Pontefract Evening League: Midweek cricket at Nostell St Oswald

England’s strolling mercenaries on the telly? Or live midweek cricket on a gloriously sunny June evening? No contest, really. Off to Nostell St Oswald Cricket Club I went.

There aren’t that many Tuesday evening cricket options in Yorkshire, but the Pontefract & District League’s two-division Evening League has Tuesday as its match night.

The hideous A1 queues, near Darrington, for bridge repair work, deterred me from going to South Elmsall-based Frickley Colliery Cricket Club. I

f central Pontefract wasn’t too sticky – a planner once figured it was a brilliant idea to position, cheek-by-jowl, two roundabouts – I figured I could reach Nostell, via Featherstone, in good time. And I did.

In fact, when I arrived, only one other person, a Nostell player, whiling away the time, driver’s door open, enjoying the warmth, was in the car park.

He was anxious to get the cricket done and dusted, so he could catch at least the second half of England and, err, whoever they weren’t likely to play very well against later that evening. Slovenia! 

A Division One fixture between Nostell (bottom) and Kippax (top) didn’t necessarily indicate I was in for a close encounter. But, as it happened, Nostell pushed the unbeaten leaders all the way, before going down, gallantly, to an 18-run defeat.

Nostell’s ground, Garmil Lane (on which its entrance is located), is opposite Nostell Priory, a Palladian-style house, with grounds, now in the care of the National Trust.

I’ve visited the priory, designed and built by the Winn family, between 1727 and 1785, a couple of times. On neither occasion did I spot the cricket ground. I’ll blame the thick, high hedge that separates cricket from the busy A638, the Wakefield to Doncaster artery.

On the other side of Garmil Lane to Nostell St Oswald’s tidy facilities is another, smaller cricket ground. It belongs to Wakefield Independent School. Neat pavilion, I must say. 

Being early, I went off for a wander. Unfortunately, by now, the priory gates had been locked and bolted to visitors, so I headed along Garmil Lane and, its neighbour, Swine Lane. Nothing much to see: the school’s premises are off-limits, as are those, gargantuan, by the looks, of a brick manufacturer.

Gave me time, back at the ground, to appreciate the pre-match work put in at cricket clubs: the touring of the boundary to insert the marker flags; that final up-and-back, up-and-back rolling of the wicket; the preparations in the bar for thirsty spectators.

I assume Nostell, who have an eagle as their logo, take their name from the Augustinian (and medieval) Priory of St Oswald, which was demolished to make way for the super-rich Winns’ Georgian house.

The Winns made their money, during the Tudor period, from the London textile trade. In the century that followed, cannily, the family invested in property and land, which included purchasing the Nostell estate.

Courtesy of a deal struck for the 2024 season, the Garmil Lane ground is also used by Mirpur Royals, members of the Quaid e Azam Premier League, a Sunday competition.

The partnership sees Royals duo, Azad Arif (captain and opening bowler) and Aqeel Saleem (opening batsman), joining Nostell’s Saturday Premier Division squad.

From the parking at the ground’s near (west) end, the Nostell pitch slopes gently down to the square. It isn’t a small pitch. But, given the amount of spare turf available along the north side, it could be quite a bit bigger.

The clubhouse, opened in 1987, occupies the southeast corner. In June, with the sun swinging further and further round, its patio is perfectly placed for tan-toppers. 

It is a single-storey structure, housing dressing rooms and a bar/function room. The scorebox is a partly integrated feature. A separate, manual scoreboard was used for the Kippax match.

Trees, a mixture of mature evergreens and deciduous species, line the ground’s south side, and offer plentiful shade. By the end of the match, the wicket was in shadow.

The rest of the ground is very open. Traffic noise from the A638 is a minor irritant, although for evening fixtures, the number of vehicles is comparatively light.

We got started at 6.15. Kippax batted first. No toss, I was told, therefore I assume (again!) the away team get first dibs with the bat in the Ponte Evening League.

We did have two ‘proper’ umpires, Paul Kemp and Dave Myers, which impressed me. In some midweek leagues I watch, players are obliged to ‘stand’.

From the first delivery of the evening, Nostell dropped what appeared to be a regulation slip catch (sitting on one’s backside, merely observing, cricket looks less difficult!).

Almost immediately, however, Kippax lost Imran Rawat (0 from 3), with only one run on the board. No 1 Syed Hussain (26 off 26) and No 3 Munawar Chariwala (24 off 21) then added 47 for the second wicket. 

A similarly valuable, unbroken stand, worth 40, for the seventh wicket, between No 8 Museji Bhoola (21 off 22) and No 7 Yunus Valimulla (12 off 15) boosted the visitors’ total, from 83-5 and 96-6, to 136-6 off 20 overs.

A full 20! Ah, these light evenings! Simon Rayner took 3-16 and John Barton 2-29, each from four overs.

No 2 Troy Brownlow (30 off 33) gave Nostell, 46-4 at one stage, a fighting chance – 35 off the last 18 balls – which faded only with the departure of No 8 Robert Clegg, run out, by Chariwala, for 18 (off 16). 

Frustratingly, for Nostell, just three runs were scored off the final over. 118-8, they posted. Ihsanullah Dost (2-21 from four) was the pick of the bowlers. It was Kippax’s fifth win from six games. Their other fixture was abandoned owing to poor weather.

Driving home, on learning England-Slovenia was goalless at the interval, I declined to listen to the second half on the car radio. Why spoil a perfectly decent evening?

Seeing how straightforward, even at tea-time, it was to reach Nostell from York, I hope to get to either Glasshoughton Cricket Club or – maybe both! – Featherstone Town Cricket Club before the 2024 Pontefract & District Evening League season concludes.

Enjoyed the read?

You can check out other club visits by Andrew in his column, Miles Per Gallon.

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