York CC wants to be here for a long time, not just a good time

The county take on Sussex at Clifton Park today, then Gloucestershire on Friday, after a victory and a defeat in their first two games in the eight-match group stage.

Although Kay and, presumably, everyone reading this would not be around to see that ambition come to fruition, pending the discovery of everlasting life, York are dreaming big after rejoining the circuit in 2019 following a 129-year absence of county cricket in the city.

“I’m happy to put on record that my ambition is that the York cricket festival week is still going in 100 years’ time,” said Kay, when prompted by this correspondent to outline his vision for the venue.

“I would like us to become a fixture in people’s diaries, just as the Scarborough festival is a fixture.

“That’s my ambition. We’ve started something and we don’t want to lose it. We want to be on the rota every year moving forward.

“It’s certainly our favourite week of the year, and we’ll be doing everything we can to keep it going.”

Although Scarborough is pre-eminent in the hearts and minds of many cricket lovers, York has made, it is fair to say, a magnificent impression in the past five years.

Kay and the York staff, assisted by those at Yorkshire, have put on six one-day games and one County Championship fixture - and they have done it brilliantly, with a smile on their face, a helpful, can-do attitude and a healthy dose of humility, too.

Indeed, when asked whether he feels that York has now established itself as part of the county cricket furniture, or rather re-established itself after staging a solitary Yorkshire game in 1890, Kay is respectful.

“We don’t take it for granted, but we’d like to think that we’ve established ourselves as a facility that can host county cricket,” he said, a comment that brooks no reasonable argument.

Neither Kay nor the staff are resting on their laurels, though.

Amid the changing landscape of the county cricket scene, which is only set to result in fewer matches to go round in future, while such as the risible Hundred takes priority, York must work hard to keep up with the Joneses.

“There’s still things we can improve,” said Kay. “I think the obvious problem is still a bit of traffic management, getting people out safely after the game has finished, but we’re working hard on that and looking for solutions in case matches finish around the time of rush-hour traffic.”

On the flip side, the difficulties of entering and leaving the ground from an adjoining main road, hardly a problem peculiar to York, are offset by the prodigious parking facilities that would put most grounds to shame, including Headingley.

Personally, one would always prefer being able to park at a venue in the first instance and then worry about anything else from that point, and York’s capacity in that respect is second to none.

By any measurable criteria, Kay and the staff have alighted on a winning formula.

“We’d like to think so,” he said. “We’d like to think that everything we’ve tried since 2019 and changed has been a success.

“This year, we’ve got more people coming for the marquee. We’ve had some good pre-match sales, according to Yorkshire, and the ground itself is looking a picture.

“We’ve improved the wicket, we’ve improved the outfield, we’ve improved the changing room and we’ve improved the nets.

“We’ve put more hybrid wickets into the square, so we can host a four-day game or a one-day game, whatever we’re asked to do.

“We just want to improve and to keep moving forward.”

More than 3,000 are expected at both matches this week - important ones as Yorkshire look to hit back after defeat in their last game at Notts following victory in their first 50-over contest against Surrey at The Oval.

As ever, York CC is encouraging people to arrive early and, if possible, to bring their own seats, which they can then position around the boundary, with the usual 2,000-seater stand also available for spectators.

In the meantime, and with any luck, The Yorkshire Post will be issuing the same appeal on behalf of the club 100 years from now, with York hoping that from small acorns, mighty oaks grow.

As Kay put it: “The Scarborough Festival started somewhere, didn’t it. That might have been well over a century ago, and we’ve only been doing this for a few years ourselves, but I’d love for us to become as permanent a fixture as Scarborough.”