Sambuca, Swans and stunning catches at Burton Salmon

Marooned amid acre upon acre of flat, fertile crop fields, almost a mile from the eponymous village, Burton Salmon Cricket Club is splendidly isolated.

Located next to Burton Common Lane, a dead end, single-track and at this time of year cow parsley-fringed byway, which eventually peters out at a farm, the Burton Salmon ground is hard to beat for a ‘getting away from it all’ experience.

On a warm spring afternoon, all that disturbs the peace is the rustle of a southeasterly through tree foliage, soothing birdsong and cricketers’ periodic appeals to umpires.

Howzat? Very pleasant, thank you. And that’s before we get into an interesting afternoon of Pontefract & District League top-flight cricket.

Not all that many years ago, Burton Salmon played at a ground in the village. Appositely, given the village’s strong railway connections – lines from Ferrybridge and Castleford converge within sight of Burton Common Lane – a repurposed wooden carriage served as the cricket pavilion. Eventually, mining subsidence rendered the ground unusable.

I was told a major drawback of the replacement ground being one step removed from the hubbub of modern life is that few villagers venture to watch Burton Salmon play.

That is such a shame, because the cricket club’s First XI are going well. Last season, Burton Salmon topped the Pontefract & District League’s second tier Championship, a comfortable 22 points clear of runners-up Fenwick, who joined them in securing promotion to the Premier Division.

Burton Salmon had opened the 2025 campaign with wins over Knottingley Town (by 54 runs) then Brodsworth Main (by 13 runs).

Their opponents on the day of our visit, Askern Welfare, had done the same, albeit more convincingly: a nine-wicket trimming of Nostell St Oswald, followed by a 218-run thrashing of Hundhill Hall.

Third (Burton Salmon) at home to second (Askern Welfare), each aiming to keep up with Yorkshire Premier League North-bound leaders Oulton, the league’s Jones’s, caught my eye as a fixture worth watching. We were not to be disappointed by the turn of events!

Arriving, our progress along Burton Common Lane was impeded by a young woman astride what looked like a Shire horse. This is farming country, and I daresay heavy horses once played a major role in the district’s food production.

We drew to halt, giving rider and mount ample time and space to step up onto the verge. Within a couple of minutes, we were parking, behind the cricket ground’s dressing rooms, beneath a hawthorn bush groaning with pungent white blossom.

Metal gates, bearing the initials B.S.C.C., provide access to the ground itself. To my amusement, three young children, presumably the offspring of a player (or players), were well equipped with boredom-busting implements, including racquets for badminton and tennis, and a skipping rope. I did spot, also, a couple of cricket bats.

I remember well, as a nipper accompanying my parents (obliged to accompany my parents!), how long and tedious a day at the cricket can feel when you’re six years old. Still, at least I had teasing and tormenting my twin sister as alternative entertainment!

Ranged along the Burton Salmon ground’s east side, the dressing rooms, painted green and white, are housed in portable buildings, and the groundkeeper’s gubbins in metal containers. Alongside is a separate – engagingly bijou, I must say – scorebox.

Until 2011, when arsonists gained access during the small hours, the ground boasted a tidy pavilion, with a pitched roof and a gable. Unfortunately, it went up in smoke.

Although there is plenty of spare turf at each side, the boundary lines at the ground’s ends are hard up against its perimeter fence.

Stiles give access to Burton Common Lane (and a large crop field beyond) and, opposite, a field in which green wheat has just about reached knee height. Both fields were to be subject of ball-retrieving searches.

In a pancake landscape lacking natural vertical features, electricity pylons, taking giant strides, to north and south, assume an unusual significance.

Burton Salmon struck lucky with this fixture because Askern Welfare – ‘the Welly’ – captain Josh Gillies was absent. “He’s on holiday – Cyprus,” a team-mate advised. One of three changes to the previous Saturday’s XI.

Master batsmen Josh (129) and brother Aaron (112), who was available, had each scored an unbeaten century in the previous Saturday’s home trouncing of Hundhill Hall.

With or without the opposition skipper, Burton Salmon confidence was high. “We should be able to give them a game,” was a supporter’s verdict.

Askern elected to bat. As their knock got under way, a lime green Brimstone fluttered about our heads. After last year’s climate-related catastrophe for butterflies, there are high hopes 2025’s glorious spring will enable populations to recover.

Soon, the visitors, known also as the Swans, were 20-1. Syed Tahseen Shah took a spectacular one-handed catch as Naveed Anwar (2-37 from 12) got a delivery to climb and strike the shoulder of David Longley’s bat.

Smirking, a team-mate of Shah’s remarked: “You made it look a bit hard, but you did well.” Sportingly, an Askern follower acknowledged “a good catch and a good ball”.

Pacer Zaref Mohmmed charged in with purpose. Observing a wide, a fielder advised: “Easy, Tiger.” Another followed: “Wide ball then a wicket. I don’t mind.”

When Mohmmed beat the bat, encouragement came in the shape of: “You’re too good for him. Too good.” The increasingly effective pacer went on to take 4-22 from 5.3 overs.

Some of Burton Salmon’s appeals fell on unresponsive ears. Many did not, and Askern wickets kept tumbling. From 36-2 at first drinks (15 overs) to 97-8 at second (29).

A green-capped Paul Heseltine, out in the wilds at long on, sun at his back, reached high with his right hand to dismiss, off the bowling of Shah (2-22 from four), No 8 Prabath Jayaweera with a simply stunning catch.

Askern were all out, in 32.3 overs, for 112. Only three batters managed double figures. Perhaps the Swans paid a price for those two big opening wins. Not enough batting practice for guys lower down the order?

Notable contributions came from Andrew O’Grady, Longley’s fellow opener, with 44 off 72 balls (six fours), and No 6 Tharusha Tilakarathne (24 off 21, two sixes, two fours).

Chris Colley – did I hear his team-mates calling him Sambuca? – generated good pace. His two victims (for 27 off 11) included No 3 Aaron Gillies, out this week for just two (off 18), after an agile caught and bowled effort. Big wicket.

All the while, the occasional dog walker ambled along Burton Common Lane, pausing to take in an over or two. Likewise, a cyclist (a relaxed-looking fella, taking his time; not one of those lycra-clad, head-down-bum-up Tour de Yorkshire wannabes). 

Askern came out to field, fired up. Pacer Jayaweera, a cricketer who clearly puts everything into his bowling, had Burton Salmon 16-3 before we’d finished our picnic.

Opener Mo Najaf (0 off two), No 3 Anas Imtiaz (0 off six) and No 4 Heseltine (5 off eight) were the men sent back.

A few seconds before Imtiaz’s removal, a home supporter, circling the boundary, had told us: “This is the guy [Askern need] to get out. When he gets in, he gets big scores.” The kiss of death!

Another superb catch did for Imtiaz. At second slip, Longley pouched a beauty as a wicked Jayaweera (3-18 from six) delivery found an outside edge.

The Askern fielders were buoyant. “Keep the pressure up, boys. Plenty of voices.” Then: “Good start. We’ve got to want it.”

But the fickle pendulum of cricketing fortune (as a scriptwriter for Radio 4 panel show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue might structure it) was to swing back the other way.

Pacer Paul Mather was injured – looked like his left hip – in a heavy fall during his third over. After treatment, Mather left the field, unable to return. A senior Askern supporter came on as 12th man. Did a solid job, too, fielding on the boundary.

No 5 Muhammad Hafeez (64 off 43, five sixes, six fours) and opener Fahim Afzal (30 off 42, a six, five fours) dug in and, hitting out, aiming for the crops, added 87 for the fourth Burton Salmon wicket. 

At 65-3, the hosts’ dynamic duo survived a dropped catch, although the sun was full in the luckless fielder’s eyes.

An Askern fielder sprinted then dived to prevent a boundary with a tremendous piece of athleticism. Exemplifying the good sportsmanship shown by each team, a home player, stretching his legs on our side of the ground, called out: “Good commitment, fella.”

As the visitors rotated their bowlers (and cannily swapped ends), a home supporter remained not entirely convinced, despite Burton Salmon’s impressive recovery. “There could be a twist. It’s not over yet. We didn’t face much spin in the Championship.”

Neither Afzal (103-4) nor Hafeez (111-5) survived to the end, but No 6 Richard Carter (0 not out off two) and Muhammad Naveed (five not out off five including the decisive four) did what little was outstanding to steer Burton Salmon to 116-5 in 17.4 overs.

Sixteen match points saw Burton Salmon climb a place to second, three points behind Oulton, who were 122-run winners at Brodsworth Main. Askern, who picked up two match points, slipped to sixth. 

This Saturday, Askern go to defending champions Oulton. Will talisman Josh Gillies’s holiday be over?

Enjoyed the read?

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

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