Village Cup: Woodhouse Grange eye Lord’s return

Woodhouse Grange are on the threshold of the National Village Cup Final at Lord’s, with Sunday’s semi-final at Cuckney to come.

The cricket club, to the south-east of York, are out on their own on several fronts. Both geographically speaking amid a patchwork of fields but also with the proud record of four National Village Cup titles (1995, 2007, 2014 & 2015).

Those four wins makes them the most successful team in the history of the competition and Woodhouse Grange have also reached Lord’s in 1999, 2008 & 2012.

I caught up with Matthew Ainley, Woodhouse Grange 2nd XI captain, to gauge the excitement and challenges. How is the build-up to Sunday going?

Matthew said: “There’s obviously excitement but as captain, trying to stay calm in the group is difficult at times. It’s a big occasion and something to look forward to when we’ve worked so hard to get there.”

Cuckney homework

Teams tend to mine YouTube and live streaming back catalogues to get a sense of opposition so Ainley has done a bit of due diligence:

“I’ve looked into Cuckney and they’ve clearly got some very good batsmen with the scores they’ve been getting in the Village Cup and league games.”

He added: “It’s a bit of both really. We focus on our own game but have looked at Cuckney to plan our game around the way they play.”

Selection balancing act

Village Cup rules dictate that anyone who has played a first team game in the top division of an ECB Premier League (or listed leagues like the Aire-Wharfe) is ineligible.

This is tricky because naturally clubs have second-teamers who move up as injuries or availability fluctuates. Holding players back as a deliberate move is a game of chance when first-team cricket is the pinnacle.

If anyone was going to plan a Village Cup run and manage their playing resources ahead of time, it was probably Woodhouse Grange. Ainley noted:

“It’s such a difficult one. The reality is that you don’t know how far you’re going to get. You could put everything on the line and two games in the National Village knockout and you’re out of the competition.”

He recognised that it’s obviously the same for the Nottinghamshire team Cuckney and congratulated them on reaching the semi-final. Their opponents edged a seven-run win over Brockhampton in the quarter-final.

Selection has to be collaborative across teams though first-team cricket is still the pinnacle.

Woodhouse Grange have two juniors in Ryan Thompson and Stanley Newman who, at 17, can turn out in the Village Cup while opening batter Harry Jackson has opted to play league cricket for the seconds this season.

YPLN ceiling

One dynamic for Woodhouse Grange’s second team that adds even more emphasis on the Village Cup run, as if it needs any, is that they cannot get league promotion.

Flying high in the Yorkshire Premier League North’s ECB Premier Division 2 (20pt lead), promotion would see both firsts and seconds in the top flight – so no can do.

Promotion notwithstanding, it may yet still be a phenomenal season.

Alongside Village Cup heroics has been victory at the league’s Hethertons Solicitors T20 Plate Final against Acomb. It qualifies them for the Vitality Club T20 Plate. The games rack up but it’s a consequence of success, as skipper Ainley told me:

“It’s a big commitment to which the whole club really buys into.
We always get really strong sides out.”

A landscaper by trade, Matthew pulls long hours then it’s double weekends with league and cup duties. That requires dedication and understanding families at grassroots.

Speaking of families, there were four Burdetts in the XI against Alvanley in brothers Steve and Mike, while Steve’s sons Ben and Tom also played.

Lewis Ainsley joined Matthew in the starting team against Sacriston and Rebecca, the skipper’s sister, was scorer. It’s those bonds that make this Village Cup journey even more special.

Cuckney presents the latest hurdle that began with a 91-run triumph at Hensall in late April. Since then, wins have come against Sheriff Hutton Bridge, Welton, Alkborough, Torrisholme and Alvanley.

One more step

A timely coincidence on Play-Cricket. I saw that it said ‘One More Step’ for the Woodhouse Grange website search result in Google this week. Figured they’d cleverly customised their description for a short time.

It’s actually the ECB forcing a momentary pause (on everyone presumably) as their system checks the browser for security.

No matter, Woodhouse Grange are definitely very close to a Lord’s return. They face York 2nd XI on Saturday in the league before the 60-odd mile journey South to ‘The Bear Pit’.

Yorkshire will be rooting them on.

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