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13
Sept
Preview: Harrogate cricket teams set for season finale
The cricket season will come to a close this weekend (September 13 and 14), with local teams in the Yorkshire Premier League North playing for the final time.
The Stray Ferret spoke to some of the top-performing teams in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon.
Harrogate Cricket Club
Harrogate Cricket Club have finished in the top five in the Premier division for the past two seasons, however, this season they’ve fallen back slightly, to sixth place, and will hope to stay ahead of local rivals Knaresborough with a win over York on Saturday (September 13).
Director of cricket and first team coach Mark Roberts told the Stray Ferret:
To be honest, this season was full of ups and downs. We reached the final of the T20 tournament, beating Castleford in the semi-final.
We beat York at home earlier in the year. But we’ve had injuries and unavailabilities that have meant we haven’t had the right level of consistency to match those peaks.
Harrogate Cricket Club against Clifton Alliance, credit Jon Bladen and Harrogate Cricket Club Facebook
Harrogate’s second team will retain their spot in the ECB Premier Division 2, either with a win on Saturday or if results in other matches go their way.
This would mean they remain in the elite company of York and Woodhouse Grange as the only teams to have a second team as high as the second tier of North Yorkshire amateur cricket.
Mr Roberts said:
The third team is guaranteed promotion to Nidderdale 1, the top division of the Nidderdale and District Amateur Cricket League, and in the last two games they have the chance to win the league.
The 4th team, or development team, has been extremely strong this year and the players they're producing is extremely promising.
Ishan Abseyakara
Looking ahead to next season, Harrogate CC will be losing Ishan Abseyakara, who has been with the club for six years playing for the first team and is the league’s leading wicket-taker.
Mr Roberts said:
Next year, we want to be challenging for top four. It’s where we’ve been the past few years and it’s definitely our aim. We need to look at bringing in some players over the winter as well.
Working out what players to bring in to fill the void left by Ishan will be especially tricky. But we’ve got very talented younger players and there will be even more focus on developing them.
Knaresborough 1s vs Hull Zingari on August 30
Knaresborough Cricket Club
After only being promoted last season, Knaresborough Cricket Club are currently sitting seventh, which they see as an extremely successful first season in the top flight.
There’s also the possibility of overtaking Harrogate on the final day of the season, which would be the perfect end to the campaign for players like Jordan Tear.
Mr Tear told the Stray Ferret:
It’s been a very successful season. We made good signings over the winter and to finish 7th in the league at worst before Saturday's game is unheard of for a newly promoted team.
Going into Saturday’s game we’ll be wanting to keep playing our standard of cricket and against Sessay who are already relegated, we’ll be looking to make a big statement and to roll them over. That will show to the rest of the league this is how we play, and this is how we’ll play in 2026 as well.
For next year top five is in our minds. There are a couple of signings to make but the aspirations are to build on this first year in this division and go even further.
To win at home versus York Cricket Club, who are stacked with ex and current county players and are arguably one of the best amateur teams in the country, was just incredible.
Blake Weymouth
Knaresborough’s second team's bid for promotion will go down to the wire as they fight for promotion from Division 1 Galtres and up to the third step in North Yorkshire cricket.
They will be playing Duncombe Park at Knaresborough Cricket Club at 1pm on Saturday (September 13).
Ripon Cricket Club First team
Ripon Cricket Club
Ripon, having finished 12th in Division 2 Galtres last season, after signing new players and having players return to the club, have won the league, only losing one game out of 20 played so far.
They’ve won eight games in a row and will be looking for win number nine with the last game of the season against fifth-placed Nawton Grange at 1pm at Studley Road Cricket Ground this Saturday (September 13).
The club’s first team captain, Andrew Lincoln, told the Stray Ferret:
The season couldn’t have gone any better, the only negative being the single loss away to Malton who, as the league shows, are the second-best team in this division.
Aside from that, the season has been really enjoyable. We signed six players to the first team, two of whom had previously played for us, and they’ve all been integral parts of the first team.
It’s been really fun on that part, and it’s made my life easier and a lot less stressful.
Ripon will be looking to replicate this season's success, as Mr Lincoln said:
The lads are always hungry to play, we’re all keen and I think that reflects the general feel at the club at the moment. We set the standard now with this year, and I think people want to go on and improve, and everyone wants to play against the best possible opposition.
I’d say that we will be looking at wanting to push for promotion again. We know that will be challenging, but we want to give ourselves a lofty aim and then it’s a case of 'Why not? Why can’t we go and do it again?'.
Despite the season being almost over for all three teams, it’s clear they already have their sights set on next year and all want to build upon, improve or surpass this year's achievements.
All three teams will be playing this Saturday (September 13), Harrogate at York Cricket Club and Knaresborough at Sessay Cricket Club at midday, and Ripon at Studley Road Cricket Ground at 1pm.
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