Wilson double act leads Studley Royal to victory over Bolton Percy

My first game of the 2024 season was supposed to be at Goldsborough. I remember the day was pretty warm, the sky filled with fluffy white clouds dotted around the blue backdrop, and there was a light wind blowing from the farmer’s fields across the ground.

The real problem was we’d had one of the wettest winters in recent years [even poorer than the previous year…and that as you know was bad] and underfoot it was wetter than a fish’s wallet.

Last week I had been at The Dome in Bradford, a superb indoor cricket facility watching the Yorkshire Cricket Board’s softball finals, coincidentally also postponed from the end of the 2024 season due to a damp, dismal day of weather.

As Saturday approached, any worries about rain or grounds struggling to be ready due to being waterlogged, could be forgotten as most were in fantastic condition and ready for first ball. In fact, the weather was pretty much identical to that day in Goldsborough.

As with previous seasons, I’ve decided to continue trying to either travel to new grounds or cover teams that I haven’t covered in at least the past three years.

Obviously, this good intent will be highly subject to the British weather, but I want to provide as wide a coverage as I can over the coming months, and I hope you will join me on this journey.

The club, the ground and the League

Saturday and my sights were set on the home of Studley Royal, a ground I had last visited in 2017 and somewhere that had stuck in my mind as being one of those picture-postcard cricket clubs.

Situated on the west side of Ripon in North Yorkshire, the ground is a short drive away from Ripon Cricket Club…and although not quite close enough that a big six would end up on the outfield of the other club, a careful glimpse through the trees from the boundary and you can see Ripon Cathedral in the city centre easily.

Arriving at the ground nice and early, I was able to park in the large carpark situated behind the pavilion and near the two rows of solar panels basking in the warm sunshine. 

Even though I had arrived over an hour ahead of the start, both teams were set up on the outfield warming up. Donning my Stetson for the first time this year, I carefully stepped down the embankment that runs around over half of the playing surface [ensuring that I wasn’t going to be the reason someone earned £250 from You’ve Been Framed] and went and introduced myself to the teams.

Having had a chat with both captains and the vice chairman of the club, I went for a quick walk to reacquaint myself with the ground.

Memories of my last visit didn’t do the club justice; from the impressive pavilion sitting on the embankment overlooking the ground, the small auxiliary scoreboard next to the equipment store, an impressive Willow tree inside the boundary rope, to the large playing surface surrounded by trees…it is a wonderful set up.

I was at the ground to cover the Yorkshire Premier League Championship West game between Studley Royal first team and Bolton Percy – a team from the far side of Tadcaster.

This was Studley Royal’s second game of the season, their opening game away to Bilton in Ainsty having ended in defeat; and the visitors having won their opening game at home to Osbaldwick.

When Saturday comes

The ground has a rather large playing surface, but the pitch this season has been placed closer to the pavilion than in previous years, so I expected the batsmen to target that direction for the majority of fours and sixes.

The visitors won the toss and decided to head out to bat first, initially taking advantage of the short boundary and scoring a number of fours to score 17 runs in the second over.

By the fifth over, Bolton Percy had put around 30 runs on the board when they lost their first wicket, as James Hodge was bowled by Matt Coad for 22.

With that first wicket went the sense that Bolton Percy could score freely. Perhaps a strange thing to say about a 50 over innings when the team were only in the fifth. The visitors batted well from that point, but without ever cutting-lose and scoring heavily.

Wickets fell reasonably regularly, but they added runs at the same time. As the final wicket fell in the 50th over, Bolton Percy had scored a comfortable 244.

Captain Tom Atkinson had scored a good half century, reaching 58 before being caught by Leo Wilson off the bowling of Louie Wilson; and Tom Whitty falling agonisingly just short of the half century having been bowled by Dan Craven for 47.

I wasn’t sure that the total was good enough to win the game with the boundaries being set up the way there were, but not having seen the home team play, I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions at that point.

By now there was a good crowd of onlookers dotted around the raised embankment, some on picnic blankets, a few in cars parked overlooking the ground, others sitting at the tables in front of the pavilion enjoying the good weather and having a few drinks bought from the bar.

I must admit, one of the real pleasures about visiting grounds like this, is to hear the general chatter of voices, watching families walking around the ground chatting away, and children playing.

The start to Studley Royal’s innings was steady, initially picking up a few runs every few balls. It took Bolton Percy until the eighth over to get their first wicket, dismissing captain Rob Nicholson for 13.

Fellow opener Matt Coad was caught in the 14th over having scored 31, but by that point, Studely Royal were ahead of their opponents on run rate and seemingly finding scoring runs easier.

Louie and Leo Wilson had now formed a batting partnership and were happily stroking the ball around the ground, making quick inroads to the target set as they found the boundaries regularly.

Louie had reached 51 when he was bowled by Tom Atkinson. Any thoughts that this would disrupt the home team’s attack were quickly dispelled as Leo quickly continued past his 50 and by the 36th over had reached his century with a four before taking a single to win the game.

The home team had picked up their first win of the new season, earning ten points and enjoying a comfortable day of cricket in the sunshine.

My visit to Studley Royal had come to a close, and I must admit that I love the set up they have at the club. I’d had quite a few conversations with various players as they walked around the boundary rope and found this to be one of the friendliest clubs I have visited in the past couple of years.

This Is certainly one ground you should add to your bucket list.

PHOTOS

Want to read more?

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 which includes days out at grounds around Yorkshire.