It’s been a while since I was at North Leeds Cricket Club, and I was looking forward to my trip there on Sunday. I’ve managed to cover a few weekends of softball but wanted to get a Division One hardball game covered and see how a few of the teams I haven’t photographed are doing.

Skipton’s visit to North Leeds was perfect for me, and there was little chance of the game being postponed due to bad weather, as sun was forecast throughout the day.

I managed to get parked in the club’s main carpark, tucked away under the trees which would offer a little bit of protection from any airborne threats by well hit deliveries. As I had turned up over an hour and a half before first ball, I headed into the small café and got something to eat and a cold drink.

The ground sits on the edge of Roundhay Park and is bordered by mature trees that provide protection from the wind blowing in from the wide-open space. The impressive modern pavilion sits next to the carpark, and the ground has a good set of fences running the perimeter to help keep racing cricket balls from going too far.

Settling down outside on the veranda, I consumed the sandwich while watching the junior games being played in the middle of the square. There was an excited air around the club as children played cricket, kicked footballs around the edge of the pitch, and parents chatted with each other.

As the junior games ended, the two ladies’ teams started to arrive, and their supporters took up vantage points in front of the pavilion. Skipton won the toss and decided to put the home team into bat first.

That decision seemed to pay dividends almost immediately as Lauren Hewitt was unluckily bowled facing her first ball. The home team then settled down and during the next few overs started to add quite a few runs to their total.

By the time Skipton claimed their second wicket in the sixth over, North Leeds were approaching 50. Hattie Barnes was trapped leg-before by a wonderful ball by Clara Woolfall that left the umpire with little option but to give out.

It took another five overs before Skipton claimed their next wicket in the twelfth, with Gail Ellis bowling Zainab Patel…but struck again in the very next over as Georgia Jennings sent the bails flying, beating the bat of Allyah Khan.

I had been moving around the boundary to get a number of different shots of the game and found myself apologising to a lady sitting on one of the benches square on to the play for the camera making disruptive sounds. As I continued to take photos we struck up a conversation about the club. Anne Bond has been following North Leeds for all her life and talked with a great depth of knowledge, about the club, the league and various cup competitions.

It’s always a real pleasure to chat with people whose family’s history is so intertwined with both a place and a club, and in many ways, I was sorry to have to continue my roaming around the boundary and end the conversation.

By the 23rd over the home team had amassed around 180 runs and were looking to reach at least 200. Georgia Jennings, who had been sending down a few tricky deliveries then picked up the wickets of Zoe Sawula and Elizabeth Pickles…and only just failed to get a hattrick with her next delivery by the smallest of margins.

As the innings ended, Millie Thompson-Barker picked up a couple of wickets, with Clara Woolfall adding to her tally too. North Leeds had managed 221 for nine, played some great shots and reinforced the opinion of many in the league that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Captain Jacky Fitzpatrick had top scored with 45 from 65, but there had been impressive knocks by Hattie Barnes (30 from 21), Allyah Khan (33 from 24), Elizabeth Pickles (27 from 19), and Megan Berry (23 from 20). Millie Thompson-Barker had shone with the ball picking up three wickets for 24 runs, Georgia Jennings with three wickets for 69 runs, and Clara Woolfall with two wickets for 23 runs.

Moving back to a point that I had liked taking photos from in the first innings, Anne stopped by to continue our chat and I was delighted to learn a little more about her family history in respect of the North Leeds club. She showed me a photo of her father sitting in front of the pavilion and recounted various stories about the club and the development of the pavilion.

The break between innings flew by, and as Anne took her place on the benches square on, I settled back down to watch the visitor’s innings.

Skipton, who were a player down, started their reply brightly enough scoring nine runs in the first three overs; however, disaster was to strike in the fourth as they lost the wickets of Clara Woolfall and Holly Brennan.

It took another eight overs before North Leeds were to get the next wicket, but crucially, their excellent bowling had restricted the visitors run rate. With the fall of Millie Thompson-Barker’s wicket in the twelfth, Skipton tried to up the run rate…but were hampered by the loss of a further wicket in the fifteenth.

By the 20th over, the visitors were probably around 60 runs behind where their hosts had been at the same point, and the further loss of two rapid wickets didn’t help at all. Another wicket fell with the first ball of the 21stover and victory was secured by North Leeds two overs later as they picked up the final couple of wickets.

North Leeds had won the game by 138 runs, picking up all 20 points in what had been a comprehensive display of both batting and bowling. On the day, Skipton had come up against a better team, however they weren’t too far off the pace, and on Sunday’s evidence, I believe that they will win more games this season than they lose.

I’m going to enter dangerous territory and talk about league positions, even though with only around five games gone I really shouldn’t; but with the usual caveat that a win or loss at this early stage can radically alter how the table looks!

North Leeds’ win puts them in fourth spot, just over 20 points behind early leaders Crossflatts, but crucially having played two games less. The league already has a small gap between the teams tipped to be fighting for the Division One crown and the others.

Crossflatts, St. Chad’s, Bradford Park Avenue, and North Leeds have all looked impressive in how they’ve gone about winning games this season; but being honest the remainder of the teams in the league aren’t exactly weak…any of them can completely change the outlook of the table with a couple of wins.

I must admit, I am enjoying the competition in this league this season!

I’m looking forward to getting to cover the final couple of teams in the league that I haven’t seen yet in the upcoming weeks and watching how this fight for the top of the table develops.

A set of images will be published on our social media on Friday…please follow us to be notified when they are available.

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