Tonight was scheduled to be the first round of matches for our under 15s and under 11s teams, with our under 13s and under 9s due to play their first matches of the 2020 season this coming Sunday morning.

We wish all our junior players and their families well during these strange times, and we take the opportunity to share some of our club’s history. Here, we go all the way back to the birth of the local junior cricket league in the late 1930s.

The inaugural season of the under 18s Airedale Junior Season took place in 1939, with 5 clubs competing: Rawdon, Yeadon, Guiseley, Horsforth and Hall Park. Rawdon were the first winners. In 1940, we were admitted to the league as the 6th club. Matches were 24 overs a side, played on a Tuesday evening.

In 1946, George Kell, secretary of Menston, was elected President of the Airedale Junior League; Otley and Burley were admitted to the league. This is also the season that Menston Cricket Club won its first junior title – the photo attached shows the victorious squad and coaches:

Standing: J H Kell, T Clayton, B Walker, N Wormald, H Hird, A McKinley, G Kell.

Seated: A Simpson, A Thornton, E Sutton, B Bolton (cpt), B Nettleton, A Maud, I Town.

Front: R Hannam, G Walker.

The race for the 1946 junior championship was mainly between Menston and Guiseley, the latter included, at age 15, an already formidable ‘D. B. Close’. The season ended with both teams level on points, so the League Committee decided on a play-off match: we’ve witnessed a few of these in recent times! Menston batted first and scored a modest 89-7. The following evening Guiseley were bowled out for 73, including a skied catch taken to dismiss Brian Close, a moment that is reported to have virtually won the match on its own. Bill Bowes (England & Yorkshire player, and Menston resident) presented the medals to the victorious Menston team.

We hope this memory helps to keep all our supporters engaged with cricket during lockdown. Keep a watch on our Twitter feed @MenstonCricket for ideas on how to keep your skills going at home; we’ll look to post other things on Facebook and TeamApp in future weeks.

In the meantime, feel free to get in touch to share your own cricket memories, or tell us what you’ve been doing at home to keep cricket going.