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‘Spofforth is the centre of the universe’ – a schoolfriend once said in all seriousness to answer a question posed by the young unsuspecting geography teacher during a lesson one Thursday afternoon at Harrogate Grammar School.
Now, being totally honest, he probably knew that wasn’t the case, but watching the reactions of the only adult in the classroom, unsure how to respond, was amusing to a group of 12-year-olds.
However, the small unassuming village around two miles outside of Harrogate, does have a rather surprising pivotal place in English history.
The Percy family built a manor house in Spofforth in the 11th century (William De Percy being a favourite of William the Conqueror), and over the following three centuries, the fortified manor house was added to.
It is believed that the Magna Carta was originally written by the rebel barons at the castle in 1215 before being given to King John to sign at Runnymede.
As you will no doubt know from schooldays, the Magna Carta was the first written document to state that the king or queen and their government were not above the law.
Did I hear a ‘harrumph’ from the reader? It is still a doctrine of law…and we’re not going to get political while here, are we?
Back to school (lane)
The cricket ground is situated in the heart of the community, just past the castle on your right as you head into the village from Harrogate.
The club can be found down at the end of school lane, a narrow bending lane (that goes past the school) and which quickly transforms into an open space as you pass through the entrance gates of the ground.
There are practice nets on your right and a reasonably large parking area situated behind the pavilion, a good distance from the centre of the oval…which provides a certain amount of reassurance when seeing sixes being hit.
This is certainly one of those clubs that provides you with a sense of solitude, having a mixture of open fields and a good screen of trees on all sides.
Spofforth Golf Course is situated behind the pavilion, obscured by a line of trees and the farmer’s fields border the other three sides of the club.
I was reliably informed that the far corner of the ground is known as ‘Cow Corner’, but the herd of cows in the field seemed singularly disinterested in the game on Saturday, and there was no repeat of last weekend’s cow licks photographer shenanigans.
The keen-eyed visitor will also see railway arches when looking back towards the village, and indeed, it used to have a relatively large railway station, that formed a link between Harrogate and Wetherby – before the Beeching report forced its closure in January 1964 due to being unprofitable (a huge mistake in my opinion).
I’ve not been to the ground since before the pandemic and was keen to find out how the club had changed. Driving into the cricket club, it was good to see that things hadn’t changed too much – no new housing developments, or encroachment of the boundaries by industrial units.
Opening up
I was given a warm welcome by Angela Maesepp, who is on the club committee and another one of those unsung heroes who help keep sports clubs running in their local communities.
Angela was in the process of opening up the pavilion as I arrived, and interrupting her routine, we chatted for a good 15 minutes – many apologies, as I know there are many little tasks that are needed to be completed before the players turn up.
Spofforth’s visitors in the Theakston Nidderdale Division Seven league on Saturday were second-placed Starbeck, a club I visited at the end of last season at their adopted Bishop Thornton ground.
Spofforth seconds sit down towards the bottom of the division having won only two games this season, with their visitors having won all but one of their games. This was going to be a tough fixture for them.
First victory of the afternoon for the home team came as they won the toss and elected to bat.
Spofforth’s team features a few ‘old heads’ but mainly an excellent crop of young players, and playing an accomplished team like Starbeck may seem like a daunting prospect, but the competition against older players will help the developing youngsters to improve in leaps and bounds.
It was one of the more seasoned players, Stuart Viner, who starred for the home team, reaching 65 from 155 balls faced before being bowled out by Dinesh Chandra.
Good innings from Tyson Jackson (24 from 31) and Ben Booth (14 runs from 14) saw Spofforth reach 132 all out in just about 38 overs; a score that almost certainly seemed a little on the light side to defend on such a big playing surface.
Dinesh Chandra (three wickets for 19 runs) and Sunil Thomas (four wickets for 19 runs) impressed with the ball – I certainly remember from the game at the end of last season, that Starbeck’s attack was formidable, and so it was again on Saturday.
Starbeck’s response was emphatic. Openers Sunil Thomas and Bibin Thomas were so assured in nearly everything they did. Sunil took the main responsibility, seemingly keen to remain on strike each over, and he quickly reached his half century with some brilliant hitting.
Sunil century
As the total set was nearing, it was a little uncertain if Sunil could get his century, with Bibin seemingly comfortable at the crease and scoring a few singles and boundaries of his own.
Sunil Thomas was on 99 with Starbeck a few runs short of victory, but more importantly with Bibin facing. A swing of the bat and a single was run, allowing Sunil to take strike, then next delivery, with a flick of his wrist the ball sped to the boundary for four.
Sunil had got his hundred and Starbeck had won the game, maintaining their challenge against top-of-the-table Crakehall. (See our earlier visit to Crakehall).
During the innings, I’d managed to chat with Spofforth’s captain John Fawcett about the last few years at the club, the team and the current crop of young players. It is clear he is very proud of the young team he has, and rightly so.
The junior members of the seconds had managed to bat well against a very good set of opponents, but it was in the field that they had excelled.
As the Starbeck batsmen had gone about scoring runs, the Spofforth players had fielded well, particularly impressing with their accurate throws from the outfield – usually right over the stumps.
I believe that this is more evidence of an impressive set of young players that are developing within grassroots cricket, and who will flourish in the coming years.
Ethan Westerman memorial
One last thing.
I’d somehow timed my visit the week before the Ethan Westerman memorial match to be held at Spofforth on Sunday 14th July (starting at 1pm).
All proceeds from the day are being donated to Mind – more details can be found here (https://justgiving.com/page/ethan-cricket-memorial). Any support would be gratefully appreciated.
📸 MATCH PHOTOS
Want to read more?
Thanks to Mark for his snapshot of league cricket from Spofforth.
Here are all of Mark’s articles and photos on Cricket Yorkshire.
To see 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.
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