Cricket’s been so much the poorer for sorry demise of Bradford’s Bull Ring
something in recent years with nearest rivals for the County Championship, Middlesex, being the visitors in two of those. Three years ago Jack Brooks and Ryan Sidebottom imposed their superiority on the North Londoners, having them rocking at 11-4 before a brilliant John Simpson hundred got them out of trouble. It wasn’t enough, though, as Yorkshire won and romped to the title.
This year Middlesex got their revenge at North Marine Road and their victory here was possibly a statement of intent. As we are all aware, the main course was played out at Lord’s a few weeks ago, but it was here at Scarborough that the hors d’oeuvre was served between these two.
In 2001,Yorkshire won their first title since 1969 here, ending a long wait for the county faithful. Local hero David Byas lifted the trophy as the celebrations lasted long into the night. One dressing room source tells a story that Dickie Bird hadn’t brought a dinner jacket for a ‘black tie’ reception that night and had to visit a local charity shop in a hurry to find suitable attire.
The tourists might not flock to the town as much as they did in previous eras but North Marine Road is still leading the way when it comes to visitors – 5,000 people a day is bigger than anywhere else in the country for four-day cricket and one county didn’t have that many pass through their gates in the whole of 2013 for the red-ball game.
In a town which saw an invasion of Vikings, every year now sees an invasion of cricket lovers. Scarborough is the king of the outgrounds. Sheffield On March 7, 1861,Yorkshire CCC were formed at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield. A quorum made up of men mainly from Sheffield CC were behind the first committee and despite protestations that they were providing cricket for the whole of Yorkshire, members from York, Huddersfield and other conurbations in the county weren’t sure of their intentions.
It wasn’t the last row in the boardroom of Yorkshire.
Despite this, Bramall Lane was where the club set up their headquarters before moving to Headingley in 1893. Bramall Lane staged a solitary Test – in the 1902 Ashes – although England lost by 143 runs thanks to a century by the Australian, Clem Hill. The defeat was blamed on poor light at the ground, due to smoke emitting from the local factories. Jack Brown had scored a triple century five years previously but, moving forward, the great Hutton scored two double centuries at this famous ground just prior to
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the outbreak of the Second World War.
‘The Lane’, as it was, and still is, known to those who inhabit the Steel City, wasn’t just a batting paradise. Three times it saw ten-wicket hauls by a bowler, including one by the Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett in 1930. The Yorkshire slow left armer, Hedley Verity, picked up a 9-12 in addition on a wicket that obviously offered something to spin bowlers.
Despite poor crowds for the 1902 Test, one of the reasons why England played a solitary international there, nearly 50,000 attended the three days of the Roses battle against Lancashire in 1947.Yorkshire, it seemed, were more popular than the national side.
It was often a voluble crowd, grinders from the steelworks cheering on the home side and as one local told me: “If it needed saying, they’d say it.” This was working class cricket in its heartland, a million miles away from the Long Room as Lord’s, yet watched by passionate people, just as much in love with the game.
Bramall Lane was a three-sided football venue, described as “not ideal for football, yet with the cricket crowd being too far away from the action”. Whilst floodlights are now the norm at many cricket grounds, seeing them from the Fifties onwards at the Lane was a strange peculiarity and unusual for those who love their summer sport.
Bramall Lane wasn’t a beautiful cricket ground by any stretch of the imagination; the smell of the local factories and brewery were vastly different from many grounds, yet it has a special place in the hearts of Yorkshire folk due to its history. Gritty would be the apt description of this city centre stage.
In 1973, it saw its last of the 391 matches to be played here – fittingly a Roses war against Lancashire. Soon after, the football club built the South Stand over the cricket square and, with the extra land, made a huge car park where the outfield once lay. As a football ground, Bramall Lane is a superb venue, a modern stadium yet providing character and atmosphere, yet football’s gain was cricket’s loss and the original landlords had to move out to Abbeydale Park.
Abbeydale Park is an unusual venue as it has been used for both Derbyshire and Yorkshire CCCs; not many grounds have been used by two counties. Located in Dore, one of the more affluent suburbs of Sheffield, the ground is right on the border as this is where industrial Yorkshire meets the beautiful Peak District.
Used by the county from 1974, it was a million miles from the city centre grime of Bramall Lane. Home of Sheffield Collegiate CC, it has produced two of the finest batsmen to play for England in recent times. Joe Root and Michael Vaughan played their formative cricket here and the club are one of the nation’s strongest.
Sadly, the county haven’t been here since 1996 apart from 2nd XI games. History cannot take away the fact, though, that Sheffield is the original home of Yorkshire. Bradford ‘Bratfut’, as it is known in this part of the world, is a sizeable place. A major city in the heart of the five million people who inhabit this county, its place in sporting folklore is a sad tale.
Bradford Park Avenue was an impressive arena known locally as the ‘Bull Ring’. Partisan crowds would pack into the banking on the sides of the grounds as the likes of Percy Holmes scored 275 here in 1928 or Emmott Robinson picked up a nine-wicket haul in a Roses game during the same decade. Geoff Boycott has the distinction of being involved in the record opening and tenth wicket partnerships here with 248 being put on with Ashley Metcalfe in 1983, whilst ten years earlier he and Mike Bore put on 108.
Bradford Park Avenue had a huge
pavilion located behind the bowler’s arm. Supported by white poles, it had a turreted roof and flew the White Rose flag proudly. Intricate windows provided the dressing rooms at each end of the upper tier of a pavilion a view of the football pitch, reminiscent of Headingley with the Rugby Stand. In the corner was a quaint little cottage known as the Doll’s House whilst steep banking provided the main bulk of the crowd on either side of the ground and 15,000 of them applauded Brian Close all the way to the wicket when he returned here with Somerset.
Yorkshire played their last game here in 1996 and were hammered by a Leicestershire side who rattled up more than 600. They didn’t lose many – 41 losses compared to 145 wins with a famous tie versus Middlesex in 1973 (what is it with these two counties?). However, the ground fell into disrepair and the county moved out. The footballers on the other side of the pavilion went first, having been kicked out of the Football League in 1970.
Perhaps Bradford suffers from being geographically too close to Leeds? It is a shame, though, as this was an original and unique venue and one of the sadder tales of grounds during this series.
Cricket is poorer for the demise of Bradford Park Avenue. Middlesbrough “The quickest wicket in Yorkshire, mebbe England,” was how Freddie Trueman described Acklam Park, Middlesbrough. He should know as he picked up a10-wicket haul here against the visiting West Indians in 1963 in a game that saw the home batsmen, John Hampshire and Doug Padgett, carried off, having been hit on the head by Charlie Griffith.
Two years later, Yorkshire were routed for their lowest ever score here as Hampshire (the county, not John), bowled them out for just 23, Butch White with 6-10.
Although Acklam Park hosted firstclass cricket from 1956 to 1996, it saw many famous games. The furthest north venue geographically that the county visited, Boycott scored his 150th hundred here against Leicestershire in 1986, beating Herbert Sutcliffe’s record.
The home ground of England’s Chris Old, the man known as Chilly took 7-20 here in 1969, although Arnie Sidebottom took an eight-wicket haul here in 1986 as did Stuart Fletcher two years later. Despite its pace, it is a spinner who has the record match haul with Middlesex’s Fred Titmus picking up 14 in 1974.
Two years prior to Old’s feat, 13,000 packed this Teesside venue when Yorkshire were in their pomp. The team of the Sixties won the Championship more often than not and, in 1967, Acklam Park saw its record crowd versus Warwickshire. Terraces with benches, similar to the Popular Side at Scarborough, adorned this intimate arena.
Sadly, the county never returned after 1996, but anyone who has watched cricket at Acklam Park will know of its place in Yorkshire history. Other Venues In 1996, the Yorkshire committee, having spent a lot of money on upgrading Headingley, decided that they wanted to spend more time watching the county in Leeds. Only Scarborough remained as an outground, many popular venues being jettisoned. One was St George’s Road in the spa town of Harrogate. Four of their famous Sixties county titles were sealed at this venue with 13,000 spectators filling every nook and cranny as Ray
The ground fell into disrepair and the county moved out but the footballers went first, having been kicked out of the league
Illingworth and Brian Close lifted titles. The biggest crowd, however, was in 1996. A local businessman put on an India v Pakistan game and 15,000 watched Imran Khan bowl at Sunil Gavaskar.
Marquees thronged one side of the ground whilst the other had a covered side, all full to the rafters on a ground where spin came to the fore later in the game. St George’s Road was another outground where Yorkshire had an impressive record, winning 50 games and only losing eight.
The Circle at Hull saw action from 1899 to 1974. A turreted pavilion full of character saw Herbert Sutcliffe and Hutton put on over 300 for the opening wicket in 1937. Fartown in Huddersfield staged a famous tied game in the Fifties against Leicestershire and bizarrely saw the crowd come onto the pitch in 1974 searching for Boycott’s lost contact lens. It was never found, no doubt trampled into the turf, and led to the opener batting in glasses for a while.
Savile Town in Dewsbury hosted 49 Yorkshire games between 1867 and 1931, of which 31 were won, whilst the county have also played at Great Horton Road in Bradford, Swatter’s Carr and Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough, Argyll Street in Hull whilst Halifax, York, Holbeck, Horsforth, Wakefield and Hunslet have all had their turn at hosting this famous county.
Headingley is their home for now but Yorkshire people, wherever it is played in the county, appreciate the beautiful game of cricket.