Nidderdale Cricket League: Sixes into the hedgerows at Whixley

Saturday arrived and I had decided to make the relatively short trip to Whixley, a small village halfway between York and Harrogate, just off the A59.

Whixley has a great pub, The Anchor, and if you happen to be passing at any point, I can wholeheartedly recommend the carvery they put on, excellent food at a great price, and some fantastic local beers on tap.

Digressing slightly; at the other end of the village is a small green opposite the village hall and just on from that, the picturesque Anglican Church of the Ascension.

It’s worth a visit, and one of the numerous points that you can start walks through the countryside along one of the many public rights of way that originate from there.

There was a church in Whixley mentioned in the Doomsday Book, but the current church on this particular site can be dated back to the 14th century. 

In fact, you can take a fairly straight walk from alongside the church and then diagonally across the fields at the back towards the village cricket club.

There’s no denying that this is a beautiful part of the world, full of history and old-world charm, quaint village properties mixed with some sympathetically designed new builds, a thriving farming industry, and a real sense of community.

Digression over; resisting the temptation of an early lunch, I popped into the small shop at the centre of the village to grab a cold drink before driving out the far side and travelling the relatively short distance (500m) to the ground.

Somehow, I had timed our arrival just before the teams turned up and had to park on the road outside the ground for a few minutes.

As the first car turned up and the occupant got out to open the barrier to the club, I walked over to introduce myself and confirm that the game was still going ahead and was very-much relieved to hear that it was.

I’ve been covering local cricket for well over a decade, and it is astounding that I haven’t ever been to cover a full game at this ground. I have taken photos of the teams playing at other grounds, but somehow have never sat on the boundary rope at Whixley capturing images.

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Now with over [I believe] 750 clubs in Yorkshire, the reader may be forgiven for thinking “It’s not that much of a surprise!” and that I am being rather dramatic. Well, now for a confession – I used to live in the centre of Whixley, near The Anchor for ten years!

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I have been to watch games at Whixley, popping in as part of one of my walks with our two Westies, to catch a few minutes of the action, always promising to bring the cameras with me and sit and get a set of images for the local papers or the picture library.

But I never seemed to get around to making time to take those photographs. There always seemed to be reasons and excuses why I hadn’t.

When we moved from the village, I promised I would be back to watch a whole game and Saturday was me fulfilling that promise.

Whixley Cricket Club’s second-eleven play in Division Six of the Theakston Nidderdale League, and since the first time I visited many years ago, the ground has undergone a dramatic change for the better.

The club has a [relatively new] large pavilion situated away from the main road, with a small car park behind it. To one side are a set of nets, and in front of the pavilion is a large ground that despite the poor weather over winter, looks in superb condition. There are roads bordering two sides of the ground (more on them later) and crop fields on the other two.

A small electronic scoreboard sits diametrically opposite to the changing rooms, and as you stand on the steps of the pavilion under the clock, you get a real sense of how big the ground is.

The game got underway promptly at 1:30pm with today’s opponents, Bishop Monkton winning the toss and electing to bat, with Whixley taking to the field.

It was the home team that was to dominate as their bowlers immediately put pressure on the visitors, taking wickets regularly and restricting the number of runs they were scoring.

Opener Edward Forsythe looked solid at the crease, eventually reaching 21 before being bowled by Katie Baines. 

Unfortunately for Bishop Monkton, none of the other batsmen were to get into double figures, and the team would eventually be bowled out for a total of 67 in just under 31 of the scheduled 40 overs.

Katie Baines shone for the home team with the ball as she bowled her allocated ten overs, getting five wickets for just 16 runs and four maidens.

When not bowling, her throws from the outfield were unerringly right over the wickets, putting pressure on the batsmen to scamper between the creases.

The visitors were all out and tea was taken, and I had a great chat with Stuart, the dad of one of the Bishop Monkton players who has connections to Harrogate Cricket Club (a number of the promising younger players in the Bishop Monkton team are from Harrogate CC I believe).

Suitably refreshed, the two teams re-emerged, and the response got underway.

When I say response…I mean blitzkrieg. Jonathon Richardson and Barnaby Hawkins seemed to be in a hurry, timing the ball nicely, dispatching it initially for six into the crop field, and then launching the ball onto the main road running alongside the ground.

Whixley players who weren’t batting, along with a few spectators, scattered into the field and onto the road to attempt to find the cricket balls that were now AWOL. 

As Stuart passed me, I wished him luck and said he could pick my lottery numbers if he found one of the balls in the densely packed wheat field [spoiler, he didn’t find that particular ball – so I have to pick them myself this week].

As soon as one of the balls was recovered from down the road, it was almost immediately dispatched back over the same boundary for six once more. 

This time, the ball seemed to clear both road and hedge, and disappear into the field on the other side of the tarmac.

It was probably fortunate that the road was quiet at this time, with very few cars passing by!

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A combination of four fours and six sixes meant that the home team were chasing down the total very quickly, and running a good few singles when the ball didn’t quite reach the boundary rope.

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It took just 33 deliveries for Whixley to reach the total set and earn the seconds their first victory of the season.

Bishop Monkton has some really skilful young batsmen, showing a lot of promise against the older players.

They appear to already have excellent technique when batting and the experience of playing against older players will help them develop. It’s great to see such talent coming through.

A quick look at the watch and it was around 4pm, so I decided to pack up quickly and pop into Knaresborough Forest on my way home to catch the remaining part of their game as they were playing Whixley’s first team. 

However, as we looked at Play-Cricket in the car to see how that game was going, it seemed as if the first team had had the same idea as the seconds – they had earned themselves a win in around 12 overs!

So maximum points for Whixley Cricket Club on Saturday and I had managed to fulfil a long-standing promise to myself.

If you are looking for a game to go and watch and find yourself in the vicinity of Whixley, I can highly recommend popping along. 

Give yourself some time before the game to look around the village, and certainly pop into The Anchor for lunch before or dinner after the game…I promise you won’t regret it!

📸 MATCH PHOTOS

Thanks to Mark for his thoughts and photos from Whixley Cricket Club. Here are his other articles on Cricket Yorkshire.

To check out more of his photography, you can visit caughtlight.com or he’s @caughtlight on Twitter/X.
There’s also the Caught Light Photography Facebook page.

I also highly recommend his blog called Leica Moments that include days out at grounds around North Yorkshire.