Very cold Weetwood
by Brian Sanderson
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I awoke yesterday morning to cloudy and windy weather. My original plan was to head to Weetwood to watch Yorkshire Under-19s take on Derbyshire Under-18s in a three-day County Championship match. Last week, Yorkshire had drawn at Hartlepool.
The day before, while I was in Scarborough, Yorkshire batted first and put together an impressive total of 447 for 3, with Tom Fraine unbeaten on 208. Today, he continued his stellar performance, bringing his score up to 233 with 27 fours. Jawad Akhtar also contributed, hitting three sixes to push Yorkshire to 545 for eight.
Unfortunately for Derbyshire, they lost A. Hussain early, and rain interrupted play, leading to an early lunch. Seeking shelter from the strong wind, I moved to a more protected area of the ground. Watching cricket in the cold can be a miserable experience, but it seemed to benefit certain players. Bradley Sylvester, for instance, used the wind to his advantage, taking five wickets for 31 runs in just seven overs. By the drinks break, Derbyshire was struggling at sixty for six. Wickets continued to fall rapidly, and when the rain returned, they were 67 for nine.
Everyone sought warmth and dryness during the rain, which eased up after about twenty minutes, and the last pair Derbyshire came out. They lasted just four balls, and tea was taken.
Frustrated with the weather, I decided to head home and warm up in front of a cozy fire. On Friday, I’m looking forward to watching Durham take on Hampshire in Jesmond—hopefully with better weather!
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.