Edward Readman Memorial Trophy: Down to the wire at Kirk Ella

I am a big fan of club cricket leagues’ internal cup competitions. 

Come the second half of the season, when many league games are becoming dead rubbers, they offer meaningful fixtures. I do like a bit of jeopardy.

Better still, most of these cup matches take place on Sundays, providing extra spectating opportunities.

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It is about mid-July that one realises the cricket season – a fleeting pleasure, even in the driest spring and summer – hasn’t many more weeks to run. 

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Got to pack in those games while one can. Soon enough, it’ll be October, that winter warm-up month of colder, darker, shorter days.

And so, early one Sunday morning, we headed along the A1079 to the eastern outskirts of Hull, to watch a quarter-final of the Yorkshire Premier League North’s Edward Readman Memorial Trophy, since 2023 a competition reserved for Division One clubs.

The competition, originally 40 overs but a T20 since 2009, was first contested in 1999. The trophy was donated by the family of the late Edward Readman, formerly of Bubwith, near Selby. Each year, the family gives a memento to the final’s man of the match.

Kirk Ella, whose ground is in neighbouring Willerby, were hosting fellow Division One East club Pickering. A meeting of the division’s bottom and top clubs respectively. 

Each team had won, in the league, the previous afternoon – Kirk Ella (at Yapham, by 40 runs) for only the second time this season.

Eleven o’clock seemed an odd time for a T20 to start, especially as Pickering had to travel a fair distance. But I was told it had been agreed by the two captains.

I overheard one of the Pickering players, apologetically, inform the Kirk Ella scorer, tasked with solo manual scoring and scoreboard operation: “We couldn’t get a scorer to come.” Perhaps that extra hour or two in bed was too tempting!

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Glad we made the effort because it wasn’t until the penultimate ball, after three hours of riveting cricket, that the outcome of an exciting game was decided.

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According to their printed 2024 fixture booklet (available, free, from the pavilion bar), Kirk Ella Cricket Club are in their 61st season at the Well Lane ground, located opposite Wolfreton School & Sixth Form College, an ostentatiously modern facility.

Well Lane is my kind of cricket ground: compact and intimate, affording spectators an opportunity to feel part of the action.

So constrained is the site, with in many places the boundary line hard up against the perimeter, there isn’t all that much room for spectators.

Seats beneath the southeast corner pavilion’s veranda are intended primarily for players. To the left of the pavilion, in front of a small parking area, close to the entrance, are a few benches, giving a good view across the almost square pitch.

We opted for a solitary bench, however, in the northeast corner. Overhanging trees offered some short-lived shade, and we were nearest the wicket being used.

I’ve heard it said Kirk Ella’s ground has barely changed in its 61 years. If the pavilion is that old, the club have done an excellent job of modernising without losing character.

The pavilion layout is traditional: dressing rooms either side of a bar (dedicated to former club stalwart Trevor Jukes, who died in 2020), with the veranda out front and a white picket fence denoting the pitch edge.

Trees at the north side, and along most of each end, together with a high, thick, privet hedge almost everywhere, lend a pleasing sensation of enclosure. 

The sole discordant note, near the southwest corner, is a block of newish-looking houses, windows and tiles protected by high netting. No resident was tempted to watch.

Beyond the east side of the pitch is a field then a dairy farm. To the north, the other side of hedge and trees, is a much larger field.

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The pink ball (balls, I should say, for several were needed!) paid frequent visits to the two fields, prompting lengthy searches.

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One Pickering fielder disappeared, into the field next to the dairy farm, for some time. “He’s gone for a milkshake,” suggested a team-mate, mopping sweat from his brow.

Despite its proximity to Hull, Willerby retains a village atmosphere. In this context, the cricket ground, a haven of serenity, is a perfect fit.

Hard to believe, then, that the noisy A164 (can I call it Hull’s outer ring road?) and a sprawling retail park are a mere half-mile distant. The contrast is striking.

Pickering’s decision to field was vindicated immediately, because pacer Kieran Bowes, to prove a matchwinner in every respect, took wickets from the first two deliveries.

Soon, at 35-5, Kirk Ella were rocking and reeling. But they were rescued by a sixth-wicket partnership, worth 89, between No 4 Ash Wills (97 not out, including six sixes and 11 fours) and No 7 and wicketkeeper Ali McCann (34, featuring a six and six fours).

One Wills six, driven at pace, punched a hole in the east end sight screen.

Bowes returned, near the end of the innings, to apply the brakes, taking two wickets in an over. He finished with 4-17 from four as Kirk Ella survived their 20 overs in posting a useful 168-7.

Coincidentally, Pickering also struggled early on. 

Quick Taylor Whittem (3-24 from four) removed the visitors’ top three batsmen: Max Harland (8), Stephen Temple (17) and captain Sam Batty (2).

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Whittem’s bowling impressed a team-mate. After one accurate delivery, right on the money, he called out: “That’s a red into a side pocket, Taylor!”

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In at five, Bowes (96 not out off 42, including seven sixes and nine fours) teamed up with wicketkeeper Isaac Edmond (23, featuring two sixes and a four), the sixth batsman, to right the ship.

Long before, with the scores tied, and two balls left, he struck a towering six to advance Pickering to 174-7, and a three-wicket victory, Bowes had a moment of great fortune.

He miscued a shot, apparently targeting another postcode. The ball flew straight (and high) into the air. Beneath, waiting what seemed an age, stood wicketkeeper McCann. 

Bowes watched, and waited, head bowed in disappointment. But, scarcely believably, McCann dropped the ball. For a moment, everything seemed to stop. Poor McCann looked inconsolable. Well, these things happen.

Kirk Ella put down four possible catches, and got very close to taking another two. Fine margins, indeed!

Some of the home fielding was superb. Isolated at long off, Wills, for example, reached high to prevent a six with a stunning, one-handed stop.

The home team never gave up. After 15 overs, Pickering were 118-6. “Still plenty needed here, boys. Come on!” urged a Kirk Ella fielder.

With seven required off six balls, Bowes got back on strike, in the nick of time.

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At small grounds, keeping one’s eyes on the ball is essential. Twice, we had to scurry from our seats as a clubbed six arrowed in our direction; the first around our ears, the second around our feet.

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Watching us flee, the first time, a Pickering boundary fielder grinned, and remarked: “That’s a 50p fine for not catching the ball.”

Post-Kirk Ella, we had intended to watch, six miles up the A164, at Walkington, some of a Yorkshire Premier League North Dave Conner Trophy quarter-final, a one o’clock start, between Division Two (Holderness) rivals Hull Strikers and Hessle.

By the time we’d have got there, though, the first innings would have concluded. We figured we couldn’t possibly better what we’d just witnessed therefore opted for a scenic, leisurely drive home, avoiding the busy (and often dangerous!) A1079.

After meandering along a series of back roads, taking in the relatively remote villages of Riplingham, North Newbald, Sancton, North Cliffe, Everingham, Melbourne, Sutton-upon-Derwent and Elvington, we felt completely chilled.

Good Sunday!

🏆 The Edward Readman Memorial Trophy semi-finals are scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 4. Having ousted Kirk Ella, Pickering, who have never lifted the trophy, are at home to Beverley Town Seconds (1.0), while Osbaldwick travel to 2023 winners South Milford (2.0).

Enjoyed the read?

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

Here are all of our club cricket articles, with the latest first.