Hall slipped to 92-4. Tristan Oselton, in at four, topped their scoring with 39 off 38. Other notable knocks came from opener Ramsden (a patient 36 off 64), Fletcher (35 off 31) and Charlie Mulhall (34 not out off 22). Fletcher figured in stubborn stands for the fifth (52, with Oselton) and seventh (41, with Mulhall) wickets.

Chapman headlined the bowling with 4-65 from eight overs, but huge credit to veteran left-arm spinner Mel Wood (1-38 from eight), who was particularly hard to get away and caused the batsmen no end of anxiety. 

After one loud appeal fell on deaf ears, an incredulous Wood mimed the drawing of a ‘square in the air’. This is an aspect of cricket I relish: unlike briefer sports, its one or multi-day games are so long, it is impossible for players to hide their true personalities. Think Derek ‘The Imp’ Randall!

A home player told me Hundhill Hall Cricket Club, most of whose talent is drawn from Pontefract, together with a smaller injection from Ackworth, have never been in better shape. Only five years ago, the club struggled to field a Second XI. 

Thunderstorms, rolling in from the west, were forecast to arrive any time after five o’clock. A worry for us. More than once, the wind got up, suggesting an imminent downpour. “It’s getting a bit dark,” remarked a fielder, eyeing the burgeoning clouds.

Luckily, it stayed dry – and mostly sunny – until moments before the last over began. Even then, the rain was brief. Driving home, however, it was obvious others, including the neighbouring village of puddle-pocked Darrington, had not been so fortunate.

As I write, normal (for 2024) service has resumed: heavy rain is blearing our York windowpanes. Sigh.