Memory Lane: Last day title drama in 1998

Reg Nelson turns back the clock 25 years to recall the teams and players who were making the headlines in 1998. It was a year when the Division One title race was decided by a final day shoot-out between the top two teams while the Central Yorkshire League was celebrating a national triumph.

The Bradford League Title Race

Nobody dominated the title race, but Baildon had the definite edge towards the end of the season. However, unfortunately for them, they suffered rain affected draws when in winning positions against Hanging Heaton and Pudsey Congs. This gave Bradford & Bingley a real advantage as they managed to avoid the rain, and this meant Baildon had to win the final day clash to pip them.

All the neutrals headed for Jenny Lane and endured a September day that was akin to November temperatures, and no level of clothing could keep them warm. They stuck around though to see a low-scoring affair which appeared to be heading Baildon’s way.

Bradford & Bingley posted a lowly score and tried desperately to keep Baildon in check as they edged closer to victory. One man would sway the match and infuriate the Jenny Lane faithful at the same time.

David Pennett, above, who was on Yorkshire’s books before being released to play for Nottinghamshire, was that very man. He was an extremely competitive pace bowler who would try to bowl every ball differently in pursuit of a wicket.

He was an ebullient character and on the day at Jenny Lane he chipped away at the lower order, taking wickets with vociferous appealing that clearly annoyed the Baildon supporters. He won the game for the Wagon Laners and Baildon were left to reflect on how the title got away.

Bradford & Bingley 1998 Back from left, Pat Fordham, Martin South, Craig Cockshott, Robert Walker, Matthew Cockshott, David Pennett. Front: Nick Child, Peter Graham, Richard McCarthy (Captain), Mark Best, Gareth Batty

Bradford & Bingley were a fine side and went on to win the Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions Trophy for the third time in 1999.

The 21-year-old Gareth Batty, who would have a long and successful county career, won the Sir Learie Constantine All Rounders Trophy, scoring 805 runs, and taking 40 wickets. Bingley had other fine players like Martin South, Pat Fordham, Richard McCarthy, and Peter Graham.

Baildon also had an outstanding side and a very astute captain in Mick Emmerson. Like Bingley, they had several outstanding cricketers that came to the fore in 1998.

John Marshall, above, was a veteran off-spinner, but he genuinely seemed to get better with age. He was very much of the old school, capable of tieing the batsman down with his teasing flight and accuracy.

He saw fine service with Yorkshire Bank, but played the bulk of his career with Baildon and is one of only a handful of bowlers to have taken a thousand career wickets in the league. In 1998 he won the League Bowling Averages taking 65 wickets at 11.03.

Mansoor Rana was Baildon’s best batsman in their `nearly’ season scoring 836 runs at 46.44, while Paul Spragg, Richard Robinson and Emmerson also figured in the league averages.

Big Players in the league

The top flight was packed with big name players like Ashley Metcalfe (above, Pudsey St Lawrence), Andy Bethel (Spen Victoria), Matthew Doidge (Farsley), Colin Chapman (Pudsey Congs), Alex Wharf (Undercliffe), Phil Carrick (Pudsey Congs), and John Carruthers (Hanging Heaton). Carruthers was at the zenith of his career and in 1998 took 82 league wickets in a good side that could only finish ninth; such was the strength of the division that year.

It was only a couple of years before Pudsey Congs would become the dominate force in the league, only to be broken six or seven years later by Woodlands. 

The Second Division League Title Race

In an era when the best players would have no inhibitions in playing in the lower division, champions Cleckheaton had a string of classy players.

Chris Pickles, above, topped 1,000 runs with the bat. As a batsman he had no peers when it came to getting the innings off to a rapid start. Other quality batsmen were Carl Sharp, Paul Winrow and 19-year old James Stansfield, who would win the Young Player of the Year Trophy.

Adam Swallow topped the league bowling averages with 71 wickets at 10.11, and the bowling strength was such that they could also call on Andy Yates, Stansfield and Winrow.

Despite Cleck’s undoubted strength, Brighouse pressed them all the way, falling just nine points behind in second place.

The Priestley Cup

East Bierley won the title on three occasions in the nineties and their picturesque South View Road ground was packed with neutrals.

By 1998, their team was more in tune with cup combat, and they proved it by winning the Priestley Cup three times on the trot. They faced the emerging Pudsey Congs side in the 1998 final and proved too strong, winning by eight wickets with opening batsman Dermot McGrath taking the man of the match award.

Bierley’s overseas player of 1998, and very much part of the cup-winning side, was Nicholas De Groot who scored 617 stylish runs at 34.28. A right-handed batsman and medium-pace bowler he played for both Canada and Guyana.

Other players of note at Bierley in 1998 were Ryan Robinson, Andrew Bairstow, Murphy Walwyn, Ian Fisher and Rob Burton. Despite this array of talent they could only finish in mid-table.

The Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions Trophy

By 1998, there had been seven different Bradford League clubs that had won the Yorkshire Club Champions Cup, and Undercliffe would be the eighth.

In 1997, East Yorkshire League outfit Pickering were surprise winners of the trophy, and to prove it was no fluke reached the final again at Knaresborough where they would play Undercliffe.

The Bradford League side were favourites, but batting first on the day they had to negotiate a very sluggish wicket to reach a modest 160-9 in 50 overs. Chris Schofield and Mark Gilliver had to dig in despite disgruntled Undercliffe supporters barracking them for slow batting. However, this total would prove to be more than enough as Pickering folded for 63 with Andrew Wilsden and Alex Wharf (below), now a Test umpire, enjoying the bowling honours.

On the way to the final, Undercliffe beat the pride of the Yorkshire League Harrogate on a damp day at Intake Road. In the league, Undercliffe struggled, and in 1999 were relegated despite very nearly retaining the Yorkshire Club Champions Cup.

The Heavy Woollen Cup

Before Wrenthorpe more or less took ownership of the Heavy Woollen Cup from 2004, the Bradford League tended to monopolise it.

Spen Victoria put their name on it twice in three years, and latterly in 1998. In the 1998 final at Liversedge they had an emphatic 144-run win over Hanging Heaton. A young Chris Elstub came of age in the final destroying the Bennett Lane side with an analysis of 5-40. This was after Wasim Jaffer had scored a magnificent century to put Spen very much in charge.

Jaffer (above) scored 586 league runs in 1998, but three of his team mates actually scored more- Andy Bethel (851), Andy Walker (619) - as well as taking 50 wickets - and Ed McKenna (617).

Following a prolific school career, including an innings of 400 not out as a 15-year-old, Jaffer made his entry into the first-class cricket and scored a triple-century in his second match. This innings of 314 not out helped set a series of firsts for Mumbai. It was the first occasion that a batsman had made a triple century for Mumbai away from home and, in putting on 459 runs with his opening partner Sulakshan Kulkarni; the pair became the first from Mumbai to pass 400.

Jaffer in total scored 13,735 First Class runs and played in 31 Test matches with a top score of 212 in an average of 34.10. He played many of his later years in the Huddersfield League. Other quality players at Spen that season were Tosh Baker, who got a Yorkshire contract, Andy Bethel, Ed McKenna and Gary Brook.

Where was Woodlands in 1998?

It seems quite surreal that Woodlands have enjoyed so much success in their brief 21-year history in the league, but what were they doing in 1998?

After failing to get elected to the Bradford League in 1992 they had been admitted to the Central Yorkshire League in 1994 which was the club’s centenary year.

For the start of the 1998 season, Woodlands ambitions had grown once more and sights were set on further advancement with Bradford League membership the eventual goal.  To this end, Woodlands made their most significant signing when they recruited Tim Orrell from Saltaire to lead the campaign to achieve this aim. This would prove to be the best cricketing decision made by Woodlands. He immediately brought discipline to the team and set the standards for further progress.

By 2001, Woodlands were accepted into the Bradford League and the rest is history as they say. Incredibly, they have won 20 major trophies-

Yorkshire Premier League Play-Off Champions: 2022
League Champions: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2019, 2021, 2022
Priestley Cup Winners: 2006, 2016, 2018, 2019
Heavy Woollen Cup Winners: 2004, 2015, 2017
Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions Trophy: 2006, 2007
Gordon Rigg Group A T20 Winners: 2022

What was happening in the Central Yorkshire League in 1998?

The Top Flight Title
Gomersal was the dominating club side in the Central Yorkshire League in the nineties, performing a league and cup double in 1993 and 1996, and winning the title again in 1998.

However, it was a tight affair with Gomersal just getting the nod as they tied on 90 points with Methley. They had to win their last game on September 19, and they duly did, clinching the title at Ossett chasing a moderate 187-4.

Steve Foster (above) dominated with the bat from the word go and finished with an unbeaten 114 to ensure his team would win by ten wickets. Foster won the League Batting Averages that year, and also had fine bowling returns with 6-32 and 7-46 versus Townville.

Gomersal moved into the Bradford League in 2000, and although they have not replicated their previous success, they remain a highly-respected club with a high-scoring ground in Oxford Road. Significantly, Foster left the club before their new adventure, and that must have been a real blow.

Steve Foster’s phenomenal success

Steve Foster, who signed from Spen Victoria, had phenomenal success in the nineties with the bat at Gomersal heading the League Batting Averages in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1998 while scoring a thousand runs each time. In 1996 his medium-pacers took the League Bowling Averages to give him the classic individual double.  Whilst at Gomersal he captained the England Cricket Board X1 which comprised of a selection of the nation’s best eleven league cricketers.

Foster’s Stats 1992-1999:
Batting
1992    1029 runs at 79.15
1993    1104 runs at 78.85
1994    1130 runs at 94.16
1995    799 runs at 47.00
1996    1,140 runs at 87.69
1997    1,013 runs at 67.53
1998    1,198 runs at 79.87
1999    824 runs at 68.67

Best Bowling; 
1996   64 wickets at 11.47

All-Rounder’s Trophy
1995, 1996, 1998

Jack Hampshire Memorial Cup

Townville left the Pontefract Senior League to join the Central Yorkshire League in 1996, and they were not there for the ride. By 1998, they had won their first major trophy in the shape of the Jack Hampshire Memorial Cup under the leadership of Andy Ward.

They had two virtuoso players in Russell Murray, a left-handed `sheet anchor’ opening batsman of the highest class, and Ramakrishnan Sridhar (above), a left arm spin bowler who played First Class cricket for Hyderabad and went on to become India's fielding coach.

His career haul for Hyderabad was 91 wickets at 29.09, which he nearly reached in one season at Townville, taking 83 wickets at 10.49 in 1997. Predictably this won him the League Bowling Averages.

Other players of note for Townville in 1998 were C Newton, D Booth and A Cox.

This cup win would prove to be the catalyst for many more trophies as they became big players in the league alongside Wrenthorpe and Methley.

Methley Go National

After ten years in the Central Yorkshire League Methley became major players when in 1997 they swept the board of honours winning the league title and Jack Hampshire Cup double..

The two trophies might not have been defended successfully in 1998, but they arguably won something more spectacular, namely The National Village Championship Cup at Lords:

Methley 238-3 Apperley 177 Methley win by 61 runs

Batting first, the opening pair of Alec Gilston and Steve Rowse (above) got Methley off to the best possible start with a stand of 152 - a record for the final.  Gilston, who hit the only six of the match, and Rowse batted beautifully, pacing their innings perfectly. Gilston's 62 came off 75 balls, Rowse went on to reach 94 from 113 deliveries with 10 boundaries, and a place in the record books with the third highest individual score in a final.

Methley’s seamer Lee Mills' decision to give up the captaincy midway through the season in order to concentrate on his bowling, paid off as he finished with four for 34.

This triumph was even more commendable given that vital all-rounder Paul Rickers had to miss the final due to his professional football contract with Oldham Athletic.

Some big stars in the league

Apart from the aforementioned Steve Foster, Ramakrishnan Sridhar and Russell Murray, there were many fine cricketers taking part in the 1998 Central Yorkshire League, including Sammy Dighe (Ossett), Paul Blakeley (Birstall) Eric Austin (above, Birstall), David Sadler (Ossett), David Battye (Wrenthorpe), John Storey (New Farnley) and Tim Orrell (Woodlands).

Twenty-five years on it is stunning to realise that Wakefield Thornes, with just one win all season in 1998, would turn their club completely around and win the Yorkshire Premier League Play-offs twice two decades later.

Similarly it is remarkable to see the success that Moorlands eventually achieved in the Drakes Huddersfield League - winning the Sykes Cup Final in successive years against top dogs Hoylandswaine.

Wrenthorpe were in an uninspiring 11th position in the First Division, but unprecedented success was to come in a few short years.