Keeping juniors involved will be key when cricket returns, says Yorkshire’s Neil Hartley

Yorkshire’s new vice-chairman Neil Hartley is hoping participation levels in recreational cricket will increase post Coronavirus.
Neil Hartley at HeadingleyNeil Hartley at Headingley
Neil Hartley at Headingley

Hartley, a former county all-rounder with the White Rose club, was appointed to his new role at Emerald Headingley at the start of this month, working alongside new chairman Roger Hutton.

A John Player League winner with Yorkshire in 1983, Hartley now works full-time in sports insurance, but he is also a committee member at Bradford and Bingley Cricket Club, where he helps with things such as ground maintenance, fund-raising and coaching.

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“It’s a mixed role, as it often is at grassroots level for a volunteer,” he said.

Hartley does not hide away from the fact the ongoing crisis will present local league clubs with some significant challenges, including in terms of participation.

However, he is determined to take a glass half full approach for now, especially with aid coming from the England and Wales Cricket Board, who have pledged just over £20m nationwide to help grassroots cricket deal with the financial impact of covid-19.

“When we do get back out there, it might just show how much people miss it when it’s not been there for three months or whatever period we’re going to be out of action,” said Hartley.

“It might generate some more interest in the game.

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“Recreational clubs will definitely be there and desperate to pull some sort of cricket together at both senior and junior level.

“Fielding three senior sides at Bradford and Bingley on a regular basis can become a challenge, so fingers crossed that’s how it works out and people become more engaged.”

Shipley-born Hartley, 64, jokes that any official title he has at the Bradford League club would be nothing other than, “Head of Grass Cutting”.

He scored 7,526 runs and took 115 wickets playing first-class and one-day cricket for both Yorkshire and South African side Orange Free State between 1978 and 1989. Two of his four Championship centuries were made on his beloved Bradford Park Avenue ground, including a top score of 114 against Gloucestershire.

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In the latter half of the 1981 campaign he had the first team captaincy thrust upon him when still not even a capped player and two years later he was appointed official vice-captain of the senior side.

Prior to that, he made his first-team debut for Bradford and Bingley aged 16 and went on to captain them. His son Jack is in their first team.

In terms of the challenges thrown up by the ongoing situation, Hartley says junior cricket has taken a particularly big hit.

“Part of the problem is that the junior structure is generally front-loaded in the summer because a lot of junior cricket has to wind up in June and July to take into account family holidays and such,” he said.

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“It will be interesting to see how it all pans out with junior cricket when the time comes to get out there again.

“We might be fighting against other sports given there will be a lot of football going on at the same time and such, but it’s just a matter of persevering and making sure the facilities are there to give our junior members the opportunity to play and see cricket as a sport they’d like to be committed to for a long period of their lives.”

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