Sporting Bygones: Famous faces help celebrate 150 years of cricket down the Lane with Barnsley

YORKSHIRE proudly boasts some of the finest village cricket clubs in the land.

Everywhere you look across the Broad Acres, there’s a club with a rich heritage.

Just think of Kirkheaton, home of two of the greatest all-rounders in history in Wilfred Rhodes and George Herbert Hirst, before looking across from their ground to Lascelles Hall, who regularly took on and beat All-England XIs in the early days of the game, and that’s just two in Huddersfield alone.

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Then we have the Pudsey St Lawrence club of Len Hutton and fellow Bradford League members Farsley, home of Ashes-winning captain Raymond Illingworth, and the Saltaire of Jim Laker before moving across to the coast and the ground most loved by Yorkshire members, Scarborough CC.

South Yorkshire also hosts clubs with bags of tradition and one of them is celebrating its 150th anniversary this summer.

Many famous cricketers began their careers at Barnsley, notably Yorkshire president Geoff Boycott and Test umpiring legend Dickie Bird while chat show great Michael Parkinson also batted for the team alongside Bird – famously keeping England opener Boycott out of the side in his early days.

The trio are all honorary vice-presidents and are due to be on the top table at a gala dinner at the club next Sunday night.

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Other county players to have played for Barnsley in the not too distant past include Arnie Sidebottom, Steve Oldham, Graham Stevenson, Martyn Moxon (current director of cricket at Headingley), Darren Gough, Mark Beardshall, Peter Heseltine, Alex Morris, Azeem Rafiq and Oliver Hannon-Dalby.

Before the dinner, Parkinson and former England strike bowler Gough are due to face each other as opening batsmen as Barnsley celebrate their 150th anniversary with cast members from Coronation Street and Emmerdale featuring in three ‘Last Man Stands’ style matches, each lasting two hours.

Gates open at 9.30am and there will be a public address from Parkinson before the day’s feature game between past Yorkshire and Barnsley greats.

Entry is £5 for adults and £1 for Under-16s and proceeds will be divided between Barnsley CC and Leukemia Research.

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Though the present-day Barnsley CC was formed in 1862, the first organised game in the town was in 1834, when a local side took on the might of a Sheffield XI.

Over the next 20 years, several clubs sprang up, including the Reds and the Barebones, before the Clarence club emerged in the 1850s as the town’s main club.

In 1859, the club acquired a new ground in the Shawlands area, off Shaw Lane. It was opened on June 14, 1859, when the Clarence club defeated the Holbeck club.

An All-England XI visited the ground in 1860, and returned in May, 1862 to play “20 of Yorkshire”.

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The club organised a game in August with a much stronger Yorkshire side but this was to be Barnsley’s only staging of top-class cricket for more than 100 years.

Entertainment on the ground for the All England game included the band of Barnsley Rifle Corps, Dodworth Brass Band and the “Howard Family” hand bell ringers, featuring a father and his eight sons.

On each evening of the match, a ball was held in Barnsley Corn Exchange, which many of the All England team attended.

Barnsley Cricket Club were later formed through an amalgamation of the Clarence and Beechfield clubs.

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The ground soon became known as Shaw Lane and, in the 1890s, Yorkshire returned to play minor matches, including Yorkshire Colts v Nottinghamshire Colts fixtures.

When Yorkshire entered the minor counties competition in 1901, Barnsley was established as a fairly regular venue.

The old pavilion, which has since been replaced, was believed to have dated from this era. It was the ground’s main feature and had several facelifts over the years.

Following the loss of Bramall Lane as an outground for Yorkshire, Barnsley was tried as a venue for Benson & Hedges Cup games in the mid-1970s, its quality batting strips and large outfield holding sway over limited facilities.

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The first game attracted over 8,000 but subsequent games were not as popular.

Plans were mooted to turn Shaw Lane into a permanent first-class venue but the plan fell through as not enough financial backing could be found.

The Benson & Hedges Cup game of 1978 was to be the last and by the mid-1980s even Yorkshire Second XI visits had ceased though they recommenced a couple of seasons ago and England Women played at the ground last summer.

The club continue to thrive in the Yorkshire League and are a magnet for youngsters with dreams of playing for the White Rose.