Cricket leagues are considering postponing the start of the 2023 season

Nothing gets us fired up like the weather – especially when it affects the cricket season.

The decision by the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League to delay the start of the cricket season by a week was a big call.

Unusual, but not entirely unprecedented – and makes sense as March was the wettest since Ian Bothams Headingley’s heroic year.

It’s 1981 for any millennials reading Cricket Yorkshire.

It’s quite a stretch to postpone the entire league schedule, as NYSD has done on April 15th and 16th. Due to the wet weather of the last 4-6 weeks. Will other leagues follow suit? https://t.co/6wPUrXLdgW

Cricket Yorkshire (@cricketyorks) April 11, 2023

As they often do, NYSD made the decision early after receiving feedback from their clubs that the wet last 4-6 weeks had meant the fields just weren’t ready.

However, they are not alone.

The newly-formed North West Cricket League has postponed its first games, while the Quaid E Azam Sunday Cricket League is another that decided to postpone the scheduled T20 competitions and will now host them on May 1 or 8.

In my corner of West Yorkshire, the Craven Cricket League are watching, as are many other leagues I have no doubt.

A delay isn’t the end of the world – but it’s unusual to see a delay across a cricket league. Instead of letting individual clubs call it closer to the time.

Its short term pain for long term gain.

If you play on a muddy field, it will tear up for weeks to come. Although from feedback I’ve had, getting a roller onto the cricket ground has been difficult in some parts of Yorkshire.

Picture: Caught Light Photography – catchlight.com

Knock-on effect?

It’s not great by any means, but inevitably delaying an entire round of matches (rather than a rained-out game where you split points) adds to the congestion.

You can either play a week in September or set up double league cricket on both Saturday and Sunday (when there are no cup games).

Cricket ground managers always want the seasons to end in time so they can dig the square, do autumn renovations and put the field to bed.

There are no neat solutions here.

The volunteers who run the cricket league, who may be privately considering their next course of action, consider what their clubs are saying and how everyone can fit in.

A model of unpredictability?

Club cricket is not immune to extreme weather caused by climate change. 2022 saw the driest cricket season in Yorkshire since 39 BC. (Well, at least the cricket pitches resembled crazy paving and were amazingly hot for weeks at a time).

Some leagues did not have a single canceled match.

In Yorkshire!

Of course, the weather also likes to play tricks on us. So don’t be surprised if the sun shines on our cricket pitches on Saturday. But that doesn’t mean the country is ready for eleven white cricketers diving around.

Also, there are no one-size-fits-all scenarios, which is why I imagine some leagues and games are staged for better drainage or, elsewhere, the volume that literally fell.

We may find that the leagues delay the entire program, but all matches will be canceled anyway.

This is the way.

(If you have watched the Star Wars series The Mandalorianyou get that reference).

Are we starting too early in Yorkshire?

I told a friend that I often see Yorkshire cricketers starting in April as a strange badge of honor compared to leagues further south where the umpires might walk the players out after a few weeks.

But having played cricket on windswept hills in Yorkshire, where flags don’t so much crack as disappear into another postcode, it may have little appeal.

Anecdotally over 13 years Cricket Yorkshirethere have been years when the first month has been wiped out by rain and others when we bask in nirvana, or mercury that would push past the teenage years.

One thing I’ve definitely noticed is how late September and October tend to be warmer and drier. Should we play later in the fall?

Perhaps. But still, it feels like a meteorological lottery.

Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club

I asked Steve Jordan, chairman of Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club (who knows more than most about the effects of rain), how has it been?

Steve told me: “This year has been really tough, although we have managed to avoid any kind of flooding, it has been a continuous and remarkably wet winter and spring; this can be seen in the reservoir levels from last summer’s near drought.”

He reckons their pitch had very little chance of playing this weekend and more rain is on the way. He has a photo saved on his phone from when Halifax got 6 inches of snow on March 10th.

One thing worth noting is the effect of rainfall over time. At Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club, they have had a few cuts to the field and outfield, but nothing close to normal pre-game preparation.

Steve said: “We’ve also only managed one day of rolling since February so if we played god only knows how the track would behave. When I’ve seen some clubs try to get the machines on it’s done more harm than good. I’m in regular contact with the groundsmen and captains , so they can keep players updated.

As for his league, (Halifax Cricket League), it might be tricky to know where the extra innings would fit if they went that route. It was an off week, but it’s now packed with Parish Cup and Crossley Shield first round fixtures.

Here at Cricket Yorkshire HQ, I’ll be weighing up my options for the first game of the season and following the forecast like a hawk, as well as any news filtering in from the leagues.

On Wednesday we had storm Noa, some snow and we are talking about next week’s mini heat wave.

Four seasons in one day by Crowded House is totally appropriate for this time of year.

When all the talk dies down, those who run the cricket grounds need to be heard – even if it means we have to wait a little longer for our cricket.

If you play, enjoy it, get those beer towels and Super Sopper ready!

Founder of Cricket Yorkshire, author of All Wickets Great & Small and Last of the Summer Wickets.

John Fuller’s latest posts (Show all)