About Sherburn Eversley Cricket Club

A little bit of history

Before the past war era, cricket was played Sherburn at the other side of Low Street in an area known as 'The Rushes', which has long since been built upon. After the war cricket was played on the present ground in Eversley Garth, sometimes known as Eversley Park. At that time all of the housing at the left of the ground as you approach from Low Street did not exist and the ground had an idyllic, rural setting in a large estate belonging to Craven Dairies. This situation existed until the early 1970s. To begin with the ground within Eversley Garth was leased to the club, but in 1952 officials of the club, in the hope of purchasing it, approached the head of Craven Dairies, J. Rayner. As a goodwill gesture Mr. Rayner kindly gave the ground to the club. The club was now known as Sherburn Eversley Cricket Club. It had taken this name on the establishment of cricket within Eversley Garth to distinguish it from another cricket club, which existed within the village shortly after the war. Sherburn Eversley Cricket Club played in the Barkston Ash League until around 1949 when it joined the West Riding League. In 1952 and 1953 the club reached the top four play-offs, but lost in the final on both occasions. It was shortly after this in 1956 that the 'old' pavilion was built. It must be said that it was much more pleasing to the eye than the new one which was built in the 'close' season of 1988-89 but it has had to give way to modern demands of showers, indoor toilets and better catering facilities. The village seems to be affectionately tied to the 'old' pavilion so we intended to renovate it and maintain it for sometime to come. Also, I am sure that the new pavilion in years to come will have a more appealing appearance when we can afford a second storey to give it a more traditional appearance. During the 1950s the club played a lot of Sunday fixtures against better sides. This made the club more ambitious and moves were made to improve the ground in the hope of entering a better standard of cricket.

One of the major moves was obviously the building of the better pavilion in 1998. We were sponsored by Leeds Zingari in the hope of joining Yorkshire Council and this came to fruition in 1958. We joined the "Freelance Section" which was probably the strongest section of the Yorkshire Council in those days. Our outstanding year was 1962 when we reached the play-offs for the Yorkshire Council and the Yorkshire League. We lost to the Yorkshire league side Castleford in the semi-final. During that year the club only lost 2 league games and the outstanding individuals were G. Barker, E. Banks and T. Brackin. In the early 1960s these players were topping the averages in the Yorkshire Council. From around 1955 for approximately 10 years G. Barker and E. Banks were regulars in the Jack Appleyard's XI. Many readers will remember these prestigious fixtures at Roundhay Park in front of large crowds. Unfortunately, the club had to withdraw from the Yorkshire Council at the end of the 1972 season due to a lack of quality players. However, it is nice to look back and remember that we won our final game against Hull Y.P.I. We again joined the West Riding League and the first XI had to begin in division 3. We went on to win the league tile in division 2 and play in division 1. As our motive has always been to play better cricket we applied to join the Leeds league and we were accepted in 1983. We have not been able to attract enough quality players to make an impact on the league but we have enjoyed our cricket, made new friends and visited some lovely grounds. We have always been an amateur club with a proud history with players, who wanted to play for Sherburn Eversley, so we are sad to see the professionalisation of the Leeds League. It is not the same league that we joined in 1983. We shall put our trust in our youngsters and, hopefully, enjoy our cricket into the next century. - Written By Alwyn Midgley in 1998