Match Report: YG's vs Hull Old Grammarians

Sunday 27th August 2023

The Yorkshire Gentlemen's captain, Geoff Barker, had recruited a strong and balanced X1 for this game and he was anxious for the game to go ahead on a day when showers were forecast.

The Hull Old Grammarians captain, Andrew Kirby, won the toss and Geoff was delighted that he decided to field.

Unfortunately, the Yorkshire Gentlemen's innings got off to a disastrous start when Harry Wilkinson was bowled first ball by a full toss.  Thereafter however, James Van Der Merwe and Richard Exley shared an excellent partnership and remained in complete control for the rest of the morning session.  At lunch the score was 138 for 1.

On the resumption, both batters played some excellent attacking shots before Van Der Merwe was dismissed for 94.  Exley hit some big sixes before he was out for 71.  Stuart Clark and Mike Gear shared a short partnership before a shower arrived at 3pm with the Yorkshire Gentlemen's score on 207 for 3.

An early tea was taken during which Geoff declared the innings.

When the Yorkshire Gentlemen took the field, Geoff set an attacking field.  Will Jenkins and Jordan Richardson bowled a useful opening spell which made run scoring difficult for the visiting batters.  Jenkins got the only wicket to fall, encouraging a loose drive to backward point where Muhammad Ahmadzai – making his Yorkshire Gentlemen's debut – took an excellent diving catch.

After 12 overs, with the Hull Old Grammarians score on 21 for 1, another shower caused play to be halted. Unfortunately, the rain set in and play was abandoned fr the day.  This was disappointing because both teams felt they had an opportunity to win the match.

The  Hull Old Grammarians enjoyed the cricket that was played and the hospitality provided by the Yorkshire Gentlemen.  They are hoping for a fine day for the fixture in 2024.

Geoff Barker

Match Report: YG's vs The Primary Club Australia

YGs welcomed The Primary Club of Australia, a registered charity which raises money to ensure that people with disabilities can participate in sport and recreation, to Escrick for the second match in the Yorkshire leg of their UK tour.

Our guests, who had beaten the Forty Club two days previously at Bolton Percy, were expected to provide strong opposition and won the toss, electing to field in damp conditions. The Primary Club included in their number Andrew Wildblood and Bruce Neary, both of whom had played junior cricket at Escrick many years ago.

After YGs had lost Rich Exley early, David O’Kelly and Prabas Mallick played cautiously, battling hard against an accurate bowling attack in tough conditions. 15-year-old Harry Croasdale showed plenty of promise on debut for the club, batting nicely alongside James van der Merwe, who started to lift the scoring rate. James was joined by Phil Holland, who played the innings of the day on a wicket which was offering variable bounce. 14-year-old Rohan Korolkiewicz showed considerable resilience to come back to the crease to resume his innings, having taken a nasty blow from a rising ball. Skipper, Richard Musgrave, declared the innings closed at 3.35pm with the score on 154-7 shortly after Holland had reached a well-earned half century.  

In reply, the Primary Club lost a wicket in the first over to an excellent high catch at mid-off by Holland from the bowling of Jordan Richardson, who combined with Gerard Whelan to deliver an incisive new ball spell which had the Australians in big trouble at 39/5. Neary and Wildblood used their experience of the Escrick pitch to stage a mini recovery before the “spin twins”, van der Merwe and Mallick, combined to squeeze the Australian innings further. With 9 wickets down and almost 10 overs to go, a YGs victory looked likely but the final pair of Neary and skipper Nathan Reay held out for a draw without offering a chance as the game came to an end with the score on 87/9.

Despite being unable to force a victory, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day at Escrick and our guests were quick to express their gratitude for the YG’s hospitality. It was particularly pleasing to see a good number of YG supporters at the ground as the Club pushed for victory.

Match Report: YG's vs The Gentlemen of Cheshire

YGs once again entertained Cheshire Gents at Escrick. Winning the toss saw Cheshire Gents elect to field first on an overcast damp day. This lead to a torrid start for both YGs openers , James Van De Merwe and Phil Holland, who survived well and managed to put on 42 runs in 15 overs. However Van De Merwe was bowled by J Whitehead for 19 which brought C Chafer to the crease. Unfortunatley an absolute brute of a ball saw him depart for 0 caught at slip by S Metha off the same bowler.

Prabas Mallick arrived at the crease and made 13 runs before N Goldstein bowled him. P Holland continued to flourish from the other end and reached 50 before S Metha induced a false shot which was superbly caught by N Goldstein.

C Gliman managed a fluent 33 but was stumped by S Ali off the bowling of Baker.

Wickets continued to fall but Captain N Dale decided to declare 20 minutes before tea with the score on 164-8. J Whitehead finished as the pick of the bowlers with 4-39.

Following a rain interruption Cheshire Gents opener A Khan smashed the ball to all parts retiring on 54 off 38 balls.

N Dale took a good catch to remove the other opener off the bowling of D Winkle.

Despite wickets from Van De Merwe and C Chafer Cheshire Gents S Metha(60no) took them to the winning total without further trouble.

All Stars at Escrick

For the first time the YGs have been running an all stars session. It started a couple of weeks ago and will continue through June and July for a total of 8 weeks.

The sessions run from 6-7pm on a Friday evening. The kids have a great time trying their hand at everything cricket! Batting, bowling, throwing, catching, diving, you name it! Lots of fun little drills/ games to keep everyone engaged as you can see from the great photos below.

Phil Holland has been running the session so far and they have been going down fantastically. It's been incredible weather and over 30 kids have been coming down each week.

Just a reminder to parents to make sure kids have water bottles, suitable footwear/ headgear and suncream so everyone is set for an amazing time.