Page 30 - Demo

DISTRICT REPORTS 2020
YORKSHIRE AND NORTH
EAST DISTRICT
(KEVIN OWENS)
Chris Stride
W ell, it’s always pleasing when I accurately pre-
dict what’s coming up in
the future! In the 2020 Handbook I mentioned that we
had 12 xtures lined up for the
2020 season. In actual fact, we played 15 games in the end
but, as we all know, that doesn’t begin to tell the story of the summer.
With a Covid-enforced lockdown at the start of the season, there was no guar- antee of any cricket being played at all in the 2020 season. The entire school programme between April and July disappeared but the green light for cricket to resume in July resulted in a urry of activity in our District. First up, we kicked-o the delayed Forty Club season with a T20 game at Crigglestone on a glorious summer evening. This was also the rst game for a number of years for a re-formed club starting life again at the bottom rung of the Pontefract & District League. We wish them well with their future endeavours.
From the end of July onwards, hastily rearranged games came thick and fast. Another T20 at Rossington Main was followed the day after by a rst game against Hallam CC. The next week saw a return to Escrick Park some years after our last trip to take on the Yorkshire Gents and later that week we paid a rst visit to Knaresborough Forest CC in a stunning North Yorkshire setting. The ground was
anked on one side by a towering rocky outcrop, with woodland at one end and a raised beer garden of the local pub at the other.
Games against Yorkshire and Lancashire Over 50s followed in August; comprehensively outplayed in the former, we were heading for victory in the latter before Phil Deakin conjured up some Littleborough rain clouds to save his Lancashire side!
We managed to resurrect another old xture in a trip to Woodhouse Grange as well as tting in a
game against an impressive academy side of She eld Collegiate, home of Michael Vaughan and Joe Root. Highlight of August (for me at least) was
a rst trip to Sewerby CC whose ground sits atop sheer limestone cli s overlooking the North Sea, just up the coast from Bridlington. With four seasons being experienced in one day, the warm evening sunshine allowed us to nish the game in style and a return trip is already in the diary for this year.
32
https://thefortyclub.play-cricket.com
Shaun Storey watches on as Nigel Martyn gathers
John Heald Photography
John Heald Photography
DISTRICTS