Wolds apart as Hull Strikers win the Battle of Walkington

For the second time in five days, I found myself watching cricket on the fringes of the rippling Wolds, surely Yorkshire’s most underrated landscape.

A quarter-final of the Yorkshire Premier League North’s Dave Conner Memorial Trophy, between teams placed second and first in Division Two Holderness, held sufficient eastern promise to tempt me back along the patience-testing A1079.

Walkington were hosting Hull Strikers, who play their home games, in a sharing arrangement, at the former’s ground, Walkington Playing Fields, a village ‘rec’ offering unfettered public access.

Adding spice to a Thursday evening cup tie, Walkington’s sole defeat in the league this season had been at the hands of the unbeaten Strikers. 

On May 17, the Strikers won, by 128 runs, against Walkington, who that afternoon were technically the away side. 

Locals informed me Walkington had been unable to field their strongest XI in the league fixture, so an opportunity was presented to gain a measure of revenge.

Dave Conner was a stalwart of the North Dalton club (known now, after a 2016 merger, as Middleton & North Dalton Cricket Club). His family presented the eponymous trophy, first contested in 2012. 

I am told Dave was a wicketkeeper, who played, into his mid-60s, until a year before his death. He facilitated opportunities for North Dalton and Middleton youngsters to represent North Dalton Cricket Club. Some went on to play at a higher standard, for bigger clubs, such as Driffield Town and York. Clearly, Dave was one of the good guys!

The Dave Conner Memorial Trophy is a T20 competition. Initially, it was for clubs in the Eastern Conference, former members of the East Riding Independent League. 

Latterly, entry has been restricted to teams in the bottom two divisions of the Yorkshire Premier League North. Since 2023, only Division Two teams have taken part.

Walkington were beaten finalists in 2012 and 2013 while Hull Strikers carried off the trophy in 2023. Last season, the Strikers were knocked out in the semi-finals.

An attractive village, complete with duck pond and no fewer than three main street pubs, Walkington is about three miles southwest of Beverley.

The name of one of the pubs, the intriguing Ferguson Fawsitt, is emblazoned across the front of the Walkington cricketers’ shirts.

No little history in the Walkington district: Walkington Wold features Bronze Age barrows, and skeletons from an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery, together with coins of the Corieltauvi, a tribe of Celts. 

The coins, the so-called Walkington Hoard, were unearthed between 2001 and 2008, and can be seen at the Yorkshire Museum, York.

I knew I wasn’t far from Hull because I overheard a cricketer complain that he had left his “fern” in the car. Presumably, he wanted to make a “fern curl”.

Somebody once sent me a guide to ‘Speaking Hull’. Amongst other things, it suggested if you took a Hull girl on a date, she might ask for a “drar whar’ warne”.

Now, I should stress, at this point, I am not a Hull knocker, as – depressingly – so many media types feel they have to be, despite knowing next to nothing about the place.

The likes of Barnsley, Batley and Middlesbrough appear destined for similar treatment.

Hull is a great city, with amazing buildings, a fantastic waterfront, a passion for rugby league, and some of the friendliest locals you’ll encounter anywhere in Britain.

My wife, a recently retired solicitor, did her two-year articles, as a legal trainee, in Hull – and won’t hear a word against place or people.

Walkington Playing Fields (‘a resource for the whole village’), in the care of the Walkington Playing Fields Association (‘enabling learning, play and sport’), is on the southernmost edge of Walkington.

According to the association website, cricket took place on the playing field for many years before World War Two. In 1953, the land was bought, for £200, by one Wilson Filmer, and the association was established.

In 1962, 5,000 attended the playing field for a fundraising barbecue. Actor Pat Phoenix (a.k.a. Coronation Street’s Elsie Tanner) was the celebrity guest. Pat declined an appearance fee but did request a Rolls Royce pick up her from the Granada studios.

Mature trees and shrubs edge the site, lending a very pleasing feeling of enclosure. A dog walker-magnet footpath, part of the Beverley Twenty and Beaver Trail long-distance routes, for walkers and runners respectively, runs along its northern edge.

Access is via a wing mirror-threateningly narrow lane off an orderly housing estate, Beech View. Should you wish to shoehorn your vehicle into the playing fields’ tiny car park, arrive early. Competition was keen for the last few spaces!

On the site’s east side is a children’s play area (with a signed warning, at its entrance, about the dangers of flying cricket balls), a pavilion (doubling as a pre-school nursery), two-lane cricket practice nets, and three tennis courts.

Actor Phoenix attended fundraisers in four consecutive years between 1962 and 1965. In part thanks to her, says the association website, the Walkington playing field has tennis courts, pavilion and playground. 

From its north end, the rectangular cricket pitch slopes gently up to the square, which occupies a crown, rendering invisible the legs of players policing the farther boundary.

I was impressed by the alacrity with which the players transformed a ‘rec’ into a cricket arena: a rope barrier and covers protecting the square were removed, boundary markers inserted, sight screens erected, and a scoreboard positioned on the pavilion wall.

To my surprise, after winning the toss, Walkington elected to bowl.

Hull Strikers, an entertaining, stylishly kitted-out bunch of super-enthusiastic cricketers, were quick out of the batting blocks.

No 1 Rajkumar Kasivel (42 off 32, five fours) and No 2 Jigar Kansara (16 off 17, one four) put on 55 for the first wicket. 

From 92-4, No 5 Anshu Tyagi (19 off 15, one six) and his captain, Antony Andrews (17 off 16, two fours), in at six, then added 39 for the fifth. The fifth and sixth wickets fell at 131. 

No 7 Shahbaz Alvi’s unbeaten 21, a useful down-the-order cameo, came off 11 balls and featured a six and two fours. 

The Strikers completed their 20 overs, posting an eminently defendable 162-6. Rory Donaldson took 2-16 from four, Harry Burton 2-27 from three.

Replying, Walkington slumped from 10-2 to 31-6 as opening pace pair Andrews (3-16 from four), a left-armer, and Alvi (3-15 from four) rattled through their upper order. 

Andrews, who had a delightfully fluid action, and the tall, imposing Alvi were soon matched by seamer Tyagi, who, after fumbling an over-the-shoulder caught-and-bowled opportunity, took 3-17 from his four overs.

Only one Walkington batter managed double figures: No 4 Donaldson, who has ECB Premier Division experience with the Lincolnshire County Board Premier League’s Grimsby Town Cricket Club, clubbed 63 off 38 balls (two sixes, nine fours). 

Run out, in chaotic fashion, as desperation began to set in, Ronaldson, who plays for Walkington because it fits best with his work, was the last ‘home’ batter dismissed. 

Fielder Jespreeth Jayaprakash threw down the stumps to dismiss Walkington for 107 in 16 overs. Victory, this time by 55 runs, for the Strikers, who celebrated noisily.

Eight of the Walkington batters were bowled. To my mind, an interesting statistic.

In their Dave Conner Memorial Trophy semi-final, on a date to be fixed, Hull Strikers will visit Crossgates, the Division Two Ebor leaders.

The two outstanding quarter-finals are between Division Two Beckett duo Thornton Dale and Filey (June 29, 2.0), and Division Two Ebor’s Woodhouse Grange Thirds and Division Two Galtres’s Rufforth & Marston (July 4, 6.0).

Walkington and Hull Strikers meet, again, on July 26, in Division Two Holderness. It has been designated the Walkington Village Cricket and Fun Day. In addition to the cricket, there will be trade stalls and entertainers. For more, ring Steve on 07795 680912.

Enjoyed the read?

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

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