Showcase for Yorkshire cricket...

There’s a breathless hush in the close tonight. Ten to make and the match to win. A bumping pitch and a blinding light, an hour to play and the last man in.

Long before and ever since Henry Newbolt penned these words to his poem Vitai Lampada, cricket and poetry have occupied a shared atmosphere.

Yorkshire cricket loving folk would agree there is something poetic about the grounds around the county. Those grounds are to be eulogised in an exhibition celebrating the game and the men who defy time’s relentless march to keep turning out, turning their arms over and twirling their bats every summer.

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Runs On The Board is an exhibition of photographs and poetry celebrating the local cricket grounds of Yorkshire and the men over 50 who play on them.

Funded by Imove, the Legacy Trust UK’s cultural programme for Yorkshire leading to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the exhibition features photographs by Anton Want and poetry by Ian McMillan’s son, Andrew.

Opened last night at Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground by Brian Close and Sir Thomas Ingilby, it will stay on display at Yorkshire’s home ground until June 15, then moves to Barnsley Civic from June 17 to August, when it will travel to Scarborough for the town’s cricket festival.

The project’s producer, Graham Roberts, said: “Runs On The Board is an artists’ celebration of amateur cricket in Yorkshire and an homage to the over 50s players – of which I am one – whose skills may have diminished but whose enthusiasm remains undimmed.

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“We hope people will come along and enjoy the fantastic words and pictures which really do reflect the people and places that are the heart of the game.”

Photographer Mr Want and Mr McMillan spent last summer travelling around the grounds of the amateur cricket leagues in Yorkshire, meeting the men of a certain age who still play.

Mr Want said: “There was such a great welcome everywhere and everyone had so many stories. I would go to grounds every weekend and hope to find players whose portraits I could take. Every club I went to, the younger players wanted me to take their photograph, but it was a project about those men who keep playing after they have reached 50. In the end, I decided to split the images between landscapes of the grounds and portraits of the players.”

The end result is a beautiful and evocative collection of images taken by the Barnsley based photographer, complemented by McMillan’s poetry. As well as making up the exhibition, a book of the images and poems will be sold at the Headingley and Barnsley Civic exhibits.

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Mr Want added: “What I discovered as I travelled round the county visiting these grounds was that the reason people come back to the game, year after year, is for the camaraderie, the thread of history with lots of families playing for the same club through several generations. It is a game that people seem to stay in love with their whole lives.

“When I took the portraits the last thing I said before taking the picture was to ask the cricketers to think of their favourite memories on the pitch. Some of them shared the memory with me afterwards and some of them didn’t, but for me it gave the images that extra layer of meaning.”

As part of Runs On The Board, one of 20 projects commissioned by Imove which funded the £42,000 idea, there will also be a competition for 10 teams made up of cricketers over 50.

The 10 squads will play through the summer with a final taking place at the hallowed ground of Headingley where the winning team will collect the inaugural Grey Fox Trophy. Artist team The Curious Guide – duo Rob Young and Tim Sutton – were commissioned to design the trophy which is a glass Victoria sponge cake on a stand, with 12 slices.

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The public can get involved as Runs on the Board is calling for people to contribute their own images and stories to help create a rich picture of amateur cricket in the region. For details log on to www.runsontheboard.co.uk

But most importantly, as Newbolt exhorted, play up, play up and play the game.

The Grey Fox by Andrew mcMillan

The grey fox is rare and should be treasured; like a red squirrel or a golden day in winter

The grey fox is under-celebrated; its stories could burrow into your head and set up home

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The grey fox has learnt to avoid the sharp, cold teeth of ageing

The grey fox is still as nimble as its reddish younger brother, still takes down the rubbish bins, still feels at home outside

The grey fox is proof that cunning and guile can be spun into wisdom given time

The grey fox wears respect like other species wear a belt; it’s in the walk, in the strong, straight handle of the back

The grey fox knows how to strike; it is all muscle and joint, all tendon and reflex

The grey fox is the necessary smoke of autumn; the unshifting presence in the quickening day

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