Parish Cup: Cullingworth welcome Mount to Roydwood

Who is the only US president to have received a Purple Heart? How many bones are there in an adult human skeleton? Who was the first woman in space?

A fellow spectator, at Cullingworth Cricket Club’s Roydwood ground, was a quiz enthusiast. In addition to learning stuff I didn’t know, I realised, in some quarters, quizzes are treated as seriously as, well, cricket.

Answers to the above can be found at the bottom of this piece. How did you do?

Roydwood, its partly sloping, undulating pitch long yet narrow, is a quirky, compact enclosure, carved out of the only available space between the Victorian homes of Roydwood Terrace and a wooded bank dropping, precipitously, to Bingley Road, the B6429, which climbs steeply into Cullingworth village from the northeast.

Good walls make good neighbours?

Cullingworth’s ground manages to feel both open and enclosed: on the Roydwood Terrace side, where the pitch is flat, it is light and airy; from the square, however, the pitch falls steadily to the Bingley Road boundary, whose tall fence is overhung by the dark, shadow-enabling foliage of mature trees that line its full length. 

Lovely to see a gritstone wall – signature of the South Pennines – separating the cricketers from the homes of Roydwood Terrace. Good walls make good neighbours?

The low, flat-roofed clubhouse, an object lesson in how to cram as much as possible into a small space, is at Roydwood’s near end. Photographs of Yorkshire cricket legends adorn the walls of a very smart little bar.

Beyond clubhouse and ground, a two-storey Wesleyan Methodist chapel looms ominously. Naturally, in these secular times, it is now a dwelling. Dating from 1824, the chapel is protected by Grade II listing.

Either end of Roydwood apart, there isn’t room for a spectator to erect a folding seat. It’s that tight! Benches have been slotted in where possible.

Access to the ground and its tiny car park is from Bingley Road; a sharp left for drivers second-gearing their way into Cullingworth from the Harden direction, 

Arriving to find the club car park full, I left the car a hundred yards away, on the other side of the George Hotel, reopened last September after a £1.25m refurbishment.

I parked in front of the architecturally eye-catching Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, built between 1851 and 1853, in the Early English style. Its lychgate was added in 1923, as a First World War memorial.

This attractive quarter of Cullingworth, encompassed by a designated Conservation Area, is known as St George’s Square.

Beyond the Roydwood ground’s farther end, where scorebox and practice nets are located, is the pitch of Cullingworth Football Club. Post-season, the football pitch – devil-may-care grass and riotous dandelions – has been left to its own devices.

The cricket club’s seniors and juniors, together with the footballers, secure for the Roydwood site the title Cullingworth Sports Club.

I was at Roydwood to watch a second round (of 16) tie in the Halifax League’s Parish Cup. Cullingworth, after three games mid-table in the second tier Division One, having been promoted after a 2024 fourth-place finish in Division Two, host Staincliffe-based Mount, second in the third tier Second Division.

Owing to Division One having 11 members, Cullingworth were inactive the previous day. Mount, meanwhile, had piled up an impressive 324-6 in winning, by 230 runs, at troubled Bradley & Colnebridge.

After spending the previous afternoon bathed in glorious sunshine at The Paddock, where I watched a Greater Manchester League top-flight fixture between Royton and Bradshaw (the Bolton Bradshaw!), Cullingworth’s spring weather was seasonally appropriate: a relentless northeasterly swept up the pitch, towards the clubhouse. 

Cullingworth used to be a force in the Craven & District League. Seeking a better standard of cricket, and a competition they felt could match their ambitions, they switched to the Halifax League in 2014.

Prior to that, Cullingworth had topped the Craven & District League in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and lifted its Wynn Cup in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2012.

The quiz enthusiast, a home supporter sporting a very well-used Cullingworth sun hat, bearing the club’s tree-in-leaf logo and 1873 formation date, recalled heady days of Craven & District League champions Cullingworth going head-to-head, in the White Rose Trophy, with Yorkshire’s biggest clubs.

Selection struggles on Sundays

Fondly remembered is a visit to Roydwood by York, who fielded a below-full-strength team yet still piled up more than 400 runs. The Huddersfield League’s Elland, too, came calling whilst in their pomp.

Sundays aren’t the best for getting out your strongest side. For the Parish Cup tie, Mount were missing a couple whereas maroon-capped Cullingworth included six Second XI players. “We’re struggling for a team,” admitted experienced bowler Dave Robinson.

With the pitch parched, its outfield slick as glass, Mount surprised nobody by electing to bat. “I just hope we’re not chasing leather for 45 overs,” grimaced Robinson, whose son, former Yorkshire Academy player Elliot, was in the Cullingworth line-up.

Last hurrah for Bloodworth

Cullingworth were missing opener John Barton, ex-Yeadon et al, a recent departure to Yorkshire Council Division ‘A’ club Drighlington, while club captain James Bloodworth was making his final appearance before joining (“hot news”) Halifax League Premier Division side Illingworth St Mary’s.

The Mount innings began and ended with a flourish. In between, facing spin rather than pace, the visitors scored less freely. Two wickets went down at 124.

A total of 252-6, off 45 overs, owed much to a sixth-wicket partnership, worth 111, from No 5 Mahmad Kanif Kayat (48 off 52, one six, five fours) and No 7 Ismail Mayat (66 not out off 48, five sixes, five fours). A run out, in the penultimate over, split the pair. 

Towards the end, Mayat’s hitting out of the ground sparked a ball crisis. A Roydwood Terrace roof tile copped a blow; others vanished into the trees or onto Bingley Road.

Bloodworth had to fish a spare ball – condition unknown – from his cricket bag to enable Mount to complete their knock.

In an uncompromising start, Nazir Patel (44 off 50, nine fours) and Abdul Aziz Ravat (41 off 84, seven fours) put on 75 for the first wicket.

A frustrated Dave Robinson: “Good over, again, Pooles [Phil Poole]. Like it, mate.” A few balls later: “Unlucky, that, Pooles. He’s having all the luck here.”

Bowling clearly wasn’t much fun, certainly as the Mount innings wore on. Credit to Dave Robinson, described to me as a wicket-to-wicket bowler, nagging away, awaiting an error or a lapse in concentration, for returning 3-43 from his six overs.

Five overs of Daniel Fletcher’s spin garnered 1-19 but, importantly, stemmed the tide of runs in the debit column.

Cullingworth hopes took a knock in their reply’s first over when wicketkeeper Michael Dennison, bearded and pony-tailed, was bowled, third ball, swinging and missing, for just four. Yusuf Patel, wearing glasses, delivered (as it were) the coup de grace.

In league matches this season, the in-form Dennison had struck 80, on May 10, against Stones, and 56, on May 3, against Luddendenfoot.

But Cullingworth stuck at it, gamely. Elliot Robinson, a stylish batter, in at No 3, contributed 60 off 68 (including two sixes and eight fours).

Robinson was eclipsed only by No 4 Chris Dennison, patience personified in scoring an unbeaten 62 off 125, with six fours.

Eight-bowler strategy

Mount used no fewer than eight bowlers, with Kayat taking 2-34 from nine.

The visitors dropped a few catches (it was cold enough for one of their fielders to wear a thermal hat and at least two jumpers), the most tragi-comic of which doubled as juggling act. Alas, at the third attempt, the ball was fumbled to the turf.

For a time, Cullingworth looked unlikely to reach 200. But, amid lengthening shadows, aggression from No 7 Poole (20 off 22, a six and two fours), and a last ball Dennison boundary, helped them to a respectable 200-6 from their 45 overs.

Umpire withdraws

Bloodworth, at No 6, bade farewell to Cullingworth with 16 off 20, including two fours. I cannot imagine he was terribly pleased with the shot that saw him caught. But when, backs to the wall, you’re desperate for runs, anything goes.

Adding to the afternoon’s drama, an umpire had to stand down during the Mount innings. Reportedly, an adverse reaction to medication. I hope he’s OK.

Parish Cup quarter-finals

The Parish Cup quarter-finals are scheduled for Sunday, June 22. Mount, the only non-Premier Division team to survive to the last eight, will entertain Oxenhope. In the other ties, holders Thornton host Copley, pacesetters Booth receive Sowerby Bridge Church Institute (SBCI), and Shelf Northowram Hedge Top welcome Illingworth St Mary’s.

***

Quiz answers: John F Kennedy (gong awarded for back injuries sustained in June 1944 when a Japanese destroyer collided with his patrol torpedo boat); a maximum of 213 (206, usually); Valentina Tereshkova (a former Soviet cosmonaut who, in June 1963, flying a solo mission, orbited Earth 48 times).

Enjoyed the read?

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

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