Page 25 - Demo

CRICKETING COMMUTER
Dr Chris Stride on a seasons travels
ne of the joys of cricket is the scenery it sits within. Cricket is traditionally a rural sport, given the requirement of a large green eld, but delightful grounds
exist nestling between suburban housing and even within the inner city, secret sporting gardens providing green lungs and athletic opportunity.
I have always treasured playing at new venues
– it was one of my motivations for joining the Forty Club – and experiencing the di erent pavilions, wickets, boundary shapes and sizes,
and even styles of play found around the UK. Despite cricket’s delayed start in 2020, I was determined to make the most of my rst XL season and the opportunities a orded to travel around and discover di erent cricketing landscapes.
I’m probably an outlier in terms of the distances
I’m prepared to travel for a game of cricket - I spent most of my 20s and 30s ‘commuting’ every sum- mer Saturday from She eld to the West Midlands. Even more eccentrically, and to the bewilderment of most teammates I usually travel to matches by train. In defence, it is nice to arrive relaxed to play and, postmatch, stretch out in a train carriage with a beer. I enjoy train travel regardless of the destina- tion: the ability to get some work done or just gaze out of the window and discover another part of the world beats squeezing into a tin box and slogging up and down motorways. However, COVID put the brakes on a vague plan to see how many matches
I could play in a month using a UK all-lines railpass. Sitting masked-up and unable to eat or drink for hours on end did not appeal, so when cricket be- came legal in July 2020, I hired a car and set o for new cricketing destinations.
By the end of the season, I had managed to
play 17 matches across four XL districts, plus an inter-district friendly against a fth. I was very lucky to have Yorks & NE and East Midlands as my ‘home’ districts – superbly organised by Kevin Owens and Paul Shepherd respectively, with weekly xtures at venues such as Knaresborough Forest and Belvoir Castle. East Midlands even entered a six-a-side tournament in Notts (and ended up as surprise nalists!). Yorks & NE even managed some school xtures in September, with a trip to Scarborough College bringing me my rst and probably only ever all international wicket... former Zimbabwean international cricketer, caught by former England goalkeeper!
O
The longest journey I undertook was to Sprowston CC, Norwich, for day four of XL Eastern Counties ‘tour’ of their own district. This was the best-con- tested match I took part in, with XL’s 251-7 dec almost chased down. With just 12 needed, nine balls and one wicket left, all four results were possible. Thankfully, for an exhausted XL XI, Sprowston’s Guyton,who had whacked his way to a splendid 114, tried to paddle a straight ball behind square and missed. A great match, and superbly hosted by Sprowston, who provided the best COVID catering of 2020 with takeaway curries for lunch and sh and chips post match!
A trip to London to represent Kent and East Sussex provided quasi-international opposition, with British Tamil’s ultra-aggressive batting just winning out over XL’s more measured approach to the game. Sewerby o ered cricket on an East Yorkshire cli top, where the challenge to hit
the ball into the sea looks inviting but is rarely accomplished. XL eventually triumphed against a team comprised of several very talented Yorkshire age group youngsters, and a torrential downpour.
Indi erent weather was also the theme for my
last and most memorable day out, a drive to the Cambridgeshire-Su olk border to represent XL Eastern Counties vs Chippenham, in the last remnants of September. leaving She eld in hazy Autumn sunshine, the M1 brought leaden skies, the A14, mist, and the ground was reached in heavy drizzle. No chance of play, surely... but as a rather bemused XL team huddled in the pavilion bewildered that the match had not been called o , the groundsman hopped into his Range Rover, attached a mower, and began to give the out eld a trim. This resulted in the mower - and the back of the car - quickly being covered by a damp green paste but did at least remove the surface water.
The Forty Club 2021 Yearbook
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