Clydesdale Bank 40: Yorkshire v Sussex
Scarborough has always been one of my favourite places. There are plenty of other nice places to visit on the east coast, such as Filey or Whitby, but more often than not I would end up at Scarborough. I have many happy memories of Scarborough and nights spent in The Hole in the Wall, and a few sad ones.
In recent years I have tried to get along to the Scarborough Cricket Festival in August, usually for the one day game. This year is something of a milestone being the 125th year of the festival, though the club has been going for much longer than that being formed in 1849.
The cricket ground is in North Marine Road on the North Bay but close to the town centre. It is a small cosy ground with short boundaries and is flanked on two sides by imposing four storey buildings which are guest houses and small hotels. In these it is possible to get bed and breakfast for less than £25, though most are fully booked it being Festival week and high season (or as high as it can get in UK!)
The journey up to Scarborough was relatively uneventful, even the Sunday drivers weren’t out in force. As we drove through Driffield we noticed something curious. Just past the Driffield Rugby Club there is a roundabout where we turn right; just beyond this was about 20 men with fishing rods. They were big ones set out on stands like the sort people go sea/beach fishing with. There is a beck which runs through Driffield, but it isn’t there and the nearest sea is 15 – 20 miles away, so they are not going to catch much I thought. More fool me! It seems that bored fishermen have casting competitions; I never knew that!
We headed for the Weaponness park and ride which is both cheap and efficient, a real rarity for this country. The buses are provided by the grandly named Shoreline Suncruiser Buses and are a bit of an oddity. Standard double decker buses but with coach seats and carpet down the central aisle – definitely unusual but at £1,10 return and no parking fee a genuine bargain. The disappointment was felt on arrival at the gound. A massive queue snaked out of the side street and along North Marine Road. No one likes queuing but it is one of the few things we excel at; if it was an Olympic sport we would be nailed on for Gold, Silver and Bronze. It took half an hour to get to the turnstiles, but at least the weather was good and we had chance to weigh up the relative merit of the various guest houses. There is a pub opposite the ground imaginatively called The Cricketers, alas it is closed and has been sold for redevelopment. Another retirement flat development for McCarthy & Stone, which is a shame too many boozers are closing these days.
Admission charge - £15 – not bad for professional sport these days.
Sussex won the toss and decided to field.
Umpires: Cook, T E Jesty
Yorkshire: Rudolph (C), Lyth, Bairstow, McGrath, Ballance, Brophy (W), Rashid, Wainwright, Patterson, Ashraf, Hannon-Dalby
Sussex: Joyce, Gatting, Nash, Goodwin, Yardy (C), Brown (W), Vincent, Parnell, Panesar, Arif, Liddle
Yorkshire: Rudolph (C), Lyth, Bairstow, McGrath, Ballance, Brophy (W), Rashid, Wainwright, Patterson, Ashraf, Hannon-Dalby
Sussex: Joyce, Gatting, Nash, Goodwin, Yardy (C), Brown (W), Vincent, Parnell, Panesar, Arif, Liddle
Rudolf and Lyth opening the batting for Yorkshire and made a reasonable start. Lyth cracking on and Rudolf going at his more usual sedate pace. The boundary was found regularly enough to suggest that 250 would only be a moderate total but 280 to 300 would be a defendable total.
It was good to see Monty Panesar in the field for Sussex. He’s a genuine lad, a role model for Asian youth in sport, enthusiastic and has been working hard on his game. He does, however, still field with all the grace of a wheelie bin on collection day. Ed Joyce was fielding on the boundry by us and to his credit signed lots of autographs for the eager youngsters. At Scarborough the approach is more relaxed and it is possible to sit on the grass behind the boundary rope.
Adam Lyth was the first wicket to fall nicely bowled by Monty; cue Jonny Bairstow the rising son of Yorkshire cricket and soon to be part of the England one-day set up. Much fuss and cheering from the crowd near us. In fact it was all Johnny this and Johnny that, it started to grate a bit. At the interval we were to discover that they were his family and friends so fair enough. He didn’t let them or the Yorkshire faithful down chipping with a half century at quicker than a run a ball. Jacques Rudolf carried his bat and helped Yorkshire to post a decent total of 302.
Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
Rudolph | not out | 132 | 112 | 11 | 3 | |
Lyth | b Panesar | 73 | 68 | 8 | 1 | |
Bairstow | c Vincent | b Parnell | 52 | 45 | 2 | 3 |
Brophy | b Liddle | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | |
Ballance | b Parnell | 14 | 7 | 3 | 0 | |
McGrath | not out | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
Extras | 4nb 4w 10lb | 18 | ||||
Total | for 4 | 302 | (40.0 ovs) | |||
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The pack up...
Scotch egg, pork pie, sandwiches (ham and mustard, pastrami and coronation chicken) and blackcurrent and apples pie.
The beer...
Tetley Smooth – not great (not a real ale) but reasonably priced at £3 a pint.
Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | |||
Joyce | c Hannon-Dalby | b Rashid | 21 | 13 | 5 | 0 |
Nash | c Bairstow | b Patterson | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Vincent | c Ballance | b Hannon-Dalby | 35 | 25 | 7 | 0 |
Goodwin | c Rashid | b Patterson | 9 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
Yardy | b Rashid | 53 | 42 | 3 | 2 | |
Gatting | c and b | Wainwright | 19 | 20 | 2 | 0 |
Brown | run out (Bairstow) | 60 | 51 | 4 | 0 | |
Parnell | c Brophy | b Rashid | 47 | 28 | 6 | 1 |
Arif | c Ballance | b Hannon-Dalby | 8 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
Liddle | b Ashraf | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
Panesar | not out | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
Extras | 3w 2lb | 5 | ||||
Total | all out | 267 | (36.5 ovs) | |||
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Sussex started well but started to lose wickets. Yorkshire fielded very well, Adil Rashid and Oliver Hannon-Dalby made fine catches and Jonny Bairstow a good run out after a dropped catch. Gatting and Brown made a brave attempt at chasing down the Yorkshire total but it proved too much in the end. A great day's cricket and it didn't rain!
Links:
Scarborough Cricket Club http://www.scarboroughcricket.co.uk/
Yorkshire County Cricket Club http://www.yorkshireccc.com/
