Meet the Yorkshire Over 60s batter who averages 543

Patrick Neal is having a frankly ridiculous season with the bat and so I picked up the phone to find out more.

The opening bat has played for Mirfield CC for decades and has represented Yorkshire Over 60s for a couple of seasons now.

📸 Pat (below left) is pictured with Brett Thompson of Thompson Furniture (Ilkley) who sponsored their second team match day polo shirts.

First, let me dazzle you with some stats because they are off-the-chart amazing.

He captains Yorkshire Veterans 2nd XI, as well as Stick of Rhubarb in the Grey Fox Trophy; a team he founded with a mate. Since 24 June, Pat (as he’s known) has scored 543 runs across six games and only been dismissed once.

As he puts it himself, with a touch of understatement and a light laugh: “It’s a bit surreal really. I’ve been playing cricket since I was 12 or 13 but I’ve not had a season like it.”

He has 1,187 runs this season and averages 148. This is not a man in the middle of a batting crisis of confidence. Bowling at him must be a barrel of laughs.

He was dismissed by Danny Russell of Lascelles Hall 2nd XI for a duck in June and M. Ahmed of Bradford Buddaas cleaned him up for a single figure score in the Grey Fox.

But of late, he drops anchor and is single-minded in pursuit of the win – and three figures along the way. The recent form has boosted the confidence but the mindset stays the same: “To concentrate and wait for bad balls. In Over Sixties cricket, there’s quick enough bowlers but no pace bowling. It’s a matter of concentrating on not doing anything silly.”

To give you some context to this hot streak, Pat has previously scored 15 centuries in his career and this is not his first rodeo at the thousand-run-a-season landmark.

That’s seven hundreds this season; over a thousand runs in Over 60s county cricket and somehow the energy to mow the square at Mirfield in between.

He is the Neal deal who began the season with some fairly modest ambitions. To play at Scarborough and score a four – tick! When the scores began to pile up, reach 1,000 runs for the season – tick!

Winning Division 2 of the Seniors County Cricket Championship with Yorkshire Veterans 2nd XI remains the prize. Neither Yorkshire Over 60s team has lost a game all season.

(He’s already breezed past the national Over 60s 2nd XI aggregate runs for a season of 780.)

Let’s talk bats for a moment.

Pat has had a Gunn & Moore bat for about three years, refurbished and clearly going strong: “It’s got a bit of a crack developing in the bottom corner so I’m waiting for it to fall to pieces! I think this bat knows I’ve got a new bat and is saying ‘You’re not giving up on me yet!’ ”

He bought a Kippax as a reserve but has not swung it in anger. While not particularly superstitious, you could forgive the reticence!

The 63-year-old right-handed bat is currently resting up for county cup action ahead with a niggle behind his knee occupying the mind but he’ll be fit.

“In between games, it’s Deep Heat and not trying to do anything strenuous. I had a lot of problems with my Achilles last season but I’ve been lucky this year.”

Next up is the visit of Cheshire in the 60+ 2nd XI Cup at Bradfield Village Fellowship CC on 12 August.

At some point, he’ll bag a low score but sounds very relaxed. Who can blame him? Having already ticked off numerous milestones and broken batting records, Pat Neal is having a season to remember.