Last-ball drama amid fields of corn at scenic Wetwang

I’ve certainly struck gold with my T20 cricket spectating this season. 

Augmenting a list of exciting finishes, a second midweek excursion, in 24 hours, to the scenic Wolds, this time to Wetwang Cricket Club, was rewarded with a last-ball finish.

Some controversy. With the scores tied, and the bat crowded, Burton Agnes, Wetwang’s Bridlington & District Evening League Division One rivals, sent the ball straight to a close fielder.

The visitors went for the risky single. Big appeal for run out. Not out, said the umpire, a Burton Agnes player. Wetwang claimed the batsman was a yard short. 

From where I was sitting, with the key end of the wicket partly obscured by fielders, I couldn’t tell if the non-striker had got home.

The umpire’s decision is final, of course, and I would expect ‘stand-in’ umpires to act within the spirit of the game. The umpire said he couldn’t tell, for sure, either way, therefore gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt. As it should be.

The Wetwang fielder possibly threw to the wrong end. A stronger chance of a run out seemed to be the non-striker’s end (the non-striker got away like a greyhound!). But, in the heat of battle, understandably, the right fielding decision isn’t always made.

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For the neutral, however, the rolling out of Burton Agnes’s one-wicket victory over relegation battlers was heart-stopping stuff. A superb finish to an evening of stellar entertainment. Amazing how often midweek cricket comes up trumps.

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First game I’d watched in the Bridlington & District Evening League. Certainly, I wouldn’t object to taking in at least one more, before the 2024 season ends.

Having been waylaid, by traffic, the previous evening, en route to Thixendale Cricket Club, I avoided York’s busy outer ring road (reaching the A166 via Stockton Lane and Holtby) then sidestepped a queue to cross the Derwent at Stamford Bridge (using the back road to Buttercrambe, before rejoining the A166, east of Stamford Bridge).

Wetwang (‘Meeting Place’, from the Viking, ‘Vertvanger’), a linear village, at a crossroads, occupies a ridge, which means the cricket ground – to the north, at least – is a platform offering fine views.

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Without sight screens, there isn’t anything to interrupt, across a shallow valley, a 180-degree panorama, mostly of golden corn fields, many striped with tractor treads. Some backdrop to the cricket!

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At the south end, the Wetwang ground, which nowadays generally stages only midweek matches, is a bit of an odd shape. 

A bowling green – characteristically spotless – bites a chunk from the southwest corner, and the A166, of an evening not too intrusive, slices diagonally along the boundary.

Until 1958, the meandering Malton to Driffield railway – whose passenger trains, which ceased in 1950, were nicknamed ‘Malton Dodger’ – bisected the valley to the north. 

Look carefully, and you can see the former Wetwang station, opened in 1853, now a private dwelling, and the course through fields of the abandoned trackbed.

A notable, clearly visible Wolds landmark, prominent on a hilltop, to the northeast of the ground, is the Sir Tatton Sykes (1772-1863) Monument.

It celebrates – ‘loved as a friend, honoured as a landlord’, a plaque inscription reads – one of nearby Sledmere House’s best-known former residents.

Located next to the B1252, the Sledmere to Garton-on-the-Wolds road, the Fourth Baronet of Sledmere’s 147ft (42.25m) memorial tower, designed by Oxford-born, Wigan-based Gothic Revival architect John Gibbs, dates from 1865.

The Wetwang crowd is a friendly, welcoming bunch. On the sort of sunny, warm, clear evening we haven’t had enough of this summer, in response to being urged, by the club’s socials, to “bring your chairs and your tipple”, the home supporters were armed with liquid refreshments and a determination to enjoy themselves.

Most spectators sat alongside the players, on a line of seats in front of the pavilion, a portable-type building. A manual scoreboard was used.

I noticed Wetwang’s kit – stylish white shirts, with blue and gold diagonal sashes – is sponsored by Deep Blue Fish & Chips. Bet they do a roaring trade, not only in the village, but from motorists heading west, after a day at the coast.

With conditions perfect, the captains decided to play the full 20 overs. Wetwang, bottom of the table but six-wicket winners, on their two previous outings, over Brandesburton (home) then Middleton & North Dalton Firsts (away), won the toss and elected to bat.

Interesting to see the ‘Wang’ team included a young woman, Brooke Potter. She batted at No 9, scoring one off seven, then made several useful interventions in the field.

I must congratulate Wetwang Cricket Club on the excellence of their socials. The club’s Facebook account featured an informative match preview (“outgoing, Bonser, Young and Oxendale”) and, later, a comprehensive report (“gutted is an understatement”).

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From the former, I learned that Burton Agnes were on a run of five wins, in all competitions, from their last six outings. Upper order batting the main threat.

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The sequence of wins, making Burton Agnes the league’s form team, had catapulted the visitors from second-bottom in the table to third. 

Wetwang, 42-6 at one stage, posted 88 off 18.4 overs. Freddie Naylor, in at No 4, top-scored with 27 off 42. Despite the pitch being smallish, Naylor’s contribution did not feature a single boundary. Spoke of patience, I’d say.

Ben Traves (3-26 from five) and Finn Ward (3-32 from 4.4) were the most effective Burton Agnes bowlers.

Pinned down by accurate bowling from pacer Joe Stabler (2-17 from five) and spinner Harry Edwards (1-22 from five), Burton Agnes’s reply ambled to 39-3 off 10 overs.

Wetwang captain James Webb then came on. At 1-22 from two, he proved expensive, the runs conceded tipping the balance Burton Agnes’s way.

No 3 Marley Ward (43 off 51, including six fours) looked capable of seeing Burton Agnes home. But Ward was stumped, in the 18th over, by returning wicketkeeper Max Naylor, Freddie’s younger brother, off James Baker (1-20 from five), to leave the visitors 86-8. 

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Agonisingly, a requirement of two off six boiled down to one off one. 89-9. Seemed a shame the impressive Joe Mills (3-7 from three) wasn’t given a couple more overs.

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With two league games to go, the Burton Agnes defeat left Wetwang a point adrift of sixth-placed Brandesburton – and safety.

On Sunday, August 18 (1.30pm), Wetwang Cricket Club host a charity T20: the Stuart Morley Memorial Game. Wetwang face a Wetwang/Fridaythorpe Legends XI. Proceeds to Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Morley – ‘Little Stu’ – a former Wetwang and Fridaythorpe club captain, said to have epitomised village cricket, died, suddenly, in June.

Meanwhile, Burton Agnes Cricket Club have the final of the Bridlington & District Evening League’s Hospital Cup to look forward to.

Date and venue of the showpiece, against Middleton & North Dalton Seconds, has yet to be confirmed, although the league’s preference is for a Sunday staging.

Enjoyed the read?

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

Here are all of our club cricket articles, with the latest first.