Act II

Brian Sanderson reports from Scarborough

The ACS’s latest publication, a lively history of cricket in Suffolk by Simon Sweetman, is now available for purchase on our website. Buy it here.

A four-day cricket match is like a play, each day a separate act. Act II at Scarborough opened in suitably dramatic fashion this morning, the Sussex innings concluding in the very first over of the day. Tom Alsop was stranded on 86 out of a total of 189.

A heavy storm had drenched the outfield overnight, leaving it soaked. The wind was fierce as I took my thirty-minute walk to the ground, missing a members’ forum about the dire financial state of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. I had the much more agreeable pleasure of catching up with Jeremy Lonsdale, author of many ACS books on Yorkshire cricket. His latest (admittedly not published by the ACS) is an excellent biography of Bill Bowes, who played for Yorkshire from 1929 to 1947. As we watched the cricket, we lamented the parlous state of Yorkshire off the field. Hopes are slim of securing a fifty percent agreement among members to sell the club.

On the field, matters progressed just as inauspiciously. Yorkshire’s openers were dismissed for a mere 31 in the thirteenth over, both falling to the Indian bowler Jaydev Unadkat. Our hopes now rested on James Wharton and William Luxton, and their partnership promised much until Wharton was caught flashing at a ball just as lunch was due.

During the break I attempted, à la Tom Horan, to work my way “round the ground,” but was frequently held up by friends eager to discuss the state of the club and the broader, uncertain future of county cricket.

In the afternoon I sat with Geoff Wellstead, another author and collector. We were entertained by a Jonny Bairstow innings as frustrating as it was fascinating. Bairstow seemed unable to settle, constantly patting down imaginary bumps in the pitch or complaining about spectators walking behind the sightscreens. He held numerous parliaments with the umpires and, even less civilly, with the bowlers—especially Ollie Robinson. He was dropped twice, once by Robinson, which did not make these exchanges any less heated. Bairstow eventually reached 57 before being given out lbw. He walked off slowly, moaning to anyone who would listen about how poor the decision was.

At tea Yorkshire were 214 for 4. In the café, everyone had an opinion on Jonny’s batting and antics.

Soon after the break, Luxton was out for a hard-working 59. At this stage Jack Carson, the off-spinner, was bowling exceptionally well, and collecting wickets regularly. By the end of the innings, he had five for 83. The last fell to Robinson when Dan Moriarty was caught swishing at a ball. Jordan Thompson remained 44 not out. Yorkshire finished on 326, a score I would gladly have accepted at the start of the day.

At this point, I left to have dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant. The food was excellent—and probably better than the cricket, as Sussex played out ten overs for 26.

Act III opens tomorrow, with dry weather forecast until around three o’clock, when there is a chance of rain. Will we get a fourth act? I am unsure. Get to the ground tomorrow to find out. Or, if you can’t, watch this space…

Brian Sanderson is an ACS member. He serves on the Yorkshire Cricket Archives Committee. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please either respond to the email in which you received it, or leave a comment below.